The Daily Astorian

The New Northwest and Mormonism.
Reply to Mr. W. H. Gray.
THE ASTORIAN having given publicity to Mr. W. H. Gray's letter charging the New Northwest (Mrs. Duniway's paper) with favoring the polygamous system of the Mormons, in justice to that sprightly journal we give its answer to the charge, in its issue of the 10th inst:
In last Sunday's Astorian, Mr. W. H. Gray, of Olney, complains that the columns of the New Northwest have been "opened for an article from a man called Bishop Lunt, on the genuine bible arguments in favor of a polygamous system," and "prostituted in the interests of men calling themselves a religious sect." Mr. G. is needlessly worried, and might restrain his unseemly warmth. He has been a subscriber to this journal since its infancy, and knows that it has never lost an opportunity to depict the horrors of Mormonism and denounce the crime of polygamy. No other paper in the state has commented so freely on the practices of the Mormons. In the introduction to the article which so excited him, it was expressly stated that the New Northwest favors the disfranchisement of polygamists "because they are offenders against the laws and no more deserving of the ballot than other criminals;" that "the statutes against their practices could be enforced if they were deprived of political powers;" and that "the remarks made in defense of polygamy by Bishop Lunt" were published because "we always wish to be fair in discussing any question" and to give both sides. With these sentences staring Mr. G. in the face, he is guilty of demagogy in holding this journal up as an endorser of the Mormons and charging that its editor's pen is "prostituted" to disseminate their doctrines.