The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-11
THE DAILY EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, IT

, gum of money demanded statement of the
reoeipts and disbursements, and he was out
on from the saints here and from the saints in
heaven. When Il is considered that all Nor
mons ere required to give to the Church one
tonfI of AL they raise in kind, and one-tenth
~ an thew make IN any business. the maeni-
tude Of the fund intrusted TO Young without
question or check of any sort is startling.
First of all, he supplies his haYem and nume-
rous progeny; then he builds at the tabernacle
and temple then mills, theatres, factories,
etc., all in his own name; receives the proceeds
ostensibly for the Church, and no one dares to
question his judgment or demand balance
sheet. His annual income now cannot be less
than half a million dollars. The humble, de-
luded followers believe that it is wisely and
faithfully expended; but do not the lcentious
leaders know better
There are palpable signs of dissolution in
the Mormon Church. The Josephites (the
followers of Smith) pronounce polygamy a
sin, and they claim to be the true Mormon
Church, and entitled to the Church property.
When Brigham was South this spring he had
to cut off several hundred members for
heresy because they adhered to Smith, and
over 100 wagons of emigrants are now in the
mountains on their way East to escape his
fearful vengeance. The Morrisites are another
class of dissenters, and have no fellowship
with the Salt Lake Church. They denounce
pOlJB JBdIuVs anu dit NOuoldublJ receiving dCQul-
sitions to their numbers. They have strong
settlement in Utah, at Soda Springs, under
the very shadow of the Prophet. Every SER
mon heard from the Mormons betrayed ner-
vous fears as to division: some appealed
some unfolded the duty of submission, and
Brigham thundered his fierce anathemas
against the faithless. Gentle dealings and
associations are forbidden, because Mormon
ism cannot bear contact with virtue and truth;
TlOr &c
contact even with vice. Virtue and vice are
alike its foes, and equally fatal to its perpe-
tuity. Thus is the Mormonism of Young
beset by schisms, perilled by growing inter-
course with Gentiles, and soon the Pacific
Railroad will pour thousands of population
into all the fruitful valleys OF the West, and
in but few years the distinctiveness of this
people must fade away. While the Govern
ment has been shamefully remiss in tolerating
the habitual insolent defiance of one of its
soundest laws, it seems that natural causes
are fast converging to the overthrow of this
foulest blot upon the American name. One
Gentle family in community of polygamists
is better than thousand sermons against this
colossal crime. One happy, cheerful wife,
confident of the undivided affection of her hus-
band, is like an angel of light in the region of
despair, and even the deepest-seated supersti-
tion gradually yields as they see the Gentle
Wu0 worship Win ner nuSDanQ ana nOuSen0lQ
gods, read from their common Bible, plead the
atonement of the same Saviour, and sup
plicate the same God. Secret discomfort,
positive dissatisfaction, or open rebellion,
have their place around every freside, and
each year develops in bolder tones and
more defiant actions the restless cancer that
is preying upon the vitals of this monstrous
vice. 1t must soon die. Its own enormity
must give it the grave of a suicide, if no other
great causes were tending to its destruction.
But it is blistering shame that, in this noon
tide OF the nineteenth century, just laws for
bidding this wholesale prostitution, practised
in appalling mockery and blasphemy of all
that is pure and holy, stand as dead letters
upon our national statute-books. With the
strong arm of the Government firmly main
tanning virtue order, and law-ever careful
to encroach upon no rights of conscience or
freedom of worship-this wrong would soon
hide itself from the scorn of society, instead of
its present boasted social supremacy, and linger
out its full existence in shame. AS an institu-
tion it would at once cease to have habitation
or name, and this twin sister of human bond
age, equally fruitful of treason and crime,
would perish from the fair land of freedom
and justice.