The Mormon Puzzle, And How To Solve It Part 6

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 superst.i.tion 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 appet.i.te for knowledge is invincible, even by superst.i.tion. 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 superst.i.tious 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 grat.i.tude; 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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.

PART III.

THE SOCIAL PUZZLE.

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."--INSCRIPTION ON THE OLD LIBERTY BELL.

"The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation, rest upon our homes."--PRESIDENT CLEVELAND.

CHAPTER VIII.

Polygamy only one of the Mormon social evils--Their social system _a system of bondage_--Contrary to natural law--Contrary to the spirit of the age--PERSONAL BONDAGE of the Mormons--Missionaries _must_ go on duty--Dictation of the priesthood with regard to boarders and rents--Immigrants under their control--All members subject to Church orders--Power of the Church over daily business--Mormon mining contractors--MENTAL BONDAGE of the Mormons--Converts illiterate--The Mormon Church the opponent of free education--No independent thought--Excommunication of Henry Lawrence and others.

If nine tenths of the people of our land were asked to denominate Mormonism as a social system, the answer that would be given by unanimous consent would be this: "It is a system of polygamy." And yet, after a careful study of the social condition existing among the Mormons, it is evident that _polygamy is only one of the social evils_--one of several branches from one parent stock, and therefore cannot be said to be descriptive of their whole social system.

One of the great political parties of our country has denounced slavery and polygamy as "twin relics of barbarism;" and that is undoubtedly true.

But with regard to _Mormon_ polygamy, it will be seen that _slavery_ and _polygamy_ do not occupy with reference to each other the relation of twin sisters, but rather the relation of _mother_ and _daughter_: Slavery is the mother of Mormon polygamy and of all the other social evils of the so-called Latter-Day Saints; and therefore the proper denomination of Mormonism as a social system would be a SYSTEM OF BONDAGE.

It is consequently a system contrary to natural law as well as to the Christian conscience. According to Rousseau, the great French philosopher, man is a being by nature loving justice and order. In his opinion, in an ideal state of society each member would be free and the equal of every other--_equal_ because no person or family or cla.s.s would seek for any rights or privileges of which any other was deprived; and _free_ because each one would have his share in determining the rule common to all. It was these doctrines, taking root in the minds and convictions of men, that gave us our modern state of society, and that gave us our Nation, with its free thought, free speech, free press, and free Inst.i.tutions. The first public official doc.u.ment in which these opinions were clearly set forth was our "Declaration of Independence," which proclaimed that all men are "equal" and that "they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The same views also formed the element of strength in the French Revolution. The first article of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen," adopted in 1789, at the beginning of the Revolution, a.s.serts: "Men are born free and equal, and have the same rights."

Indeed, these doctrines have been the source of all the social reforms of the past century. They are the guiding-star of modern civilization. They are the basis, not only of our Government, but also of our social system, which is one of liberty and equal rights. They are the spring of all n.o.ble thoughts given forth to the world and all the splendid achievements. To be majestic and enn.o.bling, thought must be unrestrained; to be praiseworthy, deeds must be uncontrolled.

In England the dominant party at present (June, 1886) is the Liberal Party, whose able leader is that "Grand Old Man," William E. Gladstone.

Last fall, just before their great election, that party issued a manifesto of a very unusual character. It took the shape of a book ent.i.tled "Why am I a Liberal?" and contained definitions and confessions of political faith by the foremost leaders of the party. Among them Robert Browning answered the question in this characteristic sonnet:

"Why? Because all I haply can and do, All that I am now, all I hope to be, Whence comes it, save from fortune setting free Body and soul, the purpose to pursue G.o.d-traced for both? Of fetters not a few, Of prejudice, convention, fall from me.

These shall I bid men, each in his degree Also G.o.d-guided, bear, and gayly too?

"_But little do or can the best of us; That little is achieved through liberty._ Who then dares hold, emanc.i.p.ated thus, His fellow shall continue bound? Not I, Who live, love, labor freely, nor discuss A brother's right to freedom. That is why."

Those are n.o.ble words, worthy a n.o.ble poet. If he had given no other poem to the world, that would place him on the list of poets to be remembered by future generations, who are destined to be, if possible, freer than we.

It is true, as Browning says, that liberty is the source of all achievements worthy the name. Horace Mann once said: "Enslave a man and you destroy his ambition, his enterprise, his capacity. In the const.i.tution of human nature, the desire of bettering one's condition is the mainspring of effort. The first touch of slavery snaps this spring."

