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Show AX IMAGIXARY CASE. A Trohst of a ScanJumlan Against a Scurrilous Article. Bhlcr Deserct Jetcf My attention was yesterday called to an editorial, which appeared iu the Salt Lake Tr.dune of December 2nd, and which was devoted to a supposed case from Copenhagen. I was earnestly asked, in behalf of many Scandinavians in this city, to enter a protest against the slander-ous slander-ous insinuations contained therein. It is with some hesitation that I endeavor en-deavor to do so, because It Is well known among the respectable part of the community, that the paper named has long ago placed itself, loth witli regard to mirality and literary qualifications, far below the criticism of any gentleman. Its products belong to what in Scandinavia Scandi-navia is known as "gutter-litera-ture,"and It is always more or less unpleasant to stir the contents of receptacles far filth; Still, the exposure ex-posure of tlie iroducl referred to may assist in opening the eyes of . !, ...j 11. nu iirtlfe" quarter from which such an article emanated: The urticle reads thus: Jmagino a ca.v: A man is at work in the slums of Copenhagen, he Ins a wife and IHe children; thev breakfast every morning oa black bread and a hule piece of bologba sausage; they know nothing of any other eountrv; except their owns through the dull brain of the man there has more than once stolen a thought that if he were to die it would lie a hard time for the wire and children. A Mormon missionary mis-sionary comes along: he tells that man if he will only have a change or heart; If ho will only accept the conditions of the Mormon fait:, he will bo helped to another land; that the Mormon Church there will secure for him a farm where he can raise his pigs his chlck.ns, his vegetables, his fruit and where the everlasting fear of starvation star-vation will be taken from his soul. All that will be required from hira in return, will Ihj obedience to tbo Kiuer wh eh gives him all thU, and it will take his note, moreover, more-over, fur what h advanced, and on easy terms ho can pay it up and he and his children after bim will bo land-holders. That man, that assisted emigrant with his wife and children are brought over and put down In halt Lake City, They know nothing of this country, it is. not posslblofor them to learn anything of it; they aro given nothing to read but Mormon publication., they are taught rrom Ilic kiart that their full obedience must bo to their creed." After some more language in the same style, the concluding words are: "VVo would mako It impossible for such men to lay their hands on the American ballot, and we witul.l .In it on tbo same principle tha' or government govern-ment is now forginz guns and building build-ing lattlo ships, on the principle that every nation has a right to bo jealous of its Mvcreign power and suspicious ot every mau who will not givo to it true and faithful allegiance." Tlie lulent of the article Is to convey con-vey the Idea that the Church Is made up of Ignoramuses who are willing to sell their souls aud their boJies for a small consideration aud that such idiots are transported from Denmark, and this is a ground why suth should be denied the privilege of citizenship. In order to support this groundless assumption an un-suppusable un-suppusable case is supposed. It never has had any existeuco in reainy, nor can it have any. Xow, let me remark here, that no warfare is easier than that which Is waged against imaginary enemies. It requires no heroism to conjure up a foe and to attack that spectre. It Is sometimes done by those deplorable deplor-able beings w ho have no heroism whatever, but whose brains have been soaked in whisky ami rr-mratra rr-mratra tiy trie-fumes or frm7""u"h-tll frm7""u"h-tll delirium tremers has taken hold of them. Vef,in this kind of warfare the writer of that Imaginary Copenhagen Copen-hagen case engages. He modestly only mentlom one case, but he, no doubt, sees In his wildly excited visions scores of teem. How they hunt him! I can see them iu my mind's eye, those Idiots from the 'slums" of Copenhagen, Copen-hagen, where they crawl round him, grinning at him, haunting him, endeavoring to steal the ballot bal-lot from him. nnd sink him into the grave of Korah, Da'han and Ablram. And he is fighting forhis life and liberty, nnd the alvatlon of the J -Dmitry. Djn -Quixotic on his famoualtosinante was not more iu earnest, when he fought against the wind mills, taking tbem to be giants, than is this scribe in fighting the case he Ins conjured up before him. Thcve who are familiar with Copenhagen Co-penhagen and with work of the missionaries of the Church when abroad, know that there is not the Ieat sembl tuce of truth in that imaginary im-aginary case. Copenhagen, the beautiful capital of Deumark, has no "lums" at all, roiinarei! to the to-called "slums" of New Vork and some lanrer cities I ct the United States. Those who I want to go tn the- 'slums" somewhere some-where m S3 the mark, it they go to Coiuhagi ti. The la'-orcw of Copenhagen are a respectable class of people, every. I thing considered. True,they have ' "1HHBBBBHHHHBB not such liberal wages as the lal-orers lal-orers have In this country, but