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Show I ------------- - - , THE TRIALS UNDERGONE. I Senator Patterson, in the debate on the state ( admission bill, used these words: I p .If there was any church organization which ! had undergone the trials that this church organi- L aation had undergone, I care not what its religious J belief or practice might be, if the sect was large 1 j$ enough and strong enough and powerful enough k to become a factor in the political life of the coun- r, ( try, we should find that church pursuing precisely 1 , the' same course that is being pursued by the Mor-; Mor-; , mon church today. 2 (Jf A peculiar feature of the great debate was that M every Senator from states adjacent to Utah W seemed determined to clothe his language in if words which would not come back to vex him in , j the primaries and conventions of the future. Pos- m sibly this was but an unconscious act of self-pres- K ervation. M In the main, the debates were fair, except In ft M the cases of Senators Warren and Teller, Senator 1 W Warren, though he has lived in Wyoming for a i C generation and though he has had business in Salt B - Lake City just prior to every election in Wyoming J K in which he was personally interested, had never K seen anything like Church domination, or any- j B thing different in the political bearings of "Mor- ; B monism from that of any Church organization. It ' m is clear that he will never be able to realize the S sensations of the man told of in the New Testa- ment who when questioned by the Pharisees, re- plied: One thing I know, whereas I was blind wt now I see." W Senator Teller went out of his way to repeat . wt x and endorse a statement which was fully dis- ftr proved years ago, and which was,- equivalent to M charging that in the old days here, the Courts of V Utah were administered with unspeakable barbar-wk, barbar-wk, ism and that the Americans here endorsed their V hrutality. f H V But this was not unexpected from Senator Tel- I K' " Ier, because for reasons of his own Senator Tel- wt er lias or many years Deen a volunteer attorney for tne defense of Mormonism, no matter in what Sf form presented. jK But the remarks of Senator Patterson copied K above, are what we desire to make a little refer- jflpr ence to. Did Senator Patterson ever seek to in- K , vestigate why it has seemed necessary for the Sfl Saints "to undergo the trials" which he depicts? t9t?' The Mormons made their first stand in Ohio. For i Bp certain reasons thoy soon found It expedient to remove from that state. They then went to Missouri, Mis-souri, and while the men of Missouri gave every other sect and creed welcome, in a little while something in the Mormon system caused thoae single-minded Missourlans to arise and drive them out. Illinois then welcomed the refugees from Missouri's Mis-souri's intolerance with open arms, and still within a very brief space of time, the people of that state arose, killed their prophet and hurled them out naked and desolate upon the frontior. This was before polygamy was an acknowledged tenet of their faith and when such men as Stephen Steph-en A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Logan, that Colonel Hardin, who died at Buena Vista, and General Baker, who died at Balls Bluffs, -" il in their prime and all residents- of Illinois, Illi-nois, u bright and brave and generous a company com-pany of men as ever honored any state. Does Senator Patterson ever stop to think that when he talks of Mormon persecutions and trials he is, by indirection accusing the generous men of Ohio, of Missouri and of Illinois of cruelty and injustice? The Mormons next emigrated to Utah and established es-tablished a purely theocratic government and proclaimed pro-claimed that polygamy was a Divine ordinance. Brigham Young was the absolute ruler. When a little later it was deemed best to elect certain officers, the names of such officers were proclaimed pro-claimed trom before the Tabernacle altars and the people were instructed to vote for them. When later the Gentiles came in force the forms were again a little changed, the Mormon people were organized into a party called the People's party; the men designated by the First Presidency were nominated and voted for solidly ny this People's party. There were not forty scratched votes in forty years on that People's party ticket. When the Gentiles came to Utah the Saints had possessed themselves of the arable land and of all the streams. There was nothing left for them except io storm the crags, to unearth and bring to light the treasures in the hills. To do this they employed Mormon men and teams, they bought the products of Mormon farms, paying in gold for everything. They were a very Providence to the destitute Saints. But they were Americans and American like they insisted that the laws of civilization, the laws that Senators Teller and Patterson have accepted all their lives, should be conformed tc. Then came clashings. In their church the Mormon Mor-mon chiefs taught their flocks that when the law of God and the law of land conflicted to obey the law of God. This was in reference to polygamy. They taught, too, that theirs was the only legitimate legi-timate government on earth, being "the government govern-ment of God through His Priesthood," that Vox Populi Vox Dei was all wrong and must be reversed. re-versed. In the meantime those chiefs controlled every nomination made and the people responded respond-ed by a solid vote. Is it strange that there were clashings? They still kept up the cry of persecution until un-til many people even in Missouri and Illinois concluded con-cluded that where there were such persistent complaints there must be some cause, and this in the face of the fact that not one demand had u i ihiNM5t- - HI I - ever been made of the Mormons in Utah, except lj j ) M that they make their institutions conform to the ll. ; commands of the laws of the United States and 'J M 61 civilization. I j , i M At last a bill was introduced into Congress to M disfranchise the whole membership of the Mor- J lM mon church on the ground that it was a treason- if able institution, that its members "belonged to an ' ' M alien kingdom, an alien temporal kingdom, in it- bH self absolutely antagonistic to free government. 