Show WHAT ARE AEE THE FACTS A letter appeared in tile alio ot ogdan fy standard recently over tile signatures of joseph 1 F smith and john henry smith it refers to lut but does not attempt to answer tile speech delivered by ilon hon moses thatcher at the territorial democratic convention it is significant to note that tile the letter d did id not appear until wine nine lays days after the speech was delivered or until after tho the standard had made its two page 0 corn thereon therefore its tone and spirit cannot be ascribed to the heat beat of passion it is our intention to treat the letter fairly and with as little comment as possible making D the records and the gentlemen themselves answer their own allegations 0 in fact there is little need of comment where history so plainly contradicts the charges made with such bitterness by the sipers signers of the letter in question while we do not acknowledge tile the political importance of the letter as having any bearing I 1 whatever upon the ilia issues of the day yet for tile the sake of argument we are arc willing to accord to that letter all that significance and weight with which its authors have sought to invest it the para paragraphs 0 graphs enclosed in brackets were written by lions joseph F and john henry smith and every reference we ive make in reply is duly supported by fates dates or by pages and volumes four our sense of political justice and political self respect will not permit us to pass in silence certain utterances of lion moses thatcher in the recent territorial democratic convention in the 0 ogden aden opera house wherein herein lie he would seek to maxe make campat of the origin of the republican and democratic parties i v aich are seriously unfair to the former jt it should he be borne in mind that aes 5 S 01 2 che sell justice just iraq ha never prompted him to declare his political preferences from the pulpit nor ba has s his political self respect ever permitted him to declare that men of the opposite party could pull their shirts off over their heads without unbuttoning their collars in regard re 0 ard to the two political parties any comparison comparison that mi might C lit be made would no do doubt seem unfair to republicans because it would be manifestly mani feAly unfavorable favorable ur if there is any thread in mr Thatch thatchers erg address arl ad dies diess it is most plainly manifest in liia his attempt to number the savior of mankind as a member and almost a founder of the democratic party part and to give lucifer and tile the whig abi and Ite republican publican parties to each other in III sol solemn eirin terms we ish here and now to resent all such profaning of tile the name naine ofie of jesus susand and all such unjustifiable aspersions pc per raiona upon the parties t aich our s arid and ourselves have given our devotion and if there is no thread in that address certain great men have undoubtedly i wasted asted much of their valuable time in trying 0 to wind it up in regard to assign assigning in the F savior anti and lucifer to their respective spec tive political parties mr thatcher did not do it what ho be really said paid upon that question his bis own letter and his speech will show in regard re ard to this charge 0 of profaning aaning faning 0 the name of jesus we hardly think the honorable gentlemen who made it considered its gravity nor the difficulty they would leave in ia sustaining it before tile the people among whom and for whose iv welfare elfare mr thatcher has spent his life and energy while we do not profess to under egand these things it does strike us as being strange that these men would make such a charge chahye in colemn tones before the world and through the medium of a part isian newspaper it is an ecclesiastical and not a 0 poli fica I 1 fence of which they complain arid and whether or not the charge was made in the proper spirit or before the proper tribunal we do not pretend to say but leave the public to judge t now in regard to the party to ti which h mi tile gentlemen have given their devotion and confidence wo we can only say that ire is admire the humility shown by them towards the land hand which has been smiting them for many years yet is it not strang strange e that in their letter they do not show tile same commendable spirit towards one who I 1 has aas stood shoulder to shoulder wi with ill them in the up building alding of the church to which they belong 0 Is it not strange that men will either directly or indirectly charge their their brother with being 0 an accessory after the fact to the crime of shedding innocent blood especially when the charge is groundless ground luss and when their only excuse for making it is to defend a party which lias 1125 fou fought 0 jit tile mornion mormon people and denounced their institutions since since that party began 0 its career has it not wiy wily at its birth in Phila philadelphia delp ilia june 17 it declared in section i J 0 oi its national platform platform lat form ill that at it is both tile alio and tile the imperil tive duty of congress to prohibit in the I 1 territories those tv cm in relics relic of barbaresi bart bar arisM barsI 19 POLYGAMY AND SLAVERY in the national republican con bentio i held at cincinnati on the lath day clay of june julie 1876 it