Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1882-02-23
POPULAR DELUsIONs ABOUT UTAH.
New York Herald, Feb. -.

MIR. Edmunds proposes to call up IN
the United States Senate tomorrow
his bill for the better enforcement of
the anti.polygamy statutes in Utah. 1t
is highly appropriate for Senator
from Vermont to take the lead in
legislative movement of this kind, for
his State was the birthplace of Joseph
Smith, the founder of Mormonism (;
and Brigham Young and Heber G.
Kimball, who guided the conspiracy
that engrafted polygamy upon the dog
mas of the new religion, were natives
of the same soil.
There are some popular delusions
about the Mormons, and very intelli.
gent persons who have visited Salt
Lake City for the purpose of making
personal Investigations there, and who
fancy that they have a right to pro.
nounce authoritative opinions upon
the Utah question: are not always
free from them. One is that the Nor
mons consist chiefly of foreigners. On
the contrary, the American-born in.
habitants OF Utah outn enber the for
eign.born more than two to one. The
proportion by the census of 1880 is
1869 to 1894. Dakota, which ap.
proximates closely to Utah 10 the az.
gregate of its population, having 13j,.
$50 inhabitants, while Utah has 49,.
963, is much more under the domina.
tion of foreign element so far as
numbers are concerned. The proper.
tion in Dakota is 81, l,793 foreign.born
to only S3,3S7 natives of the United
States. So is the State of Nevada. so
are most of the great cities of the con.
tinent. The proportion in Utah does
not materially differ from that in
Rhode Island, one of the original mem
hers of the Union. 1t will not do for
the people of the United States to try
to shift their own responsibility for the
disgusting peculiarities of Utah society
upon foreign shoulders. The Mormon
religion was an American invention,
and the ecclesiastical supremacy over
its adherents always has been control.
led by Americans. John Taylor. who
is the nominal head of the Church
since 1oung's death, is English by
birth. to be sure, but he by no means
inherits Young's autocra,ic sway. It
is shared with coadjutors most of whom
are of American birth, and he himself
has been n resident of the United
States for half century. He was
with Smith in Carthage jail in 1914,
and was wounded in the affray in which
the Prophet was killed. Nor have
foreigners ever predominated in Utah
at any stage of the development of the
Mormon community. In 1870 the
total population was S6,7S6, and the
respective numbers of American-born
and foreign.born were j6,0S4 and 30.
702. In 1860 the total was 4O,273,
and the respective numbers were ~.
jl9 and 1854. The bulk of the
American-born inhabitants also are
natives of the Territory. No less than
S0,S47 of the present 81, 1863 were born
upon its own soil, under exclusively
Federal jurisdiction. Congress has
had the power to control them from
the cradle in all those features of life
which are subject to the regulation of
law. These figures fix the absolute
responsibility of the United States
Government for what Utah is. As
the twig is bent the tree is inclined.
and if Congress had bent this twig out
of its croOkedness while the wood was
tender and supple it might have spared
itself the present severe efforts to
straighten a stout trunk Of more than
thirty years growth.
Another delusion about Utah is that
the foreign element in its population
is recruited from European races which
the. claimants of conceited superior.
ity for the so.called Anglo.Saxon stock
fancy to be inferior. On the contrary.
England makes the chief contribution
to it, and next to England comes those
Scandinavian countries to whose peo-
pie the Anglo-Saxon stock is close
akin. The infrequency of Irish or
German Mormons is very remarkable.
and the Latin races Of Europe never
have been hospitable to Mormon mis-.
sionaries. Has the discipline of the
Catholic Church anything to do with
thisf Certainly it is next to impossi-
BILE TO find Frenchmau, an Italian or
a Spaniard in Salt Lake City. The
proportions in which foreign countries
have chiefly contributed to the Nor.
mon community are very constant, rs
is plain by the following comparative
table, which we have compiled from
the censuses of 1870 and 1880:
is5O tssu
Born 10 England 1913 ipC54
Ttoru In Nfntiand z 3ut yUf