The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1882-03-09
IN. Y. Independent
POlygamy and other POlygyny.
BY THE REV. TIMOTHY HAY.

BY THE REV. TIMOTHY HAY.
There is much denunciation of po-
lygamy, none too much; severe penal
ties are invoked uponNit, none tGo Sc
we're; but it is rumored that there is
vice in Washington, as we'll as in Salt !
Lake City. It is limited and more
than limited that Delegate Cannon is
not the only member of Congress who
maintains plural afinities. And, sure
ly, there is certain amount Of sham
in that Indignation which denounces
the vice which is away off beyond the
Rocky Mountains, but is silent regard
ing that which is'right at hand; which
demands Cannon's expulsion from
Congress, but has nothing to say
about those of his fellow-members
who are as filthy as he. Genuine in
dignation, like genuine charity, begins
at home.
There is an absurd inconsistency in
the current excitement on this sub
ject. The great crime, according to
prevailing ideas, is not in having many
paramours, but in marrying them. A
man may keep as many mistresses as
he pleases, provided that he acknowl-
edges he is prompted solely by his own
vile lusts and the temptations Of the
Devil. It is only when he claims to
be acting conscientiously and in ac-
cordance with divine direction that
his punishment is called for. 1t has
been said that it is no matter what
mans belief is if his acts are right.
~, 4I,e ho fdoa
seems to prevail that it is no matter
what a mans acts are il his belief IS
right; but, if man allies himself to
an additional woman. it is certainly
more honorable for him to bind him.
self to provide for her in her old age,
as we'll as in her youth, and to provide
for her children by him. The Utah
type of vice, bad as it is, is less vile
than the polygyny which is common
in other parts of our land. There
fore, the only honest demand for the
forcible suppression Of polygamy in
Utah is that which is accompanied by
a demand for civil penalties against
vice wherever it appears. The only
honest way in which to proceed by
law to suppress polygamy in the ter
ritories is by statute to punish vice
in the District of Columbia also. 1t
will be contemptibly lypocritical in
Congress to expel Cannon except by a
resolution which will expel few 9th
er members also.
This agitation regarding polygamy
may bring our people to see that penal
statutes should be enacted not only
against polygamy and bigamy, but
against all forms of sexual vice. Oul
legislation is very deficient in this
matter. In the State Of New York
the one who steals his neighbor's horse
is imprisoned; but he who entices
away his neighbours wife is subject tc
no penalty. The husband can bring {
suit for damages; but this no sensi
tive-minded man would do, any more
than refined woman will sue fol
breach Of promise. In other words
the man who does his neighbor one Of
the greatest conceivable wrongs il
subject to no criminal proceeding
The Mosaic law punished the adulter.
er with death. One would be thought
insane who should propose the re-en
actment Of that statute in our owl
time; but the popular voice is that th'
Mosaic legislation was right. 1t is al
unwritten law of our land that tn
husband may shoot down the adulter
er at sight. The former may be in
dicted for murder; but the jury will
acquit him and the popular sentimen
will sanction the acquittal, and thos
Of us who do not fully approve of al
injured mans being allowed to tax
the law into his own hands will ye
say that as for the adulterer he wa
served right. If written statute
should be a transcript Of the will O
the people, there should be statut
visiting the severest penalties on adul
terry. IL the adulterer should suffer
it is better that he suffer by due pro
cess of courts, rather than by tn,
hands Of the husband. And VIC,
should be punished even where boil
the parties are unmarried. lie tn,
keeper of brother should be punish
ed, so should each patron of the same
The well-being Of society depends up
on its purity. Vice is deadlier Grim,
against the community than debasine
the coin, and should be severely pun
ished.
And divorce legislation should visi
the heaviest penalties upon the guilty
one who makes the separation neces
sary. The one who breaks the mar.
riage VOW, whether by adultery or by
cruelty or by desertion, commits the
gravest crime against the innocent
partner and against society at large
Therefore, the decree Of divorce which
sets free the innocent party should
consign the guilty party to imprison-
ment. Let the marriage-breaker pass
out of the courtroom not, as now, to
the festivities of another wedding
but to the meditations of the peniten-
tiary-cell, and the business Of our di-
vorce courts would be materially les
sened.