“The strange spectacle presented of a community, protected by a republican form of government, to which they owe allegiance, sustaining by their suffrages a principle and a belief which sets at naught that obligation of absolute obedience to the law of the land, which lies at the foundation of republican institutions.”—President Cleveland.
CHAPTER V.
Mormonism a Theocracy—Manœuvring for office the cause of the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri and Nauvoo—The “State of Deseret” formed—Lands illegally obtained—Brigham’s movable house—Government officials compelled to flee—Federal troops sent—The oath of disloyalty—The Endowment rites—The American flag at half-mast—The control of the nation their aim—The political puzzle stated—Its causes—Necessity of Government action.
The American nation seems to be slow to understand, and to all appearance is unwilling to believe, that the Mormon Church is A POLITICAL SYSTEM as well as a religious system, cherishing ideas and aims utterly alien and inimical to Democracy.
But, in the first place, it is essentially a political organization, its president being acknowledged as the supreme pontiff of the world, with both temporal and spiritual jurisdiction; and as such he is entitled to the implicit personal and unquestioning obedience of all Mormons. Mormonism is first and foremost a theocracy, and claims to exercise the only legitimate civil authority under the sun. It has no feature more characteristic and no purpose more fundamental or fixed than that of entire and undisputed temporal authority. In short, in its very nature and genius it is an organization transfused and overflowing with the virus of disloyalty and treason.
As early as 1833 Joseph Smith was openly accused of “aiming at monarchical power and authority,” and in Missouri his followers inaugurated the practice, which has always since been followed, of voting solid; and this idiosyncrasy I have already stated was largely the cause of their expulsion from that State.
Then, crossing to Illinois and wild with schemes for kingdom-building, Smith’s manœuvring for votes and offices was amazing. By trickery he secured a charter which made the city of Nauvoo independent of the Commonwealth. He was determined to be civil head of Nauvoo from the first, soon of the county also, erelong of the State, and eventually of the nation. His political game was played so recklessly for years that at length the fear and hatred of both political parties were incurred, and they united to crush the office-seeking hierarch and expel his followers.
Then they made their enforced exodus westward for the express purpose that, going beyond mountains and deserts, they might forever escape all interference from the wicked rulers of this world, and could set up the kingdom of God, with all its external forms. When they started westward Utah was not a part of the United States, and there they expected to be beyond the detested Stars and Stripes; but when they arrived there, much to their chagrin and disappointment, the flag of the free was supreme over all that region, it having been wrested in the mean time from Mexico.
Their plans, therefore, were completely shattered. Still they thought something could be done by energy and resolution; and so they made haste to set up a free and independent government, named “The State of Deseret,” hoping that they would be received at once into the Union as a sovereign State. The modest (?) limits they fixed for their State included an area of about 700 miles square, or one tenth of the national domain. Deseret would extend from Oregon to the Mexican boundary, and from the Rockies to the Pacific, or over the whole, or large parts, of nine of our largest Territories.
Brigham Young was elected governor of this illegal Mormon State, some of whose illegal legislative ordinances were afterward incorporated into the Territorial statute-book; and for many years after Congress organized the Territorial government, this unlawful “State of Deseret” organization was maintained, collision between the two being prevented by the fact that Brigham Young was governor of both. The bogus State organization was the controlling power. Under its influence all sorts of arbitrary anti-American laws were passed by which leading members of the priesthood became the virtual owners of the mountain streams, the timbers, and the best part of the public lands. The right of the American people to these lands was ignored, and through the incorporation of some thirty-seven little villages in the rich valleys of Utah, more than 400,000 acres of the public lands were arbitrarily withdrawn from the control of the laws of Congress and appropriated by these priestly leaders. This was done for the express purpose of preventing those who were not Mormons from securing any of the public lands in Utah.
There is a block of 18,000 acres lying in the southern part of the rich and productive Cache Valley north of Salt Lake City, which Brigham Young secured by trampling the laws of the United States under foot. It is said that he had a four-roomed house built on runners. Hauling it to the centre of a section of land, each one of the four quarters would have a room on its corner. Four men would sleep there one night, each occupying a separate room; and the next day they would make pre-emption filings at the land-office, while four other men would perform a similar act the next day and night; and so on, until most of the beautiful Cache Valley was thus entered. Soon afterward the men appeared at the land-office, paid over $1.25 per acre, and then they deeded the land to Brigham Young.
When the Government of the United States first undertook to establish a surveyor-general’s office in Salt Lake City for the sake of surveying the public lands and disposing of them in accordance with the laws of Congress, the surveyor-general was given to understand that that country belonged to the Mormons, and he had to fly for his life. In 1856 all the representatives of the Government without exception had to escape from the Territory to save their lives, and were plainly shown that Americans had no rights in Utah.
And when, with a new body of Federal representatives, there soon came a military force under General Sidney Johnston sufficient to compel respect and obedience, Brigham Young cursed the Government, the troops, and the Gentiles, and in his usual coarse and emphatic style declared that he would “send them all to hell on wooden legs,” and that they had better supply themselves then, when lumber was cheap. I mention these facts simply to show that the main object of the Mormon leaders from the very first was to establish a separate and independent government of their own, whose authority should be considered by the Mormon people superior to the authority of the Federal Government. And this accounts for the conflict which has existed between the Mormon authorities and the United States Government for the past thirty-five years, and which is still going on.
But not only does this hostility to our Government arise out of the fundamental idea of their religion as a THEOCRACY and hence opposed to democracy; but also, and in great part, because of their early persecutions in the States of Missouri and Illinois, and the unavenged murder of their chief, Joseph Smith, whom they regarded as God’s greatest prophet. The inhumanity, barbarity, and injustice that was meted out to them in their early history I have already mentioned; and in considering this perplexing puzzle, we must recollect that the Mormons have some cause for their enmity to our Government. On account of wrongs done them, they are the sworn enemies of the Government and people of our land.
