Show RIBALDRY BY TELEGRAPH A many american journals are discoursing on the alleged blasphemous statement of president george Q cannon at the general conference that president woodruff had been holding an executive session with god they appear to be very much shocked at this and base their opinions of the declaration on plural marriage upon this purported expression for the benefit of our pained co temporaries we state most emphatically that neither president cannon nor any other speaker at the conference made use of that expression or anything like it the truth is it was a tre LIE made out of whole cloth by a reporter of the salt lake tribune une published in that receptacle of filth and blasphemy and snapped up UD by the associated press agent a member of the staff who never misses a chance to disseminate a falsehood about the mormons cormons Mor mons 91 and so circulated by telegraph ph throughout the country what president cannon sald said about this matter was that on the of september president woodruff made up his mind that he would write something and he had the spirit of it he had prayed about it and had besought god repeatedly to show him what to do at that time the spirit came upon him and the document that has been read in your hearing was the result will the good christians of the united states object to this in a matter of so grave importance was there anything wrong in fervent prayer for divine direction Is president woodruff to be blamed for waiting until he was satisfied that he was guided by the holy spirit when convinced that he was doing right is he to be assailed for going ahead and is president cannon to be lampooned and berated for making this plain statement he also told the conference that the document when written was submitted to the twelve apostles and said he we sustained it for we had mude made it a subject of prayer also that god would woula direct us was this improper or is prayer in these united states simply a form of godliness without the power thereof a species qa oa lip worship without force a hollow and impious mockery it seems that nothing of importance a leading mormon can do or say can pass without deliberate misrepresentation the false and blasphemous stuff purporting to be mormon remarks that is manufactured tu red for the columns of the Salt Lake tribune and devoured with avidity by professing christians in this city and other places would not be tolerated in the rankest infidel paper in any decent community outside of utah yet no christian minister here raises his voice against what he knows to be as false as it to Is ribald abid and debasing and such utterances as the press of the country have caught up and repeated can be commented upon as facts and no christian preacher has the grace or courage to attempt to correct the wrong and stand up for the simple truth will any of the papers paper that have commented upon this expression that was never made in the tabernacle be fair enough to 0 contradict the untruthful rumor or will they continue to ring the changes upon it because it suits their purpose and catches the popular kopul a r ear ea r and the vulgar spirit of the times |