| Show COMMENTS ON confiscation THE chicago tunes has baa a strong editorial in denunciation of the attempt by the supreme court of the united states to find a way out of the dilemma occasioned by the act of congress for the escheat of mormon church property it calls the decree of the court beating the devil round the bush Y and the law as an assault upon the liberty of conscience As an to the latter lafter it says it is an ill business to make special legislation destructive destruct ivo by indirection of religious freedom it is worse business that the supreme judicial tribunal of the united states should approve in the face of the constitutional direction that congress shall make no law respecting spec ting an establishment of religion or prohibiting r hi biting the free exercise thereof e beof 11 0 of such insidious assault upon a v valuable uble fu fundamental nd provision as was made when congress passed an sot act directing the attorney general of the united states to bring a suit to wind up the affairs of the corporation known as the latter iatter day saints the mew york mali and express publishes a learned legal dissertation on the subject attempting to defend the action of the court but it draws apar a parallel between the power of the king in english jurisprudence and that of the government of the united states which will not be recognized as part of our national polity As a way out of the muddle in the disposition of the property the writer says the decree expressly provides that the funds shall be devoted to charitable uses lawful in character would it not be a cognate charitable purpose to devote it to the education of J children hi laren bom of poly polygamous marriages in utah or for the establishment of hospitals in utah utah for the relief of the sick and suffering of the mormon faith these are simply instances which would be lawful not opposed to public policy or morals and sufficiently cognate we think to the intention of the donors to 10 come within the guity jurisdiction of the supreme e court of the united states the oakland cal echoe has an editorial an the subject from which we clip the following this is the latest phase of a transaction that has a big precedent in history henry VIII that immortal ii mortal english sovereign tove reign levied tribute as arbitrarily that founder of the church of england all alias the episcopal denomination ide declared escheat all the abbeys nunneries nunn eries and treasure of whatever material value of the roman catholic church in his domain he constituted the throne of all that ecclesiastical booty had that rapacious monarch possessed temporal power of ample jurisdiction he would have pauperized the roman catholic church wherever that hierarchy had foothold henry VIII when he closed his eyes for the last time january 28 1547 little realized what a massive influence his career would have on posterity his policy of confiscation to use slang was simply immense ammense ir had the italian gentleman then holding office as supreme pontiff foreseen the result of his declination to promote the english kings matrimonial measures he most certainly would have proven himself less antagonistic in this particular the mormon church bad had no ground for diplomacy the edmunds law was the consequence of heavy cannons cannonading canno ding so to speak by pseudo moralists mora lists polygamy which was poa gama all right when practiced by solomon and other biblical personages was all wrong when made a religious tenet in these them times because a system of plural marriages was in successful operation in utah and thereabout there about these zealots zealous zea lots who re 1 carded universal uni verma concubinage with unconcern bombarded congress until repressive statutes were enacted the washington independent makes these remarks the tacoma every sunday very timely declares the late decision of the supreme court of the united states a bad baa precedent in relation to the property of the he mormon church es cheating so far to the state as to leave it to congress to say bay what charitable uses it shall be put to lot let that money alone to be used by former if not present members of the mormon church to dispose of it will not do for courts to interfere with religious contributions of any kind it shows shown a tendency to meddle where the meddler has no business ll 11 |