They practise certain secret and mysterious ordinances known as “Endowments.” To the faithful Mormon these are made to seem precious initiatory rites whereby he is advanced in his knowledge of the true faith and exalted by the possession of new privileges. In reality they are a sort of crudely-acted religious drama, not unlike the miracle plays of the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. God and Satan, Adam and Eve, and others are persons in the drama. In its course there is a jumble of washings and anointings, of grips, and key-words and new names, and the investiture of each of the initiated in an Endowment robe. This sacred undergarment is always thereafter to be worn next to the person, carefully shrouding it at the last for its burial. There are also prayers and solemn promises and awful oaths, with penalties more awful, appended. It has been charged against these rites that they are scenes of indecency and licentiousness; but probably the charge is false. Absurd, irreverent, and even blasphemous they doubtless are, but it is to be believed not indecent.
Now, among the oaths there taken is one of resentful hostility to the American nation for not avenging the death of Joseph Smith or righting the persecutions of the Saints; and thus the secret endowment ceremonies act as a powerful agency in ministering an unpatriotic, if not treasonable, bent to the Mormon system. Every Mormon who passes through the Endowment House takes an oath of eternal enmity against the people and Government of this land.
Yes, the fact is that there are 130,000 people in Utah cursing the American flag! And this was clearly seen on the Fourth of July last (1885), when the Stars and Stripes were hung at half mast on the Mormon buildings of Salt Lake City. Thus did they insult the whole American nation, and show their disloyalty in an unmistakable manner.
They are taught to be traitors to the Government. The children do not know the name of our President, and are told that John Taylor is their President. Many of the Mormons are scarcely conscious that there is a world outside of Utah. Salt Lake City is their Mecca, and John Taylor is greater than all the kings of the earth. They all believe him to be at the head of the Government, and that the laws are broken when his commands are not obeyed. It is flatly denied that the State has any authority over them, and it is expected that all Mormons will, if required, shed their blood in resisting the civil power if it interferes with their laws and customs.
The country at large seems blindly ignorant of the dangerous character of this institution that rears its insolent crest in the very heart of our country. The truth is, that in Mormonism we are confronted with an organized treason against our Government and our laws. Its spirit is that of rebellion. It will not down; on the contrary, it is growing and spreading daily. The Mormons are penetrating Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington Territory. The income of the Church is about $3,000,000 annually, and is used in propagating the faith. Emissaries are sent to England, Sweden, and Denmark, proselyting the ignorant, and bringing them to our shores at the rate of about two thousand every year, to swell the number in their kingdom. One of the probable objects to be attained by the promulgation of the doctrine of polygamy was the speedier increase of their numbers than could be obtained in the ordinary Christian way. Their number in our land at the present time is about 150,000, and they openly boast of their power in politics. Recently Bishop Lunt, of Cedar City, Utah, in addressing a gathering of the Saints, declared: “We look forward with perfect confidence to the day when we will hold the reins of the United States Government. That is our present temporal aim; after that we expect to control the Continent.” And, after speaking of how rapidly the Mormons are spreading in the Territories and in Nevada, he said: “All this will in time help us to build up a political power which will, sooner or later, compel the homage of the demagogues of the country. Then, in some great political crisis, the two political parties will bid for our support. Utah will be admitted as a polygamous State, the other Territories we have peacefully subjugated will be admitted also, and then we will hold the balance of power and will dictate to the country. In time our sacred principles will spread throughout the United States.”
That is their confessed plan, and in its execution they are shrewd and far-seeing politicians. No men better understand how to run “the machine.” If any one takes the Mormon leaders to be fools, he is wonderfully mistaken as to their capacity. But while this is a shrewd plan from the Mormon standpoint, it seems to me that a great deal of alarming talk has been needlessly uttered about the fact that the Mormons are no longer staying in Utah exclusively, but are going into other Territories also and trying to subjugate them. The scattering of the Mormons would be the very best way to break up the evil which would result from their political power. If only the Mormons were to divide up, and companies of them go to every Territory, their political power would be broken; for they would be but a small minority of the people of any Territory, and their votes would be neutralized. The only danger is in their being so massed together as to control by their votes the State or the Territory wherein they dwell; and the United States and the Territories should be on their guard so as to prevent their becoming a majority or even a large minority of the people in any one State or Territory where there are Mormon colonies at present. But it is not very probable that the Mormons will in the near future become the controlling element in any Territory or State outside of Utah.
The only political puzzle that we have now to unravel is in connection with Utah; and it is caused by two things: The first is that the Mormons are greatly in the majority, the Gentiles numbering about 30,000, while the Mormons number about 120,000. The second is, that the Mormons always vote solid. If only their vote would be divided, as the Roman Catholic vote and the vote of other church organizations, the evil would not be so great; but on account of the completeness of their church organization, the vote of all the Mormons is under the control of the priesthood. One need not study long to note how thoroughly and skilfully organized for power the Mormons are. One will directs, and by ecclesiastical communications and telegraphic wires the direction is speedily known unto the utmost limit of the land of their habitation, and promptly the entire massed body moves in the line directed. Petty offices abound in the system, and greater offices are rewards. There is, in fact, no organization on earth, unless it be the Jesuit, that is so well fitted as the Mormon to interest and keep loyal the members, to combine their faculties and forces, and to move that combination with efficiency and power whithersoever one master-will dictates. It is a mighty, terrible, solid pyramid, with John Taylor and his two counsellors for its apex; the twelve apostles come next; then the seventy, the patriarchs, high-priests, elders, bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons; then, last of all, the women at the base. Every fourth man is an officer; and as every member is sworn to obedience to the one above him, the result is that the head of the Church always casts the vote of the whole body.
In an article on “The Mormon Church,” by Victoria Reed, in the Bay State Monthly, not long ago, it was stated as an illustration of the despotism of this institution that at church conferences there is never a dissenting voice, and at the polls always the same unanimous vote. Every Mormon has a vote to be cast as John Taylor dictates; and while the leaders of the Saints observe the forms of republican polity, their despotism is as absolute in its control as any on earth.
The great political fact, then, that we have to deal with is this: One of our Territories is in the control of a despotism, which defies our National Government, passively perhaps, nevertheless effectually, and scoffs and spits at its rulers.
