| 384 "pressed" upon the notice of the Senate, but however that may be, it passed after a two days struggle. I believe it will become a law, and if so, a step in the right direction has been gained.
On March 15, Elder E. L. Kelley wrote the following:
Yesterday the House of Representatives, after a skirmish and clatter of several hours, passed without amendment the "Edmunds Bill" for prohibiting bigamy and polygamy in the Territories of the United States. . . .
One thing I noticed, in all of the debates by members, that they mainly recognized the fact that it was the "Utah" and "polygamous" Mormons that they struck at. This is all we ask. Give the facts, and the Reorganized Church will soon prove to the world that it is not a whit behind the first of the land in the inculcation of morality, sound doctrine, and decency. And if it does not bring forth this good and noble fruit, it ought not to have an honorable place. . . .
The work of amending the laws to some extent in the territories so as to further stamp out polygamy must yet be done, but we do not feel to remain here longer at the present time.
On February 22, while the Edmunds Bill was pending in the House there was a mass meeting of citizens held at Farwell Hall, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, for the purpose of urging the Government to take some action towards the suppression of polygamy. To this meeting President Joseph Smith was invited by Honorable John Wentworth, and was by Mr. Wentworth introduced to the meeting. He made a speech which was not reported verbatim, but the leading papers of Chicago each published a synopsis, in some respects differing from each other. This speech was widely commented upon, and the people of Utah took great offense, and some of them have insisted ever since that President Smith should be held responsible for what he was reported to have said. So much has been said and written on this that we here give space to the criticism of the Deseret News, in its issue for May 13, 1882:
At one of the anti-"Mormon" meetings held in Chicago during the excitement that preceded the final passage of the Edmunds Bill, Joseph Smith, son of Joseph the Prophet, addressed the audience. We present herewith a report of his speech as it appeared in the Chicago Tribune of February 23, as we think that it should be placed on record, and that the Latter Day Saints should be made acquainted with the fact that the leader of the so-called "Reorganization" is allied with the enemies of his father, and of the church which was organized by that martyr for the
(page 384) |
