The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-09-13
A GENTLE LADY
Makes Some Structures on the
Political Horde.

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. u, %.
VIII you allow me to express my
opinion on the present state of af-
fairs in Utah. l have been living
among the MOrmons seventeen
months. have travelled
north and south about 200 miles: l
found the MOrmOns an Industrious,
energetic, hard-wOTking people, and
ever ready 10 extend the hand Ct
welcome and generous hospitality.
Some of them, in the newer settle
ments. where there were new and
uncultivated farms (the same as all
classes Of peOpit). We're not so COM
fOI iaOlA; bat no matter how poor
the circumstances there WAS that
same ever ready welcome and kim
hospitality extended. Now, / be-
lltve in that which is right, and |
not only have q perfect horror
Of that which is wrong, but
feel the most severe CON-
tempt for those that are
making political capital out of
something that they really care
nothing about. Why all this con-
fusion, imposition and political
hub-bub about the MormOns? It is
not the MOrmOns rs q people that
they are against. 1t is for political
power, and they have made "pOlyg-
amy" their excuse Tor the fight.
If they wanted to suppress pOlyg-
amy, why not make laws TO sup
press it, enforce them and leave the
est alone. 1t seems to me they are
taking a long route and a very ex-
pensiYe one TO accomplish so small
a task. But that is not the point.
The MOrmons have run the govern
ment machinery Of Utah for the
last thirty years, and with perfect
harmony among their people. And
it is an imposition got up
by political wire pullers for
gain and possession. that the
present state Of affairs exists.
The statistics give population of
the territory TO be about 10000, Of
this number 10000 are Mormons,
and l presume that Of this number
25.0O0 are qualified voters.
To show the drift Of the tide in
the public morals here, will give
the number Of arrests made in 1881,
which was 134. OF this number
there were 953 Gentiles, woman 200,
and only five were Mormon woman.
This is strong evidence that the
MormOns are inclined TO law and
order. AS to polygamy do not be-
heVe in it, ana l would not advocate
it; but l do think when the govern
ment takes upon it self TO suppress
what they call the lwin relic to
slavery, they had as we'll take in
the Chinese question, and call
them triplets. If We are to sup
press the worst evils that this
country is cursed with, begin at
the worst. There are great many
evils, ten thousand times worse
than polygemy eXiS'i ing, and are
nouriShed and fastened upon long
suffering people, WhiC!l Gre set aside
and ignored, while pOlygamy is
made the great eyesOre Of a few
WOuld-be rulers that care nothing
fer the welfare of the people, only
Just so long as they are reaping q
harvest of gain. They remind me of
a man who prOfesSed such uninter-
ested friendship for an old friend
when ne was under the impression
that the old friend was worth some
$4,000; when he found that the
$4,000 was q myth, he forgot
his old friend III sickness
and suffering, and when his
old friend was picked up on the
streets insensible, in a strange city
and among strangers, taken to the
hospital and died, ne did not as
much as write to his old friends
wife and tell her the circumstances,
although he was well aware of the
fact. So with the political horde in
Salt Lake City. They are very
much interested in the Mormon
political powers, anxious to get to
the public crib; but if that crib was
empty, and nothing in view to fill
it-in fact, If they had TO begin at
the beginning and make Utah
what the MOrmOns haYe made it,
they would be ready TO pack their
grip sacks, and like the Arabs,
silently slip ont.