The Political Puzzle is how effectually to wrest the Territory from the hands of the Mormon Presidency, and establish there a Republican government in fact as well as in form—a government which will be in harmony with American principles and institutions.
Something, surely, should be done. The United States should not yield to this anti-American domination over so large a strip of her territory. She should assert her authority, and maintain it there as elsewhere throughout our land. Surely, those who say “let it be” are not cognizant of the vast territory which is now governed by the Mormon hierarchy. As Joseph Cook says: “The State of Vermont can be hidden away in one of the valleys of Utah and be no larger than a babe in a bed of full size.” Utah has 84,476 square miles of territory; Vermont only 10,200 square miles. Massachusetts, with her 7,800 square miles, could be hidden away in one corner of this Mormon kingdom. Utah is larger than all New England, and about equal in size to the Empire State and Keystone State combined. Besides, its position is central, in the most important mining region on the planet; and also central in a group of undeveloped commonwealths, containing nearly a third of the territory of the United States. No; our Government dare not allow this Territory any longer to be ruled by an authority which is in deadly hostility to it, and sanctions what the law of the land condemns.
CHAPTER VI.
THE POLITICAL PUZZLE (continued).
The Possible Remedies—The military remedy—The Government responsible for the situation in Utah—The disfranchisement of polygamists—Federal trustees for the Mormon Church corporation—Confiscation of unlawful funds—False statements about Mormons—Letters from the two Bancrofts—The dissolution of the Emigrating Fund Company—The Federal Commission remedy—The Woodburn bill, or Idaho statute.
The question at once arises, What remedies should we adopt to get rid of this political evil—this imperium in imperio. The moral, the legal, and the military are open to our choice.
There are some who think that the evil is so great and the danger to our republican institutions so threatening as that there can be no adequate remedy short of THE MILITARY. Such a remedy, they acknowledge, would be severe, but the offence they consider as great beyond parallel, and the exigency most grave.
But for one I am an advocate of peace. If there is any other possible way of overcoming the evil, the use of the military arm should not be advocated, for it would necessarily result in numberless widows and orphans, and involve a heavy expense of blood and treasure. Bullets have no eloquence for the American people. The less gunpowder we can get along with the better. Our old wounds are not yet healed, and we are not hankering after a fresh fray. The order from headquarters which would summon the army to Utah would send a shiver through the heart of the nation. Suppression by force of bayonet is the very last resort, and we have not yet reached that point; and God forbid that we shall ever come to that!
Besides, let us ask the question, Who is responsible for the present state of affairs in Utah? We have already conclusively shown that the people and authorities of Illinois were responsible for their isolation in the West, since they drove them away from the surroundings that were calculated to modify, and finally to change, the drift of sentiment. Yes, it was on account of the un-Christian policy of the Illinoisans that we find the Mormons in a Western domain wide enough for a kingdom, and practically as far from the seat of authority as if responsible to a power beyond the sea.
And what was the policy pursued by the National Government toward them there? In the light of the fires kindled at Nauvoo, it would seem that statesmanship would have discovered a necessity for the adoption of measures calculated to restrain the evil tendencies of Mormonism and prevent it from developing into an organization which must inevitably sooner or later bring it into open conflict with the laws of the land. But where in the records of Congress or upon the statute-books is there any evidence of the really serious and statesmanlike consideration which this movement demanded? There were a people openly seeking a refuge where they would be free to disregard the popular opinion left behind them and to transgress the laws of the Government to which they owed allegiance. Were restrictive influences provided? Did the Government guard against the realization of the boasted dreams of extended domain and self-government entertained by this law-defying people by erecting guards against undue encroachment on the public domain and by providing a government with the necessary machinery for securing the impartial reign of law and order? Were provisions made which would encourage the immigration into this garden-land of any portion of the law-abiding thousands who were landing upon our shores, and whose presence in Utah would have been a bulwark against and an ultimate cure of the evils of Mormonism?
The facts are the best answers to these questions. There was a total absence of wise legislation at the beginning. Afterward, laws were enacted calculated to suit the use of those whom they should have controlled. Then its laws and authority were nullified with impunity; and now we find a people of law-breakers waxed strong and maintaining an attitude of defiance to authority in the face of anathemas from the pulpit and the press, and a hot fusilade of ineffective enactments from the halls of Congress. This is the outcome of national legislation for Utah during the last thirty-five years.
In view of the facts, we venture to affirm that the responsibility for the present condition of affairs does not wholly lie at the door of the Mormon Church, and much less at the doors of those who constitute the mass of the Mormon people. Justice demands that the responsibility he laid at the door of the Government and people of the United States.
And, surely, fire and sword are not the instruments with which to cure the evils which our own supineness, want of statecraft, and mis-legislation have permitted to poison the atmosphere. A Government which is itself largely responsible for the evil it seeks to cure is in duty bound to consider well and act wisely in the application of remedies.
But while the responsibility of the Government and people of the United States binds them to the application of a cure for the evils invited which shall not be intolerant or inhuman, it does not forbid the use of effective remedial measures suggested by political expediency and in keeping with Christian charity. Still, it is well for us to remember that we are bound as Americans to deal with this pernicious system on American principles, and as Christians to deal with it on Christian principles.
The only measure which has yet been enacted looking to the cure of the political evil in Utah was the disfranchisement of the polygamists by the Edmunds law of 1882; but although they have been disfranchised and rendered inelegible to office, they are only about 12,000—a very small fraction of the Mormons; and practically the old men, the Mormon leaders, who have controlled the affairs of Utah for thirty years, have simply abdicated in favor of their sons. Consequently the Territory is still under Mormon rule, and the priesthood have it in their iron grasp. This law is good so far as it goes, but does not go far enough to effectually cure the evil.
But other and more radical measures have been proposed.
By the new Edmunds Bill, which passed the Senate on January 8th, 1886, it is provided that the President of the United States shall appoint fourteen trustees to administer the property, business affairs, and operations of the Mormon Church corporation.
