| Show PRESIDENT WOODRUFF SPEAKS Ills 1icTrs itcganiiii the Recent Proceedings in Conrt Following is the full text of tho statements made by President j ford Woodruff to nn Associated Press reporterand as iftibllalicd Iu the eastern preism SALT LKC Cm Nov 221SS9 President Wiiford Woodruff of Wort the Mormon Churchin time course of an interview today expressed the following I views concerning the investigation now taking place in the Third District Court ariing from the application of a Mormon for naturalization President Wiiford Woodruff said You must understand tint tills I the periodical antIMormon sensation sen-sation which we are accustomed to expect in November Congress meet in December and it is presumed pre-sumed tliat the tiMiil efforts In lie made to secure legislation against the Mormons Of course tW cannot b accomplished unless the ublic mind is first prepared for it l n addition to z might explain we r on the eve of an important municipal election here in which the anti Monnon party by preventing pre-venting tIes naturalization of Mormons Mor-mons and in other improper ways hope to be successful UeicrterButjPreMdentWoodruD i whatcanyoufiaj ty1S to the claim made before the court that membership in the Mormon Church is Incompatible Incom-patible with good citizenship I can truthfully say there I absolutely abso-lutely nothing in the Mormon religion that is nut consistent with time most patriotic devotion to the government of the United States revclatlonsand commandments to the Church require tint the Constitution and laws of time laud haJ b upheld I is also a part of our belief tint a time will come when this country will bedbtraited bj departures from the spirit and letter of the Coiititiiliouand when general lawlessness willpreviil and that w hen tliat condition thill 1 arrive ar-rive tlie Mormon people will step forward and take an active part in rescuing the nation from ruin Asa As-a people the Mormons hive the hIghest veneration for the institutions institu-tions of time Jtcpublic There are among our community quite a number num-ber of dcscendcnts of tiie revolutionary revolution-ary fathers who fought and bled to establish our popular government Reporter 15ut MrWooJrufftol specific what about the claim that tliu Priesthood or chief authorities of the Church assert or usurp the right to control the Mormon people Iu ill affairs their trmjioral Including political President Woodruff am time pnnt head of the Church and I do not make any such claim I would b impossible to exercise it if I did The Mormon peoplo would not lolemte any HichbK > lutimIt is true the authorities of time Church have taken a great deal of Interest in the temporal affairs ef the people and the results are apparent everywhere every-where One is tliat the great majority ma-jority of the Mormons own their own homes The leading men among them have been mostly men of experience accustomed to wrestle with the crude element Their advice and direction to the I I Iu temporal JII Iiae I therefore been of great alue About political matters the charge of undue Interference is absurd Elections are conducted tinder a strictly secret ballot system E that no man knous how his neighbor votes All tlie management of ele tons down to the smallest details Is in time hands of the officers of the United States Government and their appointee True the Mormons ire to a considerable degree united in their political affir This i largely due to their being constantly and vindictively assailed by a small minority ih Utah who have mouglmt to wrest the control of public affairs from the hands rf the majority They have thus been driven together gether by a common interest and compelled to distinguish their friends from their enemies Itcporter One of the alms of the proceedings now going on in court Is to prove that there 30 something antagonistic t the government in the Mormon Endowments Whit about that charge President oodruilt have already al-ready said tliat there is nothing of that kind in any part or phase ot Mormonism I ought t know about that as I am one of the oldest members of the Church A good deal is being made of a fonn of prayer based upon two verses in the sixth chapter of the cvclatlons uf SL John a contained in thee I 2 the-e Testament I relates to i praying that God might avenge the blood of the prophets An attempt hint I see been made to connect this with avenging the death of Joseph and Uymm Smith and t have reft reuco t tills nation I can have no such application a the Endowments were given long 1 before the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and have not been changed Tills nation or naton government govern-ment has never been charged by time Mormon people with the assassination as-sassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith as I is well known the murder mur-der was the act of a local mob disguised guised Reporter Then there is nothing In the cry about blood atonement President Woodruff Well there I this Time foundation of our religious reli-gious faith la belief In the atoning blood of Christ through I h3n the resurrection will b brought about We believe in the scriptural do trine who bcddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed but we also believe that all executions for murder should be under the law of the land and by its officers only Reporter What al out the statements state-ments made by two or three apostate = t Mormon witnesses l the effect that the Endowmentceremonies involved in-volved the dcatli penalty upon tho e who leave the Church and disobey the Priesthood President Woodruff Well there I no accounting for the bitterness and untruthfulness of some men who have been connected with an organization especially a religious one and have turned against i All their former sweetness turns t vinegar and gall The Catholic and other churches have had much to contend with in that Jine If It were notaserioJssjbject time position of such men would b amusing I I s ridiculous After they have been fighting the Church for from fifteen to twentyfive years they n living witnesses to the falsity of their own statements The investigation in shows tliat no such penalty progress Sel pnty his ever been inflicted Many e Mormon n to honorable to make such horrible and unwarranted uc assertions 1 I is I unjurt to judge 1 tliurch from the statements of its relentless cuemles |
