Show THE CHURCH CASE DECISION TODAY we are enabled to present to our readers further information regarding the decision of the united states supreme court in the church suit rendered may there I 1 is a striking peculiarity in nearly all alf the decrees affecting the rights of the latter day saints sainte they are almost invariably subversive of elementary or fundamental prin principles aples they are as a rule so glaringly unconstitutional that their true character is plainly within the comprehension of the mass of the people it requires no legal training to perceive the situation A wayfaring man can run and read as we trust to be able in a brief space to show in relation to the case dundei consideration the argument made by americas greatest constitutional lawyer daniel webster in the famous dartmouth college case cam was followed by a Ae decision cislon which has hitherto wen been regarded as forever establishing ing the proposition that a charter granted and accepted becomes a contract and passes under the shelter bulwark of property rights the clause of the declares that the obligations of contracts shall not be impaired to hold that the granting power which is usually the legislative department of the govern government mentin in this country may give a charter and then revoke it at pleasure after the grantees granlees gran tees have conformed to its terms and upon it is to under undermine mitie all corporations private and municipal and subject the tenure of their existence to the caprice of the legislative will let such a doctrine be established and stock in banks railroads and all kinds of enterprises based upon a charter would quickly sink in value and perhaps become worthless it Is therefore a neLes necessity sity of our present civilization that charters granted and acted upon shall be deemed sacred contracts thus in the case of the mormon church modern civilization has received a a thrust in a vital part taking the telegraphic synopsis of the basis formulated by the court as a justification for its extraordinary decree as fairly correct it is presumed that one of its elements was the claim that Coti congress greas has a right to annul any law of the territory 11 1 this proposition has nothing to stand upon A republican form of government is gua guaranteed to the people whether they reside I 1 in n a state or territory Ferri tory an authority of the kind claimed for congress Congre ari would constitute that budy an autocracy governing the people of the territories as an emperor rules his bis subjects such a form of government is anti republic can call al the rule has been for congress to exercise a supervisory and annulling power over the enactments passed by the local legislature which have invariably been submitted for its approval rhose statutes which were not disapproved by congress became the laws of the territory un on the same principle that a national law goes into effect when the president ident of the united states falls fails to act upon it to claim that congress 1 liss has a an n ex post facto right to annul the laws of Territory the that have been in ope operation tation for nearly a generation is almost as absurd as to claim that the chief executive of the republic has a retroactive veto power such a doctrine as that enunciated as one of the apologies upon which Ws this unjust decision rests amounts to rendering the right of the people of the territory to local self government a delusion and a snare it takes taken away every vestige of popular sovereignty and constitutes congress king the reasoning of the court wherein it claims that the statute which incorporated the church was in contravention of the constitutional inhibition against enactments regarding an establishment of religion is fallacious on its face at the time the statute was passed there was no general incorporation act the body of religious worshippers wor shippers which was affected by it became a body corporate that it might hold t is ie legal title to property all other churches are corporate bodies fur for the same reason we hold to the contrary of the position assumed by the court and that congress and the august body whose action Is 18 now under review have done that which the latter has charged against the local legislature which we will now pro aeed to show any act that favors one religion over another is a violation of the genius and even the letter of the constitutional inhibition in relation to an establishment of religion congress bus bas passed an act abing one religious body and nd esche es cheating ati dg its property to the government ern ment consequently to the extent that it has discriminated against agaID Stone one church it has favored theophers the others by exemption from the process it has constituted the other churches left legally intact and in possession of their property the established state religions in sustaining this legal wrong the court has placed its seal upon an unconstitutional process of unjust discrimination cri ini nation which cuts down the equality of religions and individual citizens before the law and before its ad mi ministration ni to make this point more clear if the process of di sinco horation po ration and robbery applied to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints were extended to all churches except one that which was exempt would by this favorable treatment be to all intents the established church of the state being favored and fostered by law while the others were legally demolished it will be observe observed ed that if the incorporating dis and es cheating clauses of the ed munds tucker act are not in violation of the constitutional inhibition against legal enactments relating to an establishment of religion it is difficult to understand what would be the statute and decision are in violation of the theory of american institutions that all men are equal before the law if one class can 3 kid be deprived of property by a process that does not apply to all citizens alike the theoretic enunciation is a hollow mockery the peaceable possession of property is a natural and inherent right equality demands that special methods of deprivation of it shall not exist no one will claim that there is any pretense of applying the same operation that robs the saints of their property to any other class of people within the republic consequently aut our point is made one of the worst features of the reasoning of the decision is that part which indicates the necessity for as inevitably following the d jai ration of the church it is held that the corporation being dissolved there were no parties to whom the property could be awarded consequently it must escheat to the government this s to is one of the most inexcusable violations of equity ever expressed its basis has not the merit of truthfulness the agencies appointed by the donors of the property are still in existence and it could have been confided to them if not for use at least for foe distribution it is susceptible of proof that it was customary to use much of the property of the church to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and for other beneficent purposes when a government descends on a