The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-10-28
Decline of Morrn0nisln.

letin.
Decline of MOrmonism.
i A resident correspondent at Salt Lake
City writes to the New York Graphic
The Utah question has assumed 6
new phase. 1t is now industrial and com
mercial rather than moral, political In
stead OF religious. Brigham is great In
his little empire, but silver mines and
railroads are greater, and even the Nor
mon theocrat is learning to yield grace
fully when there is no help for it) to the
inevitable.
Zone narrow-gauge railroad does more
to break up the exclusiveness Of Nor
mon village than would ten missionaries;
rich silver mine is foe to theocracy.
and dozen Gentle ladies, arrayed In
the latest New York styles, are so many
peripatetic sermons on the folly and cost
of polvgamy. The patriarchal system
was all very we'll when both sexes dressed
in valley tan (the homemade fabrics of
Utah), and a mans wives supported
themselves and helped support him but
now-well, the modern changes have
overtaken Salt Lake City, and already
their capital is spoken of by provincial
Mormons as luke-warm Laodicea. OF
the religion the well-to-do Mormons of
Salt Lake have precious little they hold
| to the system because all their earthly
| interests are identified with it.
" MOrmon1sm in family never out
lasts one generation. The more blgoted
the parent the more certain is the child
to grow up an apostate. Out OF thou
sand young saints (this is themodest title
the Mormons give themselves) with
whom am acquainted / do not know
one exception they are one and all I'M
believers. Young saints as they near
maturity regularly divide into two bodies,
Spiritualists and Infdels. The system
has no moral power over the young (;
they give up the religion of their parents
and adopt no other in it's stead, and hav-
ing no philosophy to serve in place OF
religion their morality is OF very con-
ventional type. While Orson Pratt elo-
quently holds forth at the Tabernacle on
the Divine Authenticity of the Book
of Mormon or laboriously proves from
the Gospel of Isaiah and Joe Smith that
all Gentle governments, that OF the
United States in particular, are doomed
to speedy destruction, his son, Arthur,
with equal zeal, serves the hated Gentle
government as a United States Marshal,
while another son practices law in the
same Federal Court where his father is
daily liableto be cited asa criminal. Heber
Kimball, of pious and vulgar memory,
left some forty sons; Utah to-day does not
contain male Kimball who is an ortho-
dox saint. nor would any of the girls
be if they were not In polygamy, ana
therefore hopelessly bound. Brigham
Young has something like a hun
bred children and grandchildren.
Excluding those who are in polygamy
or who have paying positions in the
church, there is not good saint among
them. He had three legitimate sons by
his first wife. OF these John w. di-
vorced his Mormon wives, repudiating
the whole system, and married Gentle
lady. Joseph A. died last summer OF
whisky cramp,' and young Brigham
still holds on, expecting to be his fathers
successor. This is fair average OF the
leading families. Obviously Mormonism
must either be sustained entirely by new
converts or expire in due time by nat
ural limitation.
"Polygamy is certainly not on the In
crease. Some people have thought 1t
would be lawed out of existence | think
it much more apt to be laughed out.
There is something so very ridiculous IN
the Mormon theory and practice OF
plural marriage that think the govern
ment instead of law might well afford to
hire a dozen OF more keen wits and turn
4bo,,, loose -, Utah with their trenchant
pens, with general instructions to write
the thing up. Here is rich field Tor
another Nasty who will enter in and
work it? But, to do them justice, the
resident Gentiles have shown this up
pretty we'll. All the local slang, qulps,
and Jokes seem to turn on polygamy.
They have made it ridiculous, and the
Mormons in this city show in dozen
ways that they are ashamed of it. 1t is
felt by the young saints to be burden
and disgrace, and they refuse to enter
that condition. Now, it / possessed
plenary legislative power for Utah, L
would establish but one law. If man
married two or more wives would con-
denim him to support them and theirs
and live In one house with Doth.
Polygamy, in truth, brings its own pun
| ishment, and, is to poor man twice as
bad as an average penitentiary. Nearly
all the poiygamists are dog poor, no
matter how much property they noml-
nally own.
Ventilation az Closets.
Too little attention is paid in the con-
struction of closets to their proper ven