There is no doubt that this act strikes at the root of the political evil in Utah, for the vast wealth of the Mormon Church in the control of the priesthood is the foundation of their power. Nevertheless, the wisdom, constitutionality, and effectiveness of the act are very questionable.
In the first place, if that law could be enforced, it would open wide the door of the meanest kind of political jobbery. It is the most delicious bit of patronage to which we have been treated for a long time. Fourteen gentlemen are to be rewarded for distinguished party services by the appointment to handle Mormon money. This is a new kind of party plum, and, in my opinion, is simply infamous.
But, in the second place, there are grave doubts as to its constitutionality. It is with much hesitation that we call in question the constitutionality of an act which is fathered by so conscientious a constitutionalist as Senator Edmunds and carried by a large majority in so conservative a body as the United States Senate. From their standpoint, perhaps, it is constitutional; but from another standpoint it seems to be plainly unconstitutional. Congress is specifically prohibited from passing any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Mormon Church is a religious organization, no matter how false its religion may be. The Edmunds Bill places it under the care of the Government of the United States, and provides for the administration of all its temporal affairs. Now, if this can be done respecting the Mormon Church, it can be done respecting the Catholic Church or any one of the many Protestant establishments in our land. And who can doubt that if all the vast property, real and personal, of the Catholic Church were taken possession of by the Government, and its management placed in the hands of fourteen trustees appointed by the President—who can doubt that it would prohibit materially the free exercise of that religion by its millions of communicants in this country? Clearly, then, the attempt to control the Mormon Church corporation by Government officials is contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and entirely foreign to the spirit of American institutions. If the United States once enters upon the business of administering church property, the Mormons may not be the last victims.
Besides, if Congress has the right to appoint trustees of a religious corporation in the Territories, then the State Legislatures would have the right to appoint similar trustees in the States, and there would be nothing to prevent a legislative body governed by infidels from putting all church property into secular hands, or a Protestant or a Roman Catholic legislative body from dealing in a similar manner with the trustees of churches of an opposite faith. And, therefore, we regard this proposed act to place the control of the Mormon Church property into hands antagonistic to its spirit as a most dangerous departure from American principles.
But, in the third place, the act would, in all probability, be ineffective. It is precisely what the rules of blood and iron in Germany under the inspiration of Bismarck attempted to do with the Catholic Church a few years ago. Bismarck said just what Senator Edmunds said: “We do not propose to prohibit anybody from believing in and practising the faith of the Catholic Church, but the Government of Germany intends to take charge of all its temporal affairs—to appropriate its property and administer it as we see fit to do.” But there in Germany, where the power of the Government is absolute, this was found impossible.
And if impossible there, it will be doubly so here. Very likely if this proposition should become a law, and trustees be sent into the Territory, they would find themselves mere official ornaments without anything to do, for they would find no funds of which to take possession. The Mormons say that whatever property their Church has is owned and held, just as the property of the Presbyterian or Methodist Church, by the respective congregations. Formerly its property, real and personal, was held as that of the Catholic Church is—by a trustee in trust, and administered in the same way. The President of the Church, like the bishop, was the nominal owner, but held it in trust for the various congregations or parishes; but the Mormon Church authorities have determined that the property should be held and administered by and for each respective congregational or ward organization; and so you see that if trustees were appointed they would likely find that the Mormon Church Corporation had no funds.
Along with this enactment, there is another which provides for the confiscating of the funds unlawfully gathered by the Mormon Church.
Now, this act is not open to the same constitutional objection that the preceding is. It is a legal proposal, for only $50,000 can be held by any religious organization free from taxation; but its wisdom, justice, and practicability are very doubtful.
Its execution would be exceedingly difficult, so that not many honorable men would be willing to take the position of trustees of the funds which such a measure would remove from Mormon hands. The difficulty of separating the funds unlawfully gathered by the Mormon Church from those which justly belong to it would be very great, if not insuperable. Hence it would be very hard to defend such a measure from the serious charge of arbitrary interference with the rights of property.
It cannot be defended at all, unless it is put on the ground that the Mormon people, by continued hostility to the Government, have forfeited all political rights of every kind—even the right of property. It cannot be defended on the basis of justice at all. It looks to us to be a proposed theft in the name and under the authority of law.
But, as has been said before, in all probability if this measure should become a law, the trustees would find no funds at all; for they could easily be transferred (nominally at least) to private parties.
Just here let me say that the people should be on their guard as to what they believe concerning the Mormons and the wealth of their Church. Charges are made that have no foundation whatever in truth, and small and trivial circumstances are so exaggerated and warped that they appear as crooked monstrosities, and are presented to the world as common Mormon occurrences.
A great deal that is said and published about the large amount of funds in the hands of the Mormon leaders, and the use to which they are put, has not a scintilla of truth in it, although the persons who publish it by word or pen, being misinformed, thoroughly believe it themselves. Thus, in one of the most reliable missionary magazines in our land, in May, 1885, it was stated on the best authority that the Mormons had a large corruption fund, and as a sample of the purposes to which it is put by them, it gave the following instance: “When Bancroft, the historian, was in Utah recently, he was told that if he would write certain things in his history of Utah, they would take two hundred and forty complete sets of his works, which would give him $40,000.”
The writer determined to use that statement as a test case. He, thinking that the greatest American historian, George Bancroft, was referred to, sent him a letter of inquiry as to the truth of the statement, and the following was his reply:
“1623 H Street, Washington, D. C., February 3, 1886.
“Rev. R. W. Beers, Elkton, Md.
“Sir: Yours of February 2d is received. I am astonished that you should attribute to me anything so false as that I have been in Utah, and all that follows. You ought not to have needed to ask anybody about falsehoods so palpable.
“Very respectfully,
“George Bancroft.”
But how should any of the great number of people throughout our land who read the missionary magazine where that statement occurred know that he had not been in Utah, and that the statement was false?
Then the writer, knowing of another great historian Bancroft, Mr. H. H. Bancroft, the Pacific coast historian, made the same inquiry of him, and received the following reply:
“San Francisco, February 15, 1886.
