The Mormon Puzzle, And How To Solve It Part 8

The torch it bears in its uplifted hand Shall not make light the shame-spot on our land.

Day-break indeed! The midnight is not past.

Freedom, forsooth! Not while yon temples last!

Enlightenment! Our bitter inland sea Gives back the word in shameless mockery!"

CHAPTER X.

THE SOCIAL PUZZLE (_continued_).

_Reasons why Mormon slavery is maintained_--Hope of earthly gain--Complete organization of the Mormon Church--Prospect of promotion in office as a bribe--Fear of earthly loss--System of espionage--Apostasy formerly punished by death--Mode of inflicting the punishment--Social ostracism--Religious conviction the mainstay of the Mormon social system.

Having already shown that the Mormon social system is a system of slavery so complete as to bind with its fetters body, mind, and soul--the entire man, let us now briefly inquire into THE REASONS WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THIS DEGRADING SYSTEM, which is so utterly hostile to the enlightened and progressive spirit of the age.

I. There is, first, THE HOPE OF EARTHLY GAIN.

There is probably no system on earth which has a more cunning and complete organization than the Mormon Church. Supreme over all is the President, with his two Councillors. Then come the Twelve Apostles, who, in connection with the President and his Councillors, form a High Council, from whose decision there is no appeal. They may be regarded, therefore, as the masters in this system of slavery. Then come the Seventies (who are travelling missionaries), high-priests, elders, bishops, teachers, and deacons. One of the most cunning things about the organization is the large number of office-holders. There are over 23,000 officers reported as belonging to the Church--that is, one out of every three men holds an office either of honor or emolument. Each of these has a hope that if he is faithful to his masters he will be in time promoted. If any one of these 23,000 officers is disposed to criticise or become dissatisfied with the system, the office which he holds, and especially the prospect of future promotions, acts as a bribe to submission and acquiescence. Thus the hope of earthly rewards is one of the great sources of strength to the Mormon system, holding it intact.

II. Then, there is THE FEAR OF EARTHLY LOSS.

Hope and fear both operate upon the minds of the people, and cause them to submit to be bound by the chains of a tyranny whose equal can be found only by going back to the Dark Ages.

The Mormon hierarchy has a system of espionage, by which they are kept informed in regard to the feelings of all the people. The whole Territory is divided into twenty stakes or districts, each of which is presided over by a high-priest. These districts are again subdivided into about two hundred and thirty wards, each of which has a presiding bishop. The teachers and deacons are his subordinates, whose duty it is to visit each individual in their respective wards and find out all about his affairs, both temporal and spiritual. In this way, through all these various gradations, the leaders are able to put their finger on every man, woman, and child in the whole Church.

Before the Gentiles forced their way into Utah, and Government troops were stationed there, if any of the Mormons were, through this system of inquisition, found to be discontented and unsubmissive to the priesthood, inclined to free thought, free speech, and free action, he was soon taught a lesson by the "Avenging Angels" that silence is the better part of discretion, or that "dead men tell no tales." The Church held every man's life in its hand. Terrible was the punishment meted out for any offence or act of insubordination.

It is only a few years ago that it was the practice to inflict what they call _blood atonement_ for any flagrant offence to the Church or any disregard of its orders. Brigham Young, after the people were well established in Utah, alluded on one occasion in a public address to the persecutions in Missouri and Nauvoo, saying that they always began with apostates and disaffected spirits; and then he said: "Do we see disaffected spirits here? We do. Do we see apostates? We do. I say to those persons, you must not court persecution here, lest you get so much of it you will not know what to do with it. Do _not_ court persecution.

Now, keep your tongues still, _lest sudden destruction come upon you_. _I say, rather than that apostates shall flourish here I will unsheath my bowie-knife and conquer or die._ Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be put to the line and righteousness to the plummet. Let us call upon the Lord to a.s.sist us in this and every good work."

