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Show for sinister reasons they are seeking to oppress a patient, pa-tient, religious sect. . It is not jet a year ago since Joseph F. Smith declared that the Mormons could not have done in any other country what they have done in the United Uni-ted States. If he meant anything by that; he meant that every other Government' of civilization would have stopped .them in their career long ago; and when in this connection religious persecution is talked, it is the talk of dishonest men, for the people of the United States as a rule, and especially the Gentiles of Utah, do iot care what religion any man professes, so long as he keeps in mind that religious liberty is like personal liberty or the liberty of .the press, it means liberty subject to righteous laws, and we may talk about harmony, we may talk about good fellowship until all the chickens come home to roost, but so! long as the Mormon chiefs persist in their political . control of their people, so long as those high officers pick out the men they want for office, and the thousands of the rank and file obey them and vote for them, this contention will go on and people may cry, "Peace, peace," but there will be no peace. . , All the Gentiles of Utah ask is what the Mormon chiefs voluntarily ten years ago agreed should be. If they had but stated then that they wanted Statehood, State-hood, but that when they obtained Statehood thd word of one apostle, backed by the approval of the president of this church, would have more influence than all the laws and regulations and customs of the free people of the United States, and that they would exercise that power politically, they would not have obtained Statehood. So really when a Mormon cries out for the sake of business, "Let us have peace," what he in effect says is, "No matter if we have dishonored the Government, Gov-ernment, no matter if we have played false to the Government and the Gentiles of Utah, no matter if we continue in that same spirit to control the elections elec-tions and the Legislatures, why cannot we in business busi-ness meet together in peace, why cannot we through the newspapers give notice to the world that all differences dif-ferences are healed here?" The differences are irreconcilable. It is in the power of Joseph F. Smith alone to make perfect peace here in Utah in twenty-four hours, and to do it he ' would have but to give an order officially which he ten years ago agreed should henceforth be the rule of this State. Sometimes when there are difficulties, there are wrongs on both sides. There is no such thing here. Either the Mormons when they subordinate the government gov-ernment of this State to the church are wrong, utterly ut-terly wrong, so wrong that no compromise can be made with them, or the Gentiles who demand the keeping of pledges and obedience to the laws are wrong.- Let a candid world judge THAT GETTING TOGETHER. Periodically we have a call for the people of this city to come closer together. We are told that the business of the city suffers because there are knockers knock-ers here who complain of business conditions and who by their complaints , retard business; that we never will get along until people unite, man to man, ignoring all questions of difference, all pulling together to-gether for the public good. When men have differences, if both are well disposed, dis-posed, they seek to reconcile them. When differences differ-ences in business are irreconcilable, an appeal is made to the courts. When the difference is a matter of principle, then there has to be some criterion through which the right can be reached. Unfortunately there has been a contention here for a great many years, and on every public occasion occa-sion there are speakers to get up and tell how deplorable de-plorable it is that there ,is such contention and to appeal to the people to drop their differences and come together as one great brotherhood. Now, the differences inUtah are irreconcilable, except a basis can be agreed upon which will be satisfactory sat-isfactory to all factions. Whenever a Gentile has raised his voice here in opposition to the unlawful acts which have been practiced here from the first, he has been accused of a desire to create discord and dissension and a willingness -to persecute his . neighbors. Now, if what his neighbors are doing is lawful, if it is according to the spirit of American institutions, then the Gentiles are rightly accused, but if the majority here are defying the laws, are living determined to be a law unto themselves, then to kick is not only right, but it is necessary. ; We believe the average Gentile of Utah is as generous and kindly a man as there is in the world. We believe all he asks is that the laws shall be cordially cor-dially and cheerfully obeyed. We mean those laws whieh are essential to the peace of a community, vand with that, proper respect for the Constitution and Government of the United fetates, and we protest pro-test against this ancient charge' that the Gentiles are a contentious people. v What is unlawful in Mormonism, what is contrary con-trary to the Constitution and laws of the United States, has kept the Mormons in trouble for three: score years and ten. There was something about it that the people of Ohio could not stand, there was something about it which brought the system in direct di-rect conflict with' the people and the authorities of Missouri, and it was the same way and intensified in Illinois.- - . ; ' Now, so long as every other creed in the United States is, undisturbed, it seems to us it is not only wrong, but it is infamous to declare that the people of Ohio, of Missouri and Illinois and the Gentiles of Utah are an nijust and ungenerous people, and that |
