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Show f , l "PROUD OF OUR TEOPLE!" ! "We are proud of our people!" ex claimed the principal Church organ the I other evening, after using up a column j of its editorial space in "refuting" the ! statement that the recent outrages per- . petrated by members of the Mormon Church upon United States officials resident resi-dent in this city,- were but the legitimate ; outcome of the teachings and preach- 1 :.' ingsof Mormonism. J "We are proud of our people!" What peculiar qualities "our people" must have developed to call forth such a remark from bo vile a -source. What are those I qualities? Is it because of the willing- ; ne3S they manifest to blindly follow the counsel which the Church authorities deign to give them in all things, both j spiritual and temporal ? Is it because ! ' ol the servile obedience they render to the injunctions placed upon them-to carry out the will of a bogus priesthood, even though in so doing they violate all t he laws of decencj' which elsewhere gov- j ern and control in society? Is it the j willingness they show, at the command I of a fanatical and traitorous few, to fly in ' s the face of a benign Government and trample under foot the just and merciful provisions of its laws? Is it the "willing- ness" with which they flaunt their shame in the face of ministers of justice, and from common polygamous Saints evolute into "martyrs tor Christ's sake" when they can't help themselves? Is it because be-cause they at all times stand ready to ;.' carry out the order3 of their ecclesiastical bosses, even to the extent .of assaulting and attempting assassination of Govern- ' ment officers whose only "offense" is found in a strict adherence to the line of ! their sworn duty ? If not for such noble ;, qualities as these, what is it the Church leaders see in "our people" to be so proud of? j : Perhaps it is the magnanimity which !j "our people" display toward the hated Government officials and others in Utah which causes the News to thus break I ! forth in rapture. - And yet, how little is I that magnanimity appreciated by the J misguided officials, who, in spite of cov- 1 ert threats of violence and assassination, s continue to" vindicate' the laws of their j j: country by arresting and imprisoning the ; I ;j Saints. The forbearance of the Mor- ! (' mons under these circumstances ' is j I j truly touching, and at no time per- j I I haps was it better illustrated than I i: when they failed to even lodge a com- plaint in court against a little deputy f marshal who, one Saturday night not U iong ago, waylaid four lusty and bloom- '. . . ing Saints in a dark alley, "foully mur-I mur-I : dered" one and sought to effectually do I up the other three. Even the "foully murdered" Saint, who subsequently came 1 to life again, declined to ask the court to I ; redress his wrong, and to avoid being ! called upon as a witness to establish the j guilt of the bad deputy marshal, mags' mag-s' nanimously took the underground route H ' ! - and hied him out of sight and reach of the court officers. It must be that this is one of the evidences evi-dences of the self-restraint, patience, endurance en-durance and peace, which the Ketcs has discovered m "our people," and of which it is so proud. Verily, there are virtues and virtues, but it takes a Mormon newspaper news-paper to pick out the peculiar virtues which so distinguish "our people," and give thir leaders such good reason to be proud of them. |