false hypothesis pot po thesis heals to rob the poor and indigent it goes down into the am smallest blest possible business in which it can engage it is claimed by the court that the church has been guilty of an abuse of chartered rights it is presumable that this to is intended as an excuse for cheating es the church property to the government we deny that any such abuse has existed and further contend that aside from that proposition the court was not called upon to pass upon matters of fact the controversy was purely a question of law that being as we understand it the tee basis of the appeal this dragging in of irrelevant assertions is neither just nor dignified and constitutes a bolster consisting of a pillow slip alip with no feathers the court declares that the distinguishing features ff of mormon ism are polygamy and absolute ecclesiastical control over its ito church members of the first it is sufficient here to observe that the question before the court was one of property rights not of criminal practices of law not of facts the guilt or inno cence of a defendant charged with crime was not properly an issue before he court the question to he be determined was right to own possess and control property to say that the court had a right to take judicial notice of the fact that polygamy was a doctrine and criminal practice of the Mor cormons mormons mons oDB and that their theft church property might therefore be confiscated is to say that the court might also take judicial notice of the fact face that not more than two per percent cent of the membership of that body ever engaged in that practice and that for the offense of two a hundred may be punished but the proposition that the property of lawbreakers law breakers may be confiscated without the trial and conviction upon a criminal charge of its ito owners is to say that confiscation may follow suspicion or accusation the practice of this doctrine by the monarch of france was one of the chief causes that led to the storming of the bastile and the reign of terror which cost a million lives it is anarchy in one of the worst forms it could assume of the absolute control under which the members of the mormon church are alleged to be held it can be said and supported by their unanimous voice that they hold themselves to be the freest and most independent community on earth the rule of common consent prevails in all their affairs they are controlled oled by their not by their officers but by their oon the voluntary union of the mass is mistaken for despotic sway away exercised by its leading men to show the absurdity of this error made by the court would not dot be difficult it is a matter of current histo of statistics bt bf which did the connection warrant a court might take judicial JaJic ial notice that ninety eight per cent of the mormon people are law abiding and have never violated any statute of the land have they not a right then to act with unity rs Is harmony of belief and conduct among church members an offense lense of can it be urged as a reason why their property should be taken from them grant for arguments sake that the leaders of a church exercise absolute control over its members if the latter live within the law and choose to submit to and sustain the former has ha the civil power the right to interfere when the govera government janent begins to regulate the internal economy of a church where will the end be the court says pays that the go government verav has been patient in its dealings Z with the mormons cormons Mor mons OP the fact is that for years the government has impatiently surged against the restraints of the constitution aum anth at length it has baa burst them asunder asander in an eager desire to abolish an ad tint am popular church the court also says that the history of the mor conall moua to is one of resistance to law and the commission of pitiless atrocities on their part such language from such a source upon such an occasion is an outrage not upon truth alone but upon the dignity of the court itself and the ate and impartial method which should have prevailed in the final decision of one of the most important lawsuits known to history nothing in the record before the court called for such expressions they were extraneous to the occasion not ger 1 mane to the issue and show that thai the members of the court had aadal allowed popular clamor and matter outside of the record and arguments to influence their decision the comparison comp arlson drawn by tha court between plural marriage and assassination as religious customs is odious not alone to the be people at whose expense it was intended intent iod to bernade be made but to sense rea reason and justice the absence of donmon common elements in the two practices to is so conspicuous as to need no comments comment it is gratifying to observe that the court was wais not a unit in approving this robbery of a church as the chief chief justice and associate justi justices 9 field and lamar dissented we have no doubt that there are many right thinking and intelligent citizens in the republic Re publio who will be glad to be found in such noble company As usual the latter LatterI day av saints have received d the news of this decision a fresh evide evidence tice of the un ud just discrimination to which they are subjected subject edwith calm calmness nelm to assert that they are not inwardly exercised in regard to it fae be incorrect it is an important event of their history and it stands in the same relation in regard to the country at large I 1 it to is proper in this conception 40 to direct attention ioa to the fact that the powers that be are determined to emphasize the declaration made ty by every faithful member of the church that joseph smith was a prophet the founder in the hands bands of god odthe of the church declared without qualification that the time would come when the heads of the nation bouldin wo would in their efforts to destroy what the lord had established override every principle of the con ution and that from that initial operation the same process would extend throughout the country un til scarcely a shred of the basic law would remain intact the precedents as applied to this community are increasing and multiplying gradually they are permeating the entire body politic and the result predicted by the prophet must follow their legitimate legel mate cause these results are disintegration and anarchy the very position in which the first vic victims tinis of this destructive policy are placed edis as necessarily educational and will prepare them for the exalted labor when the hour of imminent peril shall arise of reorganizing the nation upon the basic principles embraced in the constitution as predicted by the prophet notwithstanding that the prophecies must be fulfilled as effect must unerringly follow cause according to the laws and spirit of truth it is the he duty of the people unjustly discriminated against to lawfully contend against the deprivation of their rights and demand redress of wrongs from those who have the power pow er to adjust them that the lord may be justified when he shall take part in the controversy on the side of the oppressed |