The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-06-18
Joseph Cook on MOrmOnism.

breadth of the Union regard as my ma.
tive heath. l will emulate Burke, who
said that mans patriotism is not sufi-
GENTLY profound or sensitive until he
feels stain on any portion of his native
country as personal wound. Utah be-
longs to me and to you as much as to the
followers of the false prophet. 1t is as
directly under the control of congress as
the District of Columbia. The latter.day
swindle does not have the protection of
state rights. If there be anyehame there
it is yours and mine. If there be any
grand reforms to accomplish there, the
duty is yours and mine. wish to speak
as an echo of the Gentle population of
Salt Lake City. l hear yet the reverbera-
tions of an indignation meeting in Salt
Lake. held conference one evening
with some thirty eminent gentlemen in
Salt Lake City on the subject of remedies
for Mormonism. We ought to take ad.
vice of those who study it face to face.
1 went over the Rocky Mountains with
fifty written questions in my hands and
obtained answers to them from these ex-
perts in Salt Lake City. l put them to
this gathering, which had in it federal
Judges, professors in the educational in
situations of Salt Lake City, preachers,
and business men of great prominence,
some of them converted Mormons. I
carried questions with me when l went
into India, China, and elsewhere. A dis.
tant view of polygamy is very different
from near one. When l first went there,
three years ago, | went with my wife, and
am glad did. She learned many things
from the Mormon women that man
L.
with our blood boiling, and it has been
boiling ever since. One of my questions
was Are churches and schools, unless
supplemented in their reformatory work
by strong legal measures against Nor
monism, likely to be rapid enough in their
operation to secure the reformation of
Utah before she can be expected to be
admitted as state The answer was
emphatically, No. Churches and schools
are doing much, but not enough. Teach
ers in the rural districts must be brave,
for they sometimes hear the bullets from
Mormon rifles whistling by. The Cen
tiles are in constant danger. The guns
of Fort Douglas are, it is true, trained
upon the tabernacle, but it would take
thirty days to unwind the red tape from
their muzzles. The opinion of federal
Judges, teachers, preachers and business
men in Utah is that schools and churches
alone, without what President Arthur
calls "the stoutest constitutional meas
ures," cannot make Utah fit to be admitted
as state. Bluebeard locks his chamber
of darkness with one hand, while with
the other he knocks for admission into
the Union. Bluebeard wants to be counted
in the sisterhood of states. The Mormon
lobby at Washington is one of the most
powerful portions of the third house. 1t
has behind it great wealth. Mr.. Beecher
thinks that schools and churches alone
will be enough for Utah, as we'll as they
are for the reformation of India and
China. The difference is that China is
not applying for admission to the Union,
and Utah is. DIR. Noble of your city, re.
turning from Mexico, said to me the other
day in Denver, The peril of the country
is to come from the new West, from the
Mormonism of Utah and the illiterate
half Spanish population of the Southwest
under the control of the Roman Catholic
Church. Between the Rocky Mountains
and the Sierra Nevada thunderbolts Of
danger are forging" In the Office occu
pied by Brigham Young center tele
kA6ph WhCo tudu I'LL Ouu INV OIL UuO VOL
ritory. They influence the votes of 200,
600 men. In twenty-five years, unless thu
power of the Mormon priesthood is curbed
half million votes will act as sole
body, in five or six great states, at tai
bidding of one man or band in Salt Lake
City. Another of my questions was
What of the constitutionality or expedi
ency of governing Utah temporarily by
legislative commission appointed by con
gress ? The laws sent to Utah have beer
swords without handles. The multitude
of executive officers in Utah are Mormons
and they will not plunge the blade YER.
deep into the system to which they be
long. This commission would take tn
place of the legislature of Utah. No leg
islature elected by Mormons can be ex
pected to do anything. Mormonism is a
. heart as rebellious as secession. Tn
members OF the Order of Melchizedek ar
sworn to support the Mormon presiden
before the president of the United States
Going into the schools in the tabernacle
heard the question asked; Who wa
the first president of the United States
A score of children shouted, Joseph Smith
The mistake was corrected, but it cam
from those children without promptin,
Thus they are reared. Who is the preser
president of the United States job
Taylor. Where do you liver In Utal
Where is Utah 7 In Zion. Mrs. Hele
Hunt jackson, says that thorough beli'
in the divine sanction of polygamy max,
the women willing to accept it. ! aske
Mrs. Orson Pratt, of whom cannot spes
without reverence, il that were tru
She replied, " Yes and no. Nothing b'
compulsion males women accept poly
amy. When committed to it they 60
the church and to the Book Of Mormo
for what consolation they can get. The
people are industrious, however. Abo'
the gate Of the false prophet is beehi'
with an eagle lowering over and thrustiI
his talons into it. 1t we'll illustrates Il
basis of Mormonism, rapacity preying {
industry. There ought to be an owl ov
that gate, significant of the empty pI
tension to divine wisdom. There Dug
TO be that fowl which lords it over Il
hens of the BARNARD, for Mormonism