| Show TIlE TROUBLESOME RECORD The deadly parallel column is equaled in awful effectiveness only by the dragging forth of the record Many a man has gone to wreck upon his own record which ho has either forgotten or thinks has passed from the memories of others into oblivion Certain Liberals are just now learning how dangerous it is to their personal popularity to change base regarding the Mormon people In the examinations now being conducted before Judge ANDEIISOK the most important witnesses for the Liberals are exMormons and some of them were once active and prominent in the church They were Mormons all the way from live to thirty years and during all that time were not only professed believers in the doctrines which they practiced but were enthusiasts in their religiousjlabor They left records for earnestness and activity and if they were not sincere they managed with great cleverness to hide their deceit If it were not for the records these men have left behind they could with better consistency go upon the stand and tell their stories As it is their tales carry very little weight to the minds of intelligent thoughtful people I peo-ple The impartial man naturally asks when were these men honest and truthful If the reply is now he will next inquire why they practiced deception all these years posing as faithful members of a church which they at heart believed was a humbug and fraud A man went through the Endowment house thirty or forty years ago took the solemn oaths and obligations obli-gations said to be administered there and lived along a quarter or third of a century without ever for a moment thinking ho had done anything wrong if one had said le was lacking in patriotism he would have been indignant and the accusation that he was a traitor to his country would probably have resulted in a knockdown All at once he learns that the Endowment house is a treasonable institution that the man who subscribes to the oaths pledges himself him-self to all manner of crimes among others to make war upon the government and that the teachings are in the direction of the overthrow of the nation It is very strange that the man should suddenly and after half a life of devotion and faithfulness faithful-ness and without apparent reason discover dis-cover that all was wrong and that he had been a very wicked person at heart and in conduct it is strange or else the man was at heart a fraud all these years living a lie to his neighbors and despising himself It 3s the record which puts him in the awkward awk-ward predicament and causes those who are familiar with it to regard all statements of the individual with doubt and distrust Then there are the antiMormons who are BO active and vindictive today What are they going to do about their records Only a few years ago many of these gentlemen who are foremost in charging fraud and mis deeds against the Mormons were on the most friendly terms with the Saints visiting v visit-ing with the latter at their homes attending balls and parties with them and even openly voting their tickets at general elections They knew all about the Mormons and their ways and were ever ready to defend the Saints when attacked by the ignorant and vindictive We have before us now I the sworn statements of Gentiles prominent promin-ent today as they were ten fifteen and twenty years ago all certifying to the good moral character of the Mormons asserting from lcnowledgerather than belief that the Saints were honest upright fair and impartial im-partial as private citizens and officials i that the elections were fairly and honestly conducted there being no indication of fraud or crookedness that no attempt was made to prevent anybody from voting as ho wanted to and so on Today some of these very men who signed the affidavits are charging pretty nearly everything that is bad against the Mormons as citizens and as public officials We cannot but think they have forgotten the record for these men certainly would not reverse their position posi-tion so suddenly and without cause if they were aware of the existence of the documentary docu-mentary evidence of their rank inconsistency inconsist-ency It ought not to be a difficult thing to make a harmonious record but it seems to be impossible for a good many men to do it Unfortunately for them the records are not always destroyed |
