THE MORMON LOBBY.
Undoubtedly the Mormons have spent a great deal of money to defeat the ultimate passage of the bill now pending before Congress and which uproots the very foundation of their Church, since it confis-cates its property and turns over to the officers the members of it. There has been and is now the most bold and unscrupul-ous lobby employed that could be secured, and it has gone right in on the floors of both houses and even intruded on the privacy of the conference committee now considering the compromise measure. It is asserted openly that the Mormons have a number of members and Senators at work for them, and that every man who can reach a Senator or member has been em-ployed if possible.
The Mormons have a vast amount of money at their disposal, and a great deal more of real estate. All this will go to the winds if this bill goes into law, which it will do unless this "influence" is over-powering, which threatens to be the case. At any time during the day—and it has been true for months—one could see these lobbyists talking in the out of the way crannies of the capitol, talking to members and Senators. They have shown a zeal which indicates that their pay must be large and contingent upon final success. This measure has had more money in the opposition than all the bills which have been before the Forty-ninth Congress, not excepting the many measures affecting cor-porations. The Mormon Church, however, maybe rightfully termed a corporation—and more, it may be called a monopoly. It has a "corner" upon the souls of hundreds of thousands of people in the Territories, and it looks as though they were deter-mined to close out the deal.
