Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-12

people as to make it little more than an
incident in a great community numbering
200, 900 souls. The Mormon homes are and
always have been as pure as the homes oi
other people; Mormon wives are as virtuous
and modest and Mormon men as regardful
of the marital VOWS and obligations as the
wives and husbands in any other Christian
society.
Proof that the American people are de-
plorably and ine1cusably ignorant concern
ing our community is furnished in the re-
cent savage assault upon President Eliot,
of Harvard University. Dr. Eliot did not
applaud or justify polygamy; he did not
even speak tolerantly of it. On the con-
trary, his address was in the natu re of a
congratulation to the country and to the
Mormons themselves that polygamy had
been discontinued. He did. however, say a
good word to and for the Mormous, not on
account of their polvgamy-which no sane
man should charge him with approving
but because of those spiritual and material
virtues of the Mormons of which ordinary
people have so persistently refused to learn.
How President Eliot Reasoned.
The doctor saw in Utah pretty and pros
porous cities and thriving towns; he saw
stately business blocks and magnificent
residences; he met men and women who
were in no respect inferior to the educated
and cultured people with whom he is in the
habit Of associating elsewhere; in short, he
saw that vigorous young American COM
monwealth had sprung up in the wilderness
of few years ago, and he very naturally
concluded that what he saw could not have
been achieved by depraved and immoral
people. 1t takes earnestness and integrity,
honesty and devotion, brains and Drawn and
withal sincerity OF purpose to accomplish
what q generation has brought forth in
Utah. President Eliot knew this and he is
broad enough to recognize these virtues,
courageous enough to acknowledge them
and manly enough to commend and applaud
them.
1t has been asserted among other things
that the Mormons are largely foreign born
and are alien in sentiment. 1t is sufficient
answer to this that the founders OF the
church were New Englanders, most of the
early leaders being Of Puritan stock. The
successive census reports prove that the per-
centage of foreign born population is lower
in Utah than in many of the older States.
The community is essentially American in
birth and none the less so in sentiment,
training and education.
The Mormon Claim to Patriotism.
Within few hours of the arrival of the
pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley Brigham
Young and few OF his handful of followers
climbed lofty mountain overlooking the
site of the present Salt Lake City and
erecting flagstaff thereon, swung
to the breeze the Stars and Stripes.
That mountain has since been known
as Ensign Peak. The flag of the
Mormons always has been the flag of the
t. h.
over all that broad land Stree the July day
in 1S47 when it was taken from the box in
which it had been carefully transported over
a thousand miles OF trackless wilderness and
raised in an enemy's country. The national
holidays and events inspiring enthusiasm in
American breasts have been celebrated in
Utah As elsewhere throughout the land, the
commemorative bonfres burning as brightly,
the cannon roaring as merrily, the addresses
breathing as deep patriotism and the masses
"enthusing" and applaudirg as heartily
and sincerely as in Massachusetts or
Virginia.
All this talk which has been dinned into
the ears of the American people for the
third of a century to. the effect that the
Mormons are aliens and wanting in patriot
ism is malicious slander. which has been
disproven every day, though the evidence
has been rejected by many protesting pa
triots.
Their Belief in the Constitution.
The Constitution of the United States has
been the boast of Molmons always, and you
will hear from the pulpits and in the
lowliest cottage the confident expression of
belief that that greatest of human enact
ments is an instrument inspired by the
Almighty. Indeed, it is the patriotic be-
lief religiously held that it is a part of the
mission OF the saints to preserve inviolate
that sacred instrument and protect it, by
force OF arms, if need be, against desecra-
tion.
Brigham Young was an American through
md through. His ambition was to build
Commonwealth which would excite the ad-
miration and command the respect of the
nation. He laid the foundation in Ameri-
canism, and built thereon to the time of his
death. The structure, so cleverly designed
and with which he made such remarkable
progress, has been carried forward upon
the original plan largely under the inspira-
tion OF the founder. The Utah common
wealth, which is no longer mormon COM |
as some still insist is the case, |
is destined to become the foremost, the |
grandest and altogether the best in the |
great interior West. And this will be 30 |
because of the honesty, the devotion, the |
religious sincerity and the broad American
ism in which the foundation was laid and |
On which the edifce is being erected. Re-
cent events will accelerate the growth and
development and in my opinion strengthen
md improve the structure.
Polygamy Has Gone Forever.
The Mormons, having withstood for half