| Show r IN another column an abie alfe editorial willbe will found on the mormon morrion question from the chicago D tribune abune the writer handles the subject with more than thun usual temperance candor and fairness but it is easy to be seen that the thi thebert best metho dof eradicating polygamy continues to be a problem the solution of which the fhe editors and politic politicians lati s are no ulinore inore likely to agree about now than they were ten years ago rne ane the idea seems beems to bo wide widespread spread that polygamy to language of the e editor iton of the tribune is the only distinctive tive feature of mormonism in which the public have any interest had 4 polygamy been revealed taught and preached contemporaneously with the finst first principles of the gospel and theor the organization of the Church ithen then the lat ter day saints might accept the now popular idea respecting the effect this Soc doctrine trine trino has in prejudicing the public mind against us but the church had been organized upwards of thirteen years before the only revelation now extant in writing or in print on the subject of af a plurality of wives had been and i was not until 1852 1652 that it was p publicly proclaimed to the world as a principle p 5 e of our faith falth the most bitter hitter unrelenting i i ti dg and deadly persecutions that we haye have endured were all passed through beffre the fact had transpired that such a revelation had been given our persecutions in ohio and our expulsion p gailon from the states of missouri and illinois lilois did not have the pretext of our belief bellef in polygamy as a justification joseph and hyrum smith were mar oyied but no plea of this kind was urged in extenuation of the cruel and murderous deed illinois would have eagerly seized such a doctrine do earine as a sufficient excuse for the perpetration of that damning crimo crime which covered her escutcheon with ineffaceable stains the public who pursued mormonism and the mormons cormons Morn Mor mons ions in those days with such insatiate vindictiveness had special interest in some features of the system besides polygamy we are satisfied beyond the possibility of doubt that were a new revelation to be received re today to day 11 peremptorily prohibiting hi I 1 polygamy the tre problem would not be solved the problem was as knotty a one and as difficult of solution before that principle became a part of h and practice as it is now our oar b 1 w mn alg i and more hatred to overcome previous lous fous to the publication of this doc doe doctrine trine than they them have now that it is known it is a gret great mis mistake taketo to suppose that if poly amy gamy were renounced by the latter day ay saints I 1 it would effectually remove every possible excuse that the good or could have for a quarrel with the people of salt lake that would only be the beginning of the changes required to prevent a quarrel there are other features that would be and are equally objectionable with that of plurality of wives our belief in present revelation in the book of mormon in a divinely inspired head to the church on ion ta the earth in apostles in the ancient ordinance sin the gifts of the tand in the gathering of the people together if the demand for the abandonment of polygamy could be complied with I 1 it woud would be followed by demands for the benun renunciation clation of every distinctive feature of our religion until we would sink bink hiel into the condition in which the people were found when the truths whid which hey they now believe were taught to them As to question how polygamy is to be disposed of we think that can be easily answered if it be the great evil which this thia editor and many others think it is we are the sufferers and are most likely to find it out first we have hame never asked them to share our troubles but are wil wll willing lingi men and women to bear our own burdens we do not seek to force our institutions upon them any moore inore than we seek to foster those which flourish in their midst this land is broad enough for them and us too to be left to the full and unrestricted enjoyment of our own domestic institutions and with such a liberal constitution as ours there is no need for one to interfere with the other if we have redeemed from the desert one of the richest and most fertile territories of the union if we have cities villages farms mills factories and nearly all the results of enlightened industry which belong to 0 us by every title that can give validity to the ownership of personal and real property if vve vo vye have made these things with our own hands and our right to them is good against all tha world worlds and we have bave achieved these results while believers in polygamy in what way have we wronged or our oui fe I 1 Q w citizen VW fief beave the problem lepi lepa to up u to bolye weare we are as much in its correct solution ai as any of gur pur neighbors possibly can be and we are th the 1 e only ones who ho can cati solve it As to the sta statute tuie iuie making polygamy a 4 crime every unprejudiced jurist knows aws that it is unconstitutional li it Is in flagrant violation of every principle which underlies the fabric I 1 of liberty re reared ared by the revolutionary fat fathers hers herg and utterly opposed to the genius of our government the day will come when it will be swept from the statute book and be remembered only as a base attempt to fo transcend the tha limits of the constitution ando use power powen for partisan ends enda |