President H. C. Kimball, in an address delivered in Salt Lake City August 16th, 1857, said: "If men turn traitors to G.o.d and His servants, their blood will surely be shed, or else they will be d.a.m.ned;" and this doctrine was put into actual practice. The culprit was never allowed an opportunity for defence. He remained in blissful ignorance of his danger, until at midnight there came a knock on his door, and he was ordered to accompany the four or five masked men that confronted him when he opened the door.

Then he knew his doom, and so did his family, who knew they looked their last upon him. Being led to a secluded spot, a shovel was placed in his hands, and he was made to dig his own grave. He was then seized, forced upon his knees, his head held over the grave, and his throat cut from ear to ear. His blood flowed into the grave, into which his body was thrown and covered up, and no more was ever heard of him. His family dared not mention their suspicions, and no Mormon ever dared to be inquisitive or mention his name. Such instances were by no means rare.

Now the influx of the Gentiles has caused them to be more careful how they punish apostates or insubordinates; but we know little or nothing of the secret punishments that are still inflicted. The practice of blood atonement is now stopped by the necessity of circ.u.mstances. In the presence of thousands of Gentiles and Federal troops and Federal control, the Mormon Church dare not any longer enforce its commands by the pistol and the knife; but it has means of control none the less effective, which it does not hesitate to use. The apostate is now, it is said, handed over to "the buffetings of Satan," to be cursed in his business, in his family, in his body, in his mind, in all things that belong to him; and the Mormon priesthood have the will and power to see that these prophetic curses are fulfilled to the letter.

There does not exist upon the face of this broad earth a more complete social ostracism for religion than in Utah. Not many months ago a girl brought home some sewing which she had for a Christian woman. The girl looked round upon the happy home and burst into tears. Upon being asked the cause of her grief, she replied: "Oh, that I lived in a happy Christian home! You think me a Mormon, but I have _never_ been a Mormon at heart. My mother was once the wife of a Presbyterian clergyman in England.

About three years after her marriage my father died. I was the only child of my parents. My mother's people became Mormons, and my mother emigrated with them to Utah, bringing me with her. Here she married a Mormon, and I have been carefully taught in their religion; but I have my father's Bible, sermons, and diary. I know that his religion is true, and not this Mormon doctrine, which teaches of G.o.ds many, and heaven attained by sensual courses--women earning their salvation and exaltation in heaven by becoming the polygamous wives of some wicked man. I loath it; but I am poor. I can only do plain sewing for a living, and while I remain with my mother she will charge me nothing for board. I am not strong, and often sick. If I come out boldly and say, 'I will go to the Church of my choice and worship G.o.d according to the dictates of my conscience,' I shall be turned into the street, perhaps be denounced as a bad character--not an uncommon thing in Utah--and come to want. No, I must stop at home, be quiet, worship G.o.d in my heart, and pray for forgiveness."

If a man apostatizes who is in business he is no longer supported by the Mormons, and they in many places are nine tenths of the people. He is despised. He can get no work, since the Mormons control nearly all business contracts. The Mormon people will no longer hold intercourse with him. His family is the b.u.t.t of ridicule and contempt, and his children are insulted and stigmatized. The entire family is as completely ostracized as though they had been convicted of an infamous crime. Now, it certainly requires strong heroism, real, sterling manhood, for one to face such a prospect for his family. Most people would obey the dictates of the hierarchy, whatever they might be, rather than bring such loss and shame upon themselves and their children. Thus it is seen how fear of earthly loss enters as a prominent factor in holding the Mormon people in bondage.

III. But lastly and chiefly, there is STRONG RELIGIOUS CONVICTION, which is the main prop of this social system. In discussing the Mormon puzzle in Utah, we must not forget that for twenty years this community was isolated by a thousand miles of barren waste from civilization. During this time it was literally a kingdom within itself; and Brigham Young was king, his word law, his command a commandment from G.o.d. During that time the present generation of Mormons were reared; and it is their strong conviction that the word of the priesthood is the word of G.o.d.

