| Show THE MORMONS AND THE MINORITY THE opponents of statehood for utah unable to present any reasonable argument in support of their obstruction have fallen backon the old collapsed and dried up falsehood that gentiles would have to flee the country if utah should become a state in the union it is marvellous marcellous marv ellous that any sane person at late date should have the hardihood to lo 10 revive that dead and buried bugaboo baga boo and still more marvelous that any paper in the united states should care to print it with the expectation that fae public will believe it is sup substantial there is not a gentile I 1 in this th ia territory r who has resided here a year who believes that there is the slightest ground round for such a stupid conjecture there there have been non mormons cormons Mor mons in this territory ever a year or two after its first settlement aney have lived and thrived and aad many of them have made fortunes in the midst of the mormons cormons Mor mons they have never been molested they have never been coerced their religion or has not been interfered with they have had no trouble with the majority their lives property and civil and religious rights have been respected and many of them have had the grace to acknowledge this abroad as well as at home it is only a lew few conspiring kam bilious bit ious restless and unscrupulous spirits that have waged continual warfare against the true interests of the territory magnified the polygamy bugbear spread falsehoods bave by wholesale and pretended that they have been in danger and would not be allowed to live here under a state government controlled by ane majority their only substantial grievance when driven into a corner by facts ana logic is that they have no practical political cai influence that they are as although though diff dis franchised disfranchised because the mormon vote is almost if not quite solid and they are unable to break its unity thus they cannot gain the offices cesor Joy themselves nor secure them for kneir associates professing to be republicans or democrats they have asserted that republicanism did not prevail in utah and to establish it and make it nourish flourish they have sagely demanded that a small minority of the citizens should be placed in entire domination ol oi all local affairs fairs the great m majority to be completely stripped ol of every political right and privilege leg e that is their r idea ui ot republican government ern ment they pretend to judge the permanent citizens of this territory by their own vicious standard desiring to oppress and make residence here obnoxious to the majority they affect to believe that the people whom they desire to s spoil oil would with statehood retaliate in in the same spirit upon the minority and yet they know better and so does every person familiar with the mormon people they know t that hat the masses and their leaders have treated them with courtesy and forbearance that they have been permitted to abuse and misrepresent the majority to the utmost of their power without molestation they have had greater freedom fre yea license in this regard than they would have been allowed to exercise in the same way in any other community on earth but they are or of too low a stamp to appreciate preci ate this turn the other cheek magnanimity and have taken advantage of it like the commonest brutes the respectable non mormons cormons Mor mons well know kaow that they are as secure in the enjoyment of their personal rights in utah aej as anywhere in the united states and that there is no disposition on the part of the dormois mormons Mor dor mons to interfere with ar or injure them in the least yet the have not the courage except in a private way to deny cleny the iv monstrous falsehood fal that gentiles would be in danger if utah should soon become a state they are many of them in abject fear of the vagabonds and schemers who expect to profit by the political destruction of the lie cormons mormons Mor mons 11 they should never speak of mormon submission to the priesthood 1 while they are terrorized by a few venomous adventurers dis appointed politicians and li bellous bohemian scribes the latter day saints or mor mons have been taught from the beginning by the revelations of god to them and by the public instructions of their leaders that it is an essential part of their religion to respect and maintain the rights of others this is enjoined upon them as a sacred duty it is a fundamental part of their creed in their relations to the civil government they are commanded to support constitutional laws for the equal protection of all mankind in rights and privileges conscience they believe should be free good men and wise men should be sought for diligently to hold office under the civil government and no BO religious test should be required of any person elected to hold a public trust it if utah should become a state with a majority of its itil citizens members of the mormon church the state would be as separate and distinct from the church as in any part of the union in their civil capacity the mormons cormons Mor mons could not take a course to oppress their non mormon fellow citizens without doing violence vio viol lecce erce to their most sacred backed convictions and obligations as latter day saints the state conati for the civil and re legious rights of all without respect to creed or party aud and the majority of the citizens would have the added re requirements aire of their religion to uphill uphold and preserve those rights that are guaranteed under the f fundamental und law of the state I 1 the rights of minorities are recognized by the people of utah that at 1 is 13 to say no perso s should hould be deprived 0 of f any right or privilege that belongs to a citizen because he is in the minority they go f urther further than that in their theory of government they believe it right that a minority should have its fair bhare of representation in the affairs of the government they have given practical proof ot of this on several occasions and the sharp lines that have been drawn between them and their non mormon fellow citizens have been stretched by the vicious class to which we have alluded they have hav provoked the conflict and put the people on the defensive against their vile hiie attacks and it hasteen has been a question sf of self preservation en and self respect the people have not desired to affiliate with any of the dire di potable reputable creatures who have thrust themselves to the front and assailed the best men in the territory with foul epithets and lying accusations with such beings we wish to have no association but we would not deprive them of a single right because they are in the mino minority rity nor have they been molested in any y way or hindered in the f free ree exercise ise of any political power we to learn that a small minority of voters can demand support from the large majority whom they continually revile under any tule rule of politics or prin principles i of republican government should utah become a state in the union under the movement now in progress we can say sav in sine sincerity erity and from a knowledge of bf the sentiments of those who are engaged in it that minority privileges ar are e likely to be extended in a far greater degree here than elsewhere in this republic the work is in the hands of the registered voters gentlemen who have formerly figured most prominently in the affairs of the territory are now new out of politics as they have no votes and cannot bold hold office but they are and have been as ready to recognize and support the claims of minorities as any one can be and this must be so for the reasons we have already assigned let no one at home or abroad be deceived by bev I 1 the atrocious yet silly pretended forebodings of trouble to gentiles in the event of admission into the union they are of the same nature as the alleged pre diction ot of sherman in 1887 that if cleveland was elected prominent ohio men would have to go out of business the new york world states that one of these prominent business men who pretended this terror and induced sherman to utter that nonsense was harper the vice Pre president Aident of the fidelity bank af cincinnati which has lately been added to tb the list ir of financial f rands frauds that have dis disgraced raced the country he has gone out of business with a vengeance and is likely to finish his career io in jail the utah tors of evil are of the same sta stamp in p and will most likely reap a similar reward for fidelity to their profession of de camers of utah and retailers of palpable falsehood |
