Show A VIGOROUS dOROUS Vi AX ASSAILANT OF 6 MORMON mormonism ism IbM 11 1 1 the daily commercial published in chattanooga tennessee in its issue of the the dinst published a len leu lengthy athy article signed G GC C C in which the author without one sentence of scrip tare ture or paragraph of logic as assailed walled called and denounced renounced mormonism and the tiie mormons cormons Mor mons 11 he jammed galmed claimed that the faith and practice of the latter day saints constituted a great evil to arrest the progress of which something ought to be done immediately just wiit what this something ought to be he acknowledges that be he does not know but he seems to have a va vague ue idea that freethinker sare the only ones who can doit dolt as he intimates iu in the following pari paragraph graph there is a host of of this s infamy called mormonism coming I 1 to seduce the youth and the credulous of our sunny south what can we do J dont know christianity cant for what proves it proves mormonism free thought alone can stem the torrent will the freethinkers undertake the task of disseminating an antidote for the poison polson these elders are injecting into the minds and consciences of of our people no free thought Is not organized and so the floodgates flood gates are thrown wide open to this moral leprosy two days lafter latter the publication of the letter referred to one of the elders eiders now laboring in tennessee replied as follo follows w the columns of mondays commercial contained an article over the signature of G C U C upon the much vexed question of in which statements are made that are aru calculated to do injury to a much abused and universally misunderstood je people ople opie permit me in all kindness and with the very best of feeling toward the wilter writer to place some of these matters in their proper light and in part at erroneous impressions liable to be made first let me say that I 1 appreciate to its f fullest extent the kindly spirit manifest and the evident wis wish to see fair play giving to all the privilege of I 1 freedom ree of worship and of conscience a boon of most ine lne inestimable worth und tind one that mormon people through the experience of half halt a century in bein being 9 traduced traducer trad and vilified whipped scourged urged and driven robbed plundered gi imprisoned and slain have learned to place an almost priceless value upon stern experience has taught us the lesson that man is very prone to try to lorce and compel the human mind to except the popular view of a question or one that has been rendered respect table through age and tradition I 1 will overlook the covert sneer contained in the id idea ea of hold hoid holding ing one up as the overseer of the southern misa sion and simply ask would the writer as readily apply the same term to the presiding e siding elder or bishop of any other g denomination c 0 v ls 1 s there anything particularly 1 ing g in the asser assertion tiomi that our elders eldens are meeting with SOME IN 1 THE sortir SOU Tir as they are also doing in to almost eve every ry 14 other part of tile the habitable globe alobe did G C C G imagine because a few of our f brethren and a few innocent and defenseless f fen sen en seless women have been abed in to a loathsome dungeon by a i brutal judge through the action of in an unconstitutional law that mormonism 1 was dead if so he has read history to little advantage crowned heroes and heroines they If mare tare tt are in our estimation whose names shall be taught to our children as the very personification of liberty itself elf eif some consolation is sought to be af f forded crded in n the idea that those we con 4 vert can be spared and that their neighbors are gladly rid of them if this be so why all this fuss why not aid us in our endeavor to rid the community of such an objectionable class of citizens this comfort is based upon two charges ignorance asb AND L for argument sake let us admit the I 1 ignorance corance and take it for granted that all ali in mormon converts come under the same general head and are equally ignorant when they emigrate now for foe results the educational statistics of the tenth census contain the following figures the number of persons to the buil bull hundred in the territory ly jy of utah who cannot read ten ye years ars ats old and over J is not quito quits 33 3 per cent while the num ber her in the state of tennessee Is IS 18 per j k A cent mind blind you this does not cot include i the colored population but the thi e whites alone if our converts are so ignorant at the time of conversion by cess is this marvelous chance change wrought why our perc percentage of illiteracy is ls as low as it Is in massachusetts and much lower than in many of the leading in states of the union if WH we can take these th e se ignorant rest eest people eople and educate them up tip to the best standard to be found in the united states are not we doing them good service that G C 0 is mis mistaken takeno I 1 know by personal experience and know that ver tet very y rarely any one AV joins otus olus the church who cannot read and write they are not the hid kid giovedi payer colit trW irm j i patent leather booted dudes eludes that are getting to be im so co common inmon but one of them in op opening up a country or lay in III tile the foundations of a great move inove luent is worth an even cord of the others now as to lust last liu Itu agine a 1 man leaving Chatt chattanooga Chattan anorga passing through cincinnati st louis louia and kansas city and geluz to some of the rural districts of utah for the purpose of seeking an opportunity to gratify the base baser passions of his fallen