Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-10-28
M0RMONISM
The Counterpart Of a Worse So
CIaI Evil.
Mosaic Views Applied to the Present
Times.
Early Marriage the Only REM
edy.

EDITOR LEDGER: In late city papel
the attention of the public is called t
the late acts of tire Georgia Legislature
for the suppression of Mormonism, an(
similar efforts by the Legislatures o
other States are earnestly called for
However sincere such writers may b.
in these efforts to promote virtue ant
wipe out a great nstional disgrace, ye'
l fear the true philosophy Of Sal
Lake Mormonism is not fully under
stood or its causes properly consid
cred. However monstrous this Nor
monism may be, yet there is
Mormonism in our midst still more
monstrous, from the blackness and
corruptions of which Joe Smiths
Mormonism is a refuge and a pro.
lection. The unnaturalism Of Salt
Lake is simply an effort to escape from
the unnaturalism practiced in and
winked at by our present civilization;
and if only the guiltless should east
the first %stone," there is not a
| LEGISLATURE in America that dare
attempt 1t. The difference between
the Mormonism of Salt Lake and that
in our midst, is that the former can
he looked at and discussed in open
| day, while the latter is too disgusting
too offensive to d%ecency, too black
and monstrous to be named or uncov-
cred. 1t is winked at by our laws,
both of State and society, but cannot
be talked Of or described. You can-
not, you dare not, turn aside the dark
mantle which covers its hideousness.
II corrupts and destroys both soul and
acknowledgements our Iace-engend-
ers and details disease TO the third
and fourth generation, fills our streets
with beggars, and our prisons with
criminals, it causes thousands of fe-
males to 60 down to an untimely grave
in blight, in darkness and in ruin.
Salt Lake Mormonism is a partial es-
cape from this. But you say, and say
truly, neither should exist. But il
licensed houses should exist to mod
crate and meliorate a worse state of
society, why should not Salt
Lake Mormonism exist to mod
crate a worse one found in these
licensed houses? Thomas Jefferson
said, that man would be either a man
or a brute" and to save him from be.
ing a brute he advocated the estab.
lishment ofsuch houses. And here
Thomas Jefferson betrayed as much
ignorance ofphilesophy and true poll
cy as he did Of disregard for religion
AMI morality. He felt unable to cure
the worse evil, and the best he could
do was to instigate a less. But il this
be statesmanship then it is statesman
ship to let the Salt Lake MormOns
alone.
The Christian Woman's Society are
trying another and a moral Christian
plan; but they are simply cutting off a
few of the boughs of this poisonou
upas. They are trying to reform a
few individual females, while their
places of degradation are left to be
re6lled by others. and even those they
may redeem are left exposed to the
same causes that led them astray, and
may lead them again. You cannot re-
form the women without reforming
the men; and you cannot reform either
without an enforcement of the laws OF
nature and of God. Men and women
should marry, and the government
should see too it. The laws
Of nature are the laws o
God, which all nations, people and
Legislatures, as well as individuals
must obey. The scope Of our legis.
lation is too narrow. Its business j:
to promote the welfare and perfection
of our race morally, physically and in.
tellectually. Ito duty is not simply to
leave society free to work out its own
destiny, but to aid, restrain and en-
force. Government is, or should be,
the natural father Of the governed
and it does not simply possess the
right, but the duty to correct every
irregularity and prevent every vice
that degenerates u race or retard:
its progress to perfection. Marriages
early marriages-can be and should
be enforced by wise legislation. Their
let the Christian women and all the
opposers of Mormonism search out
the true cause of the evils they would
cure, and apply the true and the only
remedy. VERITAs