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Show Half the Truth. A few evenings ago the writer attend, cd a locture In tho Ccutrnl M. E. church, Wilkes Oarre, on "Mormonlsm versus Americanism. " Tho lecturer was the Rev, Dr. T. 0. Illff, a former superintendent superinten-dent of missions in Utah. The Or. Is n very eloquent spenker, and although tho jKoplo who heard him paid him half n dollar a head, bis oratorical gymnastic exhibition was probably worth the price. For nearly two hours ho lam-1 lam-1 basted tho Mormons with all the energy ho could command. Ho said tho churches chur-ches had spent four million dollars on missionary efforts in Utah and had made i but a handful of converts, whllo Mor mons had added to their numbers from one to twenty-five thousand a year. Ho I aald Brigham Young was ono of the ' smartest men ho ever met, but that tho I Mormon people wcro tho most deluded, , that Utah bad violated her pledge to the United States government to secure state hood, that her people wcro traitors and that polygamy was on tho increase, that the State was a hot bed of vlco and tho I black spot upon tho national escutcheon. Ho said the Mormons bad placed tho flag at half-mast In disrespect to tho govcr-Blent govcr-Blent and that no ono there had objected except a few faithful Christian mission-( mission-( arles. At tbo close V. H. Poet of Bait ; Lake City, who is the representative of the Merchants and Manufacturers As-I As-I soclatlon of Utah, and who had come to Wilkes-Ham on purposo to hear what tbo old gentleman would have to say when he was outside of Utnh, attempted to answer the" speaker by offering some rewards If Dr. Illff would provo certain assertions tbat bo bad made concerning tho celebration of plural marriages byj : the Mormons, the Interference of the church In politics, eto. Tho lecturer 'I recognized Ms. 1'cet and promptly do- ' elded not to altow any answer at that ' time, and Dr. Mogg, pastor of the chur ch, ordered the choir to sing, which ( drowned out Mr. Poet's voice, and tho audience left the church. ' We have given this brief report of ( tbat leoture for the purposo of saying that we have tbo word of men In Utah, J gentiles, whose word would bo taken in any court of law justyas readily as Dr. Illff's, that many of the statements ho made are only half the truth, and half tho truth many times makes a gross and malicious falsehood. Aa a property owner in Utah, tho writer believes that lectures liko that of Dr. lllfl do more I harm to that stato than any other ono thing, and that the lambasting which ho gives the Mormon people does mora to strengthen tbelr belief that they aro tho true Christians than almost anything else. Ho never spoke ono word of pralso for any of the people of Utah, but denounced de-nounced them altogether as though they were tho offscourings of creation, Ho denounced In scathing terms Senators Foraker, Beverldge and others, members of his own church, who were members of the committee In the Smoot Investigation Investiga-tion und who had voted with the mluor-ity mluor-ity on the report of that commtttoo. Ho classed them as traitors and vllllans of the deepest dyo. If ho or any ono elso expects to make converts by treating people as be does, tho Homo Missionary Society might better keep their money in their treasury. Dallas Post, Dallas, |