Show THE MI sirop SHARPS OPINION bishop john joha sharp one ons of the most influential mormon citizens of utah the president of the utah cen trai railroad a director ot of the union un lon ion pacific railroad and a bishop of one of the wards of salt lake city la Is in the city and will spend a wee vee week k at the st nicholas hotel he Is a man of fifty dignified in bearing deliberate in speech and with a strong scotch accent he h has so three wives each of whom has en an elegant residence in salt silt lake laake city and by each he has his several children he lie talks with the earnestness and candor of a man who has deep convictions but more as SIS a men of business than of the tha church when a re porter potter of the tho world called on him he complimented the Worlds letters from utah and said that its ita had made mada so fair a report of from utah and said that its ita had made mada so fair a report of correspondent the condition of both society and politics in the territory that he thought anything more would ba be superfluous for the readers of the tho world the gentile he continue continued ds who went to utah to be enriched by the political spoils and who think it 16 graceful and grateful to slander slender the tho th best 13 st citizens of the Terri terni territory torys have been robbed of their favorite ammunition i by the truthful narrative of this special correspondent but the majority of the gentiles in bait salt lake city as well as the tho mormons cormons Morn Mor lons mons appreciate tho the cando candor and raud manliness of the world of the bishop sharp was asked espohl especial a ly y about the utah commission he replied with a smile that he did not know what to say gay certainly ho he could not say bay ras nas the tribune yesterday reported him hims that the commis slon eion would cause the mormons cormons to abandon polygamy if the contest conical abandon polygamy la Is brought to such an extreme point that a polygamous mormon must be franchised disfranchised dis or give up all his wi wives es but one there will be no hesitation in accepting disfranchisement perhaps 90 per cent of the cormons mormons are and care little about politics so EO long as the government does not interfere with their thelt labor or their homes and hardly more than one mormon in four of the men man over forty years of age and very few indeed less than forty years yeara of nf age have more than one wife but plurality I 1 is not a personal subject it ia Is a doctrine of the church and if the commission succeed in as e pertaining erta enta ining who are they are dis franchised disfranchise ment will bring with it no disgrace in utah and only the denial of an insignificant privilege as most mor mons regard it that cong congress ress has declared all ail children who E hall hail be born in plurality after january 1 1883 illegitimate will have no F fruct whatever they will be honored by the church and recognized by society both mormon and gentile precisely as polygamous poly gamoua children are now recognized as legitimate it ia Is important however that the tho dom commission mission should hastily reorganize the territorial government and make matte the elective machinery operative before august As the law now ia Is gentiles and mormons cormons alike are disfranchised franchised dis when asked if the mormons cormons would bo be displeased by the presence of the commissioners bishop sharp said not at all if they are gentlemen as doubt doubtless lecis they are of honor and of intelligence they will be pleasantly received our oar people have long ago become accustomed ed to the most erratic freaks of Co congress nereas and they really reay desire to have intelligent and honorable gentlemen thit visit them and understand them but officially nici fici ally aily the commissioners will be received with indifference on general principles the citizens of utah of course prefer that no such body of men should be sont sent there for any purpose of investigation in the criminal sense that the word investigation vesti gation has come to have politically but the cause of the may be found rather at washington than at salt lake city they prefer that congress should assume any attitude rather than an attitude of and have long thought you know that utah ought to be admitted into the union phat however is a different question and a question with which as I 1 understand it the commission hm has nothing to do do you not look then for any ally definite results of the commis commission sIOUs no wo results of importance certainly by dis franchising mormons cormons the city government of bait salt lakee lafee city will be changed of course some citizens ab nb may become angry and many more think that they havo hato been unjustly dealt with by the tha federal government but in daany suy auy think thib this now idonat I 1 do not see what results can reasonably be expected when he regarded the clea tion of chesom the tho com eom mission as a mero merc political trick tho the bishop replied with some etalon eva ion but very plainly intimated that this and many similar congressional acts were born of ignorance of Mormon tarn and of tho ilia society of utah and perhaps of fanaticism certainly hla hia answer to all such questions implied that tho the mormons cormons regarded it simply as ra religious persecution and they will accept all buch euch hostility as religious persecution cc there has he continued long been a law against polygamy but congress congreso has found it 11 impossible or impracticable to enforce it and I 1 do not fee seo that the edmunds bili bill can remon reasonably ably hope for any better fate on one ono might imagine at this distance that buch such an au cadee the greatest consternation in utah but bat it so and somo some much woree have been passed by congress you yon know an army was vas once sent bent santto to utah but th the mormons cormons have increased more rapidly with a smile emile and become more prosperous prozpero us than any other agricultural people west or of tho the miss missouri aurl consequently they have become more and more indifferent dim diT erent trent to congress yet there is hi much curiosity to know just what the commission will do and report they will most likely talk tak more than they do worda aro arc cheap words the mormons cormons lis irb beem to bo be fashionable yet I 1 do not anticipate that the commission will do anything indeed can do anything that will cause great bitterness ter ness the people of utah are aie nort not as easily stirred to wrath as people in the east they are an parl cultural and somewhat primitive people and rud for buch each a knowledge of their condition and their character to spread abroad aa ra will vill cause congress and the citizens of the union in general to re cognize them as fellow citizens and honorable men maen doubtless yon you have learned from the world that dr bacon of connecticut ia is showing up the existence in the east esat of 0 a system of serial i gyes ayes yes eaid baid said sald the bishop at first smiling 9 but presently again becoming 9 8 serious bertous e alous and deliberate in sp speech ech but we do not have that system in utah |