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Show NOT OPPOSED TO LIQUOR. Editor The Tribune: In view of what has been said by the Mormon church or-g-nn and speakors upon the liquor question. ques-tion. 1 would like to have a few questions ques-tions put to them. If thev havo always opposed tho liquor traffic, as thev state, why have saloons always thrived in Utah towns, composed almost entirely of Mormons? Furthermore, why did tho church teams In eurlv days haul loads of whisky across the plains, whllo women and children In the same trains walked? Brlsrham Young owned the only place in Salt Lake whcro whisky could bo bought. Thero aro hundreds of the old settlers who can certify to these things. It appears to mo that it Is rather late in the dnv for the church to go on record as being so opposed to liquCr. ' G. P. Albion. Idaho, February I. 1000. From tho nature, of tho questions submitted by our correspondent, wo would judge that ho is thoroughly capable capa-ble of answering thorn himself. But. there may bo no harm m stating what would bo a truthful general reply. The Mormon church has uovor been opposed to tho liquor traffic so long as tho church itself could rcalizo a profit thorcin, or while favorite "sons of Israol" wero ablo to mako privato fortunes in the business. Tho fact is that the church as represented 'in its leadors, for they are in effect tho church has always encouraged tho manufacture aud salo of spirituous liquors in Utah. Whilo it is not today, as it was of old, engaged in the manufacture manu-facture of intoxicating beverages, it is an active agent for distribution of such liquors throughout this intcr-mountaiu intcr-mountaiu county. Its chief supply depot stilL remains in Salt Lake, and is known as the Z. C- M. I. drug department. de-partment. Tho advertisement contained con-tained in tho Doscro't News, calling attention at-tention to the different wares and commodities com-modities for sale by this parent mercantile mer-cantile institution, often gives the location lo-cation of the place of business occupied occu-pied by its drug department. It is known by The Tribune that there wero but two objects in kcoping the mercantile mer-cantile and tho drug branches separate here. Ono was to satisfy the scrupies of what President Joseph F. Smith de-lisivoly de-lisivoly calls "pious" Mormons, and the olhor was to prevent somo of the old-time saintly cloth-measurers, ribbon-snippers and cheese-cutters, from becoming "soused" while attending to thoir daily duties. With respect to the matter of compelling com-pelling women and children to walk across tho plains in tho early da3's, while the "Lord's" horses, mules and oxen dragged barrels of whisky along with tho emigrant trains, it is only necessary to remind our correspondent that there is such a thing as physical impossibility notwithstanding the wonderful assumptions of the prophets as to their ability to perform miracles. It was quite impossible for the teams to haul both the women and children and the whisky, so what woro tho poor follows to do? Abandon tho whisky on tho plains7 Not on 3'our life! So tho inuocents wero compolled to trudge the weary way across tho deserts to accommodate the guzzle of tho higher priesthood. Besides, you know, if the intoxicating stuff had been left on tho plains the Indians would have swooped down upon it, and the Govornmout would have prosocutcd the brethren for having given liquor to the redskins. Thero are many reasons why tho booze should have been first considered in the matter of transportation in those days, not the least of wlilch were the appetites of the prophets and their love for tho profits. This latest hypocritical move of the church, wc beg to inform our correspondent, corre-spondent, was- solely in the interests of tho political schemes of tho church leaders and their henchmen. That the affair is turning out rather disastrously disastrous-ly to them, and i's not achieving the results anticipated, does not chango tho nature of the movement at all. It was a dishonest, political scheme, and thoro was never any intention that it was to apply to the betterment, or the uplift of tho community. As usual, ouly tho interests of tho hierarchy wore considered, and tho people we'ro to be worked to that end just as tho women and children wero walked across tho plains to satisfy tho desiron of tho chief priests of tho old days, for tho whisky that was hauled. |