Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-12
MORMONDOM.
THE HUMBUG OF THE BLossoMINa OF
THE UTAH VALLEY.
The Thrift and Industry Of the Mormons
Shown Up-Coal Felds-Railroad
Extension = Etc.

nc ueclSlon In tne case Wnereln tne
District Attorney brought suit to set aside
the naturalization papers of Geo. @. Can
non, the Mormon Delegate to Congress,
seems to have given unalloyed satisfaction
TO Doth parties. The grounds upon which
cannon asked for a dismissal of the case
were the very ones on which the allega-
tlons OF the complaint were founded. Can.
non admitted that the certificate of ma.
turalization upon which he based his claims
of citizenship was fraudulent, and his at.
torney asked that the case be dismissed, on
the grounds that the Court could not set
aside paper which was not record of
the Court. The Court agreed with the de.
fendant that the papers were
NULL, VOID AND FRAUDULENT,
And the case was dismissed. This is the
same line of defense adopted by Brigham
Young when tried for bigamy. He claimed
in Court that his first wife was his legal
wife, and the others were simply concu.
bines, with whom he had lived in sort of
celestial harlotry. The Mormons were de.
lighted with Brigham's defense, and ap-
plauded it as q sharp evasion Of the law.
Cannon's plea, by which he secured the dis
missal of the case against him, is regarded
in the same light. M @ $40 81
f- eANNoN's PAPERS. {
Cannon secured his papers at time
when they were sold by the hundreds for
spot cash on the street. One of the at
taches of the Court, presumably the Clerk
or his deputy, filled out blank certificates
of naturalization and any one with So could
buy one, and no questions asked. In this
way hundreds of men who had not been
away from Europe ninety days purchased
their certificates, and voted at the ensuing
elections. 1t is estimated that at least 25
per cent. Of the vote cast in Utah has its
origin in these curb-stone certificates of
citizenship. The legal process by which
Cannon will finally be ousted from his seat
in Congress will not be discontinued fer
moment till the desired result is obtained.
After the last election Cannon was refused
a certificate of election by Governor Muir
ray, on the ground that he was not citi-
zen of the United States. Yet the Clerk
of the House of Representatives placed
Cannon's name on the roll, and will doubt
less be called upon at the next session of
Congress to furnish an explanation of his
course.
MORMON CORN.
In Salt Lake eacn block covers ten acres
of ground, and the city lots are mostly
owned by Mormons. A polygamous fam.
lily is readily distinguished by the corn
field in the yard. Some of these corn
fields lie in the heart of the city, and land
worth almost any price for building pur-
poses is still reserved for the rearing of
sod corn and pumpkins. Mormons will
not sell this land at any price, having
special injunctions from the heads of the
church to hold on to it. Any attempt to
persuade Mormon that there is more
money in the raising of small fruits and
gardening, is resented as an insult to the
ancient traditions of the church. The last
recollections of the Mormons when they
were ordered out of Iowa and Missouri was
OF their corn-felds, and they hold corn In
much the same reverence as did the chill
dren of Israel the mama, which for so many
years was their steady diet in the wilder
ness. The Missouri corn does not seem to
thrive well in Utah, by reason either Of
the severe frosts, the lack of the intelli-
gent application of correct agricultural
principles or the new soil. The corn has
been degenerating year after year in a
botanical depression, until the present
years crop is but little more than q
few deformed ears of nubbin corn,
which, if fed to horse, would make the
sul shine through him in few months
A tender of better quality of seed-corn
to the Mormon farmer would be regarded
as some diabolical Gentle plot to under.
mine the foundations of the church. The
corn.raisers will keep right on raising $40
worth of pumpkins and corn to the acre,
allowing the pumpkins to rot on the
ground, and letting the corn run to nothing
but stalks.
THRIFT AND INDUSTRY.
Much has been said of the thrift and in
dustry of these people. The statement that
they are the most industrious people on
earth could never have been made by any
but most superficial observer. A few
thrifty and intelligent men among them
have planted manufactures in Utah, and ct
the present time all kinds of woolen goods,
including tweeds and eassimeres, are made
equal, in appearance and quality, to any
woolen goods manufactured in the United
States, with the single exception that the
goods contain more or less oil, the some
what expensive process required to el;mi-
nate the oil not being in use. The fact,
however, that the goods are call wool,
more than atones for this deficiency. Silks
are also made, the cocoons being raised in
the Territory, and this silk is stronger than
the imported quality and almost as fine.
Leather is turned out here equal in quality
to the best French calf. In fact, almost
every necessity of life, and also a good
share OF the luxuries, are made in the Ter.
ritory. Here the thrift of the Mormon
stops, and below the line of energetic and
capable men who are at the head of these
enterprises comes.
THE GENERAL HERD
Who move the soil after the most unscien.
tifc methods, and who, after their tithes
are paid, have little, if anything, to subsist
on. They are lazy, ignorant and dirty.
They live in low adobe houses, take no care
of their yards, and are shiftless, thrift
less set The talk about their having made
the "desert blossom as the rose u is all
humbug. 1t is simply one of those sayings
which goes into circulation and is in every
body's mouth. There ia no desert here in
the first place. The valley of Great Salt
Lake is one of the most fertile stretches of
country on earth the land ia naturally
adapted to grazing and agriculture, and
being level and well irrigated, re-
quires no special effort on the part
of the farmer to make it yield
abundantly. Here and there are men who
know how y produce the best possible
results by combining intelligent exertion
with great natural advantages of soil and
climate, hut not more than one man in ten
does this. They require fifty acres of land
to produce what en Illinois farmer would
raise on ten, yet Eastern papers continually
harp upon the desert blossoming qualities
CT these people, seeming to imagine that
the Mormons found a country which was
no better than the surface of lava bed,
and by dint of hercnlean exertions made
of it sort OF Garden Of Eden. l yester-
day visited friend who rented his house
of a Mormon. He lived In large brick
house, while the Mormon who owned it