Show AS SEE US it is refreshing to read the candid and honest opinions of men more so is this a fact in this day when nearly every abing that is said of the mormon community savors of falsehood and venom I 1 it has almost become a fixed anle with some wr itera that if they pen anything concerning utah and the cormons mormons it must not be favorable so far as the people is concerned but of such a nature as will meet the approval of tho public opinion what that is none know 0 well 23 this community who have been so wilfully maligned by thae they have in most cases courteously and hospitably entertained it is therefore refreshing to know that there are some men who care naught lor policy but who in face oi all odus daro arata what they know to be the truth last fall an excursion 0 dakota editors cams to who were wonderfully delighted without one exception with utah and what is more pleasing with the mormon people about whom they had heard so much of a discouraging nature ona of these men was editor E bates of the bloomington courier here is what he says on the question salt lake city is famous the world over as the ecclesiastic capital of the mormon territory of the leaders of the church who selected this locality for the future home of the followers of the faith were certainly either possessed of very fine judgment or wore remarkably lucky in their selection for at that time practically nothing was known of modern irrigation and tho land in its natural state does not appear capable of producing anything much of this hitherto barren land holever ho vever is now being reclaimed by building canals for the purpose of ca crying water for irrigating and ail the land between salt lake city and the lake will at no distant day ba under cultivation if there is a spot in the world where the wilderness wilder has been made to blossom as the rose it is this portion of utah reclaimed from alie great american desert and there is probably not another place in the world which is more perfectly scalf sustaining K in every respect probably not another where the inhabitants can enjoy so many of the comforts and luxuries of life all oi bliem the product their own boil salt lake city is nicely laid out in lots of ten acres each las nice shaded streets feet in width through each of which runs a stream of water from tho neighboring mountains in general is perhaps nothing strikingly remarkable about the city itself enless it might be the general air of quiet which pravades pro vades it in that respect more nearly resemy linsan overgrown over grown rural village than a city of population this feature makes it an especially desirable location for those inclined to lead a quiet life without giving up the pleasures and advantages tobe enjoyed in a city oi considerable sid erable size another noticeable feature 13 the small number of saloons in proportion to the number of business houses and the absence of drunkenness not one case coming under our notice while there the features of special interest to ahe tourist however are the mormon people themselves their customs religious belief and the structures they have erected for use in religious service As to the customs of these people I 1 should say that they are as and law abiding a class of citizens with of course the one exception polygamy as one is liable to meet with anywhere and in regard to this matter if the statements of those who live there are to be relied upon the general impression as to the serious consequences of the practice is very exaggerated it seems that but a very small per centon cent of the mormon pop ever practiced polygamy even bedora the enforcement of tho law against it at any rate the dakota editorial party entertained an altogether different differ ant opinion of the mormon people when they left than before they visited it ie urged against the cormons mormons that they control the territorial and county offices of utah and a great many are so radical as to urge that they should be dis franchised on account of their religious belief but this idea originated I 1 chinkin the minds of the office sticking gentiles who are in the and cannot get an office as long aa the mor mons vote it is not altogether improbable that utah would be settled by gentiles and her resources developed dev sloped much faster thau they are but for the misleading statements made by gentile residents of that territory my impression ot the mormon people was that they are a quiet people willing to attend to their own business and would be pleased to hava others do the earn by them I 1 noticed that while the population is very largely mormon only one seventh if I 1 remember rightly i the population of the city being gentile Gen lile still they live there in perfect deaca and safety mor mons and gentiles mingling together in their every dav business those who salt lake city with the expectation of seeing an altogether different class of human beings from anything els thoy had ever seen and I 1 find aber are a great many who do expect this are doomed to serious disappointment we were told before reaching the city that cormons mormons wore dirty and illiterate and were in all ways different from other people we fouad however that there is no possible way of diabin g cormons mormons from gentiles except by asking they are 1 the same as other people except they have a different belief just as the catholics haye a different belief than the protestants Prote stanta the methodists from tho presbyterians rians etc |