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Show I HALF A MILLION IN IT THE GREAT FIGHT OYER THE ESCHEATED ES-CHEATED CHURCH FUND. T" 3Ir. Vat'ian's Argumesit 111 KiFort j of tS aovinuint'H fhme to "lievote It So tlie I'aalis Schools Claims of the CImrcti Tfce Final 2eteriniua,ion . t'loNC at Hand Another Suit AjraiiESt FritscU. The question a to what shall be done with the escheated -church fund, amounting t nearly half a million dollars, still occupies tho attcntiaj of the supreme court. Tiie scheme of tlia church is that the fund tshou'd Ijq turned ofer to the first presidency of the church, by taein to he devoted to the charitable chari-table work of the church isnd the repair of meeting houses, und'-r the direction of the courts. It -was aryuel that this wai the nearest lawful purpose to that for which the donors made their contribution!?, and the the claimants were. aWj. supported by the arguments of Vt. II. Dlcksou and F. S. Richards. This morning ?tlr. Varum presented the srovernnienl's side of the case. He supported the master's recommendation that the fund he applied to the public schools of the territory, terri-tory, and mada an,ab!e .i:d eloquent araru- ' incut. Going to the testimony taken at the hearing before Masler-ln-Chanccry Loof-bourow, Loof-bourow, Mr. V.;riau said that the tt;iteaaents of the heads of th j church thowed Ihftt only the practice of polyps '"iy had ! ;i abandoned. aban-doned. O.ic of the up-.itN's testified that tuc revelation doir.g away with th-j practice might he un.d licd by another ia a year, a month or a week. If such a revelation shouid come nothing could restrain the people from re-entering the relation except tho law of the land. All knew how inefiective that would he. , All the power of this great govenmientbad been exerted iiguinst tin: practice with what had beeu called a brutal ferocity, without any effect, eo f.ir a chansrinL' the belief of the people was concerned. Yet they had sten the simple word of the prcsid-it of the church change !he entire system in t':is ter-riiory ter-riiory in a day. This lieinir true, how could counsel inci-t' that this unlawful purpose, which had been impressed u;on the fund since the tirst, dad been reuiowd. T!:e practice prac-tice had been diifio a".v:iy .v. itli, but the print-i-ple remained. The sehenvj of trie defendant was to Uavv 'h's great iur. 1 uvd in providing provid-ing churches and .-cin it win: re the doctrine, which had been called t. h'iglu vak civilization, civili-zation, might l-e taairht. The principle was unelianged. It was till n j.-art of the creed. It wa contained in tho chuieh text bonks and was taught in the rhureh schools. -Tha government d:d not attack a man s belief. Mill might, hold to their opinions, but the government would not atrreu that (his fund should be devoted to the propagation of such a belief. . ' J. L. Rawiins closes for the. government this afternoon, and there maybe time k:t ior the attorneys for Hie defen-l.-.ut to r: ply. Then the matter wiii be xuhiriittcd to the court for its fiimi determination. There has se':dm, pe, i -t- s never bcTore in the 1nrispruJer.ee of this country, been a case where the old" doetrhw'of cj prr has been eo ably discussed. It it, therefore, aside from its great import ince t the terri-tory terri-tory at lare, of especial interest to lawyers. Should the report of Mas'.er-in-Cha'.icery Loofbourow be sustained, the fund will go to tho public schools; shuuid the exceptions to the report be sustained, it will g; to the charities of the church, administered under the direction of the court. . . . . . |