1H This brought the manifesto by President H Woodruff that polygamy should thenceforth be ,IH suspended, and the published statement by flic ( j H then First Presidency and many of the Apostles i J J that church rule in political affairs should ceage, i j M that every voter should thenceforth vote as he i jj M might please without church dictation. The present ' JA head of the Church at the time declared that there j M should be no more dictation "until He who has M a right to rule shall come." On this statehood M was granted and for two years a great calm fell r H upon Utah. The people did vote as they pleased j M to, the great proportion of polygamists ceased ' M to live with their polygamous wives, the old ani- 11 mosities passed away. But the president of the f 1 Church died and was succeeded by one who fjH could not bear to note the independent thought growing among the people, the word was secretly I fH sent out to polygamists to "live their religion," j l which meant to resume their old relations with j SH their polygamous wives; the old dictation to vot- ! ers was resumed. 'H H Two years ago Apostle Smoot was a candidate JH for Senator. The election was carried by his par. & ty. But after the election and before the Leg- 11 islature met negotiations were opened with the uH then President of the Church and the Senator- jl ship was sold for cash to a Gentile, and Apostle ' H Smoot was obliged to announce that he was not t a candidate. It was understood at the time that i J "he had instructions to withdraw for two years. i f A few months later the then President of the Church died and the present President succeeded 61 him. It is understood that he in favoring Apostle W Smoot was but carrying out the political agree- f ments of his predecessor. The result was that in jl mM the conventions all grades of churchmen, from I Apostles down, joined to secure the nomination's 'j f of enough men favorable to Smoot to elect him 1 M in the Legislature and then the full power of j H the Church chiefs was exercised to make their H election sure. j B From the foregoing Senator Patterson can see 1 M just how much the Mormon people have been - xj persecuted, at least since their coming to Utah, L H and what reason they have for combining and M voting as they are ordered to vote, and he possi- , ' M bly may get an idea that the same style of politics M might cause clashings even in Colorado. jk Joseph Smith in Nauvoo organized the nucleus ' M of an army, named himself Lieutenant General j M and later announced himself a candidate for Pros- jf ident of the United States. From that day to this ri political power and commercial gain have been j 1 the sweetest dreams of the chiefs of this organi- f M zation, and this desire and the determination to H be a law unto themselves have caused all tho H "trials" this people have been forced "to under- . H go." I 'I m M Senator McComas, in his speech, could not un- M derstand how statehood for Utah was obtained B without stringent safeguards being drawn around B tho admission. Senator Rawlins might have ex- fl plained, but under the circumstances, we do not M think he can be blamed for not doing so, for he, M as delegate from Utah, stood up in the House of H Representatives and plighted his honor for the H honor and good faith of the Mormon church and H people. And we all approved his words because H the First Presidency and Apostles had in the most H solemn form pledged their honor and the honor H of their people that henceforth they would in H spirit and truth perform all their duties as Amer- H ican citizens. We all thought at the time that H the Mormon religion had ceased to be a factor in H.i American politics, had ceased to be a disturbing H element in any sense in America. H In this connection for the enlightenment of the H Senate it may bo well to state an incident. Two H or three years after statehood was obtained, and H after every pledge made to secure it was being H violated, one of tho twelve apostles was In tho H office of United States Attorney John Judd, now H counsel for the Louisville & Nashville Rail- H road company, with offices at Nashville, when H Judge Judd charged him and his associated with H violating the pledges they had made. The apos- m tie answered frankly, "I know it, when the Am. H nesty proclamation was laid before us (the apos- M ties) some wanted to strike out some portions of H it, others wanted to add to it, but it was finally m decided that any change might cause its rejection Hj by President Harrison, that the better way would B be to sign it, and then when statehood was oh- m talned, we could do as we pleased." m That is the substance, if not the exact words, H of this Apostle's statement, the truth of which B can be confirmed by any who seek confirmation by writing to Judge Judd and calling his attention to the matter. It makes plain why Gentiles in Utah were beguiled be-guiled into asking for statehood. They did not believe that the First Presidency and Apostles would all sign their names to a document for th? purpose of deceiving the American government and people, notwithstanding their claim that they are God's people, and all outside are but as heathens. |