If we only glance at history, we will find many evidences of the great power of "Thus saith the Lord" over the minds of men. For religious conviction persons have burned at the stake and endured all manner of physical torture, to say nothing of the travail of soul through which they have pa.s.sed. It is to this power, also, that Mormonism owes its strength.

So strong is its control that the Mormons dare not, for fear of the loss of their soul's salvation, enter protest against any command coming, as it does, with these words prefixed: "Thus saith the Lord." The priesthood claim to have control of the "seals" and "keys" by which the gates of both heaven and h.e.l.l can be opened and shut; and they take the keys by which they pretend to open the gates of vengeance and rattle them above the heads of the uneducated and superst.i.tious, until they are frightened into believing that, if they should disobey any edict of this priesthood, they would be consigned to the flames of eternal fire. It is this fear of the loss of their souls if they disobey, and the conviction that their leaders cannot command anything but what G.o.d has commanded, that is the strongest pillar that holds up their social fabric. Thus do the Mormon people with their own hands rivet the chains which bind in a fearful bondage their bodies, their minds, and their souls.

CHAPTER XI.

THE SOCIAL PUZZLE (_concluded_).

THE SOLUTION OF THE SOCIAL PUZZLE--Mormon slavery and negro slavery compared--The duty of the Government to break up Mormon slavery--The remedy the same as for the political evils of Mormonism--Brigham Young opposed to immigration of Gentiles--A growing spirit of restlessness--Necessity of surrounding the youth with an atmosphere of freedom--_Personal Bondage_ of the Mormons overcome by Gentile colonization--Social ostracism no longer dreaded--_Mental Bondage_ overcome by national schools and colonization--_Moral Bondage_ overcome by the same means--This policy not to be confounded with the let-alone policy--An apparent policy of toleration--The alarmist's cry and its answer--The Mormon standpoint not to be overlooked--The cry of unconst.i.tutionality--The proposed Polygamy Amendment to the Const.i.tution--The cry of religious persecution--Imprisonment preferred to sacrifice of principle--Law impotent to break up polygamy--Supposed captivity of Mormon women a mistake--Ma.s.s-meeting of Mormon women to plead for polygamy--_Senator h.o.a.r_ on the solution of the social puzzle--How the law should be enforced and its probable effect--Superiority of the colonization plan over any other plan--Its effectiveness proved by the Oneida Community--_The Social Puzzle solved_--The duty of the nation, the citizen, and the Church.

If our diagnosis of the Mormon social system is correct, then the only effectual remedy will be one that reaches the real evil, which is _slavery_; and as polygamy is only one of the results of slavery, remove the cause and the result will likewise be removed.

But this slavery of the Mormons is very different from the negro slavery in the South before our Civil War. The latter was a legalized traffic, and the remedy for it was _law_. The slavery of the Mormons is a voluntary one, and rests not upon law but upon religious conviction; and hence _law cannot be an effectual remedy_. The Mormon Puzzle, then, is a much harder one to solve than the Negro Puzzle before the war, and will require a longer time for its solution.

The galley-slave realizes his bondage, feels his fetters, hears the tw.a.n.g of his master's whip, and longs and plans for a release from his servitude; but he who is enslaved by a mental or moral dogma, while he thinks he is of all men the most free, is in the most fearful condition of slavery. This is the condition of all those who, like the Mormons, are compelled to yield a blind obedience to the teachings of an infallible priesthood; and it must necessarily be the case that all such are unfitted to discharge the duties pertaining to independent citizenship. He, and he only, is fitted to become a worthy citizen of our nation who strives to be an independent thinker, and who follows no guide but his own conscientious sense of right and wrong; but he, and he only, is a good Mormon who obeys counsel without question or gainsaying. It is, therefore, the imperative duty of our Government to break up this slavery among the Mormons, and to do it as speedily as possible. The Government is responsible for the growth of this system within its domains, and it is in duty bound to eradicate its evils so far as it lies within its power; but thus far the root-evil of the system has not been recognized. All the efforts of the Government have been directed only against one of the branches--namely, polygamy. The real evil is slavery, and it seems to us that the same remedy we suggested for the solution of the Mormon Political Puzzle is the proper solution of the Mormon Social Puzzle.

