| Show j I i CLOSE OF THE CASE l i For the Possession of the tJnurch Property i ABLE ARGUMENTS BY COUNSEL Tho Master in Chancery Must Submit His Report to the Supremo Court Not Later Than January i The arguments In tho proceedings before Master in Chancery Loofbourow with reference I erence to the disposition to be made of the fund in the receivers hands were resumed I I yesterday morning c 8 rAntAN of counsel for tho government opening Ho said that the history of the proceedings commencing with the first attempt of tho government to enforce Its laws in this territory ter-ritory and culminating in the law of 18S7 containing the provisions under which thoy were now acting set forth numbers of attempts at-tempts on the part of those most directly and vitally interested to defeat the legislation legisla-tion and its effect through the court upon tile very grounds that they alluded to yesterday It was said both be I fore Congress and in all the courts in which tho caae was presented that it I was beyond the power of the government either through Congress or its courts to in uny way wrest this property from those who were as It was claimed lawfully entitled i en-titled to it That question had received careful consideration The conduct of his side in every particular had been upheld + und he took it that it was not becoming at this stage of the proceedings to impress upon up-on an argument which in the very nature of the case should boA bo-A LEGAL AND CVIMPASSIOXED ONE considerations which were property presented pre-sented in other forums and had been already al-ready decided This decree might properly be read in the light of the opinion of the court although he presumed It bore evidence evi-dence in connection with the entire proceedings pro-ceedings In the supremo oourt of the United States that tile court in some do Kreo at least had changed its views as expressed ex-pressed in some language used in tho opinion THE niSTORT Or THE CASE Counsel then went on to trace the various var-ious phases of this case sinco its determination determina-tion by the supremo court of the territory in the fall or early winter of ISbO embracing embrac-ing tho subsequent determination of tho supremo court of the United States in tho following May when the opinion already cited before the master in chancery affirming af-firming the judgment of tho territorial supreme su-preme court was delivered These matters went before tho supreme i court of the United States which court not only took notice of tho fact in regard to polygamous practices and teachings but all the past and contemporaneous history of the corporation That history was briefly t alluded in the opinions of Chief Justice Zane of Utah and Justice Bradley of tit I supreme court of the United States in which perhaps might befonn the reasons which moved the legislative authority to take heroic measures as to the winding ui and dissolution of this church corporation Counsel read from tho reported opinion o f the supreme court of tho United States r olivered by Chief Justice Bradley In i which alleged donance to the government by the Mormon people was set forth + their attempt to establish an independent community and to drive therefrom all those not with them in communion ands and-s mpath in contempt of authority d I resIstance of the law In the light of tho history of the Mormon church and i its people said Mr Varian and in its dealings with the government it was perfectly plain what the mandate II of the court was They were not dealing with the donation of a citizen by way of y bequest devise it y or was not a question as to whether it were the effectuated in i tent as near as might be of some charita blydisposed person who bad mistaken the use or who had dedicated or attempted to dedicate his property to some forbidden use as to which Mr Dickson read cases by f the hour yesterday Neither was it the j case of the dissolution of a business corporation corpo-ration but the I DISSOLUTION OF A RELIGIOUS CORPORATION because its longer existence was contrary not only to public policy but to law And I the distinction was clearly pointed out 11 I I teemed to him in the same opinion from which no had read of Mr Justice Bradley I In this instance there were no successors succes-sors The funds could not go to the people who formed the late corporation because that would practically return the property to the uses that were complained of It must go to the purpose most nearly corresponding corres-ponding with the intent of the donors He did not new contendIt was not necessary to do sothat any application of this fund should be made which was foreign to the object and purposes for which it was orig inally destined except in so far as that object 1 ob-ject or purpose might be unlawful Counsel admitted that the of cause education was a charity within tho scope of this general i statement he did not deny that it included I I the support of the poor and the building 1 and repairing of meeting houses but it I 1 had bean insisted by the other side that the t