The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-11-07
ON UTAH AFFAIRS.
Captain COdman's Letter to
the New York POST
INSTRUMENTATION OF LAW
and Mercenary Ends-Ths
Captains Remedy - Political
Capital the Cause.

SALT LAKE CIrY, Utah. October L.
Especial letter to the Post. 1.-THE Nor.
mon problem" is as far as ever from a
solution. 1t is true the death OF polyg-
amy is az hand, and the obituary will
read that it died from natural causes,
and that violence only contributed
spasmodicslly TO a longer existence
than it would have otherwise enjoyed.
1t is generally admitted that there are
now only about 1000 polygamous hus-
bands in Utah, and that while ten years
ago the population was many thousands
less than it now is, the number of polyg-
amists was greatly in excess of the
present count. A gradual decrease
had been goingon which made this re-
duction before the passage of the Ed =
muuds bill. Thus it appears that the
practice would have been discon-
tinued without any legal enactments
whatever. This would have come
about entirely, as it has done in a
measure. by the peaceful introduction
Of outside civilization, and in no small
degree by the DEGREES of fashion, more
ideas into the heads Of women and new
bonnets upon them. The priesthood
recognized the fact that their distinctive
doctrine would disappear in practice,
while AZ the same time they strenuous
" maintlined that IL vas divinely or
dained for those, and those only, whose
circumstances permitted them 70 ester
into the relation. The young people of
both sexes, seeing for themselves the
discord and misery pOlygAmy had pro-
duced in the families of their parents,
generally detested it and could not be
driven into Il. and to-day our eyes
bear witness at the frequent trials with
which the lime of the court is almost
exclusively occupied that the great ma
jority Of the culprits are old, gray
bearded men. 1t is a curious common
tary on polygamy; but, nevertheless,
il is perfectly true that the Mormons
maintain their belief in il mainly for
the purpose OF being prosecuted" and
the "Gentiles" are perpetually hound
ing them for their polygamy, not be
cause they care straw about II. but be
cause il is the only vulnerable point OF
attack for which they can Justify
themselves before the world. Certain
~ the persecution" Just now bears
rather hard upon individual members
of the church, and is rather announcement
70 some Of the leaders who are obliged
TO keep themselves out of sight for a
time; but the first go TO prison cheer
fully for six months, being freely sup
| ported there at their ease, and indulg-
ing the pride of posing in the Taber-
nacle as martyrs on their discharge,
and the latter while in exile are sup
ported by the contributions of the faith
/ full, hoping all the time that the storm
will soon blow over. On the other
hand, the Gentiles are pleased with their
pertinacity, for there IS nothing that
would so much alarm them as any
weakening on the part of the MormOns
that would intimate a willingness to
bury the bone OF contention. having
upon il the meat on which they pick
/ for living. Their point a. dppui would
| fade out of sight. They would have no
drum 70 beat &c scare the outside com.
munity, which cares nothing. and can
/ be made TO care nothing, shout Nor
monism any further than as to its OBJ
! jectionable principle OF polygamy.
AS for themselves, II conversation
and even sometimes most unadyisedly
| in their public print, they openly declare
/ that polygamy is but a small matter.
/ What concerns them is the hierarchy"
of the church, its preponderance over
civil law, and its absolute control of the
masses. In short, this means in plain
English that the Mormons possess
| themselves OF all the offices and emolu-
ments, because they are in the majority,
whereas the Gentle minority is lett out
in the cold. Now that is perfectly
| true, as IL would be true OF any majority,
religious or political; but the Gentiles
well know that IL does not concern the
people Of the country at large. There
| fore IL is that the REIMBURSEMENT OF
polygamy would be a most destructive
blow to them. While il lasts it is not
only q contributor to their influence,
but it is q large contributor to their
pockets. Every arrest and prosecution
puts from $50 to 800 into them, and
Outlines more. So they 90 about their
business, first distorting and inter
polating the plain English of the statute
which renders criminal any man who
cohabits with more than one woman"
by giving a different meaning TO the
word cohabit from that which is
generally accepted, and adding to the
sentence, lin the marriage relation" so
that il shall not apply TO the sexual If =
regularities of the Gentiles. Then they
arrest, try, condemn and imprison old
men who married women now as old as
themselves before any law against il
was enacied-punish them for cohabi
tation because they still acknowledge
the women wives often only in the
celestial sense, which is one Of their
religious pecularities, and because they
sometimes visit them by daylight IN
company with others IN the separate
houses they inhabit OF course, they
often arrest younger men, who are de-
ssrvedlY punished for actual criminal
ity, but they are all taken together, and
everything IS "grist 70 the mill"
A very Instructive volume has lately
been published by authority of the
judiciary committee of the United
States House Of Representatives, before
whom abundant testimony from both
: sides bearing upon these points was
; taken at the last session of Congress
The strongest bill against the Mormon
: church per Sc having passed the Senate
: II was the desire Of the Salt Lake Gentle;
) that it should be fEvorably considered
: likewise by the House, and of course