1. A NATIONAL COLONIZATION SCHEME, which would surround the Mormons with a people imbued with freedom, and exercising freedom of thought, speech, and action.

2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL FREE SCHOOLS of a high order all through the Territory, by means of which the rising generation would be continually surrounded with an atmosphere of freedom. Nothing can change old Mormons, either men or women; but the young men and women--the rising generation--may be reclaimed.

The system of bondage in vogue in Utah can only be successfully maintained by its being isolated. The system thrived abundantly under Brigham Young, because it was entirely isolated from the rest of the nation. There were at various times individuals who dared to a.s.sert their G.o.d-given reason and freedom; but being alone in the Territory, they were soon silenced.

But individual thought and expression have more encouragement now that the days of isolation have to some extent pa.s.sed away by the opening of the Pacific Railroad and the mines of Southern Utah, and the influx of several thousand Gentiles. Brigham Young knew that the immigration into Utah of a large non-Mormon population would be the death-blow to his system, and so he used every means in his power to prevent it. He opposed most strenuously the opening of the railroad and the mines; but they were both opened by the aid of United States troops. In the same year that the Pacific Railroad was opened Henry Lawrence and his a.s.sociates made their n.o.ble stand in behalf of freedom of thought and action, and against the dictation of the Church in temporal affairs; and ever since then there has been a growing spirit of independence.

Among the young there is a growing restlessness and an increasing sense of shame and wrong. The conditions are becoming dangerous, and the leaders see it. The American flag is overhead. The bombsh.e.l.ls which issue from a free press are being heard and felt. Some flashes of the electric light of knowledge are to be seen, and some of the hopes which make jubilant the souls of American youth elsewhere are causing thrills in hearts in Utah which have heretofore been stolid. The thing for us to do is to surround them with an atmosphere of freedom, so that they will drink it in with every breath; and it will not be long before it will permeate their entire lives.

Their _personal bondage_ would be overcome by their coming in contact with a people imbued with the true American sense of freedom. In a few years no fear of consequences would prevent them from a.s.serting their rights. The tables would be turned, and woe to them who should deliberately trample their freedom under foot!

Moreover, by bringing in a large population of non-Mormons, social ostracism would not be dreaded as it now is. If the majority of the people were Gentiles, pecuniarily it would be to the advantage of a man in every way to break loose from his bondage to the Mormon priesthood. Think you that a man would work under a Mormon bishop for one dollar a day when under a non-Mormon he could double his wages? Think you that he would continue to allow the priesthood to swallow up about one half of his income when his income would be trebled each year if he broke away from their power? Surely not.

Then, too, the _mental bondage_ of the people would thus be overcome. Even aside from the establishment of national free schools, the illiteracy of the people would be greatly overcome by the system of colonization proposed; for a much more enlightened cla.s.s of people would be brought in, and by contact with them the scales of ignorance to a great extent would drop from the Mormons' eyes, and they would see their bondage; and to see it will be to break from it. Besides, the schools would inevitably be made free and greatly improved; and the newspapers would be greater in number and scattered all over the Territory; and who can estimate the power of a free press?

Moreover, the _moral bondage_ of the Mormons would thus be overcome. Even now, with only a small number of Gentiles in Utah, the Mormon leaders dare not command their followers to murder and a.s.sa.s.sinate as once they did; and polygamy would be more effectually overcome in that way than in any other.

