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Show THE GRAFTER'S REASONS. An "Inquirer after truth" wants to know how The Tribune construed that pertinent expression of the Deseret News, wherein It says that "under present pres-ent conditions" the church ought not to be expected to pay the expense of additional addi-tional buildings for the church university. univer-sity. It Is possible that the News means that the tithes have fallen off, or are In danger of falling off, because of the belief by tithe payers that Joseph F. Smith Is merely grafting them. It Is possible that Joseph F. Smith does not care to make any further Investment In-vestment of the funds under hla personal per-sonal control In buildings In Utah. He has recently shown a strong predilection predilec-tion for estates In foreign countries and for negotiable securities which can be carried abroad. It Is posslblo that the Mormon people have not yet been "bled to tho last dollar," dol-lar," that they are still possessed of a vestige of individual Independence bf character, and that Joseph F. Smith hopes to Impoverish them to the point where they will neither dare to act or speak, or even think, except as they are Instructed from the pulpit and by the teachers. v The Tribune believes that all three of the foregoing reasons combine In the mind of the hlerarch for the demand that the people shall glvo their property, prop-erty, "under present conditions," to tho church university. Undoubtedly there are many members of the church who are now refusing, and many more who In tho near future will refuse, to pay tithes so long as the chief grafter refuses re-fuses to make an accounting of the funds which he blasphemously collects In the name of tho Most High. Those members of the church recognize tho truth of the sworn testimony given by Rulon S. Wells, a member of the hierarchy, to the effect that Joseph F. Smith does not hold the properties which are In his possession a3 trustee-Inj-trust for the benefit of members of the church that the members of tho church have no Interest whatever in his possessions, which have been purchased, pur-chased, by contributed tithes. Undoubtedly, Undoubt-edly, too, Joseph F. Smith contemplates the possibility of personal removal to some other land, to which he could not transfer for his own aggrandizement any church edifices, but to which he can transport money and negotiable securities. se-curities. As stated to The Tribune some time ago, by a Mormon of sixty years standing, Smith had one exile In comparative com-parative poverty, and In the future he proposes to be In possession of a principality prin-cipality In an alien land and the necessary neces-sary Income for the maintenance of a regal state. Undoubtedly and finally Smith realizes that ho cannot handle a Mormon possessed of worldly Independence Inde-pendence as easily as ho can handle a Mormon in poverty; nnd therofore.lt la a part of his plun, as remarked by that outspoken preacher, J. Golden Kimball, to bleed Mormons to their last drop of financial blood. These are the "present conditions." as we believe, to which the Deseret News makes such significant reference. It remains re-mains for tho future to determine, how far Mormon dupes and Gentile sycophants syco-phants will fulfill, the venal and tyran- nlcal purpose of the greatest grafter of those times, Joseph F. Smith, the profane pro-fane tithe gatherer. |
