Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-12-07

of Utah, with population of hundred
thousand people, bound together by most
powerful ecclesiastical system, and under
the control Of one man, they present an in.
teresting study. They form compact and
powerful organization, but polygamy is
their strongest bond Of union. Nowhere
else i'll the whole civilized world can they
ilvc, and Utah is their only home and only
hope. There we heard discourse in the
Bowery by Brigham Young, who defended
their system, and said that the Gentiles
who did not become Latter-day Saints
would remain In eternal misery, while the
chosen would possess the earth. He is no
ordinary man. He has natural administers
tive talents, exercising a supervision of the
whole church and his success has proved
this. His own wealth shows him a busi-
ness man, and the industry of the valley
shows him to be good organizer of la
Dor. We called at his house. where he de-
Tended his peculiar system, saying that he
| had received a revelation from Heaven com
manding him to adopt it. Laughter
told him it placed him in antagonism to the
law OF the land, and that it would be well
for him to have another revelation com
mandmg him to discontinue it. Laughter.
| He said he would be glad to get such a
revelation. His conversation impressed us
with the idea that he would soon have to
| give it up or to array himself against the
! Government.
Visiting among the Gentle people there
they told us that this conversation had
been reported through the streets, until it
| had grown to such magnitude that it was
commonly believed among the people that
| ba b,I
Young TO have revelation to discontinue
it, and caused great excitement
| Soon after we left, an editorial appeared
in the daily Mormon paper, stating this
conversation, and then III a paragraph,
evidently written or inspired by high au-
! thority in the church, declaring their read
mess to defend their peculiar institution
with their lives if need be. | did not see
much of the Mormon women to ask their
views of the system. Their religion teach
es that no woman can enter Heaven except
| through married life. The Gentle" ladies
all tell me that the experience of those liv-
/ ing IN puralty who are at all possessed of
refinement, is indeed unhappy. How is
this to be prevented No jury there can
convict a man, controlled, as it would be,
| by the Mormon church. The growing
army of children with which Salt Lake Citv
| is swarming, arc being educated to consid-
er it as Heaven inspired. But they should
be taught that there is limit to pretended
revelations and that the Government can
not permit these so-called revelations to
conflict with the laws of the United States.
This line is being drawn by many Of the
Mormons themselves, who are seeding
from the chuch, and journeying from its
jurisdiction. The law against poygamy
should be repealed, or they should be taught
that it is a violation of the statutes No
man who practices it should be allowed to
hold Office under the Government and an
oath to obey that law against it should be
required. There are Jews and miners
there, and they are all anti-poygamists
1t is the only country where the Saints are
all sinners and the Jews are all Gentiles
Laughter. But the whistle of the locomO-
tive will sound its requiem, and the shovel
Of the miner will di" its grave. IAp-
plause.
But the grandcst of all our national mea
sures is the great Pacific Railroad Al
ways an earnest advocate of that scheme,
my long journey has convinced me of its
incalculable necessity. 1t is a national
political necessity for it will bind the At
lantiC and pacfic States into an eternal
bond of union it is a military necessity,
for were we engaged in war with France
or England, it is there that our enemies
would strike and endeavor to obtain foot
hold, and without this great road how long
would be the time required to convey troops
and stores across the plains. The interests
of the nation demand it even in this light
But more than all this, it is commercial
necessity, for then the line Of communica-
ton between Eastern Asia and Europe
will be across this continent it is essen
tial to our national success and for the
proper development of our grand internal
| Territory and States, with their immense
stores of precious metals and useful min
erals. Their development is now retarded
by the slowprocess Of transporting ma
chinery and supplies to those regions but
once constructed, it will be but trunk-line
from which hundreds of branch lines will
penetrate to every corner of our Western
land 1t is the first and last hope of Cali
fornia it is their daily hope and their
nightly dream, and all they ask is. When
will it be done, and cannot the Government
help to finish it? Then, they say, they can
visit "home," as they a ways call the At
lantic States 1t was the measure of the
speedy construction of the railroad. and
the love of the people for the land they left
behind, that crushed out the idea of Pa
cic Republic that had already been agita-
ted among the politicians there. Leaving
out the receipts of the Sanitary Commission
from the great fairs of this city New York
and Chicago California sent more money
to that noble charity than any other State
in the Union. Applause.
This grand line Of national communica
ton completed our country will be bound
together then as never before. Then the
iron horse will speed his way along the
rails, while the increased facilities will
cheaper transportation, and enable the
population, with the aid of more complete
and easier attainable appliances, to develop
the immense wealth of the mountains with
new processes California will then be-
come, indeed as our beloved martyr Prcai-
dent predicted to me Oh that day When,
having labored SO faithfully for us, he was
to die for us, that the great far West, with
its immense agricultural re-uurces would
become not only the granary of the world,
but, with it's illimtable mineral wealth the