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Show t 1 fl Detainer ot utan Answered. V. S. Peet who is laboring in the cast to overcome the slanders spread abroad against this state by the Salt Lake Tribune and a few fanatical preachers .is doing good work for Utah. A short time ago in the town of Gloucester, Pa., the H" Dclos f Fink, described as a Presbyterian missionary, gave a lcctur in the Presbyterian church of that place. Mr. Fink told the usual blood curdling curdl-ing fables about Utah and the Mor-inoiis Mor-inoiis with all the dramatic trimmings including the devil fish map and other I illustrations shown by steieoptican views. Mr. Pcet was present and at the conclusion of the lecture rose to take issue with the statements made , by Mr. Fink. The chairman of the 1 meeting, however, refused to let liim be heard and Mr. Pcet withdrew, baffled but not defeated. Mr. Pcet hired a hall in Camden, a nearby town and to a crowded house answered Mr. Fink. The Camden Post Telegram of last Saturday has the following report re-port of the meeting and the address of Mr. Peet: Post S Hall was fairly packed with curipus people last night to hear the lecture of V. S. Pcet on Mormonism. Mr. Peet has been sent abroad 'by ' citizens of Utah, to refute the statc- ments current that that state is a hot- i bed of Mormonism beyond recall. Mr, Pcet was especially incensed at what he termed as the slanderous attack at-tack on Utah by Rev. Delos Fink, a traveling lecturer for the Presbyterian ', Board of Home Missions. Half a dozen policemen were on duty, in ' view of possible trouble, but' not a rip- pie disturbed the lecture. During ) , the evening chief of police Gravenor i stopped in, but, seeing that cvery- I &j thing was serene, il'd not dally long. ' The anticipation of pending tro'ublc j was not apparent and Mr,, Peet con 'IS tinned his interesting talk without interruption. in-terruption. In the course of his remarks re-marks he said: "I am here this evening to answer some of the statements made by Rev. Dclos Fink, in a" magic lantern lecture in the First Presbyterian church, Gloucester. Mr. Fink claimed that' he was a Presbyterian missionary and had labored in New Mexico and Utah. I am here also to give you a brief talk on Utah and the Mormons. I am not here in the inlet es' of the Mormon church or any other denomination. denomi-nation. I am not here to ridicule or belittle any other religious sect. I am not a Mormon, never have been, and I have no intention of joining that church; but I rra here to'rcbu'. the attack made on Utah and the whole intcr-mountain country by Rev. 'Mr. Fink and the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, who are selling fifteen scandalous and misleading tracts against Utah and its people; but, if in protecting Utah, my state and my home,' I defeiid the Mormon people, who compose seventy percent per-cent of Utah's population, ''I plead ' guilty. " ' ' "I ' am employed "by the business men of Utah to defend my slate' from the false' 'attacks ma'de 'ton lir by traveling religious fanatics'. I' have no apologies to make' for what I did at Mr. Fink's lecture. I did not interrupt in-terrupt liim as was sta"t5d by some of the papers. T waited till Mr. Fink said; 'This will conclude Iny lecture for to-night. Will the janitor please turn on the lights.' I' waited until' all the lights were lit and then arose' in my seat and said: 'If "the" lecturer of the evening can -show by any reasonable reason-able proof that the Mormon' church or the leaders of 'the Mormon church 6rd!rcd,' sanctioned,' 'or had anything 'to ito with 'the Mormon Meadow' m'a'a- Sacrc, I will donate $1,000 to this church; or if he can in any way show that the Mormon church a; a church dominates or interferes with the political poli-tical action of any individual or party I will give this church another $1,000.' That is as far as I got, because the pastor of the church had spoken to me and insisted that I keep quiet. The pastor also said that Mr. Wright, who was with me, and I were Mormons Mor-mons and had come there to disturb the lecture. Mr. Wright told the pastor pas-tor 1 was not a Mormon and I would make good my rewards. The whole episode did not last two minutes, and as far as creating a