Since, therefore, this century is the century of progress, of grand and n.o.ble achievements, LIBERTY is pre-eminently its watchword, the ruling spirit of the age. The abolition of the negro-slave traffic, the progressive obliteration of cla.s.s distinctions and race distinctions in law, the liberty of combination among laborers, the extension of the franchise, the limitations of the powers of riches--in a word, all our modern popular movements are only recognitions of the principle that each individual man is born with the right to regulate his conduct and pursue his ends in his own way, provided that he does not abridge the equal rights of his fellow-men. The principle of individual liberty has been the underlying principle of the social policy of the past hundred years.

But to this principle Mormonism is in the most bitter antagonism. It is true that it does not antagonize it openly. If it did, it would thereby strike its own death-blow. It claims to be in harmony with the spirit of freedom, and the official Church organ, the _Deseret News_, has for its motto, printed in large letters on its t.i.tle-page, "_Truth and Liberty_."

Nevertheless, it tramples all freedom under foot. Its spirit is TYRANNY. A greater despotism the world, perhaps, has never seen. That of the Persian king in ancient times, and that of the Czar of all the Russias over his serfs in more modern times, pale in comparison with the absolute despotism of the Mormon chieftain and his two councillors. The condition of society in Mormondom is that of bondage, utter and entire. The const.i.tuent elements of man are body, soul, and spirit; and _these are all in slavery_ under the social system of the Mormons.

Let us, therefore, consider this subject under these _three_ heads--_personal bondage_, _mental bondage_, and _moral bondage_.

I. PERSONAL BONDAGE.--Every Mormon goes through the Endowment House, from which no man emerges with his manhood remaining. He has sunk to be the slave of the priesthood. In that house an awful oath is administered to every one, obligating the individual, under fearful penalty, to uphold the Church at every cost and obey it in all things. That terrible oath unmans the whole Mormon race and brings them into bondage. The Mormon leaders claim to be infallible--men inspired, who catch the very thought of G.o.d and p.r.o.nounce His words. They are the direct vicegerents of the Almighty, and are at all times endowed by means of revelations with the wisdom to guide their people aright in all things, temporal as well as spiritual.

This claim is admitted by all their followers. Accordingly, in the most tyrannical way the priesthood dictates about all the affairs of the people, telling them what store they must trade at, what newspaper they must read, what school they must patronize. In fine, Brigham Young claimed that his people could do nothing without his knowledge and approval, "even to the ribbons a woman should wear." The control of the Church over all the temporal affairs of the people is as absolute as their control of purely spiritual matters. One of their prominent speakers said a few years ago: "I cannot separate between temporal and spiritual affairs. The priesthood has as much control over one as the other." Therefore the Mormons are under _personal bondage_. Their persons, their services, their property--all are under the control not of themselves individually, but of their leaders.

At each semi-annual conference missionaries are appointed to go to the outside world and proclaim the doctrines of their religion. At the least calculation there are three hundred such missionaries constantly in the field, going up and down in the States of our own land, and also the countries of Europe and the isles of the sea. They must go at their own expense, and are required to stay until recalled by the priesthood. If it is necessary for a missionary to sell his last cow to get the means to pay his expenses, he must do so, even though his family should be left entirely dest.i.tute; and he is taught to believe that the greater the sacrifice, the greater the glory in the next world.

A Presbyterian minister in the southern part of the Territory got the privilege of boarding in a Mormon family. As soon as the priesthood found it out this family was required to close its doors against the minister, although they were greatly in need of the money which he was ready to pay for his board.

Another minister in the northern part of the Territory hired a building for a mission school from an old lady connected with the Mormon Church, and paid a month's rent in advance. As soon as the priesthood found out what she had done, they brought such pressure to bear upon her that she went to the minister and urged him to give her back the building, although in her poverty she greatly needed the rent. Is not that slavery? And yet President Taylor has stood up in the great Tabernacle at Salt Lake City and declared that they were in favor of the largest liberty for their own people and for all mankind.

Thousands of converts to Mormonism are brought from Europe to Utah every season, and this large immigration is under the complete control of the Church. It can be sent to any place it is thought best. If a colony is started in Arizona or Nevada, and it is thought best to enlarge it, the immigration is sent thither. The persons must go where they are directed, however much they might prefer to settle somewhere in the beautiful Salt Lake Valley, the Switzerland of America. Every settlement is made under the direction of the Church.

Not only is the foreign immigration under the control of the priesthood, but all members who have already settled either in Utah or elsewhere are subject to the orders of the Church. If the priesthood think it expedient to send a thousand or two thousand into Colorado or Arizona or any other locality, the number is divided out among the different wards, and each ward must not only furnish its quota of men, but all the means for the emigration; and the persons selected must go, although it is a great sacrifice to them to leave their cultivated lands and comfortable homes and go into the unbroken country of another Territory to again undergo the trials and sufferings incident to pioneer life.

