Show RAIDS Whenever a United States Marshal or a deputy has to serve any process upon any person for any cause and the person upon whom it is served for any reason suspects himself the person so served immediately rushes out and informs the censors of the press that his home has been invaded by ruffians and the portcullis port-cullis of his castle has been battered down Further than this the mans wife is always sick sick in fact from an epidemic which seems to be brought into in-to every neighborhood whenever a stranger appears What is the cause of this and where can be found the cure The cause is found in fearing man and doubtfully serving God The fear of manman that was born but to dieyhas become such a terror to many that in every bush there is a foe in every shadow is seen the outline of an enemy Lords of creation they have created the fear which lords it over them all In the silent hours of the night when the world is hushed in sleep does the question never come Why seek we to hide from man when we came to save him Why does the light we have from Heaven need a darkness in which to shine and slimy its transcendent splendor Is the light we have suited only to the lonely haunts which are hid by the darkness dark-ness or is it intended for the open ways of the bright and open day They are pertinent questions and need a long and I careful consideration before they can be well answered We do not attempt to answer them we only suggest them What are the facts upon which is based the assertion that the officers of the law are raiding private houses every few days They are simply these A great many of the people of Utah are living in what is known as polygamy and in contravention con-travention of the laws of the United States prohibiting the same and forbidding forbid-ding the formation of marriage on any other basis than the monogamic system the systemof the Christian world The merits of the two systems are not under discussion but simply this one question To whom belongs the right the duty and the power of regulating the marriage relation re-lation 1 To the State answer the history and traditions of twenty centuries The answer of history and of tradition are not necessarily to be taken as authoritative and final on the matter nor are the traditions tra-ditions and longings the ways and the wanderings of the children of Judea to be taken as authoritative and final on the I matter The final authority must be the legislative power of the government having hav-ing jurisdiction of the country or territory i4 terri-tory in which any system of marriage is adopted and the fitness of a system must be determined by the present time and not by times long before the advent of the present era of the worlds history Religion Re-ligion may sanctify the marriage relation but the legislature must declare and del + de-l fine what it shall be Having declared and defined that relation the State must see that none other is allowed to assume its place and that any such assumptions are punished Has anything more than this been done It is most true that the sympathies of aj whole Territory are with those who ara being prosecuted persecuted perse-cuted as they term it Is the enforcement enforce-ment of a law be it never so harsh a persecution The people here say the higher law must be obeyed while the United States say the laws of Congress must and shall be obeyed In seeking to enforce the laws of Congress it is necessary to subpoena many witnesses and many hostile witnesses wit-nesses but is there any reason why a hostile witness should not be subpcened as well as those who are not hostile Is it not an impossibility for an officer of the law who is armed with a process from a court having jurisdiction and who merely mere-ly executes the orders of the courts continually con-tinually keeping within the law and closely following the statute to make a raid while so doing The laws which are being enforced may be harsh unjust even cruel but is their execution merely raiding Is the visit of the County Assessor As-sessor in the discharge of his duties a raid The assessment having been made and the time allowed by the statute for the payment of taxes before becoming delinquent having expired is the summary process allowed the Collector Col-lector to get in the taxes when enforced a raid and a despoilation of private persons per-sons for plunder to gratify personal hatred and fill the purses of the Assessor and Collector It certainly is not In the service of any process Marshal Ireland has no more personal feeling than Collector Collec-tor Jones has when he sells property to pay the taxes levied upon it Was not I the County Court right in its refusal to j suspend the high license law until the whiskey interest could test the validity of it The County Court did the only thing it could have done that was to insist in-sist upon the supremacy of the law but it did not make a raid To call these things raids is to be untruthful and inaccurate inac-curate it is to create false impressions and to give currency to wrong and hurtful hurt-ful ideas and should cease out of respect to humanity and decency if not for a regard re-gard for the law l Such language injures many whom it may be intended to benefit bene-fit and helps none |