riot, as was stated, stat-ed, it is all bosh. The Canubr papers gave a correct accoi'nt of it. I never nev-er interrupt .1 religious meeting. Not all meetings held in churches arc re ligious. "Mr. Fink stated that Josrph Slnith. founder of the Mormon church, was a drunkard, a thief, and an ignorant, low, immoral person, and he made an attack on Joseph Smith's mother by stating that she was a sooth-sayer and a fortune teller, and that the whole Smith family were consideied as vagabonds vag-abonds and worthless, and that Joseph Smith's followers were not better than he, because' a stream never rises higher than its source. I am not here to defend Joseph Smith or his mother, moth-er, but when Mr. Fink-said that the majority of the people of Utah arc thieves, vagabonds and drunkards and traitors, I take issue with him. ''I am going to show you to-night, that Utah and her people nrc just as intelligent, moral, honest and upright as those of any ol'.icr State. I believe be-lieve it is conceded by all that the immorality of any Sutc is measured by the number of licensed saloons and retail liquor dep'crs within it borders, as many saloons 11c underground under-ground railroads to gambl'ig dens sporting houses and resorts for thieves and hold-ups. "The population of New Jersey in tooo was i;883,ooo, 'and' according "i the report of the Internal Revenue j Collector, there were 10,413 retail jH liquor dealers in the state, or one re- H tail liquor dealer for every 181 of the jH population. The population of Utah H in 1900 was 276,-49, and by the same IH report site had 936 licensed retail ;H liquor dealers, which included the iH drug stores, or one retail liquor deal- H er to every 296 of the , opulation. iH New Jersey has nearly two saloons H per, capita to Utah's, one. 1 tried to jH get a report on Pennsylvania, but fl was unable to. I believe 1'iat Pcnn- fl sylvania had a greater ilcr.entagc of fl licensed saloons than New Jersey; fl "West llazleton, Pa., has one li- H censed saloon to every .89 people. 'fl Frceland, Pa., has 'one to 90 people, H and Mahanoy City, Pa., has one to' 92 H people. I think if Mr. Fink is really H hunting for work and wants to' say H something bad about any place, he fl had better pitch into West Hazlcton, H Frceland or Mahano City, Pcnnsyl- H vania. . H "The morality of a community or H state is usually measured by the mi in- fl ber on homes the people own, the H number of children attending school, H and the community that has the least H number of ' illiterates, paupers and H incrbriates is usuallj considered the H mast' moral. , H "According tothe report of" the Ab- H stract of the Twelfth Census, fo per H cent of the people' of Utah own the. H farms they live on and 89 per cent are I free from debt. Utah has a greater I percentage of students attending I school and better high schools than M any other state. She has as few illit- I crates, paupers and inebriates as any I other state. Utah stands third in cd- I ucation, although the youngest state. I Her University and Agricultural col- I lege are the best, and her Deaf and I Dumb school took the grand prize I and gold medal at the Louisiana Pur- fl chase Exposition. ' "Utah'1 student's stand higher morally' moral-ly' and intellectually in the Eastern 'college's!' than tlie students' do from I i , wmI H any other church1 sect, creed or state H in the Union. There were 13 Utah H students in Harvard University last H year; nine were Mormons and four H were Gentiles. These students stood H higher than those from tiny other H state, and I bclicveithat foil of them H held fellowships; that Ms, to say, that H they stood so Jjiigh in their classes H that Harvard University gave them H $600 each per annum to atu-ud their H institution. The same condition ex- H ists in Yale, Columbia College, H George Washington University, Jef- H fersou Medical College and the Uni- H vcrsity of Pennsylvania, also Ann H Arbor, the University of Chicago, the H Medical Colleges of Chicago, the H Johns Hopkins and the College of H physicians and surgeons at Baltimore. H Thcrq are now twenty-seven Utah H students in the Jefferson Medical Col- H lege and in the University of rcnnsyl- H vauia, Philadelphia, Tluce of them H arc Jews, the remainder arc Mor- H