Show MORMONISM IN IDAHO UNDER this title a very readable article leads in Bel forda fords magazine for july it is 13 from the flowing pen of captain john codman and is evidently written in sincerity and as the subject is viewed by the gifted writer following is au an epitome of the several items treated of in the article polygamy newly committed and continued in practice since the passage of recent laws should be punished after conviction and tile the full power of the courts to this en end should le exercised but the subjects for the marshal and the sheriff are found chiefly among the aged who might without danger to the community be left to end their days peaceably in the harmless society of their partners the dragging of old d men to prison for no other cause than an occasional visit in open daylight or taking a meal sometimes in the house of a plural wife forms 4 frequent antl and painful scene whick 45 justly arouses indignation lis dis franchis franchise emeRt meyA for the offence offense of polygamy may be just and right but tiie the disfranchisement of wen men against whom there is not even tho th suspicion of any criminal act Is ia egregious folly and more than CoA gress has yet brov provided aided tile the mormons cormons of idaho icum number er about 2500 are chiefly farmers farmer are for tile the most pirt part quiet folk dwelling in brotherly love and open only obly to co the charge chang e of unity IQ in politics as well as in religion about claim the right to vote not more than have ever been B both 0 th VO political liti I 1 parties in idaho bought during many years for the mormon vote and each condemned the other for obtaining it and finally the idea dawned upon the republicans that they would save expense and trouble by getting rid of it so they succeeded with the aid of a few anti mormon democrats in passing the test oath law a most astounding document nevada passed a test oath law similar to that of idaho but it was pronounced unconstitutional by the supreme court of that state the most violent anti mormons cormons adit that it is in not polygamy that is their real ob objection action to mormonism but that they regard it as an imperium in imperio a hierarchy a theocracy terms which very few of them know the meaning of the imperium in imperio does docs not exist no people are more par patriotic lotic or subservient sei to law than the I 1 mormons cormons Mor mons are and have been with the single exception of disobedience to orie one law ajit antagonistic agonistic to their religious teachings there is a hierarchy such as there Is in all churches that is all no people require so little law as the mormons cormons Mor mons their great desire beaire is that breth brethren reB should dwell together in unity the irrigation of land jand the building of fences the breedi breeding ug of cattle and sheep go ha hand nd in hand with baptism the sacrament and various ordinances as harmless as the formalities in other sects the church does not command hut but counsels its members to avoid litigation and to settle disputes among themselves the high council is a simple just and common illustration of all there is to the imperium in imperio it is a court of arbitration composed of a jury of twelve men presided over byrbe by the stake presidency costing nothing and deciding not so much what is legal as what is right and in that sense to Is superior to legal methods it was a cruel and unjust exercise of power which forbade the ownership of more than worth of real estate so as to rob he be utah mormons cormons Mor mons of their church prop erty while in new mexico the wealthy roman catholic hierarchy to is permitted to retain its valuable property but there are millions of catholic voters while the mormon morman vote if untrammeled would be insignificant this explains the difference of treatment of the two cases further anti mormon legislation Is not only not needed but will have the effect of binding the mormons still closer together n creasing their united power and perpetuating their religion capt codman expresses his belief that joseph smith was a fraud and his bis conviction that tha joseph and sydney rigdon bigdon foisted upon their dupes as a divine revelation the harmless romance of a presbyterian clergyman he gives interesting particulars of a high council trial concerning a dispute over land at which he was present and of tile the dedication of the bear hake stake tabernacle his description of both is graphic and truthful he says of the people that gathered from far and near all farmers with their families camped un on saturday under the eaves of the sanctuary they sat around their fires with psalms and hymns and espiritu al songs SiD singing gIlIg with grace in their hearts unto god no dupes were more sincere none more happy in being duped and none more devoted to our common lord and master after describing the services CS in which he says no mention was made of polygamy but the people were exhorted to works of righteousness and to give their enemies only one cause to complain against them thein that they were united he states that they had been franchised disfranchised dis seemed to give them little concern I 1 am sometimes inclined to think that they secretly rejoiced in it as a sort of mild persecution which contributes to their u alty and progress As to the question why does not bot the mormon church authoritatively repudiate polygamy he explains that it is for the same reason that the presbyterian assembly does not eliminate from its creed things which its clergy decline to teach from the pulpit and does not revise its confession of faith lest one stone being removed from the arch peradventure the whole structure may fall he calls attention to the fact that the anti mormon party of utah is at last forced to admit that its chief weapon can no longer be used with effect and it has fallen back in the charge of disloyalty and seeks to sustain it by reference to an al obscure oath to avenge the blood of the martyrs taken in a general way when the assassination of joseph and hyrum smith was fresh in the minds of the people and he says for this obsolete oath taken years ago by men most of whom are now dead tho mormons cormons of today who are as patriotic and loyal to our flag as any people beneat its ts fods are to be dis franchised As well might john milton who prayed avenge 0 lord thy slaughtered saints whose banes are scattered on the alpine mountains cold have been accused of disloyalty to his government ern ment and denied the rights of citizenship 11 the article is well worth perusing and when the writer does not theorize gives evidence of keen perception and a desire to be strictly accurate he has spent a great agreatt deal of time in idaho has seen much of the mormons cormons Mor mons there and speaks from actual observation As to his Opil opinion about joseph smith and the origin of the book of mormon it is derived from superficial and hearsay sources he has hag the right to his views as we have to ours but when he be speaks of knowing that tile the book was the work of a presbyterian clergyman because of the direct testimony tec of these who have seen the original manuscript he shows that he has not dipped beneath the surface of the evidence the testimony of those who have seen the original manuscript is is to the exact re reverse erse of his conclusion cl and he can get a printed copy fully attested from the DESERET NEWS office and compare it with the book said to have been made from it Mor moreover cover he can see the original manuscript himself by going to oberlin College where it was placed by professor fairchild who obtained possession of that extravagant and harmless romance and he will find on comparison that one could not have been framed from the other and that spaulding s story is no more like the book of mormon than captain colmans Cod mans entertaining article is like the thirty nine articles of the episcopal faith to bf ber found in the book of common prayer this outspoken statement of facts and denunciation of proposed legislative folly will expose capt codman to the misrepresentation and buse abuse of the anti mormon crew of conspirators but it will have no effect upon this literary son of the senj except to spur him on to maintain his position because he knows that he is right we hope to see other magazine articles from this always entertaining writer BELLAMY is accused of taking his book CLOOk looking IlIg backward fromm from an oli oil german author named bebel who wrote a novel on the same lines entitled women present and future bellamy meets the charge with the statement that he be cannot read german and wad never heard of bebel |