File No. 15971/2–3.

Ambassador Hill to the Secretary of State.

No. 153.]

Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 80 of September 22, 1908, and to your reply, instruction No. 49, of October 16, 1908, I have the honor to inform you that after reading over previous correspondence on the subject of the status of Mormon missionaries in Germany, as indicated in communications from the German foreign office, and apparently assented to in the instructions of the Department of State, I have deemed it expedient to address to the imperial German Government the signed memorandum of which a copy is herewith inclosed.

It will be noted that after stating that Messrs. Taylor and Rich have been arrested, imprisoned, and expelled from Germany, I inquire whether this was owing to the fact that they were Mormon missionaries or to some other circumstance, and also that I direct the attention of the imperial German Government to the fact that the Mormon Church not only professes to have discontinued the practice and teaching of polygamy but that polygamy is contrary to the laws of the United States of America; and, further, that since the name “Mormon” can not properly be understood to imply any immoral practice, our Government desires that this name should give rise to no misunderstanding, and that in this connection it would be a satisfaction to me to be able to report to my Government that American citizens are not expelled from Germany on account of their adherence to particular forms of religion without moral grounds of objection.

The answer to this communication will be sent to the department as soon as it is received, and in the meantime I trust that the step I have taken will receive your approval.

I have, etc.,

David J. Hill.
[Inclosure.]

Ambassador Hill to the Foreign Office.

[Memorandum.]

The undersigned American ambassador has the honor to state to the imperial German acting secretary of state for foreign affairs that he has been informed of the arrest and imprisonment on August 14, 1908, at Breslau, and subsequent expulsion from Germany, of Adelbert A. Taylor and Henry A. Rich, American citizens and bearers of American passports. These persons, it is understood, are Mormon missionaries, but it is not known whether this fact alone or some other circumstance was the ground of their arrest, imprisonment, and expulsion.

It is perhaps proper that the attention of the imperial German Government should be called to the fact that the Mormon Church not only professes to have discontinued the practice and teaching of polygamy, but that polygamy is contrary to the laws of the United States of America. By a manifesto issued October 9, 1890, the Mormon Church, or Church of the Latter-Day Saints, declared the purpose of that church no longer to sanction the practice of polygamous marriage.

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Since the name Mormon can not be properly understood to imply any immoral practice, it becomes the duty of the American Government to cause this fact to be made known in foreign countries and to use all proper means to protect those of its citizens who bear this name from misunderstanding on account of it. It would, therefore, be a great satisfaction to the American ambassador if he were able to report to his Government that American citizens are not expelled from Germany on account of their adherence to particular forms of religion without moral grounds of objection, and that expulsion is resorted to only on definite grounds of objectionable conduct or doctrine.

The undersigned avails, etc.

David J. Hill.