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Show WHAT WONDER. For a good many years a steady contest went on here to prepare Utah for Statehood, for American Amer-ican Statehood in its highest and purest form. That Statehood was obtained at last on the express ex-press promise of the highest Mormon authorities that henceforth they and the church would abstain ab-stain from coercing the political opinions of the Mormon people. The promise of the present head of the church was that there should be no more of it until "He who has a right to rule shall come." Well, after Utah had been a State five years we were treated to the exhilerating spectacle of the purchase from the late head of the church of a Senatorship, a purchase for money, and the recipient recip-ient of the goods was a man about as well fitted for the place as one of Buffalo Bill's savages would be for the Belles-Letters chair in the Utah university. univer-sity. But the purchase was ratified, the sale confirmed con-firmed by the Legislature, every member of which had taken a solemn oath to fulfill the duties of his office to the very best of his ability and, as God gave him to see the right, for the best interests of Utah. Still, shameful as the proceeding was, the shame was not all on one side. In the old days there were three classes of Gentiles in Utah. One was the Jack Mormon, who did not want anything any-thing to happen which would interfere with trade. Another was composed of men who insisted that the righteous laws of the Republic should be obeyed by Mormons and Gentiles alike. The third class was made up of Mormon-eaters who would not bo reconciled, who looked upon all Mormons as utter aliens and enemies of the Republic. We have watched closely, and we believe that every member of the first and third classes and some of the second, who has thus far aspired to office of-fice in the State has directly or indirectly besought the heads of the church to interpose their authority au-thority in his behalf. If those church officials have a supreme contempt for these hypocrites and frauds, and decide to run things their own way, what wonder. |