Show THEY FIGHT A SHADOW in 1886 as aa will be remembered our city was waa visited by members of the grand army of the republic and the Oce occasion selon was taken advantage of by certain anti mormons cormons to have a demonstration with a series eliis of more or of less leas eloquent denunciations of toe the people in this territory in the audience one evening was a stranger who after having listened for a while turned to a baptist clergyman a friend ot of his well acquainted with the conditions in utah and asked him what the true cause was of the warfare against the mormons cormons Mor mons well the minister said to be frank I 1 hardly know As for that mormonism shall be put down because it to Is a wrong religion and those whose only ambition is political and remunerative offices join us ua because they know that they can depend depena on our votes vote 1 but why do you not then meet the mormons cormons on a biblical ground anu an l show enow them that their religion is wrong of threatening them with the sword as an some rome of these speakers have doue done it la is making martyrs of them 2 1 that la is it the minister said earl but we cannot reason with them we have tried in vain the only point be seemingly em on which mormonism can be assailed is its peculiar doctrine oti on marriage and we are going to work that for all it is worth the minister stated no doubt the position of many of the anti mormons cormons at the time correctly it was not any particular love for morality that prompted their actions but it was their desire for plunder on the une one hand and fur the ei of sectarian churches on the other the callula tion lion at that time was that the mor motis mons should be led ou on to defy the laws und lind the government ot of the country until in the conflict they should be broken to pieces when the agitators would be ready to seize the spoils in the ruins they had wrought but this calculation was sadly upset the mor I 1 of defy ing or eluding the laws loyally accepted we the decision deci siou of the supreme court an evidence of uie sincerity ain centy of their falth faith lu in the supremacy of the lawi lawfully tilly con the cuu country when this became known to the whole world through the ibe action of tue church authorities sustained inid by tho vote of the people it was as it if au an earthquake had shaken the ground on chiou abe anti formund were waging the battle many of them who were honest left the ranch branam while others othera perhaps me majority were in the pusi phaltion pu altion tion ot of an army suddenly Bud sua denly cut off irom from its base of operations for a time they hesitated but at last baat they rallied again they could no longer plead polygamy as a cause fur for continuing the hostilities rhey had to tj their ground and the almost forgotten for gutten charge of church rule was again raked up formerly it was waa always aldaya said eaid thai if polygamy were riven given up the cormons mormons would be all right but when that was waa ascom the organ of hatred and vilification hastened haet ened to inform its decreasing circle of readers that polygamy had never been the worst wont feature of mormonism niam it was church Chu roli rulef rule that was the real sin ain of the system and as long as an that existed the war had to be kept up it la Is the history of the wolf and the lamb over again in a controversy of that kind arguments have no power even innocence to Is defense lose leal it in IB simply a question of war and vandalism with or without a bem the latest al legation allegation on the part of our belligerent morning contemporary la is that joseph smith established a theocracy from which it concludes that the mormon priesthood rules the people politically now this statement is as wrong as everything else on the same name subject by that paper joseph smith did not establish a the coracy in that sense of the word he did not establish a state governed by the almighty he did not even endeavor enu eavor to do that his minion was to found a church the church of jesus christ and this mission he faithfully fulfilled in ID this church god la is the supreme ruler buler just as other churches profess pro feea with this difference that while other churches say lay they are ruled by god through the word written in the bible centuries ago this church recognizes the divine word in all ages including our own that the establishment of this church was waa and still la is held to be one of the preparatory steps to tue establishment on earth of a theocracy during a coming millennium may be true but that does doea not prove that the leaders of the church claim dictation in political matters matter the belief of the mormons cormons as plain ly expressed in the doctrine and cov enan edauta to Is ie that it atia is not lust to mingle religious influence with cirii govern ment 11 and the conduct of the mem berm bera i Is in accordance with thle this belief no amount of unsupported statements statement can be taken as aa proof of the contrary |