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Show I and progrsssive. will natitially and nec-j nec-j essanly be forced to accept statehood J with all its responsiblily; but so far a i the people are concerned, tin demand 1 w.ll come from the other end of the line, and the new responsibilities and new burdens will be accepted as a duty instead in-stead of being cUmored for as a right. The btedeis of bugaboos may note this down and rly upon it implicitly; As to the Mormons managing a state in such a w;av as to oppress anybody, to depieciate property values or drive anybody any-body out, the thing; is so ridiculous as to c.iriy with it its own refuta 1 ;n. Nobodv has ever suggested that the Mormons were downright tools, and nobody ever will hint that thev ate not quite so keen as to their owu material interests as other mortals. They have certain y done their lull share in the wolk of induci ig immigration and attracting capital, as the records of movements in these directions direc-tions during all late years will verify. They assuiedly own a pretll healthy proportions ol the property ol the terri-toiy.and terri-toiy.and thev love their possessions fully as much as the non-Mormon, loves his; they also knows that they, more than others, would suffer fro u anv depreciation deprecia-tion of values or any other disaster which might overtake the territory and check the ptogiessive march of the community. IJut all this so-called tear of statehood is sheer rot, the invention of those who will not live in oeace with their fellows, because, first, their natures aie malformed, malform-ed, and then they imagine their are more power and gieater personal gain in a continuance ol the strife and contention whicli the people have outgrown and are Hying to forget" AS TU STATEHOOD Fr m the HtrslJ. Certain ol tlie more rapid ones in this c .immunity profess to tin i in the d.-vikiuu d.-vikiuu if the people on national party lines a movement in the direction of statehood for Utah. Indeed these q-.ianeUome gentlemen pretend that the i..trod jctioii ul national politics heie has for its sole object the making of a sia;e out ol this territory, and proceeding along this assumption, they argue that a Mormon state will follow, with a long train ol evils, among them the depression depress-ion ol property values.tlie oppression and driving out of Gentiles, and so on. We uavelit heard that a wholesome nussa-cre nussa-cre of those who do not worship in the tabernacle is coiiteniplated.but the"scatt writers will probably woik up to tha: m time and lay hare all the details of the cunningly laid plot. We wonder how men pretending to in telhtfence can talk such stuff in this age and this community It is also ridiculous ridi-culous mat one can.iot undeistand how sane beings can seriously tal.. about dis-asiers dis-asiers coming as a result of a slate government, gov-ernment, and talk it right here where ninety nine men out ot every hundred are so lamiliar with all the la;is, so well acq lamted with the people, that they regard the scarce chatter as the veriest '"we don't believe theie are a hundred men in this community of nearly a quarter quar-ter of a million souls who rellect five minutes a mouth oil the probability ol statehood carry in the near fuluie. We don't believe theie aie ten men who fe. 1 any sort ol decree ol iuteiest in the master, mas-ter, and we are quite cettain that the Moiuions; the leaOers as Weil as the masses, mas-ses, are almost absolutely nidilerent in the case, i'her. was a tim- when the Moimous weie keen to. statehood. '1 hey were so eager f r it that they would have gone to great lengtus tu obtain ob-tain it. We all know so well when and why that was thai it is no. woith while to refer to it heie. But tne tim; has past. The statehood fever long since ran its Couise. and left thse atlicleU by it pretty well cuicd. We think that it will be conceded that the JeraM is reas 11 bly ell acquainted with the M r moil people and is la. liy lanuhar w.m their views regarding statehood. Our best information and oui knowledge aie thatol all the people rifle Hie iMoiinoim aie the least interested in statehood If a movement were stared tomorrow havii g foi I sol jtct the c ,ui e neut ol a slate government the Aioiinons woulu take so little part m it that thi-y Would be Kcolded for their ind.fleience. The explanation is easv. Wnen the Mormons warned statehood they were pursued and piosecu ed as 110 other people in America were ever pursued and prosecuted- They were hu. ted and herded into prison, weie spend. ng thousands of dollais monthly lot then defense and 111 payment of tines; in fact they weie mi the road to industrial and social paraly sis, and weie driven to desperation.They saw in a stale government, of which they would iiatuiahy be in cunliol.ieliel trom the awful suflering they were enduring and lor the sake ol that lehcl they would gladly haveacccpled and borne the additional ad-ditional financial burden which would have followed statehood. All this nas been changed. The things which made tne Mormons an opresstd people and brought against them the strong arm ol the nation have passed away, never to return. Nothing could restore the conditions con-ditions which existed here a few yeais ago when the Mormon people were so keen lor the admission of this territory to the union as a sovereign slate, and the establishment of local self government. govern-ment. Polygamy has ceased and there s no more likelihood of its restoratio n lii.in tticre is of this territory being gen tly detached trom the earth and transported trans-ported to the moon It is simply idle to talk about further assaults by the government upon the Mormon, for the leasou that the Mormons could not, if thev would, and would not if they could, give occasion for any such attack as has been witnessed in the past dozen years vVith the cessation of that w hich made the Mormons an object of general assail there has come a cessation of the assault, and to day the Mormons stand beloie the country l.ke other people, citizens of the republx claiming and receiving the same rights and recognition that other citizens recieve; but thete has also come to the Mormons, with this let-up of the popular antagonism, a knowledge that while statehood is desirable, it would be attended by an expense that would make it a high priced luxury which can be gotten got-ten along without. There has come the knowledge that the gieater poition of the cost of the local government is paid from the federal treasury. So long as the. administration is tolerable, the peo- pie feel that thev can get along better in a territorial condition than as a state which would result in doubling the taxes. . In saying this much we are not talking at random or with the view to deceive. We are simply staling truths which a knowledge cf the people of this tern-tory tern-tory and, their views 0.1 this question lives us a right to state. We don t believe be-lieve that the Mormon people will ever ask for statehood. We do believe that if the p.on-Moimons were to ask it the ,. ',, would be indifferent, taking little if any part in the proceedings. We doubt that if today all the lac s being before be-fore them, including a knowledge of what statehood would mean m tl e ay of increased taxation. the pioposition to admit this territory o the un.or , vvere left to the popular vo'.e. the percentage ! ( Mormon votes, in favor it would be as larire as that of the nou Mormons. Of con "e Utah will go into the union one of .hesedays. It is idle to attempt to keep it out. A territory having a population pop-ulation greater than the combine J Population Pop-ulation ot three states adjoining her with peace and good order prevailing and assured, the community beinj trinity |
