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Show THE TEMPORALITIES. ' : 1 i v-J It seems that Senator Edmunds' new i !i bill has for its object the confiscation of I ' the property of the Mormon church. The j New York thinks this will do more to suppress Mormonism than any nieas-, nieas-, ( tire that can be adopted. If the desire of Senator Edmunds and others is to break r-'tj up Mormonism, it is a most unworthy ! desire, and dois no credit to them. In i so far as certain practices of the Mormons i are in violation of the law, and an j usurpation of authority over a mostessen- i tial factor of society and the State, they i should be suppressed. The policy of prohibiting the accumulation of vast 'wealth in the hands of an ecclesiastical corporation may be wise, especially where - the accumulation of such wealth is for the purpose of gaining that power which ever accompanies vast wealth. This would be but a revival of the policy which caused the enactment of the stat- ! utes of mortmain in England at a time when the power of the Roman church ; had become almost a rival to that of the Parliament and King. The accumulation i of vast wealth in a dead hand must ever I . be detrimental to the true policy of a free I . i government. The wealth of the Mormon J church has not reached this point, but it - has grown wonderfully, and it has f not been of that nature which applies solely or projieily to sacerdotal matters. To the expenditure of wealth j j for the purpose of erecting houses of wor-E wor-E ship, be those houses never so costly, , j i y . their embellishment and adornment never i ' so grand, there can be no objection except J . the objection of bigotry. If Senator Ed munds' bill aims at houses of worship, I " no matter what the nature of tfiat wor- ship may be, how foolish and superstitious to some, how blasphemous to others, he is preparing a bill to perpetrate a great ' wrong and perpetuate religious intoler- j ' ence. . It is true that the nature of the bill is not definitely known and cannot be until the full text is seen, and until it is seen judgment upon it may be erron- , ; eons. There is one thing of which, in all probability, Senator Edmunds is not aware in regard to the property of. the ; Mormon church. The value of all its r property is a matter of conjecture, while liiany of the stories told of that wealth have been both wild and idle, absurd even to believers in Monte Christo.. The Bank of England canard is probably ; the most stale and stable of all these stories, and has the same foundation that the stories about American heirs to ' English earldoms have.' But to return to the question to which Senator Ed- 1 munds has addressed himself. lie will never be able to find out where the great mass of wealth of the Mormon church is, because the great mass of that wealth is held in trust, while the titles of the trustees trus-tees appear absolute upon the records. To reach this property, how will Senator Edmunds proceed? And it is this very class of projerty, we take it, that he desires de-sires to reach. This fact must be taken i nlo consideration, for the fact would play a most important part in the enforcement of any law intended to confiscate the ; property of the Mormon church. We are inclined to think that by the time Senator Edmunds has got his bill enacted into a law and is all prepared to "smash the Mahdi," he will find the cuplward of the f Mormon church bare. |