But the policy which I here advocate must not be confounded with the let-alone policy which has been advocated by some, but which is a policy which no true lover of humanity, if he knows the enormity of the existing evils of the system, can hold for a moment. It was that policy which has caused the system to attain its present rank growth. It was that policy which has brought disgrace upon our nation in the eyes of the civilized world. Shame that it should be held by any American! Was it the let-alone policy by which the awful oppression of the priesthood was first broken in England by that immortal hero and champion of liberty, John Wicliffe? Was that the way in which Luther brought deliverance to the oppressed thousands of Germany, and Knox established civil and religious freedom upon the shattered ruins of priestly corruption and tyranny among Scotland's hills and vales? The let-alone policy was tried in our land with negro slavery for more than a hundred years. Did it die out? Let the answer come from the half million graves where sleep the unreturning heroes of the Blue and the Gray.

Accordingly, the policy which I advocate is not the let-alone policy. Far from it. It is rather the antipodes of that policy, the furthest remove from it possible. Instead of letting every Mormon alone in his voluntary bondage, _it touches every Mormon_; it brings a power to bear upon every one which he cannot help but feel. It brings him into personal contact with the spirit of freedom as it is exemplified in the genuine American.

True, it may be called a policy of toleration; but therein lies its strength and its superiority over any purely repressive policy, for it is regarded as an axiom that to tolerate error where truth surrounds it is the best means for its destruction. The evils in the Mormon system would long ago have been sunk out of sight but for its isolation from vital contact with truth. What the result of a battle between Truth and Error will be is known to all; but to conquer, Truth must be brought into close contact with Error. The trouble has been that Utah until quite recently has been hedged in by a Chinese wall of separation, so that Truth and Liberty have been shut out. The plan we advocate breaks down this Chinese wall entirely, and lets in the light of Truth and Liberty upon every Mormon soul. It allows Truth to have free course and fair play. There will then be a hand-to-hand combat between Truth and Error; and who can doubt as to the result? "_Truth is mighty and will prevail._"

But some alarmist may cry: "Ah! but it will take time for that moral battle to be fought out to the end, and in the mean time the horrid cancer will spread and spread, and even our own families will not be safe from its infection."

But, in reply, it can be said that nothing short of the annihilation of the Mormons would overcome polygamy very soon. Even at the shortest, it will take several years to accomplish its effectual overthrow. The Utah Commission, in their report to the Secretary of the Interior, September 24th, 1886, deemed it proper to reiterate on this point what they had before said in their report for 1884, viz.:

"As the Government has to deal here with a people who are wonderfully superst.i.tious and fanatically devoted to their system of religion, the public should not expect, as the immediate result of the present laws of Congress, nor indeed of any legislation, however radical, the sudden overthrow of polygamy; and the most that can be predicted of such legislation is, that it will, if no step backward be taken, soon ameliorate the harder conditions of Mormonism, and hasten the day for its final extinction."

Furthermore, the cry that "even our own families will not be safe from the infection of this ever-spreading cancer" is nothing but sheer cant--such a cry as the ranting demagogue might raise; and it only shows how ignorant most people are in regard to this question of Mormonism, even those who claim to understand it. Polygamy is not taught by the Mormon missionaries, and is not practised outside of Utah, and is practised there only by a small minority of the people. In the letter of the First Presidency to the Mormons at their semi-annual conference, dated October 6th, 1885, there were the following statements, coming from the head of the Church, and which are known to be true: "We never have believed or taught that the doctrine of celestial marriage was designed for universal practice....