government was endeavoring or attempt i ing to secure a diversion of this fund foreign to the original intent of the donors i The evidence as to intent here was to be gathered from the finding in the light of I the history ol the church together with the evidence as to how It was applied and tho authority exercised over it by tho lie having control Mr Varian argued that the scheme of tho government counsel in this matter was the most equitable one and should receive the recommendation of tho master in preference to the others already submitted This ho went on to declare was simply an attempt on the part of the j defendants to got possession of this fund in I i tho very teeth ot the expressed intent of Congress and in violation of the decree of the supreme COUl t of this territory as affirmed by the supreme court of the United States THE PHESEXT STATUS What is the status of this people now remarked Mr Varian on the question of polygamy It is concededit is an adjudged i I i factit IB the judgment of the people of tin I time that this tenet of faith has been a part J I of its creed for very many years It has noun Ii uuwlua lDg one so attacbed and wedded to it have been this people that for many years they have been defying the gov ernment of the United States Why 1 Because Be-cause they thought it was the commandment command-ment of God If it had been simply commanded com-manded to them by the law of their own making or by statute given by any human being who can doubt but that long ago they would have bowed in submissive reverence to the law and thus saved all the misery shame and humiliation which have been entailed upon the territory and this peoplel It IB because of that very fact that they had maintained themselves so long and forE for-E time suocedsf ully against the public sen timent not only of the United States but of the civilized world Nothing could have sustained them and kept them together except the belief that they were acting in accordance with the Divine will Accord r ing to the testimony of tho witnesses on the defendants side though the practice of I polygamy had ceased the principle was un T dying Counsel referred particularly to the I evidence of President Woodruff which he l1 said very clearly showed that ho It ISSUED HIS MANIFESTO simply on account of the pressure of the f law upon the people causing his heart sometimes almostto bleed They are not obeying the law of the land at all but the counsel at the head of the church The law of the land with all its mighty power and I all the terrible pressure it was enabled to bring with its iron hsel upon this people crushing thorn to powder was unablo to bring about what this man did in an hour in the assembled conference of this people They were willing to go to prison I doubt not acme of them were willing to go to the gallows to the tomb of the martyr before they would have yielded one single iota The speaker next dealt with the existing school accommodations in tho territory making particular allusion to the reports to i Congress of Mr Parley L Williams ox commissioner of schools and Judge Bore man The schools of tho territory had for years been essentially denominational and it would take time to free thorn from that influence If the children of the territory t Mormon or otherwise wore to bo educated in accordance with the now generally conceived I con-ceived notions concerning tho higher educa tion of tho citizen his duties to tho state and the community those schools must be I built up in some way either oy taxation or private support He only ailudea to this I as showing the bearing upon the necossi ties of a deserving charity Among his objections to the defendants scheme were Because to adopt would be to practically turn the fund back into I the hands of those from whom it Lad been talon and 2Because it would be unwise j and inexpedient to do so There was no such charity as that contemplated by the other side in any state of the union and the adoption of such a plan he urged would not tend to make men and women self I I ant but just the contrary r s RICHA1IDS I in behalf of the defendants made a short earnest and eloquent argumeht in support of the petition tor the return of the fund to the church authorities to be by them ap I plied to church charities and to the erection erec-tion of houses of worship under the direction I direc-tion of the court Ho was followed by J L KOVLIXS for the government whose argument was one of the ablest made in the case La Grand Young made the closing ad dress for the defendants and the case was I submitted It wa expected that Mr Heywood of Ogden would make an argument in support I j sup-port of the proposition to devote iJOOUO of ho fund to tile five counties north of Salt Lake Out he was not present I TUB UKlOKT j At the close of the proceedings u HERALD I reporter asked Judge Loofbourow how i I seen he would have his report prepared I I le replied that it would have to be sub t mitted at tho meeting of the supreme I court in January but he would probably Ho it before that time |
