The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-11-12
THE WAR IN UTAH.

pen to the Mormons to-day would be
the coming to the front of a man who
would advise and lead them intelli-
gently. They have suffered all that
one community should be called upon
to endure from inspired leadership.
Now what they most need is common
sense and ordinary judgment. The
head men do not yet fully realize that
polygamy must 60. Virtually, how
ever, the institution of celestial marri-
age is dead; so severely has it been
struck that if let alone hereafter it is
questionable if it could recover. The
people themselves are heartily tired of
the business, and l do not mean the
homogeneous Mormons merely, but the
mass of polygamists also, who secretly
rejoice over the knowledge that the
end is at hand. Aside from the trouble
and expense that polygamy has
brought them from the outside, it has
been :ull of misery and discomfort at
home. Neither women nor men have
ever. been able to adjust themselves to
the unnatural condition of things.
They might profess satisfaction in the
relation and to the world assume an
air of peace aud contentment, but
under the surface there has ever burnt
little hell, torturing women and
grievously annoying men.
In most people human nature is
stronger than either the love or fear of
an underlined and certainly absent God,
and it is this human nature that has
been all the time Furnishing the polyg-
amists and depriving them of real
homes. In time polygamy would have
died natural death; it has, in fact,
been dying for several years. The
death, however, was not swift enough
to satisfy the nations regard for de-
cency and it fastened the demise by
choking the perishing monst9k, and
now the followers of the system are at
heart glad that release is being forced
upon them. They dare not say so pub
licly, but many of them admit private
ly that while they and their wives have
maintained to the world a happy de-
meanor, discomfort and real misery
have been suffered, and they welcome
the relief that the destruction of the
institution will bring. At the same time
reputation stands behind these distress
ed men and women. They look back
on their life paths, and seeing what
they have been and have done dare
not now diverge to the right nor to the
left. They are afraid of their own re-
cords and haven't the courage to face
their neighbors and acquaintance with
the admission that all their lives they
have been humbugs, deceiving the
world and trying vainly to deceive
themselves. If they could make the
acknowledgment collectively, when
none could point the finger of scorn at
his fellows, all would be we'll. 1t is
this opportunity to make the general
admission that the people want.
Hence say the best thing that could
happen to them would be the coming
up of somebody to lead them Alright,
opening the way whereby they mi ght
escape the bitter cup which is now
being forced to their lips.
John Taylor and George Q. Cannon
are not the men for the occasion. Tay-
lor is rank bigot and is not a man of
brains. He is incapable of grasp
ing the situation and has not the WIS
dom and foresight to take the best ad-
vantage OF circumstances. Cannon is
unquestionably an able man, learned in
the ways of the world and aboupding
in resource, but he has not been himself
since Congress kicked him out of the
House three or four years ago. He was
ambitious politically and he saw in this
the deprivation of political rights, that
his career as a politician was at an end
and his future hope was in the church.
His spirits, it is said, were crushed. He
turned morosc and became embittered
against the government and equally so
against those who believe there is wis
dom in being wise. Cannon is repre-
sented as being desperate and as refus-
ing to listen to any proposition looking
to surrender to the inevitable He
knows as we'll as other intelligent per-
sons know what this stubborn resistance
against the inevitable means; he knows
that it means more suffering for his
people, but he is one of those obstinate
men who prefer ruin by force to SUBJ
mission voluntarily after their minds
have once been madeup. The utter de-
struction of his people is of less moment
to him than would be the admission
that the polygamy which he has
preached and practiced is failure.
With Taylor and Cannon out of the
way, believe there would be ready
and cheerful submission to the Ed
munds law, at least to the extent of
the absolute prohibition of future
polygamous marriages and the closing
Of the mouths of the preachers and adj
vocates of the practice. Many also
would put away their surplus wives
and cease the unlawful relation, while
all would promise to do this latter,
whether or not they would faithfully
keep their word. The prevailing SEN
t ment is in favor of this course and the
courts encourage it by suspending
sentence or imposing fine merely
where the accused persons promise to
come within the law. But Taylor and
Cannon sit back and frown upon those
who try to get in out of the storm.
Half a dozen leading Mormons, men
who stand close to the throne of the
theocracy. have been indicted, and it
is limited that some of them, when ar
raigned, will escape the penitentiary,
by solemnly promising to abandon
polygamy. If they do this Cannon
will no longer be able to restrain the
people, for the latter only want the ex-
ample of a "big' man or two to defy
the anathemas of the unreasoning men
who stand at the head. If the unbend-
ing leaders attempt to hold out under
such circumstances it will only be to
disrupt the church and invite
their own reputation by the
rank and file, file for the Mormons are
truly sick of polygamy and tired of
the trouble. misery and expense that it
involves. The wise course of Taylor
and Cannon to pursue would be to
hedge while they can save portion of
the stake. By an honest abandonment
of DOlV0amv thew would not 0n1v avoid