The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1854-07-15
The MOrinOnS,


Ferris, late Secretary of Utah Territory -
The character of the author and his oppor-
tunities for observation, render his account
OF that strange people in the highest degree
trustworthy, and as Utah will, at no distant
day, be applying for admission to the Union
this publication seems opportune, as fur
nishing information having an important
bearing on a subject on which the people OF
This country will, through their representa-
tives, soon be called TO act. We have not
yet seen Mr.. Ferris's book, but an extended
notice of it, which we find in the New York
Times, embodes copious extracts, some OF
which we re- produce for the picture they
give Of the working of the peculiar institu-
tion of the ''Saints." Loathsome and dis
gusting as it will seem to the sober moral
sense OF our readers, we are persuaded, as
there is no reason to doubt its authenticity,
that it is our duty to place it before them.
We have no hesitation in expressing our
opinion, that a State which upholds poly
gamy ought never to be admitted into the
Union. Any outcry which may be raised
about the violation of religious freedom.
would be an intolerable desecration of a
sacred cause, and would deserve no sympa-
thy. When religion is made the pretext for
=,
it is an insult to the human understanding,
and TO the public sense of decency, to say
that it ought TO be tolerated, lest, forsooth
we should violate the rights of conscience.
No upright Judge, in any well regulated State.
would hesitate 20 pronounce the sentence of
the law on convicted bigamist. though he
were ten times Mormon, and were ever so
fully persuaded that plurality of wives
was dictate of religion And is it less a
crime because whole community commits
it? Poiygamy does more than revolt the
moral sense of all right thinking people :;
aside from the moral degradation it inhics
on woman, it reduces her TO condition of
base domestic servitude. 1t is evident
enough, that in a community where man
nay take score or more OF wives, I'D I6itum,
there can be no social equality between the
two sexes; and though females may not be
imprisoned in harems, they will become
mere laborious drudges, the objects of coniu-
gal tyranny. rather than Cf domestic tender
ness. Even if it were true. as has been said,
that plurality of wives is too expensive ID
luxury to be INDUCED in by any except the
richer MOrnonS il could not even then, fail
TO corrupt the moral sense of the whole
community, by the influence which the ex-
"ihPI| VI t'E upper bldSS, CSIlCCldllN NItI
this class comprises their religious teachers,
would exert on the moral judgments of the
less favored multitude. On a Southern
plantation, if man owns many slaves, it
is necessary that he be rich because it costs
money to buy them. But in a Mormon
community where female slaves cost moth,
ing but the trouble of seduction, with the
advantage of religion as a procuress, we do
not see that any Saint" who can find EN-
ployment for their hands, need set any limit
to his domestic enioymenls. White slaves
IN Utah are cheaper than black ones in Vir-
ginia; and as regards their condition, the
loss of chastity, which is an incidental evil
in the case of the latter is the principal cir
cumstonCe in the treatment of the former
We fOrbear to say more on so repusive ii
subject, and make room for our quotations
i Buff. Com.
DOMESTIC ECONOMY.
Polygamy,' says Mr. Ferris, is intro
ducing new style Of building at Salt Lake
City. man with half-a-dozen wives
builds, if he can, long, low dwelling, hav-
ing six entrances from the outside; and
when he takes in new wife, if able to do
SO, he adds another apartment. The OBJ
ject is to keep the women and babies, as
much as possible, apart, and prevent those