National Republican., 1882-10-12
Who Mfnrfi1nna.

the defense of the right to cohabit with
an indefinite number of women in viola
ton of statute of the United States.
The only distinctive feature of Mormon
ism is adultery. II is the bestial craving
of the animal in man. 1t has not
spiritual aspiration. It's teachers are
sensual in their lives and gross in their
language. The burden of their discourses
in the tabernacle has always been al
ternately denunciation of the authority
of the United States and coarse discus
sion of the virtue of child-bearing
There is not newspaper in the land
which would dare to print some of the
trashy filth which they call sermons,
and If any did it could not go through
the mails without violation of the law.
Tho Mormons feed themselves very well
and do not get drunk. These virtues
are often held up as shield for them
whenever measures are proposed to in
terfere with the moral disease, to propa-
gate which is their infamous mission.
We have seen the Salt Lake community
and conversed with Brigham Young and
other lights of the great national pest
house. We have asked an elder of their
church why the Mormons could not alb
stain from polygamy in obedience to law,
and yet retain their own opinion as to
its innocence, and his reply was: You
do not'understand us at all. I believe L
should be damned il Ihad not more than one
'cife." We asked him how his church
| could tolerate the then delegate in Con-
gress-Mr. Hooper-who had but one
wife. His reply was evasive, but to
the effect that Hooper was not in
very good standing. Polygamy is not
practiced by a majority of the Nor
mons. 1t is q luxury for the rich,
and not duty for the poor. And
yet we are told that it is matter of con-
science with the Mormons to trample
| upon the statute of 1862 against polyg
amy; and Delegate Cannon when pressed
to the wall declares that crime against
the United States, against decency,
against all civilized thought, and against
woman's happiness is with him a con-
scientious duty, to neglect which he be-
lieves would consign him to eternal per-
dition.
1t is twenty-six years since the Repub-
lican party declared against polygamy as
a relic of barbarism, and pledged itself
to crusade against the internal system
Since then q Republican Congress has
made polygamy an offense against the
United States. The law has been dead
letter. Once or twice there have been
spasmodic attempts to wipe out the sys-
TEN. Recently law has been enacted to
strike at the political power of these Nor
mons. 1t is laughed at. 1t will not prove
even an embarrassment to those against
whom it is directed.
Why should there be any juggling in
this matter? The Constitution grants to
Congress the power" to make all needful
rules and regulations for the territory
and other property of the United States"
1t also grants the power to admit new
States" The power over the Territories
has been held lin the Dred Scott case) to
be absolute, whether derived from the
power to regulate or the power to pre-
pare them for admission as States The
inhabitants of the Territories have no
higher claiRl to the right of selfgovern-
ment than have the dwellers upon other
property of the United States" What
may be done by Congress for the
government of the District of Column
bia, or of any fort, arsenal, or other
reservation, may be done for the
government of any Territory. The re-
velers in lust who wallow in moral deg
relation as religious duty, and who
feed the carnal appetites of the
body in order to save their
souls from sulphurous and enduring
flames, could be governed by commits
sion instead of by lascivious suffrage,
with no more proclamation of the Consli-
tuition than tn at instrument is subjected
to by the government of the usually we'll
behaved deniz ems of Washington by its
three Commissioners. We want to see
all subterfuges abandoned. We shall
make no headway so long rs we hesitate
to hunt down the evil at which we vainly
hint in furtive legislation. The Mormon
Church is public enemy as well rs a
nest of prostitution. 1t has no right
to make the laws under which its
crimes shall be sanctifed, and its hos
tility to the general government empha-
sized. Congress should begin thorough
work by establishing a gocernment witt-
o,tt u Uote, and courts in which criminals
should not be the judges of their own
crimes. Let the territorial government
be abolished, and with it all laws which
Mormons have enacted for the defense
of their fundamental crime, and let q
plain enactment prohibit the admission
to the jury-box of any man of whom any
three of his neighbors will say that he
is reputed subject of the Mormon.
Church.
There is not Mormon in Utah to-day
who is not indictable for conspiracy to
prevent the execution of the law against
polygamy. Why should conspirators
make local laws or sit on juries to acquit
rebels against the national law? Our
government is Il laughing stock among
nations for tolerating this Mormon
plague spot. A crusade against it is no
more fanatical than one would be against
any other crime. Polygamy and human
sacrifices went out of fashion at about
the same time. The tender and the
technical might as well defend the re-
vival of the one as the other If we
could throttle church based on human
sacrifices, then we can suppress one
which profanes the name of religion with