Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-02-15
The Mormon Question.

this paper for meetings to be held in the in
terest of united and systematic effort for
the suppression of polygamy needs no word
Of commentator TO secure for IL the hearty
cooperation of every citizen in all the COM
munities of the state. There is no need of adj
dressing one word Of argument to the citizens
of Vermont, TO convince them of the enor-
nifty of Mormonism either in respect of the
minor tenets of that faith or the gross and
glazing wickedness which is its most distin-
gushing characteristic. The fact that this
state is chargeable with the nativity of him
to whom was vouchsafed the revelation"
that made polygamy an iuseparable adjunct
OF Mormonism, and him who was but re-
Gently the great head of the Mormon church,
should give exemplary point and energy to
the efforts of Vermont to wipe out the dis
grace which its unnatural sons have been in
strumental in fastening upon the fair fame
of the nation. 1t is as fitting as II is graft
flying that Vermont senator should intro |
duce into congress and champion the meas
ure which promises best for the overthrow
of polygamous Mormonism. The people of
Vermont should be equally forward and
pressing in their demand that this measure,
with any addition to the stringency of its
provisions which may be required to render
it eficacious and decisive, shall be passed |
with such expedition as is consistent with a
careful maturing and strengthening of its
f.. Al. taa l. IL
signed to accomplish. When law impreg-
nable in the rigor of its prohibition and
punishment of polygamy has been passed,
the grim earnestness of President Arthur's
assurances in his annual message and the
fidelity to his trust which he has displayed
leave no room for doubt that through a ma
tional executive of Vermont nativity, the
blot put upon the state and the nation by
Joe Smith and Brigham Young will be re-
morselessly expunged.
Laws designed to extirpate polygamy
have been passed. A United States army
was once moved against defiant Nor
monism, but the willy power with sly
art wheedled the army into withdrawal
from its territory and has since openly and
boastfully nullifed the laws. In its infancy
the creed and the revolving practices it
sanctioned seemed so monstrous that the
bare admission of the possibility of their
survival in any civilized community seemed
an outrageous affront upon the common
sense and decency of the country. Never
theless Mormonism lived and grew, strik-
ing its roots deep in the rank soil of human
lust. And still it was not deemed possible
that it could survive the onward march of
civilization. 1t had indeed skulked away
beyond the outposts Of civilization, but it
must surely go down before the advent of
railroads and the neutralizing forces with
which the incursion of Gentle population
would environ it. For many years people
looked on this peculiar institution with
feeling more of curiosity than alarm,-so
strong was the conviction that it could not
survive the westward progress of the star
of empire" Like the curling vapors of
deadly miasma, it was believed that it would
disappear before the advance of moral and re-
ligious cultivation, or that the death of its
great chief, Brigham Young, was an event
which would mark the point at which disin-
tegration must commence. But in the
face of all the agencies which law, religion
and morality have brought to bear against
Mormonism, it has steadily increased in the
number of its believers, in wealth, and in its
n
the national government. The rapid ex-
pansion of the Mormon population and its
controlling influence in the territories adjoin-
ing Utah show how mistaken and delusive
have been all the hopes and theories con-
corning the extinction of the evil. The dis
enchantment is at length complete, and the
people have fully walked up to the fact that
the curse cannot be removed by beating
gongs and firing rockets Something more
effective than Chinese modes of warfare
or idle defamation and presidential an
athemas is required. The overthrow of
Mormonism with polygamy and its other
hateful tenets and practices can be accom-
plished only by resolute, organized, persist
| eut action. The movement to which we
have called attention contemplates such ac-
| ton. In it Vermonters should and will CO.
operate with the vigor and energy which is
characteristic of their men and women in
peace or in war.