Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-30
A koRMoN On MoRMoN1sM.

polVgamy IS not opbiolal pu1 opliSatoiy
with the members of his Church, and that
Sc those who gay otherwise are not true
I" Mormons, or do not know what they
SC are talking of. /" Though it is in theory
obligatory, however, it is obviously i'm
practicable to make it compulsory, since
to do SO would involve the necessity of
forcing men to marry more wives than
they can maintain, or of making the
Church subsidize impecunious polyga-
mists The latter course would be a
novel application of the protective prin-
ciple, but it could hardly be made remu-
nerative to the Church. Bishop Sharp
says that the Reynolds decision against
polygamy has had a certain effect in re-
stricting plural marriages, but he init
mates that the increasing extravaganza of
the Mormon ladies has thus far been the
most effectual hindrance. In the coun-
tries where polygamy is sanctioned alike
by law and usage it has been found neces-
sary to meet this tendency to extrava-
gance on the part of the female population
by abridging their liberties. When
man has all his wives securely
shut up in a harem he can see
that they do not ruin him with
dry goods bills, but this arbi-
trary method of suppressing social aspira-
tons has not yet been found practicable in
Utah. Whether Bishop Sharp and his
polygamous friends realize il or not, how
ever, the peculiar institution is threatened
more seriously by the change in the dis
position of the women to which he refers,
than by any laws Congress can enact.
Polygamy is possible as the rule of COM
munity only SO long as the women are will
ing or can be made to support themselves.
In the early days of Mormonism this was
found possible. When man took second
wife he was able to reckon with certainty
upon her contributions to the common
family resources, and thus every new wife
helped to prepare the way for fresh ones.
So long as all the manageable girls were
industrious and Submissive this plan
worked admirably for the men. They
were enabled to lift themselves into indie
pendence and even comparative wealth,
by frequent marriages. The effect of these
marriages was almost precisely the same as
that of purchasing slaves, the main diff.
ference being that the Mormon husbands
were not called upon to pay anything for
their serfs. While Utah was isolated
there was little difficulty in maintaining
discipline among the women. When
they became discontented they were ter
rorized. If they rebelled they were beaten
into subsection. And if any of them tried
to escape the Danites were at hand to es-
cort them into another world. The life of
the woman was placed in the hands of the
man, moreover, and thus for many years
the system was fortified and protected.
But with the completion of railroad COM
munication great change occurred. The
influx of Gentiles which then followed
brought with it the seeds of certain revo-
luton. Polygamy never can bear close
comparison with monogamy, and this close
comparison was henceforth unavoidable.
The women who were so blessed as to own
whole husband were eyesores to the
poor plural wives, and the discon-
tent of the latter grew rapidly.
The old discipline could not be applied,
because there were too many hostile
eyes upon the doings of the church.
Then, too, the insidious influence of
Fashion began to be felt. The Mormon
women who had been satisfied in the old
times with poke bonnet and two calico
gowns q year were Inundated and ex-
asperated by the elegant toilets OF
their monogamic friends and acquaint-
ances. OF course the agitation which
resulted made itself felt throughout
Salt Lake City. The Mormon elders and
pillars of the church became balder than
ever, and the domestic affairs of the most
married grew so complicated that the
most rapid system of boarding around "
failed to secuIe even temporary relief to the
distracted heads of households. Bishop
Sharp puts the case mildly when he says
that the present decline of polygamy is
mainly due ''to the fact that the Mormon
'tgirls are devotees to style and fashion
Gas much as New York girls, and
"young men find it somewhat
"harder to support more than one family
I" than their fathers and grandfathers did.
In this confession is embodied the doom of
polygamy in Utah. For it is well-known
fact that of late years complaints have been
rife of the increasing tendency to celibacy
among young men in homogeneous commu-
mites. They have shrunk appalled, from
the dreadful cost of keeping even one girl
in the married state, If this be true of
homogeneous society, how much more
forcibly must it apply to polygamous soci-
ETY.. The Mormon youth is aware that
he cannot comfort himself with the refec-
WILL blitbt DC III AdhC OulJ OaG Wllc W
support, nor can he solace himself as of old
with the belief that if he takes more than
one they will support themselves and him.
On the contrary, he knows too well that
every fresh wife means an access of
dry goods terrors, and that there can be
no peace in the family circle SO long as all
the devotees of fashion it embraces
are not equally we'll equipped. Against
these new conditions the Church will
strive in vain. Fashion has done for pub.
lie morals what law and force have sig
nally failed to do. 1t is only question
of time for polygamy to become impossible
save to the few wealthy elders, and when
the Mormon masses perceive this to be the
case they will be sure to rebel against SO
aristocratic and exclusive custom, and
| will compel its abandonment, If Congress
1