“Rev. R. W. Beers.
“My dear Sir: In answer to your letter of the 8th inst., I would say that the Mormons never asked me to insert anything in my history of Utah, and never offered to take any copies of the work.
“Very respectfully,
“H. H. Bancroft.”
The writer then directed an inquiry to the person in Salt Lake City from whom the statement in the magazine claimed to have been made, and asked him his authority for his statement. The answer was: “The Bancroft alluded to by me is H. H. Bancroft, the Pacific coast historian. His agent told me the Mormons had agreed to take two hundred and forty sets of his complete works in thirty-eight volumes, the gross amount of which (not the net amount) would be about $40,000, if he would publish a certain kind of history of Utah. Since Bancroft is a millionaire, the Mormon offer was not very tempting.”
But H. H. Bancroft flatly denies that any such offer was made him, and the statement must clearly be pronounced untrue. And yet the person who made the published statement was one of the leading Christian men of Utah, desirous of disseminating nothing but the truth. He was misinformed, whether intentionally or not.
There is a deep-seated prejudice against the Mormons in the breasts of many in our land, which gives rise to many charges against them which have no basis of truth whatever. We must, therefore, be on our guard, and not believe quite everything that is published against them. Mr. A. M. Gibson, legal adviser of the Mormon people at the national capital, says that the reputed wealth of the Mormon Church amounting to millions “is all bosh;” that “the Incorporated Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is actually in debt to-day, and is a borrower of money.” If that is the case, surely if the trustees were appointed according to the new Edmunds Bill, they wouldn’t have many funds to handle.
Another measure to break the political power of the priesthood proposed in the new Edmunds Bill is to stop the importing of converts from abroad by abolishing the so-called Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company and appropriating its surplus property to educational purposes.
This seems to me to have not a scintilla of justice about it. The emigration fund was originated by people who had been assisted to emigrate to Utah, dedicating the repayment of the money advanced to them to assist others in the same way. It was an entirely voluntary contribution. I cannot see what right the United States has to intervene to destroy an immigration company, if it is legally conducted, simply because the religious sentiments of the Mormons are obnoxious to the people of the United States. If anything is settled in American national life, it is that no man shall be called to account for his religious opinions. And so this proposed act must be an arbitrary interference with the rights of property. If Congress has the right to dissolve an Emigrating Company and use its surplus property for educational purposes, then a Socialistic State Legislature would have the right to dissolve a railroad corporation, pay its debts, and take possession of its surplus for the common benefit; and this, surely, is a socialistic doctrine which the great majority of the American people are not yet prepared to accept.
Besides, it would be ineffective. The attorney-general would doubtless find no funds to handle. The Mormons say that the emigration fund practically ceased to exist years ago. The emigration of Mormons now, they say, is the result of their own saving, with such assistance as their friends and relatives in the United States give them; and consequently, although the Emigration Company would be abolished, missionaries would continue to go every year to foreign countries and land converts by the thousands upon our shores and take them to Utah and other Territories to strengthen the power of the priesthood.
Even if all of the measures mentioned thus far as contained in the new Edmunds Bill were enacted, the great political evil now in Utah would remain. The Territory would still be in the hands of the Mormons, and consequently in the hands of the priesthood.
Another radical measure has been proposed, and was strongly advocated by ex-Governor Murray and many leading Gentiles of Salt Lake City, and was recommended by ex-President Arthur. The measure proposed is the abolition of all Territorial government and the instituting of a government by a Federal Commission, appointed by the President, of nine persons resident in the Territory.
It is claimed that, if this commission was composed of upright, patriotic, and practical men, identified as citizens with the interests of the Territory, they would give an immense impetus to business of all kinds and induce enterprising men to settle there, because there would then be an assurance that Utah was to be in truth an American territory.
Now, there is no doubt at all that that would be an effective remedy for the political evil in Utah. The only questions to consider are: Is it lawful? Is it just? Is it wise?
Senator Edmunds has declared it unconstitutional; and although there are precedents in its favor, yet its constitutionality may well be questioned. Certainly the Territory would not have a representative form of government under a Legislative Commission. The government would be an oligarchy.
Besides, not all the residents of Utah are disloyal in sentiment and feeling. There are at least fifteen thousand, and probably thirty thousand, loyal citizens; but the proposed plan confuses the innocent with the guilty, and so cannot be defended from the standpoint of justice. All are disfranchised, Mormons and Gentiles, alike.
And, then, it is not wise. The Mormons in all likelihood would not obey the local laws passed by such a commission, because they would have no voice in their making. They would not regard them as entitled to respect, and there would as a result be more internal disorder and disquiet than there is now, so that immigration of peaceable citizens would be checked rather than encouraged.
Then, it lacks wisdom when we look at the evil to be overcome. The political evil to be overcome is the existence of a non-republican government in Utah. The government now there, though republican in form, in substance is oligarchical, the real rulers being the triumvirate who constitute the First Presidency of the Mormon Church. The problem is, how to remove that un-republican oligarchy and set up a republican government there as elsewhere. Now, see what is proposed! A legislative commission of nine appointed by the President! Why, the present government there is more republican than that proposed. The government now in existence is republican in form at least, and the officers are elected by the majority of the people and represent them truly. But the Legislative Commission would be not even republican in form. The people would have nothing whatever to do with their appointment—not even the Gentiles. That government would be thoroughly undemocratic both in form and substance; and even if it would truly represent the Gentile population, it would only represent a minority of citizens, and consequently would be undemocratic; for the fundamental doctrine of democracy is that the majority should rule the minority. As a proper substitute, then, for the present form of government in Utah, the Legislative Commission must be regarded as strikingly wanting. It does not solve the problem. It is unwise, inexpedient, and unnecessary.
