OCR Text |
Show . . GENTILE MERCHANTS IN PERIL. The Gentile merchants of Salt Lake and the Jew merchants are Gentiles In thisl&?-should take half an hour, ea'ch day for reflection, until such time as they shall have come to a realization of the more than Egyptian bondage Into which they are entering. x So far as possible, the patronage of the Mormon people Is kept from them by the advice of the church leaders. So effective Is this counsel as that no 'Gentile 'Gen-tile firm In Salt Lake could runts business busi-ness one month In the year on all tho Mormon custom .which It receives. As a rule, Gentile merchants have as many Mormon clerks as Gentile clerks. These Mormon clerics pay, or arc bup posed to pay, their tithes to the church, and this tlthe-paylng practice becomes in the long run an equally-diffused community burden. The tithes paid Indirectly In-directly by the Gentile merchants flow into the great secret treasury of the church leaders, and may be utilized at any time to establish or to reinforce business Institutions In competition with these same Gentiles. Gentile merchants, In addition to paying pay-ing for the support of their own churches nnd charities, are addressed almost every day In the year by Mormon Mor-mon applicants who desire donations for the building of ward meeting-houses, for charities, for the sending of missionaries mission-aries abroad, and for t,he countless other purposes skillfully devised by the leaders lead-ers to drain Gentile and Mormon alike of their money. If a Mormon committee waKs upon a. Gentile merchant and' asks him for a donation for any purpose, it never occurs oc-curs to him tha,t it Is necessary to conceal con-ceal the visit or to dlsgu'lsa his contribution. contribu-tion. He is quite willing to- have the . r committee seen and to havo his donation known. He Is In no danger, of losing any Gentile Gen-tile patronage oh this account. J3it If a Gentile committee waits upon him for any purpose likely to be In the slightest degree offensive to the church autocrats or the Deseret News, ho looks fearfully around nnd desires that they will mako an appointment elsewhere; and if he concludes to contribute any money or service to the cause, he asks that his participation be kept a secret. He fears that if any Mormon, clerk, or even errand boy, In his employ, should learn the facts, ho would bo especially marked as an object of church hatred and the little patronage now bestowed upon him by Mormons would be withdrawn. with-drawn. There are some notable exceptions, where Gentile merchants show their courage and Independence, and where Mormon clerks and errand boys do not run with tales from their Gentile employers em-ployers to ecclesiastical dignitaries. But In the foregoing paragraphs wc have stated the general rule, nnd the facts there recorded are verified by the knowledge of nearly all the Gentiles who have had many years of residence In this community. Are the Gentiles of Salt Lake willing to allow this condition to continue? If continued ll will grow. The fear of today will become- the terror of tomorrow. to-morrow. Gentiles who dread to have Mormons know that they have given their own time, or sympathy, or money, to the support of causes which should be dear to them, will find themselves very soon as much prie9t-rldden as are the Mormons themselves. They know that we have not overstated the case. Then let them shake off the shackles while yet they have strength. Such pestilent espionage nnd danger as the Gentile merchants now Incur arc unworthy un-worthy of an American community. If the Gentile does not throttle these wrongs now, they will throttle him when they grow stronger. It Is not The Tribune's purpose to counsel discord. This paper believes In the fraternal spirit of community life; but It does not believe that any fraternity frater-nity can exist where all the concessions are demanded from one side where one class In the community plays the tyrant and the other class Is obliged to play the sycophant. 'It Is because we believe in fraternity, in equal rights In this community, that we now direct the attention of Gentile merchants to the peril In which they stand. It Is because we believe the peril In which they stand today will become be-come absolute ruin for them in a few years If unchecked, that we ask them to ponder dally upon this situation until they shall have arrived at the deter- J mlnatlon to shake off both the dread and the danger by an assertion of their Independence as American citizens. |