| Show THE PRESS ON THE REPORT report of the utah commission has hag caused much discussion by the press of the everlasting mormon 1 9 question most of the papers have something to say about it one thing to is very clear they all obtain the impression that it is the commission that makes the charges of recent polygamous marriages and it is the commission that thrown throda doubts upon the sincerity in of the M dmn 1 I people in re lation to party polities politics the signers of the report so arranged their sentences that while conveying these charges in effect they could claim they were merely stating the allegations and opinions of other persons whose names however they carefully conceal some of the public journals perceive this cunning others do not most of them construe the report as afi an effort to prevent utah from becoming a state for fear it might be a polygamous state while a few see oft through this specious pretence predence pre tence and behold a desperate struggle to retain lucrative and easy positions which would be lost for ever if utah were to receive her political rights the action of the conference has had a good effect in counteracting the vile work of the commissioners yet the P falsehoods to which they have given 40 their official sanction have been received as though they were told by the S commission and therefore entitled to weighty consideration and it takes much longer to remove a false imbres sion IOB than to create it time and patience will be required to give truth the the annexed paragraph to is taken from the new york sun the mormons cormons in conference assembled point out a number of lies hea in the report of the federal corn commission mission on the condition of their church the M mor or mons must not be impatient the commissioners mise loners ners will report nothing but what they were sent there to report the commissioners ners know what is expected of them and will not flinch though they should hove have to tell twice as many more 4 lies to support the first lot if it would be any satisfaction to the mormons cormons Mor mons the commissioners commissioner will cheerfully swear to both the sun is rather severe on the commission and a little more severe on the authorities that sent it to utah the philadelphia bulletin discusses the matter in a gentler vein here is what it says on the subject an issue of fact has arisen between the utah commar commission sion and the mormon church the latter at its conference in salt lake on tuesday emphatically denied the assertions of the commission that the church dominates its members embers in in political matters and that poly polygamous garn ous marriages are t till celebrated beasser reasserting ting that poly polygamy gamy is no longer taught and that its practice as 18 strictly forbidden this is the declaration given to the world it would be valuable to know whet er it Is also given in the sarrie same form to the membership or whether they are secretly instructed to disregard it and adhere to the old doctrine it if the former it constitutes a radical change in mormon tenets and plages places that church on the same footing as other churches in the united states a strictly a religious body with which the state has no concern the mormon church as a church has as an much right to an unmolested existence n this country as any other church has it is only when it upholds and practices polygamy that it comes in conflict with the lawand the law must oe enforced if it has in fact as well as in word renounced polygamy its quarrel with the united states is ended but the assertions of Comm commission labion are not yet disproved it to is only by such misleading statements as aa those repeated by the utah Commies son that ani any doubt to la raised as aa to the declaration of the church tin in regard to future plural marriages everybody here who knows anything of the facts except a few untruthful persons who have an interest in keeping up the hue and cry si against the saints concede the point that there to is no attempt at double dealing and that it would be impossible to talk one thing to the public and carry on another thing in secret in these times and under existing circum stances even if there were any disposition to do so ao which there is not we would remind the bulletin that the assertions of the commission which it says have not been disproved have not been in anyway substantiated and would it not be more proper fair and consistent to require the commission to prove its charges than to expect those who are accused to disprove them the commission in an underhand and sneaking way give voice to anonymous charges char gep the mormon leaders and people emphatically deny them what more to la needed until the commissioners shall give us the evidence it is they who are under the challenge and upon them lies the burden of proof our contemporaries should make a note of this and not dot expect the mormons cormons Mor mons to prove a negative |
