Show iC MAKES RATHER A WEAK CASE C. When hen the tho Tribune charges lawlessness against the people of ot Utah It dislikes nothing so much as a demand i for proof It recently made a guarded statement allegIng alleging alleg- alleg Ing the the- polygamous pol samous marriage of ot a Utah man with a young woman who had been imported Into this country for forthe or orthe the purpose of or becoming a plural wife the wIfe the woman de defending de- de fending lending her action with the statement I 1 would rather be the plural wife wile of a good man than to be a cook cool an and washerwoman all my life lite The stor story was not supported with an any of the Indices y I of or verity There was no name of the offenders There i r was no exact time of the commission of that thaC act of law Jaw I i violation There was no place In the whole state of ot Utah specified as tho the locality of the action And when the Tribune Is Js asked for lor specific Information It replies Beginning with tho the first line In Jn the first C r column of ot this issue the tho Tribune could curl the hair of or seeking proof-seeking thanks pick with just such suchy y truthful recitals in every line linc until the foot of ot off f. f f the last Jast column of the last Jast page pale was readied reached But the Go to hierarch proofs your our ro That is all aU aUer very cry er we well for tor tho the foreign demand It will wUl go a long wa way of or course to support the tho Easterner in the belief that the Tribune so o traitorously alms aims at Men and md women women back in New England who have a fixed belief beBe that Utah is a a. community of or criminals criminals criminals-as as the New Times put the tho case will case will accept that dodge dode of or the Tribune as the best possible answer The They take will it to be lIe In the chain o of evidence convicting the wll jle state of or Utah of a violation of or a aa Jaw a But It Jt is not enough for the tho people who live here for the people wh who know the facts and who are arc interested inter Inter- Inter Inter-I ested In the good name of or the state and who are as desirous of ot tho the laws law's enforcement in this and other particulars as the Tribune can possibly be I It may be in accordance with the Tribunes Tribune's contract I Ito to keep their Eastern patrons deceived But if It has any regard for the good name of or the state tate it will at the same time give to the public the Information it possesses In ti n such case Or It will have to remain under the suspicion suspicion sus sus- that it has no such information at all an I If the Tribune cares for the good name of ot the state and secures information of or law violations particularly In the line Uno of polygamous marriages the Tribune should as an agency for Cor rectitude help the people ot or the state by putting such information in the hands of or officers of or ortho tho the law We Ve ar arc e very sure prosecutions and punishments punish punish- t ments would follow the discovery discover of or such acts acta as the Tribune has so 80 willingly declared to Its Eastern readers have taken talton place in Utah In spite of ot the fact that the Tribune has established a precedent of suppressing news of or the violation of or law law law law-assee see as see the McWhirter case that case that paper owes some obligation to tho the people of or Utah And when it secures information so compromising to tho the good name of the state it should do tho the state the service of or putting tho the responsibility of ot punishment on tho the au au- au- au I It is not fair to the state to tell teU the Easterners I that that such a condition exists here without official conS condemnation con con- S when the information is la withheld There is in this statement that no pretense polygamous muns living has ceased in Utah Tho The men who took plural wives before the manifesto are still supporting them an and are arc maintaining their families There is a consideration of or justice in this arrangement which seemed to tho the men and women of or Utah and of or the nation twenty I years ears ago would be thu tho best settlement of or the entire problem There Thero were to be no new marriages and no further prosecutions of tho those e who had married prior to toj j that date the date tho date ot of the manifesto Wo o 0 can see flee no objection to tho the Tribune making public all aU the information information 0 tion it has or can cun get along this line But at the same 1 1 time it s seems ems the part of fairness would woul b be to concede I that the Mormon people have resolutely put lut polygamy behind them that thc they are loyally keeping their covenants cove cove- nants and are not permitting permitting- the tho taking of plural wives fr It would be no more than fair to say that the Mormons themselves even if It there were no state stale nor federal l law lawon lawon I on the Iho subject would refuse to lo rc incorporate polygamy f as LS one of or the Institutions I ons of ot their church There is a Jen general Jal Impression among Easterners Easterners- the people who pay pas tar for this defamation of Utah Ulah in the I Tribune that Tribune every Mormon is a poly polygamist That is what thc they understand by bs the term Mormon Is it fair Do the non-Mormons non of or the state stale think it Is a fair view to take take take-a. a proper view for tor a a. Ut Utah h agency to propagate among its readers in parts of or the country Makers ot or the Tribune ne and every overs' one else elfee knows that not a quarter quart r of ot tho the Mormon men ever were mists There were mighty few rew bachelors among them r but each man was tho the husband of or on one wife and wife and no more And this his even In the tho times here when there thero would have bave been no sort of or reason to lo conceal the Iho fact if it had existed That Is contrary to the Eastern idea and It Isn isa Is la laa a n bit of or Information the Tribune should give them Tell TeU the truth about Utah Te Toll all an the truth But t 1 dont don't dc defame me the state b by innuendo nor malign it by byr r direct falsehood Tell the truths truth but now no and then te tell tella a a. pleat pleasant ant and creditable truth There Thero is no t town Inthe in inI inthe I the nation no state stale In the republic where the people lawlessness as as they are are here in are BO so tree free from Utah U III I lI Ill II I II I I and tills this statement I i. i Is to bo ho taken without an any mental J reservation atlon as to tho the character of ot the offense char charged e People who know of or laws law's violations and suppress the information are arc to an un extent participators In th the crime That is Js bad But people who allege e crime against people who aro arc not guilty add adel the sin of or slanderous m mendacity mendacity men men- n- n to the Ignoble offense of defaming their own hon homes And of ot th these so o offenders we ue know of none more mor vicious and wicked ed than the tho Salt Lake Tribune |