| Show THE CHURCH PERSONAL PROPERTY ge g e THE master in chancery judge loofburrow Loot burrow appointed by the supreme court of utah commenced october 4 fifth to make inquiry and report there on as am to what charitable uses lawful in character and most nearly correspond 16 ing to tho those be originally designed the personal pew onal property ot of the late corpora T aton of the church of jesus jesue christ of latter day saints can be limited and appointed particulars of the examination will be found in another part of this paper and will be given from day today to day until completed the case la ill brief is this by act of congress the church corporation was dissolved and its real property in excess of the value of was declared forfeited to the government to be used for the benefit of the common schools of the territory with the exception of such real property as necessary for houses of worship or parsonages personages nages or burial grounds the corporation being dissolved its personal property was declared to be without any natural persons or any body or association legally entitled to hold it and therefore it devolved to the united states after considerable litigation and appeals to the court of last resort it was ordered by the supreme court of the united states that the supreme court of utah should appoint a master in chancery for the purpose described above counsel for the government will claim the personal property for the use and benefit of the district schools counsel for the church ask that it shall be devoted to the relief and support of poor and distressed members of the for the building and maintenance of houses of worship of the church the latter application was wan filed this morning and appears in full in our report of the chancery proceedings the claim of counsel for the government has not been formally filed but will be no doubt at a later stage of the examination there are some points in the scheme presented by the church counsel which we desire to e emphasize maht ze they show that among the uses to which the property in question has been put in the post past are those we have named that while polygamy was formerly practiced by some members of the church ty kly the manifesto of president woodruff and the declaration of the church in conference assembled sem bled that practice has been formally discontinued that as a matter of fact there have been no such euch marri marriages agee since the date of that manifesto and its public acceptance that the property in dispute would not be put to any unlawful use in the future if placed in the hands of the president of the church as trustee for the purposes mentioned and that these are lawful uses which most nearly correspond to the purposes originally designed we think these statements and arguments will strike the public as eminently fair and just and in accordance both with the ruling of the supreme court and the doctrine of charitable uses which has been set forth in judicial rulings for centuries what tile the master in chancery may think of the matter of course is another thing the district schools of the territory are worthy of all proper public support at first sight the proposition to divert this property to that purpose appears an easy and legal method of its distribution but on closer examination it seems clear that it would be foreign to the original purpose in the donation of the funds also that people would obtain benefits from which they axe are not legally or equitably entitled the property was donated by members of ft a particular church for church purposes and it would seem that those purposes if not unlawful and that church with in lawful limits should receive the sole benefit of the funds and this not only on the principle of common right and reason but also by the terms of the law aud and of the rulings of the highest judicial tribunal the case will be watched with in tense interest not only by the people of utah but by the legal fraternity and thinking people everywhere it to is a new cause in american jurisprudence no attempt has heretofore been made by the government to seize upon and appropriate the property of any ecclesiastical sias organization it is distasteful to the very large majority of the people of the united states it is in conflict with the feelings of all liberal minded people ant and even persons who would regard with favor the destruction of mormonism 9 view with alarm the precedent afforded by the national seizure of church property under any pretext whatever we believe belleve that the country would endorse any just plan for the settlement of this matter one that would not involve the robbery of an unpopular religious body and would yet uphold the laws of the united states in reference to polygamous practices the ca sewill no doubt be thoroughly ventilated ti and we hope a judgment will be rendered and reported that will be just and reasonable and in accordance with existing rights and the public interest |