The power of the Church is also brought to bear on all the daily business of life. In the mining districts of Southern Utah, the contractors for furnishing salt, wood, charcoal, etc., are all Mormon bishops. They hire the persons under them at starvation prices, and pay them in orders on the co-operative supply stores, in which they are either princ.i.p.als or partners; and the men so employed never see a dollar of cash. Should one of the common people undertake to do any hauling, wood-supplying, or other business with the mines, they would get an intimation that they must desist. If this hint is disregarded, a meeting of the Council is called, composed of the bishops and apostles; and as it is shown that some one of them is being interfered with, the order goes forth from the Church that this private enterprise must stop; and this no Mormon dare disregard. If one of the mining companies undertakes to do its business with any except the bishops, every obstacle possible is thrown in its way. Teams cannot be hired. The bishop pays wages at about a dollar a day, payable from the co-operative store; but if a mining superintendent wants men, he must pay four dollars a day. Thus the Mormon bishops secure all the profits of contracts from the mines. They take possession of all the woodlands and cut off the wood, never taking the trouble to comply with the law. They rule everything with a heavy hand, and woe to the poor man who dares to try to make his living independently. The serfs of Russia in the olden time were not more abject slaves than these people under the terrible power of the Church. Independence of action is entirely taken away from them. They are in _personal bondage_. Well may we exclaim: "Genius of America! Spirit of our free inst.i.tutions! where art thou?"

"Shall our own brethren drag the chain Which not even Russia's menials wear?"

But this is not all.

II. The Mormons are not only in personal bondage, but worse than that--they are in MENTAL BONDAGE.

Such tyranny as has been already alluded to is possible only because Ignorance and her handmaid, Superst.i.tion, are throwing their dark pall over the ma.s.s of the Mormon people. Mormonism grows mainly by imposition upon the ignorant and the credulous. Joseph Smith, its founder, was illiterate, and so was Brigham Young; and the ma.s.s of Mormons from the beginning were from a cla.s.s of people whose education was very limited.

Such also is the character of their converts now. They are gathered from the very lowest cla.s.ses of the peasantry of England, Germany, and Scandinavia; and in our land the poor rural element of the Southern States, commonly called the "cracker" element, is a favorite and successful field for Mormon missionary labor, because the elders find as much ignorance and credulity among the poor whites of Tennessee, Georgia, and neighboring States, as they do among the low cla.s.ses of Europe.

If you go into the Tabernacle at Salt Lake City, it is said, one is reminded, in looking at the faces of the people, of what we can see in Castle Garden. The marks of ignorance are stamped upon their very countenances. It has been aptly said: "The illiteracy of the average Mormon is denser than a London fog." In an article published in the _Presbyterian Review_, April, 1881, Rev. Dr. McNiece, of Salt Lake City, said that, so far as he knew, "after three years' observation in Utah, there are only three persons among the entire body of Mormons who can make the least claim to scholarship. One of these is a woman of notoriously immoral character; one of the others is always spoken of as a religious monomaniac; and the character of the third is such as to compel one to believe that he supports Mormonism simply because of the lucrative office which it gives him." According to the teachers engaged in the Christian schools there, the ignorance met with is simply appalling. In many cases neither men nor women know how to read. Children are plenty who never heard of G.o.d, and know no more of Christ than a beggar in the city of Nineveh in the days of Jonah. History and geography are to a great extent unknown and untaught; even our own country outside of Utah is unknown. The Mormon leaders take great pains to keep their people in ignorance.

Learning, intelligence, are everywhere at a discount.

The civilized world recognizes the fact that the diffusion of knowledge elevates humanity. Shakespeare says:

"Ignorance is the curse of G.o.d, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven."

One of the chief features of this age is the desire for universal education, and every true reformer seeks to place it within the reach of all. _But the Mormon Church is the recognized opponent of free education._ Notwithstanding the fact that the Mormon priesthood has had control of Utah for well-nigh forty years, that Territory is the only one in the United States that has not a system of free schools, open to the poor as well as the rich. The teachers with few exceptions are young, untaught, and without experience; and the schools are scarcely worthy the name. The main object of the Mormon school system seems to be to prevent the people from learning to think and acquiring information.

Now, why is this? The only reason is that it is necessary for the Mormon Church to keep her subjects in ignorance to enable her to control them.

This was the position taken by Brigham Young, and is the position taken by the hierarchy to-day. The plea of poverty cannot be justified, for the Church collects over a million dollars annually; but this tax of ten dollars a year for every man, woman, and child in the Mormon Church is spent, not for free schools, which would develop manhood and fit the taxpayer to be an honorable citizen of the commonwealth, but for that which rivets tighter the chains that bind the people.