Another law, which is far more just than the preceding, has been proposed recently by ex-Governor Murray (in his last official report), and was strongly advocated by Joseph Cook in his Boston Monday Lecture delivered February 8th, 1886. It was also introduced into the House of Representatives on April 1st, 1886, by Mr. Woodburn, of Nevada. It is known as the “Idaho Statute,” because it has been in operation in the Territory of Idaho. It disfranchises every man and woman who believes, teaches, or practices bigamy or polygamy, or who belongs to any organization or association which believes, teaches, or encourages the practice of bigamy or polygamy, and renders all such ineligible to any office. That law would only disfranchise the Mormons, the disloyal element in the Territory, and would put Utah in the hands of the law-abiding citizens alone.
But it is open to the grave constitutional objection of interference with a religious belief. Those who simply believe in polygamy would be punished by this enactment; but our Government, whether national or State, has no right to inquire into the beliefs of our citizens. It is only when they carry their beliefs into actual practice of that which is contrary to the laws of the land that our Government can rightfully punish them or deprive them of civil rights.
CHAPTER VII.
THE POLITICAL PUZZLE (concluded).
Objections to proposed remedies—Gladstone on “Coercion”—A NEW PLAN ADVOCATED—The Abolition of Female Suffrage—A National Colonization Scheme—Natural resources of Utah—Superiority of the colonization plan over others—The establishment of National Free Schools—Ignorance the keystone of Mormon despotism—Public schools in Utah used for Mormon purposes—Proposed Federal Superintendent of schools in Utah—Territorial schools too few—Necessity of Government action—Prejudice disarmed by this plan—The Political Puzzle Solved.
All the measures that have yet been proposed are acknowledged to be unusual and extraordinary, and are advocated only on the ground of necessity, which William Pitt called “the argument of tyrants.” It is said that the facts to be dealt with are unprecedented. An insolent anti-American empire has for years been growing in the body politic of this country, and it must be overcome at all hazards. But let us pause a moment. Is not that the great doctrine of the Jesuit—“The end justifies the means”? That is an exceedingly dangerous doctrine to follow. No, fellow-Americans, we must not, we dare not, allow our righteous, passionate fervor against Mormon disloyalty to carry us so far as to violate fundamental principles of the American Constitution. Whatever we do, we must cling to the traditions of the past, and not depart from the spirit of our cherished American principles.
Besides, all of these measures are open to the objection of persecution from a Mormon point of view. Threats of bloody resistance, especially to a Legislative Commission, have been made by Mormons even of quiet disposition. Now, if the evil can in any way be overcome without persecution, that way is by all means to be preferred.
Utah may well be called “The American Ireland.” Ireland is practically in rebellion against the Government of Great Britain, and she bases her rebellion on wrongs and abuses. Utah is in practical rebellion against our Government, and bases her disloyalty on the ground of injustice and abuse. Coercive measures have long been tried with Ireland and have been of no avail; and now Gladstone, the greatest living statesman, advocates pacific measures. When he introduced his Irish Home Rule measure into the House of Commons on the 8th of April, 1886, the most memorable day in the history of modern English Parliaments, in his great speech (confessedly one of the greatest efforts of his life) he said: “Coercion, unless stern and unbending, and under an autocratic government, must always fail. Such coercion England should never resort to until every other means has failed. The basis of the whole mischief is the fact that the law is discredited in Ireland. It comes to the Irish people with a foreign aspect.” So we have tried prohibitory and repressive methods with the Mormons for thirty years, and they have failed. They will fail to the bitter end. The longer they are tried, the worse the result. They will only increase their enmity to the Government, heal over their internal dissensions, bind them the closer together, and wed them more firmly to their peculiar beliefs, which have made them objects of persecution. History can teach us that; and so we believe that it is time to inaugurate a change—viz., to work on the Christian plan, to overcome evil with good.
The plan which I have to propose to overcome the existing political evil in Utah and bring it into thorough harmony with our American institutions has the merit of being in strict accordance with Christian principles and with American principles, besides being, I think, the most effective plan in the end that could be proposed.
It involves THREE MEASURES, although the first is not absolutely essential and is advocated solely because it would greatly hasten the time when Utah would be redeemed—i.e., the time when the majority of the voting population of Utah would be law-abiding citizens.
I. The Abolition of Female Suffrage in that Territory. This is one of the good measures of the new Edmunds law. I believe in female suffrage as a general principle; but I am opposed to it in Utah, as society exists there at present.
We acknowledge that this measure may from one standpoint be regarded as unjust. It may be said that it is unjust to punish the women by disfranchisement, and let the men go free, especially as they are far more guilty.
But, in reply, we say that there is no particular reason or justice in allowing the confessedly ignorant and enslaved women of Utah to vote, while the highly intelligent women of Massachusetts and New York are not allowed to vote. Until there is a Constitutional Amendment granting female suffrage throughout the United States, no American principle is violated by the disfranchisement of the Utah women; while the disfranchisement of the Mormon men, who simply believe in polygamy, would be in violation of a fundamental principle of our Constitution.
Then, too, it could not be regarded as a persecuting measure, for the Gentile women would be in the same category with the Mormon women.
Besides, one of the main reasons why we believe women should be allowed the franchise is that it would show a proper appreciation of their intellectual and moral worth; but in a Territory where the state of society is such as it is in Utah, where polygamy is proclaimed to be divine, and where there are no laws against bigamy, adultery, and kindred crimes, there can be no just appreciation of woman. Female suffrage under such conditions is a mockery and a delusion. Hence we advocate its abolition.
Now, see what would be accomplished by this measure, which is in thorough harmony with American principles! The Mormon vote in 1882 was 23,251 out of a total vote of 28,159. Of this vote, basing the estimate upon the number registering, the female voters were slightly in excess of one half of the entire number of Mormon suffragists. The disfranchisement of women would, therefore, reduce the total Mormon vote at least one half. The non-Mormon vote is now equal to considerably more than one fourth of the whole number of Mormon males of voting age. Consequently, with the disfranchisement of polygamists which has been accomplished, the non-Mormon vote would be nearly one third of the legitimate Territorial vote; and so by the abolition of female suffrage the problem would be reduced to this: How can the proportion of the non-Mormon vote be increased from one third of the total vote to a little more than one half? The answer to that question will obviously lead to the ultimate solution of this great Political Puzzle. This leads to the second feature of our plan.
