The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-11-07
OUT WEST.

| UTAH-SALT LAKE CITY-BR1GHAM YOUNG
THE NJ ORMoNs-THEIR FATE-THE1R
MISTAKES AND ITS HoR
NEs-AGRICULTURE-M
TAINs AND A PUZZLE.
Special Correspondence of the VIRGINLAN.
On the square opposite the Tabernacle
buildings are the Tithing House, the Nor
mon Publishing House, and two OF the resi-
dences of the late Brigham Young, known
respectively as the "Bee Hive'' and the
Lion House." At stated time in eact
month every good and faithful Mormon
comes to the Tithing House with his cor
tributions for the Church, which must be,
III all cases, one-tenth of his income. Re-
Numbering that, practically, Brigham
Young was the church, it is not difficult
| to understand why some of the people who
brought with them to Utah a competence
have seen their possessions dwindle away
until gaunt poverty stands ready to clutch
them, while the man, whose word was to
them as direct revelation from God, gath
cred unto himself riches as the years went
by. Patiently they toiled and faithfully
they obeyed his DEGREES. Luxuries gave
way to the bare necessaries Of life and the
children !abored for bread when they should
have been at play.
Not so with their Chief. Like the famed
devil-fish, he fastened upon all who came
within his reach and held them in his pow
erful clutch until he had drained the life
blood of their hopes and ambitions.
Bear in mind, the Mormon leaders claim,
and their followers profess to believe, that
they hold constant personal interviews acath
| God that all their DEGREES are revelations
from Him. So familiar is this intercourse,
assumed to be that, at the time the Mormons
were resisting the efforts OF the United
States Government to establish Governor OF
of Utah in place Of Brigham Younghe pro-
claimed 81 am Governor of Utah and shall
remain so until GodAlmighty says, Brigham,
you needn't be Governor any longer" In
other words he claimed to possess the keys OF
Heaven. His declarations were but the
voice ct the Almighty finding utterance
through his lips.
So, when he promulgated the doctrine OF
polygamy, he gave it as an order from the
Lord. To ensure its success, reward was
promised to those who possessed many
wives and children. They were to be
crowned in the next world as saints Of
high order, and none failing to obey the
edict could receive such distinction. II the
church commanded a man to add to his
household another aud yet another wife, it
must be done, for having once anchored with
the Mormon Church, having accepted as q
law from God one of the demands Of Brig
ham Young, they must accept all or be de
nounced as apostates; and their leader had
early taught them that to apostolic was
death eternal. Fortunate indeed was that
man, who, having renowned the absurd
doctrines, escaped from the murderous
clutches of the emissaries OF the Mormon
leaders.
1t mattered not how heavy the burdens
imposed, how cruel the sufferings conse-
qnent upon obedience-it was lobby or
take the consequence - and the record of
the life of Rockwell, the late "Chief Of tina
Destroying Angels" tells what those conse-
quences were; the fate of the settlement OF
those known as the "Morrisiies,'' was too
| we'll known to make apostacy inviting.
am aware that the opinion is quite preva-
lent that all Mormons are rude. urcultured
creatures, who go about in clothing the
style of which antedates the flood; who are
mere beasts of burden. Such is not the
truth. There are among them a very large
number of ignorant people Of both sexes,
gathered from all parts Of the world and
brought here as converts; creatures, who, in
their native lands merely lived and moved,
with no aspirations beyond the black bread
of poverty. 1t would take something more
elevating and refining than the example Of
the Mormon leaders or the teachings of their
religion to lift these beings to the level of
those who were born and reared in free
country. But to charge that the Norm on
church is composed entirely of this class,
would be as wrong as to say our own
churches are made up of hypocrites because
some members do not keep their faith. That
the ignorant greatly exceed in numbers the
cultured is also true, and the blind, super
stitious faith which possesses them, as we'll
as the duplicity Of the man who controlled
them, is well exempli6ed by the following
tale which was told me by a Mormon
A poor, ignorant foreigner had lost his
leg by amputation. Revolving in his mind
the fact that Brigham Young had power to
do all things whatsoever he would, he called
upon him and expressed his desire to have
his leg restored to him. This would seem
to be something to stagger an imposter, but
Brigham, equal to any emergency, replied ::
.'Certainly, 1 can restore your leg no
trouble about that at all :; but here is the
difficulty, At most you have only few
years to remain in this world, while, when
you cross over Jordan you will have an eter-
nifty before you. Now will it not be more to
your advantage to hobble around on one leg
here in this world, rather than go through
eternity with three legs. for when you enter
the new Jerusalem your amputated leg will
be restored to you?''
Convinced that it was better to hobble
here than to play kangaroo hereafter, the
young nan went his way but his faith in
Brigham's posoer to perform miracles was
not weakened one jot or title.
Some idea of the proportion Of Ignorant
ones may be gathered from the statistics
which give the nationalities of the residents
Of the Territory, for with few notable ex-
ceptions, the foreign element is of low Or
| der.
In 1870 the population of Utah numbered
| 6,7s6, of whom 30, 702 were foreign born.
Since that time the population has increased
more rapidly than ever before, although in
the thirty years previous to 1870 there had
been gain Of 75,4O6. That the increase
comes largely from foreign lands, is evil
denced by the fact that converts are coming
over by hundreds-six hundred arriving in
New York last week.