There appears to be a fallacious idea abroad regarding this doctrine. It has been a.s.serted that there was a design to propagate it outside of our community, and thus introduce into the United States an element opposed to the Christian views of this and other nations. On the contrary, our elders have been instructed not to introduce the practice of that principle anywhere outside of the gathering-place of the Saints; and they do not preach it abroad to any extent, even in theory, except on occasions when it is called for or when they are a.s.sailed on account of it.... It should also be understood that the practice is not generally admissible even among the Latter-Day Saints. It is strictly guarded, the intention being to allow only those who are above reproach to enter into the relationship.... The idea, therefore, that plural marriage is a menace to the general monogamous system is without foundation. This fallacy is further exhibited by the fact of the popular antipathy with which it is regarded, people outside of our Church exhibiting a disposition the reverse of favorable to its establishment in other communities, making the extension of its practice abroad impossible." No; our own homes are not in much danger from this evil. The Mormons in Utah will be the only sufferers. There should be no selfish motive aroused for the destruction of this evil. Neither we nor our families are in great danger. Honor and humanity are the motives which should actuate every American to wipe out this foul blot upon our nation's face and to uplift our brethren from the degradation and bondage of this accursed system; and although the plan with which we propose to accomplish this end will take some few years before the climax will be reached, yet while the plan is gradually being wrought out it will place a greater check upon the evil than any other plan, and in the end will be effectual in breaking it up, which cannot be said of any other plan yet proposed. And what is more, it would accomplish the end with less of bitter spirit being manifested and with less property and lives lost than any other plan that could possibly be brought forth, because it is in strict accord with Christian principles and has nothing in connection with it which could be construed by the Mormons as _religious persecution_.

In dealing with this question we must not overlook the Mormon standpoint, although it may differ from our own. The law against polygamy is regarded by the Mormons, in the first place, as _unconst.i.tutional_. The existing prohibitory law is only a statute-law, which they claim to be out of harmony with the fundamental law of our land as expressed in the Const.i.tution. The latter they claim to revere as inspired. Accordingly, their constant hope and effort is to obtain admission into the Union as a State, so that they might no longer be under the exclusive control of Congress. Under the Const.i.tution as it now is, Congress has no legislative jurisdiction over the question of polygamy in the different States of the Union. The whole subject, together with that of marriage and divorce, is left with the States themselves, and may be regulated by them according to their own discretion. Knowing this, the Mormons are working strenuously to have Utah admitted as a State with all its rights and privileges; then they could bid defiance to all the statute-laws of Congress on the subject of polygamy, and in the exercise of their undoubted right they would enact a law allowing polygamy, which would not transgress any article of our Const.i.tution. The earnest efforts of the Mormons will naturally be directed to that end as long as the Const.i.tution remains as it is. The proper thing to do in order to completely overthrow that idea among the Mormons is to pa.s.s the proposed _Polygamy Amendment_ to the Const.i.tution.

The Mormons would then see that, so far as that inst.i.tution is concerned, they have nothing to gain by gaining political control of a State. No State could establish polygamy, any more than it could establish slavery; and if any State, owing to local public sentiment or partisan politics, were remiss in dealing with polygamists, the general Government would have power to supply the remedy. If such an amendment were made to the Const.i.tution, the cry of the Mormons concerning the unconst.i.tutionality of the Anti-Polygamy Law would be completely overcome; for, as the Utah Commission very aptly say in their report for 1886, "they would probably not have the hardihood to say that _the Const.i.tution itself is unconst.i.tutional_, and it is not unreasonable to predict that the more sagacious and influential persons among the Mormons would realize the hopelessness of a further conflict with the Government, and accommodate themselves to the inevitable by the exercise of that 'worldly wisdom'

which so often tempers and modifies the conduct of religious fanatics."

Nevertheless, the Mormons could still raise their greatest cry--that which has the greatest weight with them--the cry of _religious persecution_; because then, as now, they would claim that the law interfered with their religion. We cannot admit the truth of their a.s.sertion. Chief-Justice Waite was right when he delivered the opinion of the United States Supreme Court on this subject: "Laws are made for the government of actions; and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices. Suppose one believed that human sacrifices were a necessary part of religious worship, would it be seriously contended that the civil government under which we lived could not interfere to prevent the sacrifice? Or if a wife religiously believed it was her duty to burn herself upon the funeral pile of her dead husband, would it be beyond the power of the civil government to prevent her from carrying her belief into practice? So here, as a law for the organization of society under the exclusive dominion of the United States, it is provided that plural marriages shall not be allowed. Can a man excuse his practices to the country because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.