mons. Not one of those Mormon stu- H dents uses tobacco in any form, drinks H intoxicating liquors or carouses at H night. They stand higher, morally, H and intellectually than those from any H other state in the Union. H "If Mr. Fink's statements is true, H that the followers of Joseph Smith H arc ignorant, drunkards, thieves and H loafers, how is it that Utah students H stand so , very high in the eastern H colleges. H "The Y. M. C. A. of Salt Lake City H built a structure in the hc.trt of the H city costing over $100,000, and this H building was paid for the day it was H dedicated. There ar many Mormons H belonging to the Y. M. C. A. of Sait H Lake City, and one of I hem is a Sec- H rctary of that Institution. Will Mr. H I'ink please explain if the Mormons H arc drunkards, traitors, thieves and H vagabonds, why they are, allowe1 to H be in that institution and on? of them H secretary,' H "Mr, Fink stated th'jt the Mormon H church and the leaders of the Mor- H mon church ordered and pbuncd the H Mountain Meadow Massacre and that H 130 peaceful emigrants were murder- H ed and plundered by the Mormons. H This statement is also being sold in a H tract by the Presbyterian Board of H Home Missions of Philadelphia. H "In regard to the Mountain Mead- H ow Massacre, I will introduce to this H audience as my first witness Mr. Iler- H bcrt Howe Bancroft, the historian. H Mr. Bancroft is considered by Pro- H fessors of schools and colleges, min- H istcrs of the Gospel and thinkers as A H No authority on any subject on H which he writes. On i.tgi 5 Ban- croft's History of Utah is the fdllpw- , ing concerning the Moutitdiiv Meadow Massacre;., 'It inay be "as vwll 'undcr-stood 'undcr-stood at the outset Ilfct, thisMiorriblc crime, so often aud "'o ticrsistcntlyil charged upon the. MQrmpii church and its leaders, Wa's the. crimeftof an J individual, the 'cruW'ftf. a'fiiiatie of the worst stamp, (ffc' whp wa's a.. member of the Mof'nlon Xhtirch,' but of whose intentions the Mormon church knew nothing, and whose Jdoody act the members 'of the church, high and low, regard With as much abhorrence as any out of the church. Indeed, the blow fell upon the Brotherhood with three-fold forqc and damage. There was the cruelty of it, which wrung their hearts; there was the odium attending its performance perfor-mance in their midst; and there was the strength that it lent their enemies further to malign and molest them The Mormons denounced the Mountain Moun-tain Meadow Massacre and every act connected therwith, -s earnestly and honestly as any in the outside world. This is abundantly proved and may I c accepted as a historical fact.' "Mr. Fink stated that the Mormons were aliens, they were un-American, they were not a pait of he United States, that they were . working to overthrow this government; in other words, they were traitors, ind would not respect the flag. "I will briefly mention the Mormon battalion of 500 soldiers who at the request of Uncle Sum, in 1848, after being driven from N.uivos, III., and seeing the homes burned they had built, left their wives and children, their fathers and mothers, to make their way across the burning sands of what was then the Great American Desert to Utah, which was to be their future home. From this wandering Land of Mor,mons, Uncle Sam secured 500 noble warriors; and -in two weeks from the time he called on 'hem 500 as loyal soldiers matched to the front as were ever recruited. "In our late war with Sf,ain, the Utah battery was engaged ,in more battles than any other company in the whole army. When the war in the Philippines was practically over, and the Utah Battery mustered out, were the people of Utah traitors or disloyal to the boys who fought for the flag? Spontaneous contributions rolled into Salt Lake from all parts of the. state, from Mormons and Gentiles Gen-tiles alike. 