Show MORMON MATTERS A Gentile Civet His Views of the Troubles Afflicting the Saints Mr C R Barratt a prominent Democratic Demo-cratic politician and business man of twentyfive years residence in Salt Lake City spent yesterday in Denver en route home from Washington and yielded gracefully to an interview In reply to a question from The News reporter he said I have not been in Denver since 67 To say it has changed docs not express it What was then a country town and as I thought overbuilt is now a modern city possibly overbuilt but it is here all he same I laid over here one day on some little business but mainly to call upon some friends whom I had not seen for almost twenty years and my experience experi-ence has been so agreeable that I feel quite twenty years voumrer You should be somewhat familiar with the condition after twenty years of residence f Yes yet it is the old story the more we know the more we feel there is yet to learn I feel sometimes that I do not know so much and certainly do not know it so positively as some who after spend I ing a few days or weeks at most consider themselves fitted for literary work or the lecture field Our Mormon friends cer tainly have grounds of complaint because l of the character of some who have taken upon themselves to enlighten the outside world in regard to Utah Were you lonir East I left Salt Lake in the middle of March and have Lad the papers up to April 7th since then I know only what you know by telegraph The set of ques tjons asked about Utah are How many i wives do they have Do they all live in I one house Dont they figh > > etc I Whether they have two wives or ten live in one or ten houses fight or no does not somuch matter but what does matter is they are living in violation of a law which has been tested up to and including the court of last resort and the right and sensible thing to do and what must be done to avoid annQyance calamity and possibly serious trouble is to comply with I the law prohibiting polygamy Ii it is ani the same to you I would rather talk of I what we are trying to do and hope to accomplish ac-complish politically than of the Mormon j I religion and practices The leaders are i i i soinewhatin the fix of the man who was i I i having a hugging match with the bear The trouble is to let go and since let go I I they must soonr or later we proposed to assist them in letting go gracefully and to this end there has been organized a Democratic club and a Democratic paper started There arc those who believe the evils complained of in Utah will be corrected in time from within by her own people but we are anxious to hasten the end by having the conservative practical substantial sub-stantial men make some move at once i and it is probable they may make such u move notwithstanding the determination shown by the church leaders to fight it i out on the present ultra line It is difficult diffi-cult to understand how the present condition con-dition of affairs can continue in Utah Already a number have been convicted and placed under bonds and a score or more of the most prominent Mormon citizens including the president John Taylor of the church are out of the country or in hiding because of indictments indict-ments found for polygamy What proportion of the people are in polygamy Ten per cent perhaps of the members mem-bers of the church but you must understand under-stand that those in good standing yet not in polygamy believe and endorse it as fully as those who are Did you learn while in Washington what action if any would be taken My longest interview was with the President He spoke of the difficulty of treating questions in which religious belief be-lief figured Ho oxwrcssfid reinfit that the late conference took no action to conform con-form to the law That the law against polygamy will be enforced by the present administration there need be no doubt While in Washington I talked with some half dozen of the most prominent men I had letters from their persona friends which with my long residence gained me a patient hearing and possibly gave some weight to what I had to say The present secretaries Lamar and Garland Gar-land Judge Field and Senator Vest take a special interest in the tiresome Mormon question The President has been called a slow man He may be so but in the matter of polygamy and the Latterday Saints rely upon it it will be a case oi the mills of the godsRocky Mountain News April 17 |