adopted tile the following resolution it is the ho right anil and duty of contress Con cress to prohibit arid and extirpate in the territories ri that 1 alic ic of and we ire degand such legislation e as shall secure this und end in ISSO 1880 on june 2nd and at chicago the following plank was put in tile the national re republican publican platform slavery inthe in the states its win kin Varl barbarity arili POLYGAMY POLY tay MIST iv T DIE IN THE 11 arid and here again is a more recent declaration of republican love for the mormon people which may 11 have ave been the last tender appeal that touched the hearts and won their devotion and confidence tile the political power of the mormon church in in tile the territories as exercised in the alio patt is a menace to free institutions a danger no longer to be suffered eted therefore we e pledge tile republican party parly to appropriate legislation asserting the sovereignty of the nation to all territories whore where the ye same is questioned and in the lie furtherance of that end to place upon the statute books legislation stringent enough to divorce the political fron from the ecclesiastical power and thus stamp out the attendant wickedness of poly polygamy gainy Ite republican publican platform of 1888 t he caf ried rie peah Pe fh d ats above threats is now being C honored and defended by men against whom they were made the letter continues I 1 to connect our lord in a position of responsibility with the democracy Demo ciRcY might be so BO cona construed rued as to hold him accountable for the innocent blood of our martyred marty red kindred arid and friends for it is a fact which cannot be gainsaid gain said that the controversies in which our relatives and companions have been murdered have been in localities where democrats held sway and when th the e dear ones who have sealed their testimony with their blood shall stand before f ore t lie judgment seat to accuse their slayers their fingers will be pointed at men who were nere democrats on oil earth and therefore we do not to countenance any attempt to lay upon the I 1 redeemer deemer le the burdens of the damoc i acy I 1 in a letter from joseph smith dated at commerce illinois may lay 1839 lie states in regard 0 to the missouri persecutions we have not at any time thought there was any political party as such chargeable the Alis missouri barbarities neither any religious society as lucli 1 e h they ivcic were committed by a mob st composed 0 i of all parties regardless of all difre difference rence of opinion either cither political or religious the above seems to be an answer from the prophet Prop liet himself concerning cernin the persecutions of his people which while they may have arisen during the administration c of one party yet lie he says no particular party was to blame for them lie possessed a spirit of fairness in regard to that question at least which docs not seem to have been transmitted along with his immortal name yet whatever may be the political sentiments benti ments of a locality in which a crime is committed or a persecution inflicted there is do i justification for blaming that party with such crime or persecution it cannot be said that because a crime was committed under democratic rule therefore the democratic party is to blame for it admit that thac kind ot of logic 0 and you grant the enemies elemil s of the mormon people the license to assert that all tile the crimes committed in utah are therefore chargeable ible to mormon rule you who have seen the injustice of such lucli argument in the past pant can see sec it now as well the letter continues ITO to make the whig anIlle and republican publican parties tile lineal descendants mind nd the creatures cret urta in a political tense of satan salon is to attribute to the archenemy arch enemy a veneration for and aroR ird life for tile the controversies which our ur and ourselves have had w with oth those parties have been settled without lao socratic bo cratic assassin violence violen and the Ill members embers of those parties d do 0 not 0 t appear before our eves cyca with thor their hands iw leeking iu in the food blood bibich was precious to us and as we do not believe that satan animates liis his child children irm to thus bido abide by law wo ve do not approve e of cla class a ing him as a the founder or progenitor of the founder of the party of great moral iddis 1 I we ve desire to treat tile the letter with all respect but can find nothing in tho the above paragraph der deserving berving ving of a reply however in view of tile arct pretensions on of the republican party and its oft repeated boasts of war ivar time prowess the above reference to its 14 veneration for peace and its regard for human life coming from any other source would sound like a bit of withering 0 irony jn in regard rard 0 to the following statement in the letter f in III our veins courses the blood of some heroes and martyrs for country coun and for christana Chri christ stand and noton not one drop edrop of it ii in any real or figurative sense can call be traced to satanic origin we will ask from the gentlemen no further evidence evi Jenco upon that point no one lias liar charged the gentlemen with having 0 bad blood in in their veins but however good that blood may be the