they are, as a rule, able to find something liesldes "black brea 1 and sau-age" to eat. And mere than that, fur a few cents they aro able to erjoy various kinds of ennobling amusements. amuse-ments. In their jsibl'c gardens, their TIvoII, their rich art" collcc tlons, they have means of enjoying and educating themselves to a degree de-gree that might be envied by many laborers in America. And they do enjoy themselves. "How did you enjoy yourself?" Is a common question ques-tion In Copenhagen instead of "How do you do?" a sufficient indication of the prevalent spirit. And one thing is certain, you never find the gallant Scandinavians banding themselves together by the scores in tlie dark ot night and with sticks, guns and pistols attacking harmless travelers, whipping unarmed, defenseless de-fenseless men and women, like pco-fIe pco-fIe areding in some jarts of Atner-ca. Atner-ca. The Scandinavians used to stand one to ten some times in open battle, as at Xarva, for Instance, or later at Dylbel Lut they did not use to fhtht like howling wolves, 7ioune fashion. Iu Copenhagen a man can walk the streets without fear of having a pistol thrust into his face while a confederate robs him of his loose cash, as is lliecafo in Salt Lake City, under Tribune Libera rule, which has taken away tlie world-wide fair fame of this municipality for good order, peace and sobriety. They are the idiots and corruptlonlsts unworthy tc w ield the sacred ballot. Copenhagen is not an isolated place. It !, on the contrary, a kind of rendezvous for the nations of the earth, who are numerously represented repre-sented there. The result is that the poiulatiou of that city arc well posted oil lheaUalrsof the world. It is not uncommon to meet laliorcrs there who speak, fluently, Danish, German aud French and who, therefore, have the means of a many-sided education at their com maud. "Mormon" missionaries rever Induce In-duce anybody to embrace the Gospel, Gos-pel, by holding out temporal advantages. ad-vantages. The "Imaginary cas," in supposing it, is altogether imaginary. imagi-nary. Thete is not a man iu this Territory who cau truthfully say that he was induced to come here for the sake of temtjorary advantages advant-ages held cut by missionaries. Trials, difficulties and persecution are what the missionaries promise their converts. con-verts. And those who have come here have come notwithstanding till', because they were willing and able to live, not for food alone, like plgo, but for a grand Idea, n principle. princi-ple. Hut, this, of course, Is too high to be comprehended by a Tribune scribe. It is not, as a rule, the poorest and most ignorant that embrace the (iospel aud emigrate to Utah. Many of these emigrants from Scandlua vla.whom the muJ-sllngcr assaults, have brought w lilt them thousands of dollars which they have invested here in order to cultivate the soil and be able to sustain tlie American Ameri-can government and perpetuate its liberal Institutions. And they will continue to do so and to teach their children after them to do so, notwithstanding not-withstanding theabuse of the vilest paper on earth. But it is no use to tell the plainest truths to an autagonl-t whose strength is falsification and who has, evidently, reduced "lying to a science," as the fellow said, who had been studying theology at the university of Kiel. Hut one word should be said to the Scandinavians of this Territory, no matter what their religion may be. We have seen some of tho results of the ilii-y of the Irtbune. For years aud years, that paper has labored to bring about a ttatcof af-filrs af-filrs suitable to its own spirit. It has mentioned the means of reform which it thought desirable. And it appears to have succeeded to some extent. Aud now we have arrived a', a situation, where, right in Salt Lake City, peaceable citizens citi-zens have reason to fear for their lives, if they go one block from Main Street after dark, and may even fear to go to rest in their own houses during the night. We have deserts of Arabia than to walk in the oil streets of this city. And yet that taper does not seem to be satis fied. It clamors for more lawlessness. lawless-ness. It nrooses to strike the ballot bal-lot from tliu Itands of honest men, In order, apparently, that tho whole community may be left without protection. In view of this, is it npt time for honest men aud women to protest in earnest? Being myself a Scandinavian, Scandi-navian, I ask people, no matter what religious views they have, if the time lias not como for them unitedly to trample these lies under their feet as they would do poisonous poison-ous snakes? To me it is Incomprehensible Incompre-hensible how anyone who has any regard for honesty can support tliat paper in any way, either by buying it or advertizing Iu it or even patronize those that do support It. No one would support a robber, nor would a consistent thief expect to lie patronized by his victims. Hut, after all, what is the difference between be-tween a hold-up who takes a few dollars from me, and a man who in an editorial office spends his energy In endeavoring to deprive me of my constitutional rights, .my liberty? The balance falls In favor of the fo.tpal. a Scandinavian. |
