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Show 1 SILLY OLAIM OF PERSECUTION. In a curious jumble of inconsequential nonsense, -tho News undertakes to reply re-ply to our question, wlvy, if the Saint.3 aro satisfied with th.o Idaho Supreme Court decision and with the test oath in the Constitution of Idaho, do ' they cry out that they aro boing persecuted perse-cuted because of the suit brought to enforce the Constitutional provision. The organ attempts to answer by sn3'-ing sn3'-ing that :'no one has ever claimed that the demand that voters conform to Constitutional requirements is persecution." perse-cution." Well, then, what is tho talk all. about? If tho demand to enforce the Idaho Constitutional requirements is not persecution, .then thero is nothing to say against it; because that is all that had been demanded. And if tho Mormons arc satisfied, thoy have no right to raise the 'cy that the- arc being persecuted; for Iho essence of non-persecution is thai, those who concede con-cede themselves to be persecuted 3ro content, and if they are content there is no persecution. Pursuing its theme, however, the News rails at the "attack" upon Judge Budge. That "attack," how-over, how-over, was merely by way of bringing before the court Iho case. It was in no particular a. personal aggression against him, but was brought on the principle involved, he being a person upon which tho caso could couven-iontly couven-iontly "be brought and the issue presented. pre-sented. The News rants, in this case, that those who brought this suit against Budge "became persecutors of the same caliber as those ancient cou-spirators cou-spirators at the court of Babylon who caused Daniel to be thrown to the lions because he used to pray to Jehovah." There is logic for you; there is sense. Those who seek to enforce the supreme law of a State in this frco American union of Slates are engaged iu the sarao sort of work as those who caused Daniel to bo throwu into the lion's den! The courts of this country, therefore, arc' the, instrumentalities instrumen-talities through which the equivalent; equiva-lent; of throwing a prophet of God to the lions is lo "bo perpetrated! A line opinion tho church organ must haver indeed, of American courts and American law! But there is just about as much sense to this parallel drawn b.y the News as thore is to i Is usual crooked aiicl absurd arguments and mock logic. Passing from the Tdaho "'persecutor's," "'perse-cutor's," the organ comes to thoso of Utah; and it claims that They violated the general understanding on which the Manifesto of President Woodruff was ' issued and sustained by the people, that peace and harmony wero to prevail on the ccsnation of plural marriages mar-riages with the sanction of the church. A fine, tricky, evasive way of putting put-ting it, sure enough. The general understanding was that the manifesto of Presidcit Woodruff was to be given vital force and effect. That manifesto, 1 as testified to b3' President Woodruff Wood-ruff himself, President Suow, and President Joseph P. Smith, who is now the church ruler, wa3 not only that future pohgainous marriages wore to be stoppcd,v but; that polygamous living, koown to the law as unlawful cohabitation, was also prohibited 03' that manjfosto. The Iricfc.y dodge and evasion cm-braced cm-braced in the words "with the sanction sanc-tion of tho church" hns no place in Ihir. understanding. The )lain understanding under-standing and the pledge ' made were that, the law should be obeyed, both the law against pol3-gamous marriages and the law against unlawful cohabitation. co-habitation. And that was the express pledge of tho petition for amnesty, and the condition upou which amnesty was granted. The shameless violation of this understanding and pledge has been the fruitful Hource of trouble ever since that treasonable breach of honor, of good faith, and of pledges became manifest. And how do they enter into these pob'gamous marriages, which are an exclusively church affair, without the sanction of the church? The News, pursuing its subject, sny?,: : "They broke tho pledges and started a crusade to deprive the people of Utah of representation iu the United-States ticnate. " Which means, if it means anything at all, that Apostle .Snioot is tho onl3' man fit to be in the Unilcd Stales Senate, and that if he is thrown out. Utah is deprived of representation repre-sentation in that boty. This i3 truly an. enlightening proposition, and one that is now first presented. Whether the people of this State a.1; largo indorse in-dorse this sort of insane folly or not, we wish to enter our distinct and emphatic em-phatic protest against the proposition. proposi-tion. There are plcnly of good men in Utah who could represent the State in the Senate aside from Reed Smool. There will bo plcut' of candidates for that position after Peed Smoot is "dead. And Utah will not be deprived of its representation in the United Slates Scnale, no matter what may happen to Apostle Smoot. Pursuing- its parable, the cliurch organ rumbles along: They told falsehood after falHchood about polygamy and church interference In politics, to sot the country aflame, hoping hop-ing that the church would be consumed In the general conflagration. They became persecutors just as much as the inquisitors inquisi-tors who consigned inuocnce lo the names, during the darker ages. There has been nothing told "about polygamy and church interference in politics" by auj-body comparable with' the startling and shocking statements on both subjects made by President Joseph F. Smith when he was on the stand in the Smoot hearing in Washington. Wash-ington. So depraved, shocking, and horrible wero those statements that tho Deseret News, the church organ, has persistently refused to print that lestimon3 President Smith, at that time, told a tale of shocking immorality, im-morality, of depraved, Jcchcrousncss, that one would hardly expect to hear out of the lowest dens of vice. His admissiou that Peed Smoot had to rc-ccivo rc-ccivo his permission before he could become a candidate for the Senate was direct and positive; and in view of it, and of a multitude of othor well-known well-known facts, one has to he a hardened liar, indeed, to den' the interference of the church in politics. Working itaelf up into a. fine frenzy of rage, the News sa3' of tho Utah "persecutors," lhat These hoped lo saz the icllgion .which the Latter-day Salnt3 teach conquered. Like the sorpent In the Apocalypse thev hoped to drown in a flood of falsehood the woman clothed with the sun, adorned with the moon, and walking among the stars. Some of them nro honest enough, ; though woefully mistaken in their purposes pur-poses ns well ns methods, especially In their unholy alliance -with grafters and corrupters of morals. It is o'nly neccssaiy to sa3', as to the first allegation, that there ia no one who at an3' lime has ever undertaken to make airy war upon "the religion which the Latter-day Saints teach." But wc wish to protest against the garbling garb-ling and stupid folly with which- tho scripturo reference is treated in the rcforence to the Apocalypse. The verse in the Apocalypse which is referred re-ferred to is evidently as follows: And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with tho sun. and the moon under her feet, and upon iier head a crown of twelve stars. In that the scene is located in heaven, not upon earth. The woman clothed with the sun is not "adorned with the moon," but has the moon under her feet. She is not "walking among: tho stars," but has upon her head a crown of twelve stars. It was not a serpent that was tormenting the woman, but a great red dragon, und to drown her was not his threat. All of which garbling shows an astonishing lack of familiarity with tho Scriptures Scrip-tures iu an organ that professes to" bo the spokesman for a great sect aud a numerous, religious people. The humorous phase of it comes in whero tho Mormon church is likened -to the women of tho Apocahpse. As a matter mat-ter of fact, the women of the Mormon Mor-mon church are absolutely unrecognized unrecog-nized official-. Tho governing body of the church is composed of a set of hoary old lechers, treasonable rascals, wh6 refuse to account for the money that a confiding people give to them, and who deny all privileges to women, except the privilege of obedience to tho will, purposes, desires, and lusts of these self-constituted- authorities. It would be humorous, indeed, to consider con-sider this gang of usurping, crafty priests as a woman clothed with the sun, or ns haviug any heavenly attributes at-tributes whatever, If it were not such a gross imposture, such a heart-breaking, tremendous villainy that is perpetrated perpe-trated upon a credulous aud confiding peple, to their betrayal, robbe-. and abuse. |