The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-04
The MOrmOns.

THR rapid progress towards completion of the
Pacific Railroad has aroused the saints of
Salt Lake City to a realizing sense of the diff
cultes they will have to contend with from
an increased and increasing Gentle popula-
ton. The Mormons, since their establishment
in Utah, have been SO entirely secluded from
the outside world and so difficult to reach,
that they have been able to manage their own
affairs pretty much in their own way, and
they have only in a modified sense recog
nized the authority of the General Govern
ment. Now that their heretofore secure
retreat is to be thrown open to the
world, and there is prospect that
ere long the Gentiles will outnumber and
outvote the Mormons, apprehensions of a re-
newal of the troubles which occurred thirty
years ago in Missouri and Illinois are begin
ming to excite the minds of Brigham Young
and his followers. And these apprehensions
are not without grounds, for there undoubt-
edly exists strong apti-Mormon feeling
among the mass of the American people, and
the political, social, and religious system of the
Latter.day Saints is looked upon as antago-
nistic to our republican institutions, and as
blot upon our civilization which it behooves
us to abolish as soon as practicable, before it
becomes serious source of discord. The
Mormon leaders ask themselves where they
,ould go in case they are driven out of their
present stronghold; but the advance of popu-
lation westward is so rapid that there seems
to be no place open to them where they
would be able to dwell in the isolation which
they oovet, and they have accordingly deter
mined to make a bold stand for their present
position.
At the Mormon Conference recently held in
Salt Lake City, this subject was earnestly de-
bated, and course of more rigid exclusive
ness than heretofore was resolved upon as
the only course open to them under the cir
cumstances. Their own people are to bs pa
tronized and the Genties ignored as far as
possible; and it will even be made
matter of church fellowship for Mormon to
buy his goods only of Mormon merchant.
Cooperative societies are also to be formed,
for the purpose of carrying on the different
branches of trade and industry with view of
retaining them entirely in their own hands,
and to provide for their own necessities with
out any assistance from outsiders.
It is difficult to see what other course than
this could be adopted by the MOrmons if they
desire to maintain their peculiar organization
and customs intact, and yet it will probably
have the effect Of fastening the evil day which
they 30 much dread. The hostility Of the
Gentle population will be intensified, and as
the anti Mormon element becomes strong
enough to assert itself with positiveness, the
probabilities are that collisions will occur
which will demand the interference of the
General Government, in which case Mormon
ism as a distinct system will be likely to re-
ceive its quietus.
The Mormons have been so isolated, and the
intercourse with them so comparatively infre-
quent hitherto, that it is impossible for the
residents in the States to form a correct idea
as to what real attachment the majority of the
people feel towards their peculiar political and
religious system, but from the most reliable
accounts that we have of this singular people
1t appears as if their present organization de-
pends entirely on the lie of Brigham Young.
In the event of the death of that bold and
capable leader, there are a number of rival
claimants for the position which he holds,
who will most likely bring Mormonism to an
end by the iaternal dissensions which their
rivalry will cause in the Church.
The Mormons are energetic and industrious
and in many ways they are entitled to com
mendation. So far as their religious prinoi
pies and belief are concerned, they have {