OCR Text |
Show IB 13 WOIJI.JD.VJr IROM3SI". ludge Sllner lie fuse Citizenship Citizen-ship to a Member of the Jlormon Cliurch. A man applied to Judge Miner at Og-den Og-den Saturday last to becoma naturalized. natural-ized. After "the preliminary questions usual in such cases as to moral character, charac-ter, length of duration of residence, and so forth, the applicant was asked if he had ever been a member of'tl.9 Mormon Church. lie said he had. "Are you at present a membsr in good standing of the Mormon Church, and do you obey all the teachings and doctrines of the church?" asked the Judge. "Yes, sir," was the answer. "Do you believe that your first and foremost duty is to obey the laws of this country or of the Mormon Church?" The man hesitated for some time, evidently at a loss how to answer. To make tho question more plain and aasy and help the man to make up his mind, the Judge repeated the question in a new form as follows: "If the Mormon Church should by proclamation, manifesto or other announcement an-nouncement instruct and direct you and all its members to commit some act or follow some practice which was in direct and plain violation of the laws of this country, which would you obty, the church or the laws of the land?" The candidate for citizenship again hesitated as if in doubt what to say, but finally faltered: "I don't know." The Judge promptly informed the applicant of his views of his case a9 follows: "I cannot, nor can any court, safely admit you to become a citizen. The first duty of a citizen is to support the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the laud, and any man, who does not feel in every fiber of his hHtig that his rirst, formost aad en-tiro en-tiro allegiance is to this country and to the laws thereof cannot expect to bo udmituM' to citizenshfp by' this Court. |