The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-04-17
what Shall ne Donc with tho
Mormonsg

The large public meeting Of people called
in the Mormon dialect "Gentiles," held at
Salt Lake City on Saturday evening. and
reported by telegraph in the HERALD yes
terday, is, next to the execution of John d.
Lee, the most noteworthy event which has
yet happened in connection with Nor
monism. A strong protest against po-
lygamy by o great public meeting
in the very citadel of the saints"
in the history of Mormonism. 1t is evil
dence of the courage which has been infused
into the local opponents of polygamy by the
Justice executed upon Lee at the scene OF
the Mountain Meadows massacre. and the
peril which has overtaken his accomplices.
The Saints IRE no longer to have undis-
puted sway, even in Utah itself If the OIL
GERS of justice shall proceed to do their
whole duty, if every Mormon who abetted
the memorable massacre, from Brigham
Young down, be made to feel the full
severity of the law, not merely the
Gentiles of Utah, but the dissatis-
fed Mormons, will pluck up courage
enough to declare their sentiments respect
ing the despotic hierarchy from whose
tyranny they have SO long suffered. Ty-
ranny cannot be dear to those who endure
it, but only to those who practise it. The
mass of the Mormon people, men as well Us
women, are slaves. Many of them will join
in the efforts for their emancipation made by
the Utah Gentiles as soon as the government
of the United States takes hold of the Nor
mon problem with an earnest determine
ton to solve and end it. The trial,
conviction and execution Of John d.
Lees accomplices would bring to the front
and organize into bold, compact phalanx
all the local elements of opposition which
exist in the Territory of Utah. We already
behold the good effect Of one signal act of
Justice, and when it can be said of three or
four other noted Mormon leaders that they
have 'gone to meet John d. Lee" public
opinion in Utah will be emancipated and
the federal government will receive strong
local support in it's efforts to uproot polyg-
amy. The great meeting on the 14th inst
is promise of better things to come, if the
public authorities at Washington will exhibit
proper energy in the discharge of their
duties.
The time is at last fully ripe for disposing
of the hitherto difficult and troublesome
Mormon question. For q long period it
was unmanageable in consequence of the
isolation and inaccessibility Of the Mormon
community. Until the completion of the
Pacific Railroad the Mormons were so pro-
tected by distance and by their alliances
with the neighboring Indians that the cost
Of subduing them would have been enor-
nous. The abortive attempt made by the
administration Of President Buchanan
proved that the Mormons could practically
defy us so long as they were separated
from our base of operations by i'm
mense stretches of wilderness. But the con-
struction' of the Pacific Railroad through
the heart of their Territory makes it easy
enough to pour troops and supplies into
that region and crush all resistance when
ever the government deems it expcdient.
Since the close of our civil war the country
has been SO occupied with other exciting
questions that it has given little attention
to the Mormons. But the execution and
confession of Lee have reawakened interest
in the subject. and this scandalous plague
spot ought now to be effaced once for all
The administration of President Hayes will
miss great opportunity if it does not take
advantage of the fresh disgust and horror
which have been excited to remove this foul
blot which has so long rested upon the
American Republic.
We do not doubt that tho Mormon prob
lem would in time solve itself. even if the
government should stand aloof. There are
moral and social causes whose silent opera
ton would eradicate polygamy, even if the
government should not lift finger. But it
would require two or three generations for
those causes to produce their full effect,
whereas active governmental interference
would extinguish polygamy within the en-
suing ten years. The reason why it could
not long endure, even if there should
be no hostile legislation, may be made
easily Ineligible. .Polygamy is possible
only in communities where women are
kept in state of degrading servitude and
where their irrepressible instinct for per-
sonal adornment is trodden under foot by n
domineering tyranny. The most marked
| distinction between Occidental and Oriental
civilization consists in the different posi-
tons assigned to woman. Polygamy is an
Asiatic institution; its permanence is possible
! only in communities where the free play of
natural tendencies is INSTRUCTED by artificial
social arrangements In every community
where there exists what is called 'society"
polygamy is impossible, because in society,
taking the word in its accepted sense,
woman is supreme. Society implies gather
ings Of the two sexes, in which woman is
the attractive and controlling element and