Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-07-20
WASHINGTON. D. C.. THURSDAY. JULY 20 1854 .-1'.-TT
DAILY EVENING STAR.

DAILY EVENING STAR.
| MoRHoN1sM AS IT rs. s'-s 81
10 Smith, the Prophet, is his early
visions, condemned polygamy; but in his
latter days, after decreeing special wife
to himself, proceeded to lay down the
general law, as it is now received by the
Momons, as the prime article of their
faith and the cornerstone of their social
polity. Thus it runs: ---
And again, as pertaining to the law
of the priesthood, if any man espouse q
virgin, and desire to espouse smother, and
the first give her consent; and If he es-
pouse the second, and they are virgins,
and have vowed to see no other man,
then he is justified; he cannot commit
adultery, for they are given unto him; for
he cannot commit adultery with that be.
longing unto him, and to none else; and
if he have ten virgins given unto him by
this law, he cannot commit adultery, for
they belong to him, and they are given
unto him; therefore he is justified. I" =
Lest the first wife should not give her
consent, provision is made for dispensing
with it: - ~Ei FL, E-H q aa--s-
"And, again, verify, verify, say unto
you, if any man has a wife who holds the
keys of this power, and he teaches unto
her the laws Of my priesthood as pertain
ing to these things, then shall she be-
lieve and administer unto him, or she
shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your
God; for l will destroy her; for l will
magnify my name upon all those who
receive and abide in my law. Therefore,
it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not
this law, for him to receive all things
whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give
unto him, because she did not believe and
administer unto him according to my
word; and she then becomes the trans,
gressor, and he is exempt from the law
of Sarah, who administered unto Abra-
ham, according to the law, when I COM
manded Abraham to take Hagar unto
wife. And now, as appertaining to this
law, verify, verify, l say unto you, will
reveal more unto you thereafter, there.
fore, let this suffice for the present. Be-
hold ! l am Alpha and Omega. Amen"
Let US look little at the practical
workings of the system, as seen and de-
scribed by Mr.. Ferris in his book just
published: - f.'.7-s sd
.- s DOMESTIC ECONOMY.
"Polygamy," says Mr.. Ferris, lis in
Producing new style of building at Salt
Lake City. A man with half dozen
wives builds, if he can, long, low dwell
ing,. having six entrances from the out.
side; and, when he takes in a new wife,
if able to do so, adds another apartment.
The object is to keep the women and ba-
bies, as much as possible, apart, and pre-
vent those terrible cat. fights which some
times occur, with all the Accomplishments
of Billingsgate, torn caps and broken
broom-sticks. As the ''divine institu-
ton" extends these buildings increase,
and in few years the city will look like
collection of barracks for the accommo-
dation of soldiers. Some have separate
buildings in parts of the city remote from
each other, and others have houses,
and the wives are thus kept separate. the
husband dividing his time between them
ALL" - . o--'-.-- .
EFFECT OF POLYGAMY UPON POPULATION.
&c The effect of polygamy upon popu.
lation is. decidedly deleterious. The
prophet Joseph had over forty wives at
Nauvoo, and the rest of the priesthood
had various numbers, corresponding to
their standing and inclinations; and
nearly all the children of these polyga-
nous marriages died at that place
indeed, 1t is alleged by Mormous that not
one was taken to Utah. Brigham Young
has thirty children, of whom eight are
by his first and second lawful wives: the
remaining twenty-five are by his spirit
uals. He has about fifty wives, some Of
whom were widows of Joseph Smith,
and are probably past the time Of having
children; but, supposing him to have
thirty who are capable of having issue
which is below the true number-the
twenty-five children would be less than
one child to a concubine. If each of
these degraded females could have been
the honored wife of one husband, the
aggregate number of children, according
to the usual average of four in q family,
would be one hundred and twenty, show
ing loss in population of ninety-eight.
s.The children are subject to fright
full degree of sickness and mortality.
This is the combined result of the gross
sensuality of the parents, and want; of
care toward their offspring. As gen.
eral rule, the sanity pretenders take as
little care of their wives rs of their chill
dren, and of both, less than careful
farmer in the States would be Of his cat
tie: and nowhere out of the Five Points
in New York city, can . more filthy,
miserable, neglected locking and disor-
derly rabble of children be found than
in the streets of Great Salt Lake City.
The Governor, again, whose attention to
his multifarious family we are bound to
suppose greater than the average, affords
fair illustration. He was twice law
fully married, and has eight legitimate
children, who are all living. He has had
large number Of children by his concu-
bines-no one knows how many--it is
only known that there are only twenty
two surviving. These females do not
reside in the Governors house. so called,
but in different establishments, from one