| Show I PUNlSlDlENT FOE OPINIONS 1 I Judged VKLKTOV an eminent lawyer of Indiana and for seven years a member of the Utah commission affirms in the tfotfolinl DCIIIJ nt that bor honesty sobriety sobri-ety industry neighborly kindness peace unJ good order the Mormons are equal if not superior to any community on this continent Over J15 per cent of the saloonkeepers saloon-keepers and gamblers of Utah are non Mormons whila over 75 per cent of the population Is Mormon He asserts that over boren eighths of tbJ heinous and felonious off niCS niij committed by anti Mormons and closes with tIllS sentenceS sentence-S allvo in this enlightened country invoke in-voke legal coercion over the consciences of men in the matter of religion and resort to the thumbscrew and rack political pro scriotion and disfranchisement as modes of religious instruction and persuasion iTo i-To any fairminded can it must seem slraritjo that an honest sober industrious kind peaceful and orderly people should be singled out for political proscription and disfranchisement One naturally asks Who aro the people that instigate and demand de-mand this persecution < M and ho lenrns that the people demanding this oppression of the Mormons ntribute seveneighths of the heinous and felonious offenses the baser crimes and also a large percentage of the lesser crimes that these Mormon Haters are in reality the chief lawbreakers while denouncing Mormons for supposititious suppos-ititious offenses and imaginary crimes that these antiMormons constitute court officials and members of juries in Utah and no plea of persecution in this respect by the Mormons is open to them It is notorious that it is usually this class that demand the disfranchisement of the Mormons The better class of nonMor mons have never lent their active support to the scheme and have sometimes denounced de-nounced it Only a few of tho respectable nonMormons be it said to their lasting credit have ever openly said that the people of Utah should be punished pun-ished because of the alleged constitution of their minds Only the villainous downtown sheet and its immediate ring of coadjutors and plotters have been vile enough to assert that Mormons should be disfranchised for an alleged belief they entertain and deprived of acquiring title to land because they spend their Sundays within their own church buildings or homes instead of at the slimly attended l > orthodox ortho-dox churches of Utah or the better patronized patron-ized beer balls and Sunday saloons But let it be recorded against and stand to the eternal infamy of the characterless organ and its ring of abettors and supporters support-ers that at this late day of the worlds history his-tory and in tho greatest and most liberal country on the face of the oarth they have demanded the robbery of their political opponents op-ponents on the ground that their opponents believe in an unpopular doctrine For having hav-ing secured the punishment of all their opponents op-ponents whom they accused of violating a law they are now more clamorous than ever for the punishment of those who have broken no law and wio are their superiors in all the elements that go to make loyal aud useful citizens in any country |
