The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-02-06
THE CROAKERS OF UTAH.
How the Pi0us and Wise Ones
Sacrifice Themselves for the
Good of this Benlghted
Territory.
SALT LAKE CITY. Feb. 5, 1881.

SALT LAKE CITY. Feb. 3, 1881.
Editors Herald:
A little learning is dangerous thing,
Drink deep, or taste not, the Pyerian
spring.
There shallow draughts intoxicate the
brain,
But drinking largely sohers US again.
Twas reminded OF the foregoing
lines by noticing the effect your very
logical and truthful article OF last
Sunday seemed to have upon the
cerebral organism of your downtown
contemporary. YOU have certainly
presented the matter faithfully. and
if you have committed any error it is
certainly one Of omission. The cor
rec.ness OF your concl isions is SELL
evident; and the individuals who are
retarding progress here are those
"wreckers among lawyers" e happy
way of designating ~. those i'm
peounlous and brie1ess legal lumi-
naries and oficeless csrpet-bag poll
ticians, all greedy for spoil, together
with few religious fanatics, the
whole madly DESTROYS, though the dis.
indignation Of society here, and the
political prescription OF its members,
OF indulging in official. pro-
fessionsl and religious snobbery;
to say nothing of the camp followers
and caterers to infsmy-theee pure
allies in the regeneration of Utah
who claim such close relationship to
them, the whole tribe true to their
inheritance of love for the almighty
dollar which blazes ian ignis .fatuus,
let US hope), ahead in their tortuous
pathways the sunmuns bonum, the
Alpha and Omega OF the miserable
and goddess civilization they 30 warmly
espouse. A plutocratic civilization
which, in a couple Of decades has
reduced wages to starvation prices,
and filled the country with tramps;
a civilization whose progress is Jug
gernaut car, crushing under its mon
strous and inhumsn wheels all the
finer moralities, these prophets OF
perfection, which are so essential to
completeness of character, the well
fare OF society, the happiness OF man
and the basis uf that integrity and
conscientiousness which are the fore
runners OF true progress and upon
which a true civilization must ever
rest.
Who wants to interfere with legiti.
mate pursuits heref And l am not
certain but that little theocracy, q
little of Gods rule, among US would
be q blessing and very opportune,
considering that We have had 80
much that is hstefully Satanic.
What benighted race the Mormons
are, to be sure; but l have heard
more rank bsrbarism proclaimed as
the work of God in the other Chris
tan churches on d single occasion,
than in years of tabernacle sermon
izing; while some OF the discourses at
the latter place, by men filling loWly
positions, contentedly, have been OF
such an elevated character as to
proclaim their authors in qualities OF
mental and moral greatness the
equals of q CincinDatus, 8 Cato or an
Antonnius, and who, it we're but rea-
sonable to expect, would rival them
in patriotism and exalted conduct
were equal opportunities afforded
them. Their theology may be deiec-
tive in the matter OF plural marriage;
bat to believe that men possessing
such a high order of intelligence
would wish to subject their own
flesh and blood to what they
feel to be unjust and infamous, is
without the pale oil reason; and if it
be true that the tree be known by its
fruit, which believe TO be 9 true
test, then the Celestial system has
certainly borne some very charming
fruit-fruit that will compare most
favorably with that of civilization
that cherishes Conklingism. Beech
erism, Murrsyism and Kate SDrsgue-
ism, and TaImsge was right when be
characterized the religion OF the day
az the sanctimenious. hsshlees pulpit
hum-drum of the past.
1t is not by villitying and endeayor-
ing to lessen the self-respect of indi.
viduals that We can ever improve
their morals or elevate them in the
social scale. Such q course will
never be pursued by the wise and the
good, and is only the method Of the
vicious and depraved, who foolishly
hope thereby to win from the un-
discerning a recognition of su-
periority or tolerance for themselves.
Moreover, the practice OF this sys-
tenn while possible in an unsettled
country, becomes wholly impractica-
] bic where population is dense, many