'Give the boys hearty welcome! they said. The Utah Battery Bat-tery was met at San Francisco, A Pullman train and a dining car chartered. char-tered. They had .1 glorious ride through the orange orchards of California, Cali-fornia, through the giant gtoves of the cedar, pine and eucalyptas, over the snoW-cappcd" Sierras, across the golden plains of Nevada, down into the fertile, the beautiful and the pro-($ductive pro-($ductive valley of the Greal'S.ilt Lake. XrOgden they were met by the Gov-pernor Gov-pernor of Utjih (a Mormon), and al-' al-' most the entire population' of Ogdcn met them at the depot. The city was decorated with flags and bunting, lor ing greetings and a banquet were giv-cn giv-cn them. From Ogden they were takcti to Salt Iiake CityV" That 'city also .was decorated rvyith flags, bunt-, ing and electric lighti.f IGroat ftrium- .'. ' ' ill , " 1 1 " ; phal arches 100 feet wide were sw'ung across " the beautiful streets.' One grqat arch was covered with the names of the battle3 the Utah Battery Bat-tery was engaged in. Ser ices were hcl.d in, the Mormon tabernacle. The United States Military Band and the Salt Lake City Band furnished the music. Welcome and good cheer was on every hand. "Money was raised to publish a history his-tory of the Utah volunteers. That book had a dark side. It contains the names of the1 dead tiaitors, as Mr. .Fink would call them. 'Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay . down his life for his friends,' his country or his flag. Mr. Fink heaped infamy upon Utah and the nation's honored dead. He said thai the Mormons Mor-mons were thieves, traitors .ind aliens to this country. Look at the lives of Lieutenant Harry A. Young and Corporal Cor-poral John Grangtr Young, grandson? grand-son? of Brigham' Young, who after fulfilling missions for the Mormon church, were the frst to respond to .the call for volunteers to fight for the Stars and Stripes. These young men Jaid down their lives in battle in the Pilippine war. There are miny other good Mormons who arc now sleeping in the silent chambers of death as a result of their loyalty to the United States flag in that deadly conflict ,Wbilc their fathers, mothers, relatives rela-tives and friends are weeping and placing garlands on their graves, Mr. Fink is proclaiming and teaching the Sunday school children that those Mormons were traitors to the flag. "Mr. Fink also illustrated the people peo-ple of New Mexico as religious fanatics fan-atics and that they were crucifying on the cross a man to save his soul. Mr. Fink said he did not buy those pictures pict-ures in a store but that he took them himself with his camera. "As a slur upon the Catholics, he pictured that priestcraft, which meant the Catholics werr guilty of teaching their converts to crucify one of their 1 j J members oil the. 'cros's 1 to save his soul. I want td 'ask this audience If theybeh'cvc that .r.uy. maiu.vasever ( crucified 011 a cross in the United States. "Mr. Fink not olny casi reproach on the Catholics for crucifying a man, but he insulted the Governor of New Mexico and the United States A'rmy in New Mexico for allowing a crucifixion cruci-fixion to take place. There is not a person in this audience but what believes be-lieves that if a crucifixion was to take j place in New Mexico or in any part j of the United States where the Amcri- J can flag waves that the armies would I have gotten to the crucifixion, would have stopped it and would have im- prisoned the religious fantic3 who at- J tempted it. J "If I had not seen the picture and 1 heard the gentleman say that he took 1 it, 1 would not have believed that it f could have come from a Prcsbytrian ' preacher. ' ( "As to the Mormon Church domi- J uating politics in Utah, as Stated by Mr. Fink. I offered he following re- f ward on September 12th, 1905, which was published in nearly all the papers in Salt Lake City, and by the Associated Associ-ated Press and the different papers throughout the United States. "If it can be shown that Joseph F. Smith, since he became President of the Mormon Church has dominated or ? interfered with in any way the politi- s cal action of any indivuadiul or par- ty, I will give $1,000 for such infor- $ mation.' This reward has never been claimed and it still holds good.' . " Mr. Fink threw on the curtain in , , his lecture a map of the United States I with Utah as a big, black blot on it, f I in the shape of a hideous black devil I fish, with long, snake-like tentacles J extending into the adjoining States I and Territories, and one 'running clear across the United States and 1, J", grappling Washington. H taught ' by his diabolical