| Show THE POWER OF PREJUDICE IT to is remarkable how prejudice lingers in the human mind and how bow it colors all it touches when once it gains sway away the soul that it enthralls enthral la to is often unconscious of its power and to is bent and biased by its jeff influence bence even when desiring to be upright or to lean in the opposite direction the adilor of the silt salt lake tribune offers a striking illustration of this and an article on the first volume of the history of utah which appeared on sunday morning is in one of the mt mst m st t recent proofs of it commencing with a well deserved eulogy of the book as a magnificent specimen of the printer and binder art the writer proceeds to confess the difficulty of the task before him in reviewing the work in its literary aspect he commends the style as beautiful fu P 1 acknowledges that it is written gridin with care but permits his prejudices against the be mormon people and their faith to arise and tinge all he has to say about the incidents the book relates he recognizes the evident intention of the author to make history tn in such a way as not to throw any light upon it except that of everlasting truth truthY 1 and yet asserts that he be puts down own the ideals which his own fancy g aas as he be has ham done through the book that he has taken the rough boy joseph smith and made him walk the earth a second Ct viet 1 that he has made charges of direct direct cruelty upon the men of missouri the men of illinois and the government of the united states before the saints came here that he has into the book the history of the mormon battalion Batta liou in a form to show that a mighty hardship was inflicted upon the mormon people 2 that he has displayed the same spirit in the description of the mountain meadows ma massacre 11 that tbt he has made i of judges and gov governors erners in the same spirit that wo we have seen them year after year in the DESERET NEWS 1 that there is not one place where any man who opposed the saints in a public or private capacity was right 21 and the work is summed up as magnificent reading bates hue but not history except as to the dates and events and the bare fact stated 22 we fear that in addition to td the effect of prejudice u upon pon the critics critic a mind is the weakness that corned comes through lack of proper attention to his bis subject he has evidently ony only skimmed the book he be pretends pro tends to review instead ot ol diving into it borne Some things he objects to are not in the work but merely in his imagination and he is dissatisfied with it because it is in not colored to harmonize with his hia anti mormon ties and tribune versions of important occurrences the participators participatory in many of which are living witnesses tu ti the unreliability of that papers attempts at narrative the author of the history of utah has bas indeed presented thip thic portion of his work in such a way as to impress the reader that his bis intention to Is not to throw any light upon it except that of ever lasting truth and his critic has not given us evidence of 0 to the contrary if this is only history asto as to the dates and events and the bare fact is not that history enough and these are what bishop whitney has gathered into his book in consecutive or derand in such as to force the con from his bis critic that it makes magnificent reading s we consider the book singularly free from the ideals of the writer and from rhetorical flights und and theoretical comments romenta co he gives give not his hie own opinions but the impressions produced upon the people of the times ue ne refers boand to aad these the critic confounds with the author aut horld views and sentiments senti mento instead of making joseph smith a second christ the history exhibits his follies and mistakes as wll as bisic besses and labors there to is no DO word in the book that charges cruelty upon the government before the saints came here but bat the cruelty of the men of missouri and the men of illinois is stamped upon their inhuman acts ana requires nothing but the relation of the dates and events and bare facts facto which the tribune admits the author gives to brand those MOD men as bloodthirsty ruffians and inhuman assassins Th the story estory of the enlistment of the mormon battalion to is simple history it its is not tribune perversions nor anti marmon apologies neither isit is it an all attack on any person or party for what was done or left undone anere is not a line in the narration that is not true as an dt detested tested by eye witnesses and persons now living who passed through the scenes described the story of the massacre at mountain meadows excuses no one who was engaged in the awful crime it is told with strict fidelity to the facts developed but not in accordance with the imaginary horrors borroel and invented incidents manufactured for the purpose burp se of implicating the innocent and blaming persons to whom the wicked non nesa of that tragedy is as abhorrent as it is to the angels i there is no criticism of governors Go vernora in the work the critic has once more drawn upon his imagination for an objection instead of on the book what Is i told of the judges in the early days day of utah to la the simple truth it cannot be controvert ed no attempt to is made to dispute what is said the ds ass NEWS has bad occa occasion silon year after year to tell some of these facto and aind has expressed opinions cancer concerning ning them the history of utah relates the occurrences but does not indulge in invective without this narration it would not be a history of utah it to is not true that the author has ha failed to recognize the good or the right where it existed in persons private or official who opposed the saints we could prove the contrary if we hd had space to auta from the volume the assertion of the critic to is rash and shows shown as we have said evaid that he has not read the book but only given it cursory attention for is he not the editor of the Tribu ue and aej is he be not therefore too exact to wilfully and too generous to an adversary to intentionally misquote him tho the article is all dyed and tinted with the stains of prejudice brej udice and exhibits a mingled desire to say something pleasant as to the historian and disposition to be bitter and spiteful ful an a to his bis people and their history it is a great misfortune to the bright mind so warped and biased and unfortunately the infirmity appears to be incurable |