II. A National Colonization Scheme, by which large numbers of law-abiding citizens who are non-Mormons will be induced to settle in Utah at once.
This is the chief feature of our plan, and it seems to us the surest and speediest way to overthrow Mormonism, besides being a peaceable and Christian way. It is not a Utopian plan either, but one that is entirely feasible.
The material resources of the Territory are vast and varied. Its agricultural area is extensive and fertile, and parts of it are well timbered and watered. Within its ample borders abound mines of the useful and precious metals, as well as of coal and other minerals. It has more forests than Nebraska. It is true that irrigation is in some degree essential to successful agriculture, but Utah is not by any means the barren region it has often been represented to be. Most people think of it as a desert—a dry land, where no great multitude of human beings can ever find a prosperous home. But it has well been called the American Syria. Only let the soil have due irrigation, and it needs only to be tickled with the hoe, as the proverb says, in order to laugh into harvests. You may say the sage-bush, which is seen there in large quantities, is a mark of desolation; but irrigate the pastures covered with it, and you have bountiful harvests. As in Syria, when you irrigate the Jericho Plain you have most vigorous growths, and as on the plain of Gennesaret there were originally growths similar to the vegetation on the borders of the Nile, so to-day irrigation gives extraordinary fruitfulness to the cultivated lands of Utah.
It is true that the Mormon settlements extend to the full limits of the Territory in every direction, following the natural sweep of the valleys at the base of the mountains from north to south. It was Brigham Young’s policy to occupy the best land as quickly as possible, but only about 500,000 acres have yet been occupied; and estimating that there are 2,000,000 acres, or the one twenty-seventh part of the territory, susceptible of cultivation (and this is a small estimate), there yet remain 1,500,000 acres unappropriated for future settlement. And so, notwithstanding the pre-emption of a large portion of the best arable lands of the Territory by the Mormons, there is yet a large and fertile acreage open for settlement. To ensure the occupancy of these wide and inviting fields by thrifty, sturdy settlers opposed to the disloyal and unlawful tenets of Mormonism, the laws relating to land-grants might be so amended as to prevent sales to those who are not prepared to prove their intention to become without reserve supporters of law and order.
But besides the agricultural resources, the mineral resources are also great. Whole tiers of counties are underlaid with coal, and the mountain ranges are impregnated in all their rifts with iron and lead, silver and gold. Until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad the vast mineral wealth of Utah was untouched, the Mormon leaders being utterly opposed to exploiting the mines, knowing that their development would bring in a non-Mormon population; but since the building of the Union Pacific and the extension branches north and south, Utah has produced $50,000,000 in silver and lead, and its other mineral wealth, except coal and salt, as yet undeveloped. Ex-Governor Murray, in his report for 1880, said: “I know of no fact why it may not reasonably be claimed that Utah will prove the richest repository of silver, gold, coal, lead, and other minerals, of all the States and Territories of the West. Certainly no four hundred miles of mountain ranges have produced as many mines of immense yields and so many mining prospects as the suggestions of science and practical observation make those of Utah appear. Many mining districts heretofore inaccessible are now in close connection by railroads with the markets. Much of the ore, on account of its low grade, has not heretofore paid to mine; but which now, on account of superior methods in extracting and reducing the ore, is made profitable. As a rule, the men who own the best prospects are not able to develop them for lack of means. Capital is needed, and with anything like reasonable business judgment can be made to realize most gratifying results.”
Now, with such natural resources, what might not Utah become? It is better adapted for general settlement than Nevada, and quite as good as Colorado, Arizona, or New Mexico. If its character and resources were fully and fairly set forth, it would present an attractive field to the hardy and adventurous emigrant. Rev. Dr. McNiece, of Salt Lake City, in a letter received from him February 19th, 1886, says: “This is one of the grandest and richest of all the Territories.” Why not, then, encourage emigration thither of the right class?
The Government might do much in this direction by offering special inducements in the acquisition of lands, as it did notably in the case of Oregon. Aid Societies, too, might be formed in the several States, as was done in the case of Kansas, when it was thought necessary to rescue that Territory from the grasp of the slave power.
There is already quite a large and powerful “Gentile” element in Utah, which has for years been struggling against Mormonism. They are faithful to the Government, and are generally enterprising, intelligent, and brave. Let their hands be strengthened. They would gladly welcome large accessions to their numbers and give to anti-Mormon settlers all the aid in their power in making favorable locations.
The work of colonization should be begun at once and upon as large a scale as possible; and as the result of inducements and restrictions such as have been mentioned, it is safe to say that in a brief time the population of Utah would be surrounded with a battery of influences whose electric currents would act with irresistible force in hastening the establishment of a normal condition of things.
It is true that this plan would not immediately deprive the Mormons of control in the Legislature, but its effect would be to gradually introduce into it an element which would speedily make its power felt; which would afford active support to the governor and his assistants; and whose influence would soon divide the already dissentient Mormon elements, in so far as wise legislation is concerned, by winning the co-operation of the Radical Mormon Party, who are opposed to the union of Church and State; and so it is admirably adapted to break up the power of the disloyal hierarchy. A wide discretion left in the hands of the governor as to the use of the veto power (although absolute veto power is a dangerous power to be vested in any man under a Republican Government), and the appointment to that position of a man of integrity and wisdom, would put it in the power of the Executive to defeat any attempt at improper legislation; while in a few years the majority of the voters of Utah would be loyal, law-abiding citizens, and the legislative power would pass into hands perfectly safe.
