New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-09-06
IT'S PROSPERITY A FICTION.


nation served to make him indispensable to the people
and he gradually acquired an asccndancy when
the isolation O Utah for twenty years enabled MIN 10
maintain. Fanatic rs he was he deemed any means
honorable and usthabe which appeared to advance TIE
interests OF the he had espoused HIS own aSceh
dancy Identified in his mind with the success OF tat
cause the heart of the continent separated by vast
I'm Inhabited spaces from the world sustained by the
fanaticsm OF the Church large he was from lo41 10
1867 auOcrat spiritual and temporal dispensing INC
and death his people and To his enemies where ihey
were within his reach. Here he publicly proclaimed rs
prime tenes Of his Church. poygamy, blood-aonement
and absoutism At the time he was father to tho
common people. long they were obedent; ana IL
wis through their devotion that he was enabled To IN
tmdate peers and to bring to Daught All attempts nj
rivalry. II not Brigham Young who acted out the
Mormon Church. bound by secret oaths and terrible pen
aes. That he used the Church machine to MAINTAIN
and consolidate his own power ana wealth, cannot oo
denied Within few years his influence over the more
intelligent his followers las declined His two great
measures after the completion Of the overland railroad
WERE first cooperative merchandising, and next UNI
versal communism under the form of what ne caiieu
"Thc Order of EnOch" These were, and are, pTactcay
failures.
Brigham Young has cOOnized Territory OF the Unlted
States but meanwhile Territories have been settled all
around him. some of which have far outstrpped his own
II il had not been for his prOscrptye policy uiah wohu
lie to-day in advance OF what II Is in all the elements
which constitute the greatness OF State He mas rem
dered the Territory comparatively pOpuous but only by
bringing in converts from the Old World Every one OF
these Immigrants too, has been compelled to pay Brig
ham Young for his passage out and AT least part OF the
funds so realized have been used in bringing III more
Two years ago. upon his return from the South he char
acte lied his people among the most destitute anu
miserable Of mankind. From end to end OF Utah' tue
people barely ye-the leaders excepted There are
no free schools hospitals, aud only one III
linn nd
comparatively recently. The surplus earnings
OF the people are absorbed in tith marrying preach
ing aud building temples There is no growth or pros
pcrlty anywhere visible. Brigham Young died exceed
insly wealthy showing, beyond question: TO what emu
his energies devoted In consequence OF ms policy
the general level Of squalor and inanity has been
steadily instead OF raised In 1862 twenty-five
wears after the Territory first settled its taxable as
sessed valuation was, in round numbers, SllooOooo'
THE railroad was built the outsiders came in mines were
discovered and in four years the figures increased 10
600 The railroads have been but chiefly win
the money Of the Gentcs; the mines. now worth from
$50 600 to S3OOOOOOO. have been opened and are
owned mainly by Geutiles and apostate Mormons and
the Mormons themselves have gone on tng their lltte
patches OF wheat aud potatoes. paying uthng marry
ne obeying counsel living their RELIGION" and grow
ing poorer aud wretchod every year.
WIN rgnam Young told his people, two years ago,
that they were the miserable in the world he
"
but he failed to explain how could waste what he
never had His remedy was another step in the wrong
drection-the that could be taken Everything was
TO be decided and handed to the Bishops ana the
people were to put themselves, as well as Their posses
sons absolutely at the disposal Of the Church II this
policy had been carried out it would have left about
125 masters in Utah, and more than 100000
slaves The scheme practically failed. This theme sug-
ge-ts query as to what the Mormons, as naon nave
done under Brigham Youngs leadership They have
founded "A state, but IL IS on model abandoned 10y man
kind ages ago-On the enslavement OF men ana
the degradation OF women. This State has carried
ON war against Indians, Immigrants, and the United
States 1t first tried To convert the Indians then u
fought with them three years in the South was whipped
aud out Of three counties and thirty setlemrnts
and nuay paid them tribute. 1t has always fought
with immigrants who wero not OF It's communion,
although the only pitched battle was at Mountain
Meadows There after days lighting, the immigrants,
diving OF thirst surrendered their entertainments and
arms on the security OF Mormon faith ana were then
killed In cold blood all but few Infants 1t occupied
what is Nevada at one Time but as soon as ihul-
grants came in, ana mines were discovered, connct
began and the MonOus forced to retire IL fought
against the United States In the mountains eastward,
with great cost to itself aud what did it avail The
Government troops marched into Utah, the new civil
officers were installed and the Moimons ganed-a nom
inal pardon and the name Of rebels and traitors IL
attempted to isolate itself from the world IN body as It
had spirit. The world mas suthOuteu us Chheae WALL
and now Oyerwhelmslt
The Mormon temples and meetinghouses are struc-
tures TO make angels weep. being utterly devoid OF ar
tistic merits Some them have been sinks for the alb
sorpton or tthings The aqueducts absolutely ne
cessary the principal one uScd because
water would run uphill, even to please an inspired
capald gger The railroad beds built well enough;
but they would have been useless If Gentle money mad
not been at hand to track ami them, and Gentle
ENTERPRISE TO create business for them The Mormon
State has received direct benefit from them because
,ts treasures are not of earth. A railroad would
nfuse as much life into a graveyard as 1t does
into an exclusively Mormon town. The woollen and
cotton factories are failures for want OF capt
tal, skill raw material, cheap labor, and mar
ket-in other words, because the sparse population
of Utah can prOtaby raise turnlps than manufac-
ture cloth goods whether OF wool cotton or SILK The
adobe walls have tumbled down the attempted culture
aud manufacture Of sugar silk and cotton were long
since dropped Improbable, and the colonies have
merely expanded the borders at the expense OF the CEN
ire Cooperative industry has confessedly come to
paught and 80 has EnochZing The priests and presi
dents have good places to live in, ana the people, II
Brigham Young himself was TO be believed are generally
in the most destitute and hopeless condition. Now.
when Brigham YOung's opportunities are borne IN nnd
does the condition OF his people in Utah. spiritual tenn
nora and political out the idea that he was in any
bipl sense a successful man
And now that he ia gone il is likely that he will
have successor There will be head to the CHURCH.
but nobody can ever be 80 absolute as Brigham Young
has been because the condtOns-ihe greatest OF
which was solation-cannot again exist. The poly gamy
case that gone upto the Supreme Court oithe uhed
States cannot be decided too soon Let 1t be advanced
ON the docket and polygamy be condemned AS an Illegal
form Of marriage in tins country and the leaders, or
uow,rful element in the Church, will have ground upon
which TO begin agitation for the abandonment Of the
system and with poygamy the Objectionable features 81
the religious SYSTEM will discarded. That viii be the
becinning OF the end.