Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-31
The Edmunds Law Makes tt Hard to
Practice Polygamy, but Gentiles
Say 1t Hasn't Diminished.
BRIGHAM YOUNG A SMART NAN.
Hermons Still Strong Politically Through
out Utah, and They Claim the
Next Governor.
i GREAT DEMAND FOR FREIGHT CARS.
An IusIsh Engineer Says Pittsburg's New Postofice
Can't be Surpassed.

A Pittsburger who paid visit recently Il
Salt Lake City, gives the following as some
of the observations he made:
The claim of the Denver and Rio Grands
road that it is the grandest scenic route in
America is conceded by all travellers who
go over it. The wonderful manner in which
the little narrow gauge threads its way
through the Royal Gorge, or the Canyon Of
the Arkansas and the Black Canyon, and
climbs the perilous heights of Marshall
Pass are the wonders of the world as re.
markable engineering feats. Marshall
Pass is over 10, 600 feet high, and it is a com
mon saying during the summer months
that YOU can roll snowballs on the summit
with one hand and pick strawberries with
the other This apparently impossible feat
can be performed In several places in the
Yosemite Valley, just as there is spot on
the Yellowstone lake, where you can stand
in one place, throw a line into the lake on
one side of you, pull out trout and cook il
in boiling spring on the other side, with
out taking the fish off the line or moving in
your position.
These stories are always discounted by
even the disingenuous travellers, until they
see them actually performed.
EVEN MORE INTERESTING.
But there is point on the Denver and
Rio Grande that is more interesting to the
student of human nature and history than
the high mountains and the wild, pictur-
esque scenery. 1t is the city of Salt Lake,
&ha oo,;tol of fba Mormonc Thic ynunini
pality is now in the hands of the Gentiles,
but some of the best of the latter admit that
it had to be done, so they quietly and
shrewdly stuffed the ballot box. The Terri
tory of Utah at large is strongly Mormon,
and the great Utah Valley, which was
transformed, by irrigation, from a sandy
desert into beautiful farming country, is
dotted with the pretty homes and fruitful
acres of these polygsmous people.
The Mormons claim the next Governor,
and the Gentiles concede to them, at pres
ent. good working majority. The back
bone of the church. however, received a
rude shock when the Edmunds bill was
passed, and since then it has practically
been broken. 1t is now only a question of
time until this strange sect will be thing
of the past. The law is rigidly enforced,
and the manner in which the United States
Marshals pounce down on the sly and uu-
suspecting polygamist often makes that in
dividual's head swim. 1t is a common sight
to see marshal walk into a
train with a Mormon who has more
than the allotted number of wives
handcuffed to his wrist. I remember one
Sunday evening seeing several marshals,
with as many Mormons board the train at
Ogden, on branch of the Union Pacific
road.
FILLING THE JAILS.
The Gentiles say that the penitentiaries
and the jails are full of these offenders, and
that long period of incarceration does not
make them stop their iniquitous practice.
1t is the opinion of leading Gentiles, also.
in Salt Lake, that polygamy is as prevalent
as it ever was in the Territory, but it is an
exceedingly difficult thing to unearth the
violators of the Governmental laws. Sena-
tor Edmunds is most cordially hated by
these people, and his life has been threat
ened should he show his face in Utah.
But the marked ability of Brigham Young
is admitted by everybody. He was
shrewd Yankee, and q natural leader of
men. An intelligent lawyer of Salt Lake,
who knew him well. gave it as his opinion
that If Brigham had not been Mormon he
would have been President of the United
States. The Gentiles claim that if Brigham
had lived the practice of polygamy would
have been abolished as soon as he had dis
covered the temper of the Government. The
great apostle could easily have had another
vision, and in which he would learn for the
first time that that part of the church dis
cipline must be stricken from the books.
Ii this doctrine had been promulgated the
faithful would be in the future as pure as
their lives had been unholy in the past.
With the Mormon women, polygamy is
deep religious sentiment, and they firmly
believe it is right and of divine ordination.
WHY THE DIFFERENCE.
President Taylor is an Englishman, and
this explains the difference between Brig
ham and himself. He possesses all the stub
bornness of John Bull, and he decided to
fight the Government to his sorrow. The
result has been the confscation OF much of
their property, and the indications now are
that Uncle Sam will claim the great un-
finished temple for Government build
ing, and q mighty fine one it would
make About 81, 0o0, 900 have already been
spent on it, and Salt Lake could then boast
as its share of Fereral pap one of the most
magnificent structures in America. In 1S49
the Mormons commenced to build it. and
they have been working at it and levying
tribute on the people ever since.
To the tourist there is something sad and
pathetic about the confscation of the church
property. The Mormons are an industrious
class, and under masterlv leadership have
amassed fortunes. Salt Lake to-day is a
modet CITY, and is a monument to the
shrewdness and ability of these people, es-
pecially Brigham Young. The streets are
100 feet wide, and there is plenty of room
in that town for healthy lung expansion.
WORK ON THE TEMPLE.
About a month ago the Mormons COM
meneed to lay the stone on another of the
big towers on the temple. 1t reminds one of
the Biblical Babel, and will probably meet
n similar fate; still these polygamists. with
all hope not lost, continue to pile up the
stone and keep resolutely at work with sad
dened hearts.
The great Salt Lake is nearby the city, q
beautiful sheet of clear, blue water, but not
q vessel except little pleasure yacht plows
its main and disturbs the pretty white caps
Only the gulls and the shouts of bathers at
Garfield Beach during the summer breaks
the awful silence that enwraps it. Cut OF
from the Pacific Ocean, as geologists can
prove, some mighty npheaval of strata in the
past, it lies lonely, but contented, in the
great basin between the mountains, and be-
comes more alkaline each year.