This plan is entirely practicable, and is offered in the assured conviction that it presents the surest, speediest, and most peaceable method of solving the Mormon political puzzle. It does not transgress any American principle. It is not in any way unjust. And, surely, such a plan is far preferable to that of a wholesale disfranchisement of the loyal as well as the disloyal, not only as being more republican, but as being less likely to involve the Government in a long and bitter quarrel with a fanatic population. It does not take away any right (either the right of franchise or of property) from the Mormon people, who are now the majority of the citizens of the Territory. It could not, therefore, be regarded by them as an act of persecution. Hence it would not inflame their fanaticism nor increase their hostility to the Government; but it would tend to disarm their prejudice and animosity, for this plan would subserve their material interests by greatly increasing the value of their property. And while I do not think it would be the part of wisdom to admit Utah into the sisterhood of States until the majority of the voters are anti-Mormon, still I verily believe that by this plan, some time before that object would be obtained, many of the Mormons themselves would be on the side of the Government and would defy the political dictation of the priesthood. They could not mingle freely with a freedom-loving American people, such as this plan would surround them with, without very soon becoming imbued with some of their spirit of independence; and this would ultimately result in their breaking from the despotism of their ecclesiastical rulers.
But, as another step toward disarming the prejudice of the Mormons against the Government and breaking up the political despotism of the Mormon hierarchy for all time to come, we propose as
III. The third and last measure of our plan, The Establishment of National Free Schools all over the Territory. Edward Everett Hale has said that America is to stand or fall according as she does or does not educate the South and South-west. Until the mass of illiteracy is greatly diminished in the Gulf States, and along the Mexican border (including all the territory acquired from Mexico), great trouble may arise at any time in the United States, from the collision of the uneducated portions with the educated. In view of that fact, Wendell Phillips once said that no thoughtful man could feel sure that one flag would rule this belt of the American Continent fifty years hence.
The education of the South and the South-west is the great task of the statesmanship of to-day. There are a hundred million dollars lying in our National Treasury, and we do not know what to do with it. The nation should take some of it and undertake the work of public education in the Territories; for while there is some objection to national aid to education in the States, as a needless interference with State rights, yet there is no doubt as to the right of the National Government to appropriate money for educational purposes in the Territories, since they are under its immediate control. The Government should begin educational work in all the Territories at once, and push it vigorously. Its future safety and welfare demand it.
But especially is that necessary with regard to Utah. The despotism of the Mormon hierarchy has for its keystone the superstition and ignorance of the people. If the Government would put a public school in every school district in Utah, it would undermine that despotism quicker than anything else. Give the Mormons light and education, and they will burst the bonds of their thraldom. The Mormon priesthood, well aware of this, take great pains to keep the people unschooled. The public schools of the Territory are entirely in the hands of the priesthood, and, as a general rule, only Mormons are allowed to be teachers. They are scarcely worthy the name of schools; but, more than that, in violation of a fundamental principle of our Government, they are used for the propagation of religious tenets, and accordingly they become the means of instilling disloyal sentiments into the minds of the rising generation.
If Utah is to be thoroughly redeemed, it must be through proper influences brought to bear upon the Mormon youth of to-day; but the only loyal schools at present in Utah are those conducted by the Christian churches, which are far from sufficient in number. It therefore becomes the duty of the National Government to provide a loyal system of public instruction for Utah.
This could be accomplished only partially by making the Superintendent of Public Schools a Federal officer, as Senator Edmunds proposes in his new bill. The administration of such an officer, if he be properly qualified, and if he be supported by provision for the withholding of public funds from schools which instruct in matters of religion, and have also the power of vetoing the appointment of improper teachers, would so change the character of the schools of Utah as to make them efficient means for breaking down the disloyalty of the Mormons, instead of being, as they now are, a potent means for the propagation of Mormonism. But that is not all that is required.
The territorial schools now established are far too few to accomplish the desired end. The National Government should make an ample appropriation. It ought to put a public school in every city ward and every considerable village. It ought to equip them with the best appliances and the best teachers. It ought to fling their doors wide open to every comer. It ought not to teach any religion, Mormon or Gentile; it need not; but it ought to inculcate principles of patriotism and loyalty, and ought to teach the pupils to think and question for themselves. The parental instinct is stronger than a hierarchy. The appetite for knowledge is invincible, even by superstition. It would not be necessary to establish a compulsory system. It would be enough to establish a free system. The schools established by the different Christian denominations have proved that. Their Gentile schools are filled. The nation’s schools would be crowded.
This would also go a great way toward disarming the prejudice and hostility of the older Mormons toward the Government. A great many of them are immigrants from other countries, who on landing in America were immediately taken to Utah; consequently the Mormon immigrant has known the United States only as an enemy. It is time that we taught him that the United States is his friend; and in what better way could this be done than by establishing well-equipped schools for his children? This would show that the Government had the interests of his family at heart. And we all know that there is nothing which will so soon touch the heart of a mother and father, too, as a kindness done to his child. Whatever prejudice or hatred there might have been before toward that person, after the kindness has been done to his child the prejudice departs and he treats him as a friend. So would it be if the Government would establish national schools of the best type in Utah. Many who are now its enemies would be its friends. Yes, put liberty and education in that Territory in the manner suggested, and liberty and education will solve the Mormon political puzzle. “We can let the Mormons bring over their shiploads of immigrants unhindered by us, so long as they bring them to a community made free and enlightened. We can let them build their temple, so long as we overtop it with the school-house and the college. We can let them preach their superstitious liberalism, if we invite the ready minds of the oncoming generation to demand rebelliously a reason for the faith and the fear that are preached to them.” Let the Government only grant a half million of dollars, and school-houses can be built and equipped everywhere. And to what better use could the money be put? It will not cost as much to buy books and pay the salaries of competent teachers as it would to dig graves in a war of extermination, and a far better result would be effected, with no blood spilled and no tears shed except tears of gratitude; for instead of heaps of men and women unnecessarily slaughtered, we would have A REDEEMED PEOPLE—redeemed from slavery to liberty, redeemed from disloyalty to loyalty.
We are firmly convinced that, if this plan were faithfully carried out in all its parts, less than twenty years would see Utah, with her rich harvests and vast mineral wealth being developed, and her million or more of people, shining forth as a bright star in the galaxy of American States, her people as loyal as those of Massachusetts or Connecticut—loyal to the very core; and where now the Stars and Stripes are cursed, trampled under foot, and placed at half-mast, they would then be greeted with loudest cheers.