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Show WICKED WASHINGTON. I do not love to talk against my felldV-men; felldV-men; I simply present these things to show up the real state of the case. It is unpleasant unpleas-ant for me to say that the men of the Congress Con-gress of 1862, and that of 1882, were not men of the most immaculate virtue. It is understood under-stood throughout the land that nowhere on this continent is the praotice of whoredom and of the seduction of women carried onto a greater extent than in the city of Washington, Wash-ington, and by those men who go there to ZTi. I , i i wake laws uouioi it ma pcuyic. That is pretty queer talk, is it not? The men who go to Washington as Senators and Representatives, and Delegates, too, we presume, are a terrible set it would seem from this statement. But before we proceed further it may be as well to tell from whence we got the statement and by whom the words were uttered. The statement is taken from the Xeics of Saturday evening, and the words were uttered by Apostle Franklin D. Richards, in a sermon he delivered at the conference confer-ence which was held at Logan in October, 1885. If a man did not know that such assertions as these of Apostle Richards' were religion, a man might think them but base insinuations. The knowledge of a great many in this Territory who deliver sermons is tiuly transcendent. It is transcendent in that it is always knowledge of wickedness beyond Utah and never of anything in Utah. Mr. Richards seems to know all about the wickedness of Senators and Congressmen in Washington, but if he were placed upon the witness stand in Utah to tesdfj' to the family relations of his next door neighbor the probabilities are that he would not know a thing about them. The people of Utah seem to know everything about the domestic affairs of the world, and especislly wicked Washington, Wash-ington, and nothing about the domestic affairs of their neighbors and daily associates. asso-ciates. This condition of things arises, no doubt, from a strict observance of the motto of the people of Utah, "Mind your own business." Mr. Richards says that it is understood throughout the land that the practice of whoredom and the seduction of women is carried out to a greater extent in Washington than anywhere any-where else. We question very much whether Mr. Richards could substantiate that assertion. In Utah this is understood under-stood to be the case, and it is understood here because such men as Mr. Richards, who have a large influence among the people, say it is so, and say it is so that pot may call kettle black. It is probable that in Washington sexual sin exists to a greater or less extent, the same as in all other cities ; but the Senators Senat-ors and Representatives whom the Legislatures Legis-latures and people send to Washington do not go there for the sole purpose of sinning, sin-ning, nor do they devote the greater part of their time to sin. When Mr. Richards preaches such doctrines as that above quoted, he is poisoning the minds of the youth of Utah who accept such talk as true, for he teaches them that the foremost fore-most men of this country are but sexual sinners, and that the Congress of the United States has nothing to do but to seduce women. The. men of the Congresses of 1862 and 1882 were not immaculate, neither is Mr. Richards nor those with whom he associates. There is plenty of crime of all kinds in this world, in fact too much so long as there is any, but to . preach , that the leading men of a great nation are nothing but seducers is not the way to decrease crime nor to spread chastity. If Mr. Richards says that the Senators and Congressmen of the United States are but seducers and betrayers of women, can he expect people who do not believe as he does regarding his system of marriage not to look : upon and call him and those who believe as he does seducers and betrayers of women? Vituperation is not argument, no matter by whom employed; and the high position posi-tion of Mr. Richards in his church makes such vituperation more unseemly in him than in one of lesser prominence. Mr. Richards will find no such vituperation in the teachings of Christ, but rather that sins are to be forgiven, and that if a man is falling it is the duty of the Christian to raise him up and not seek to push him down. |