picture the people t , 'if New Jersey to hate with, intense ' ' I H hatred -the Statu of Utrh. He is try- n ing to stir up a religious war and I he stated that the Mormon question 1 would have. to bo settled by war. j Think of it M'r. J'resident, and Lad- ies and Gentlemen! That such awful 1 stuff should be taught in a Presby- terian Church in New Jersey. I "I was censured by many people in Gloucester because 1 called Mr. -Fink to time at the close of his lect- re,- but I believe" thai most of this t audience will csnsure me because 1 did not call him. down then and there 1 when he threw that hideous Utah devil fish pii the cu.rtain, I am ytil ling to bet a Utah farm that if three J or more New Jersey men were at- j " tending a lecture and the lecturer , .should picture New Jersey as Mr. , Fink did Utah, that they would have jl risen up in honest indignation and , would have transformed his magic ) .lantern into a scrap heap and would . have made the lecturer look as I though he had been run through a (corn shcller. I think when -Mr. Fink and the Presbyterrin Hoard of Home Missions adopted the Utah Devil Fish as tlieir emblem they had in mind the great red dragon. St. John saw it when he said And I stood on the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of thq sea having seven I heads and ten horns, upon his horns J ten crowns and upon his heads the f the name of 'blasphemy! These are I twin emblem s of religious hatred. i The great Red Dragon means, blas- I . l.hc.myj the great black devil fish means slander. "Mr. Fink pictured the fiv.e homes of Joseph F. Smith, President of the Mormon Church. Mr. Fink showed himself 'very ignorant in regard to the rules of the Presbyterian Church, , or else he wanted to create a false 'impression, and hold up the horr'blc bugaboo t of polygamous cohabitation ito create a Vensation. If the Presbyterians Pres-byterians should make a convert ot Jascph F. Smith, he would be allowed j to- retain; live'hvith and provide for his plural wives' and could be a mem- 1 ber of their church. The rule that a .man once in polygamy shou'd remain in polygamy and live with and pro-I pro-I vide' for his plural wives and children , as Abraham, David and Solomon I did has been adopted in nearly all Presbyterian foreign missions. I "It is a historical fact lhat ever since the days of Abraham down to , the present time it has been the rule '' of nearly all Orthodox religious societies so-cieties to receive into tlieir incmbcr-J incmbcr-J ship polygamous converts ami tlieir . I plural wives. The only Chii.-;tian So- 1 BEi -n- -- - -gr -cictit's-.who are opposing this rule are the so-called Christian Missionaries Mission-aries in Utah ahd those that have been misled by them, There is no question in the minds of the right-thinking right-thinking that if the Orthodox Christian Chris-tian missionaries in Utah had made converts of Mormon polygamists that this rule would have been adopted adopt-ed there,' as il has been in all count- -rjes where they have converted polygamists. poly-gamists. "When the Mormons first settled in' U,tah in 1847, it was th-n a province pro-vince of Mexico, and there in accordance accord-ance with the teachings of the Bible no multiply and replenish the earth, that is, to populate what was then the great unsubdued west they married into polygamy and "reared large families as a right of tlieir religion. re-ligion. When Ut-ih was annexed to the United States, he Mormons relied re-lied on Article 1 of the amendment to the Constitution, which said: 'Congress shall make no law respecting respect-ing the establishment of 'religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Mormons declared that marrying in polygamy was a lcligious right ,and no' one had any right to molest them in so doing. The very few who lparricd in polygamy were prosecuted. prosecut-ed. 'They carried il to the courts and then to' the Supreme Court of the United States, and whtn the- Supreme Su-preme Court (the court of last resort) re-sort) decided that mairying in polygamy poly-gamy was not a religious ' ight, the Mormons stopped marrying into polygamy po-lygamy and since September, 1890, there has not been one plural marriage mar-riage performed or Sanctioned by the 'Mormon Church." |