The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-02-12
FACTS AND FIGURES.
Some Hints and Suggestions Con
corning the Anti.Mor-
mon ClamOr.
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 4, 1882.

small fraction, occupying the back
bone of the continent. 1t seems to
be the general determination that
whatever crimes and immoralities
are practiced elsewhere, Utah shall
be law-abiding and pure, and as this
zeal for the purity and elevation of
Utah is periodical with every sitting
of Congress it might be well to
learn a few facts, that we may
properly appreciate the efforts con-
stantly employed for our benefit.
The grand cause of all this annu-
al display of purity and virtue, out
side of this devoted territory, is
found in one word, polygamy. By
it the Nation is not only said to be
disgraced but under its influence
community is growing up inimical
and dangerous to the government
itself. Is it possible that such non
sense can be believed? But in
speaking or writing of the Nor
mons no one seems to care for truth.
One would suppose, to hear the re-
portsIcirculated, Ithatithey numbered
millions, while the last reports made
from the different stakes in Utah
and surrounding territories, places
the numbers at 10000, $4,000 Of
whom are outside of Utah, and it
is not a weakness of the Mormon
any more than any other church to
underestimate its own numbers.
There are reported about $4,000
heads of families, of whom 1000 are
widows and widowers, leaving
some 10000 living in wedlock. Of
these not to exceed One-eighth or
$500 males are living in polygamy
or with more than one wife, and Of
these one-half entered into that con-
dition prior to the year 1862, and
consequently violated no law, and
as there is q United States law OF
limitation for crime, probably five
sixthS of the remaining 1880 are
not now amenable to any law,
leaving only about 200 upon whom
the wrath Of such pious towns as
Chicago, Boston, st. Louis, ETC., are
poured out and by whose acts these
celebrated cities are disgraced.
That poiygamy is not on the In
crease is apparent to every OBJ
server. There are now none with
nineteen or twenty wives, as in the
days Of Brigham Young, and as the
number of males in Utah exceeds
that of the females, it has already
reached its utmost limit, and from
natural causes must necessarily de-
crease. The natural equality Of the
sexes renders anygeneral polYgamic
relations impossible anywhere. But
why should so much attention be
given to such q handful of people !?
In these very cities whence comes
| all this pious indignation, among
the holy people who are 80 shocked
and disgraced by what three-fourths
of mankind consider no crime; in
this Christian land you will find for
every church one brothel, one gam
bling den and four saloons, and that
they pay four times more for
whisky than for bread; monopolies
enslaVing the people, tenement
houses falling and crushing their
ragged and poverty-stricken in
mates; probably 100000 women and
ten times that number of men lead
ing absolute lives; streets in the
larger cities where virtue dare not
tread; robberieS, arson, murders
and crime of every kind Of daily oc-
currence, and still Utah alone is
worthy their pious care. One
would suppose that all the rest Of
the land was free from crime, that
nowhere else was law violated,
ana yet we are told that
laws against whisky, debauchery
etc., cannot be enforced. Polyandry
is no crime for which Christians
blush. ANY individual who breaks
it, defies the law, whether in Utah
OF Washington, and Of course the
polygamist in one place viii take
the same caution about discovery as
the debauehee of the other; but for
Christian ministers to invoke the
strong arm of the law in their favor
looks as if they had but little con-
Edence in their own teachings. We
have, for instance, in this city six
churches, one of which boasts Of
having rescued 10000 persons from
polygamy, which, as there have
never been over three-fearths that
number in it, at once ought to be
highly satisfactory, without appeal
ing to Congress fer help.
Any one who thinks thatall there
is of good and naught of evil is con-
tanned within the limits OF his own
little creed, is a bigot or an idiot; but
should We have no faith in the law
of progression? Cannot Mormons
improve and eliminate whatever
there is Of error in their doctrines,
as we'll as other people? They are
accused of being ignorant foreigners
of the lowest type; if So, give them
time to improve. Some two hun
dred years ago the ancestors Of Bos-
tenians were burning witches,
hanging and banishing hereticG.
Even the quiet Quaker. whose
peaceful habits rendered him safe
among savages, was liable to be mu-
tilated or hung by the early Chris |
tians of Massachusetts,. The hell
and damnation sermons of fifty
years ago would be as distasteful to |
an orthodox congregation as one on |
Their ideas have vastly |
improved. Beecher has knocked |
the bottom from their bottomless
Dit. the ton from the tODlesS throne. |