nature with all the opportunities presented in every great center of christianity to make this long iong journey with its fatigues and losses is only ri by the story of thomson nl fool colt cot no more mor 3 virtuous deop people 0 o dwell on oil the footstool e 0 of the eather father than the mormon people statistics attest it facts prove it and our bitt erist enemies mies who know us acknowledge it G C 0 proposes not nol to denounce us or call us ugly names but to quote the record and then goes from firstly to lif fifthly ably I 1 let us examine the record lie he calls TIIE THE BOOK HOOK OF MORMON a delusion and joseph smith an lin tin immoral crank what is thia this but denunciation and ugly names the f roth troth of mere assertion where did he get hi his information I 1 have carefully read and examined the book in question and utterly fall to dind rind either elther draud or stupidity in it but have been led to observe very much of the latter in ignorant I 1 comments oil on it As to joseph smith I 1 am at tile the def del defiance deliance lance lauce of the world to prove him either immoral or a crank bring oil on your jour our proof or dont dout make charges ile he next attacks polygamy and leaves nie me in doubt as is to whether bo he is ignorant of the law of the great reat free state of tennessee ten Teu nesser that forbids forbids meto me to answer him and aud makes j it I 1 t a penal ena offense 0 ense to do to so or whether k knowing t that at my hands are arc tied b be ill lii hind in me he 0 hits im ins ou on the principle t that bat he e has me rue where I 1 call can no ao nhu no injury if he is ignorant of the law a little cli cil charity arity exercised toward other equally unfortunate people would be lie very becoming but if informed of tile the law I 1 have no comments to make in paragraph three he asserts that we teach that joseph smith is a god I 1 have lived with the mormon people for eighteen years and have never heard beard any such doctrine taught am led to believe that it is only a part of the mass of stuff poured into the tiie cars of credulous travelers by professional hac bac hacklen kmen T who drive tourists about i 1 sa salt s1 t lake C city ity and laugh at the eull guli gullibility I 1 of the ordinary mortal sightseeing I 1 among the mormons cormons Mor mons As to the I 1 fourth accia accusation what wiot there can be so adf awful of in the fact that we delight IX IN A numerous bing ZING a and nd love our wives so well that we desire their society and companionship in the world to come as well as this i passing strange and these children that are an heritage herita cc from the theford lord I 1 I 1 and the tile law that the man is not with without the woman in the lord nor the woman without the man mail I 1 has hasa a luea inea meau u inc ine to the latter day saints the alf fifth th accusation is bo ho ca comically icalla absurd that if it were not for tite the seriousness ious ness with which ii it is presented one out would almost conclude that it was the joke of an end man inan in some forue very ordinary minstrel show the idea tuat the hite bite cloth laid on the face of the dead wife must bo be lif lifted tec ter bv y the husband before she can see god this is so near sacrilege e that I 1 hesitate to comment on it suffice it to say that no such sued doctrine is taught or believed among the mormon people and I 1 must confess to no little chagrin and my friend should have allowed hilch nonsense to creep into his article let us change the subject it Is pitiable piti ibie ible to get down to this relative rela Eela tive to free speech we open our church doors to all denominations or those of no denomination and we have bay had methodists baptists catholics atilo ablio infidels pagans and a great variety of all classes speak from our pu public b 11 1 c rostrum and if G C C has a man that he thinks can show IKS rus u i tile the error of our ways christian or IL luu AIdel didel ciel clel deist or atheist jew or I 1 ii ill guarantee him the use of at salt lake and in addition to that the use of four hundred other church buildings with a seating capacity of from to and good while he sojourns sojourne sojo urns with a us 4 no langer danger of mobs or mob violence not bot even traduced traducer trad nor vilified but treated at as sensible s intelligent people hould should treat each other now come oil on witti your strong reasons and add show ua wi the error of our ways let me say in conclusion eliat if one of our elders call can he found who has despoiled woman of her virtue we will willingly turn him over ti to the mercies of the law as buin bein arik cu 0 o low in the scale of human numan exi ebi stice ilce a to be unworthy th 3 of a ti tj ue tie latter day fay saint he cili wili nav hav no io i sympathy from us for to nini omd is no forgiveness in this orld orid not j in 11 0 r world to come out of in the past ten tell years have llave lat jit ored ored in lit the south but one las hillen fallen by the tho way having broken hia hix hi vows vown andi covenants of chastity madill madin made holy huh i pisces he today to day reaps the tiie renaro i 0 fj his sin in being a va mairab eab rab nd ild ami aua wanderer on the face of the thu earth eaith iiii i rii iii th foraker fora foi fol aken keu by his family excluded from the church with its doors closed against him and the thu eal beul teal eul of cof i common condemn condemnation atlon from irom all israel resting nhim f jhc jho genius and add tha religious reli uell alous J fayta ir th ol 01 tho I 1 01 latter dav day sainta tend unda u 4 to purity of morals liberty of clu ciu tice and freedom atif all of whick which the will ivill rot yet |