Show confiscation OF CHURCH PROPERTY THE following tol follow lowine inc editorial appears in a german socialist paper devoted to the interests of the working people it has been translated into english as it bears on the utah question and should be read by all who are interested in ie religious liberty WAY AWAY WITH CHURCH monopolies the senate of the united states recently passed a bill which actually confiscates the property of the mormon church and and empowers the territorial authorities to seize the church property and to ansly apply the same to the of ends of public e education ti cation this is righta this is a step forward towards the goal long striven for our federal government has taken the initiative in a veritable advance this is no feint manc Inanc euver for it at the same time puts into the hands of the officials the legal means to put themselves into the possession of church property in spite of all the obstructions of our cele berated common law it is now the turn for our state officials to follow in the dav already marked out trinity wal church hareb with its hundred and odd millions of dollars must now be treated in the same wise the state stale should likewise immediately take possession of its property and apply it to bringing up oar future citizens Is there any plausible lau 1 sible reason for accumulating clyl millions ions of productive productive capital into the dead hand and and letting it increase every year ar in geometrical proportion merely for r fattening eye rolling hypocrites the same thing is true of the hundreds of millions which have been wrung by the catholics presbyterians rians and count less other religious religious sects from superstitious ious people this capital works much more diligently and surely than it does in the hands of private persons without too being beine in the least affected eddythe by the heavy burdens which rest upon the churek property of private private individuals church monopolies ies are just as dangerous to the state as secular monopolies mon n no op olies religious corporations are lust as heartless and soulless as worldly corporations down with them all I 1 our ar federal government has opened up the way progress in that direction cannot be held back the utterances of the organ of the german socialists in this countrymon tain words of warning to the blind sectarians sect arians who have been plotting for the destruction of the mormon church they indicate a possibility which has bas been pointed out in these columns the antl anti mormon clerical quacks may be compelled to swallow their own medicine let the precedent be established that ecclesiastical property may be confiscated and diverted to other uses and it can be followed ilmore damore directions than one A rule intended specially for the mormons cormons Mor mons maybe may be work ediin edin various vin thought of directions what is done to the mormon today to day may rebound on the methodist tomorrow to morrow the catholics may become an object of attack and then what is to prevent the warfare from being opened upon protestants te this irreligious spirit which is breathed in the article we have have copied Is gaining ground in the united states it permeates all classes it will not be long before the sentiment uttered in the will be boldly advocated by many thousands who now entertain them but are too politic to express them openly the consequences may be easily foreseen it if church funds can be taken for educational cat ional purposes in one case aney can be so perverted in any number of cases and the secularization of ecclesiastical property once made law lawful ful might become the rule in every state of the union the infamous legislation ion proposed by senator edmunds which is nothing less than an attempt at legalized robbery does not strike the minds of prejudiced people when the unpopular mormon church is the intended victim the end many will palliate it not justify the means to crush that institution its enemies would countenance almost any enormity but when the possibility of the a ap catlon of similar treatment treat munt to tae the systems to which they belong becomes appa reut may not be quite so willing to encourage a palpable wrong even towards a hated religion wh which ich ibey would like to see destroyed we recommend all religious advocates of the edmunds infamy to copon topon pon der upon the words of the yolks sei tung they are not idle sound they mean something the great sects may think they are in power ower so stron strong that it cannot be broken down tut B ut the evil they intend against us will yet if per bitted to pass into law come back to plague its authors and abettors abet tors the confiscation of church property is a dalig dangerous erous to place in the hands of the gower tate even though its object be but the demolition of a small and ous religious system it does not belong to the civil authority it is not one of the functions of the state it is lor forbidden in the supreme law but let it become grafted engrafted en upon our system of government and who can tell where its ravages wa will end the proposition contained in the edmund blu bill is fraught with more danger to the churches of america then the they at perceive it is a shadow of coming events that are a menace to the entire cause of religion the catholics begin to perceive its por portent teut they have commenced to protest against it it if the other denominations have any prescience they will cease their support of a measure which while aimed at the mormon church alone bears the seeds of trouble for every religious organization in the united states |