| Show rne nhe PREACHING AND TICE TICK OF POL pon I 1 I 1 I 1 WE I 1 notice thad that that some of the leadin leading 1 papers 1 uthe anthe I nt he eat east are ra commenting 0 on n there the report p ort of the tho utah ulah commission slon sion th ehfe bd editors imitate the preace preachers in q I 1 when they arm amm ilc ill a loss lods for a subject on which to dilate without knowing knowin much about ity lly they illey ddn can always fall back on the mormon question pitching into the mor alor mons is a favorite pastime for the press as ag well ay as the clergy Ts following excerpt irom from the report P ort seems seeing tv tb ba a after more than two years labor I 1 and experience here it becomes our duty to advise the government and the country that although the thy law has been successfully administered in respect to the disfranchisement of polygamists the effect of the same upon the preaching an anaf cr practice ot polygamy has not b been n to improve the tone of tile the former or materially diminish the latter itter ll 11 this Is cited as an evidence of the failure ot of the edmunds law but from what ahat part oi of that enactment was the inference drawn draw ii that the intent of the statute was to stop the pre preaching achini achink of polygamy wo we have become pretty familiar with the wording of the law but have failed to tind nind anything in it which even squints in that dire dirt direction lwon imon opinion is protected therein with one exception and on only lyone iyone one A juror in any prosecution for polygamy or unlawful cohabitation may be tle challenged on liis ills his belief bellef in the rightfulness ot those practices but a voter may noa ue be hindered in ill the exercise of t the e elec tive franchi seon on account of be belief I 1 let iet in polygamy tilts this is expressly provided in the edmunds act preaching the doctrine of polygamy cannot be constitutionally hindered by law it isa Is a bible doctrine bellet bellef in it a conceded by bythe the Supreme Court of the united states cannot be lawfully in with take freedom of belief with that freedom of speech and of the press pres 4 guaranteed by the constitution tiong andhor and aud how a are re you going to stop by lav the preaching of polygamy Us as all an article of bt faith we have hav hat d heard considerable non sense about the preaching making the preacher parti criminisi cri crin tints minis as an accessory before the fact A very little reflection will show the folly oj such a notion the expression of views as to the rightful rightfulness hiess or wrong I 1 fullness of any principle tenet or dge trine cannot be distorted into a parti cip ci pation atlon in any acts that people perform for m of their own volition the act may inay be punishable the opinion Vs as to alts aits ard the expression of that opinion are unassailable by law i to talk then about the failure of the edmunds act upon the preaching I 1 of poly polygamy amy is nonsensical on the part of the commissioners and equally so on the tile part of those editors who repeat the absurdity I 1 As to the practice of polygamy their re remarks marks are nothing but the merest guesswork they admit and complain of the lecresy which attends the ceremony of marriage against which the is chiefly directed andyes tend to know something proportions into velch they claim it is extending the fact is flioy thoy 1 know nothing at all about it neither do others who claim to have hava kno knowledge W led 0 if 1 i on this matter IP they know as much n ch as they pretend to why do they not give grand juries the information that they are so anxious to obtain papers commenting anthe on the report draw the inference that the clawson case related by the commissioners showed that certain leading elders in the I 1 6 mormon church have no aiesi hesitation in lying ving whenever a lie I 1 is s oan an to conce conceal evidence clevidence aL evid enco of OJE my laud land that this utter er lack of scruple about lyn lying lyu pervaded pervades thu tha whole mon community anything th blidt at there is in the commissioners report which leads totham to that impression is incorrect and despicable on the part of those who have endeavored to create this false impression in the cage referred to the one great aim and object of the prosecution i wa was s to td gain possession of certain marriage records alleged to be kept by some sonie mormon official nobody was able to specify because the witnesses who were supposed to know the whereabouts of those alle alie alleged ed records did nat know who had them thein or where they were kept the inference was drawn that the witnesses lied people are at liberty to draw inferences but they have no right to make grave charges w without I 1 t hou t e evidence flence fience thu tho witnesses said they did not know and there vas as and is no evidence that they told anything but the strict a and nd solesnil nil truth baffled rage at lot not being beang able to tind find what was Nv anted wanted is no excuse for char charging gilig truthful truth tui lul and lionora honorable le gentlemen with nith lying we will take their simple simpie wort today to day before the dath oath of many of 0 their ac accusers engers the truth is the commissioners who have a very soft thing and to keep nold noid of it as lo 10 lons long ng as po possible sible sibie go a long way out of the path of their iut kutlesa duties Aut lesa as defined in the law that created their office and presume to do and say a great many things that are a as ss foreign to their functions as the regulation of national affairs would be they must appear to be doing something for their salaries and havlu having g really very little to perform they make up for it in id long stories and annd crude advice ad vice to the government of the united states what the nor Mor cormons mormons mons believe and preace are open subjects but cannot be or by law lun what they practise it in u violation af pf the law should be proceeded against balegal by legal methods and if the edmunds act has done little towards stopping the former or preventing the latter something that the commissioners comm so far US as the latter iatter is concerned have no in means ans of determining it is certain that no greater results will be achieved by b y misrepresenting them ald nud that char charing charging ing them theta A with that of which they can aan show at least US as edear a record as their accusers civill wit not materially ad aid in az arresting the progress of the system some people so much needless ute ite uneasiness anness 1 |
