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Show THAT PROPOSED INVESTIGATION. A thorough investigation of the methods of the Mormon Church and its chiefs, in relation to their status as American citizens, made in good faith, ought to clear the air of Utah as it never has been cleared. The organization will be the better or the worse because of it, and it will be settled whether or not it will henceforth be worth while for Americans in this state, who .are not Mormons, to take part in or to have a care about political affairs af-fairs in this region. After the investigation closes," the Deseret News will either cease its forked-tonguetl forked-tonguetl and ribald abuse of men who challenge fl the justice of Mormon political methods, or it will H have the opportunity to say, "Didn't I tell you fl So," and thenceforth be as well the political as fl the priestly organ of this sovereign state. Some of us believe that the matter should be fl decided of how far an organization, under the fl guise of religion, can wage secret but incessant H warfare upon the Government of a free nation and H upon the prerogatives and most cherished beliefs H of a free people; whether it has a right to load H men and women down with superstitious fears H and then to play upon those fears up to dishonor-H dishonor-H ing the American ballot, and regardless of fitness, K dictate upon whom the political honors and emolu-fl emolu-fl ments of the state shall fall. The investigation H should determine whether a class of men, because H they have a numerical majority of slaves, shall H he permitted to scoff at their own covenants and H in the same breath to ask "What are you going to do about it?" We hope, too, that the investigation B will determine whether the Mormon system is to j continue, under its religious claim, to vex the peo- Pie of this country as it has vexed them at inter-j inter-j Vals for well-nigh half a century past. H It Is true that since the foundations of our republic were laid, men have been free to espouse H any religion they pleased to, to worship any God f they pleased to, and have never been disturbed until they have trenched Upon the laws or have, disregarded the rights of the American" people. j That the Mormons have been In such frequent H jrubles is, by indirection, evidence that the frlc-H frlc-H !on has come through their violations of law or trough their trampling on the rights of people not Mormons. To the patriotic American there is H no 8ift so sweet as the right to think and speak his ideas on p6. f5fc cts and to cast his ballot where princirO ally vindicated. When an organization cL he needed number of slaves to neutralize . ' acts, or when, after an election has been qv , d, this same power for a monied consideration, can set at defiance the will and purpose of the people, then such a community com-munity ceases to be an American community, and it is an imposition to designate the soil on which they live as a sovereign state. Hence we hail the coming of this commission as something which ought to have come years ago, and we trust its work will be most thorough. Surely Utah and her methods ought to cease to be the especial concernment of the Great Republic. |