indications are that it was rather hot at the time their letter was written they say further 11 in n having said so EO much wo ave wish to 11 have ave no misconstruction placed U upon P on our words word we do not claim that either cither party part is the party of jesus or that either party arty is the party of lucifer tor for we believe that political parties are mortal iri in their cha character and that tag they anti anil their adherents should be judged judge by y tile the words and deeds of this thia age arid and not by the rebellion in if heaven eaven and we beli believe eve that political addresses ought to deal in in political matters solely and ought to leave theolo theological ical matters alone that is very good doctrine and while probably the rebellion spoken of occurred long before the organization of the two political parties under discussion P there is no doubt that the principle of centralized was there first agitated in regard to making aking 1 scriptural references in speeches we f cito ti the le plak ta J e great speeches of webster clay lincoln and others which abound in biblical quotations and allusions no protest to that was ever heard before but all americans do prot protest ct against the introduction of politics into a religious discussion the reason is this politics are not so pure as i is s religion it may be proper to instill all the purity possible into that which is not pure but wo we should not inject the impure into that which is pure however let us see who it is that is trying to point out a mote in the eye or of mr thatcher the first signer of the ilia above letter joseph 1 F smith delivered a sermon in the logan tabernacle at the cache stake conference on oil sunday november 1891 which as reported in shorthand contained among n other political utterances the following we inherit our politics to some efte extent nt from roin our ancestors I 1 suppose we ave do we see today to day benjamin 1 is s a republican as welt well as his grandfather WAS a republican and the latter day saints in the days of nauvoo of joseph the prophet and others of the leading authorities of the church as aa the history informs us ua all voted fur for mr harrison arrison II a whig in those days well no now if we should all combine to vote for a republican president we would not be very far arod wrong that is from my standpoint arid and it may not be irrelevant ti tn state in this conception conn eption that republican newspapers allover all over this territory and in iyabo ail ibo aie publishing the intensely partisan declarations declaration la B of the gentlemen ent lemen who sign the letter andel consideration as being the political politic 11 utterances of joseph smith and APOSTLE AroST LF john lenry smith and as those organs 0 naturally fatu till continua that practice wo lve naturally rally conclude that the gent gentlemen men have not been nearly so re ready dy to rebuke members of their own political household house bouse hold for fla ant of fences as they have to ar align ign 0 a democrat on a flimsy ct cl rge irge of no offense at all tile the letter says ft fi by b way of apology ay 11 i no true friend of oua will misunderstand t alnee this letter or tho motives of self d defence ec fe liichi nor r will any n friend misconstrue our future fatur silence ay iy if f we shall make this docen lit our answer i once for all to lo F macli which we I 1 deem as unwise and unnecessary as an they are unjust no one can misunderstand the letter it beedis to be the fulfillment of a long sought opportunity to try dictation upon a man mail who has always practiced individual fre freedom edoin and advocated that of the people the so called motives of self defense which prompted it are we ive must confess a little obscure As the word smith was not mentioned nor any reference made whatever to any one of that name we fail to see where the plea pica of self defense can bo be sustained but the spirit in which the letter lett cr is is written is to be deplored inasmuch as president woodruff has haa requested the not to quarrel it is to say the least a bad example alip e when men write letters which appeal to passion rather than to reason and personally arraign a man of their own ecclesiastical rank for making a speech free from personalities in ill U i political convention it at the call of ilia his political friends when mr thatcher spoke lie he was not dot trying to influence men of uncertain views he spoke to a body whose political convictions were already formed lie ile was not a candidate for any office and a personal attack upon him cannot be bc excused in that dav way lie he was not upon the stump comparing men of the opposite party to b bumps amps on oil lo los logs 0 s let one of those gentlemen bear that in mind lie he was not in the pulpit trying to wield a sacred influence over voters let the other gentleman bear that in mind ile he was not before a committee of congress taking the part of tile the utah commission against that of home rule for the people do d 0 no not forget that either eit lier the provision in the foregoing fore goin section for future silence is one of the wisest that the letter contains in conclusion the writers say with id HI r thatchers oration is general wo we have no desire to take partisan issue at this |