New-York tribune., 1874-05-30
COMMUNISM IN UTAH..
A NEW MOVEMENT BY THE MORMON CHURCH

A NEW MOVEMENT BY THE MORMON CHURCH.
THE UNITED ORDER or ENOCH IA SCHEME FOR
BRINGING ALL THE PROPERTY OF THE SAINTS
INTO THE HANDS OF THE CHURCH-MEAsURES
ALREADY TAKEN THROUGHOUT THE TERRITORY,
EXCEPT IN SALT LAKE CITY.
,FRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEl |
SALT LAKE CITY, May 1.-THE 44th semi
annual conference of the Mormon Church has just
adjourned It's burden was the urging OF the Saints
into the United Order OF Enoch They have an idea
that the translation of Enoch. spoken OF In the Bible.
included that OF entire city. which had been fitted
for that destiny chiefly by "communzing" all its inter
ests. They anxious to follow the example in the
hope and expectation of similar fate All their friends
in this country Join them in the hope, II not In the
expectation. The Prophet Joseph had the matter
revealed" TO him, and the experiment was
tried during his life. resulting in disastrous
failure. 1t has been brOached from time
TO time since however all the forced wanderings
msfortunes and suerngs OF the people attributed to
their refusal to adopt Communism; and the inmation
thrown out that they would never be blessed and pros
peod they might be until they should be obedent in
this respect The time at length to have come in
Brgham's Judgment, "when they must yield TO this
requirement. of the Lord be damned as he phrases
it. He to this conclusion the past Winter at St.
George, his Winter capital $50 miles south, and as he
up recently he preached 1t the way the people
rushing into it like flock of sheep scaling wall.
He tells them they poor and destitute because
they don't know how to take OF themselves; be-
cause they buy abroad much that they should make at
home and are exravagant and wastefu lvers that he
doesn't their he only wants to direct
them have the OF their labor and OF what they own
Give him control of their property and time. aud he
says he will enable them all to ride in carriages
It is urged partly religious and partly on economic
grounds In the first place. religion demands that they
their all to the Lord represented OF course,
by the Mormon priesthood and secondly, II they will.
they will gain by It, in material we-beng beside be-
coming stronger by of a more perfect unity.
They live in settlements towns wherever q stream
breaks out of the mountains, farming in common field
adjoining generally divided between them in five. ten
or twenty acre tracts. Most all of these little places
a cooperative store now, and they appear to be
prosperous These settlements each now required
to make heap Of all they have To use this and
to direct the labors OF the community they will have
directors and other officers like railroad companies, for
example Exactly what the arrangement has not as
yet been definitely stated nor is 1t at all pereced-all
them from the least to the greatest for the present
trusting in Heaven to help them through But they are
each given credit the books for the appraised value
Of what they put in and to be credited with their
labor at per diem to be agreedupon. They may draw
out what they need for and may be sure
it Will not he very bountifu 1t ts designed to
have themiproduce all they and at the Tend of five
If dsagrees with them they can have back one
half what they put in without increase
Rather onesided concern this TO outsiders vision.
1t is Mormonsm, howevera for the priest and nothing
for the layman 1t is perfectly characteristic of Brig
ham, If it originated in desire TO benefit his people,
why not return man his own upon demand, at least
the principal OF i'll One might well spare his sympathy
Tor people so silly as 10 be thus 1mpOsed upon IN the
name of religion. but it will bear hard on many who
have and can have no option in the matter Such are
recacitrant wives who NAV have brought property to
their husbands, and husbands BOTH IN nine
tenths OF the settlements, who may be awake TO the
the withdrawal Of all fellowship the part OF their
fanatlcal neghbos OF the directors and officers
Will be Jealous churchmeD and the effect will he to give
the head OF the Church absolute control Of the
surplus property and earnings Of more than 10000
people For North and South, they have been swept
into it without giving them time to think Is already
DONE aud done generally under stress OF conscience 1t
ruin If they dill not 1t could he more If they
did 1t Is strange to lookeron that they do not see
the nature Of the proposition Give me all You have
and yourself TO boot let your possessions with
out interest and your labor without wage other than
will return you Onehali Of what is already ali your
own! IL it desired only TO assist them to better
give every stock for labor goods contributed and
allow him proportional voice in its management, with
the right to his share of the increase, If any Or allow
him to separate from the community and receive back
the equivalent Of what he may have put in at Will IL
possible that this truth Will get through their heads
the OF time, and that them seeing they have
robbed In the Of God and have legal remedy,
ting open in the center the ark OF the Mormon coven
the process. In this way the last desperate play
OF The Prophet may lose him both temporal and ecce-
Ii is expected that much will be saved by manufac
turing at home. IL Is more likely TO be saved II at ALL
by doing without 1t. The conditions are not right for
manufacturing to any extent in Utah. and it is difficult
TO see how community 10 succeed where the indvid
ual Invariably falls. They cannot make cloth without
WOOL for example, or procure wool where there
sheep or raise sheep where there Is range And IL
they had the WOOL they couldn't make cloth to 8dvant-
age except by forced labor And IL they could perma
nently establish system Of forced labor there would
be market worth while for their product II will be
folly for them to divert their energies from raising
wheat and fruit the only natural products OF Utah. to
the culture OF cotton. the raising OF sugar the pro-
duction of silk OF iron. Coffee, tea and hops they
10 do without Leather for shoe soes Is 70 be dis
carded for wood brOadcl0h for lnsey wOosey. and
In this way-that is, by starving and scrimping,
by further impOverishing life already barren of
all enjoyment. richness, warmth cOlOr-they
may save something. But viii IT. be worth
the while 7 Will 1t not he loss In the
Utah, although a small scale. comparatively, the
great experiment Of the Middle Ages-one man doing
the thinking for his generation And this Is Territory
anxious TO become OF the United States Imagine
popular election In such q Territory!
Here salt Lake the scheme doesn't take very well,
much good picking outside TO make 1t binding The
liberal element the AntiChurch ticket onehird OF
the city vote March ], and unless the community
business, far the city concerned evaporates
mostly III talk, the Church will be very likely 10
its capital altogether next Spring. Indeed 10 is sug
gested by the sanguine that this wholesale robbery
the people Will render effort to elect Liberal Del
egate to Congress next Fall not altogether so rdlcu
Ously hopeless IL has heretofore been. IL may per-
haps open the OF those who have remnants OF
manhood left, to the imposition 50 long put upon the
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SEEKING FOR BURIED TREASURE.