The suburban citizen., 1902-02-08
PREACH P0LYGAMY NOW
NEW MORMON CAMPAIGN IN PRO.
CRESS IN THE WEST.

Policy of Bunching Converts ts-Political
Power of the MormOns.
The missionary branch of the Nor
mon Church is just now more than usu-
ally active in the States Of Nebraska,
Kansas and South Dakota, writes the
Lincoln (Neb) correspondent Of the
New York Sun. For years it has been
sending missionaries abroad and their
work has been successful. Larger
pumbers of missionaries have now
been put into the field, and the plan
Of campaign has been materially
changed.
Most Of the missionaries look and
act like farmers sons turned into
preachers without much more prepar-
alton than a thorough knowledge of
the Mormon Bible. The farming COM
munities of the three States named
have been selected as the fields of
their operations, and they try TO in
duce people to emigrate. They are
constantly dilating upon the adyan-
tages Of Utah and Idaho, where they
say the agricultural conditions are
vastly superior to those Of the drought
stricken region of last year.
Formerly the missionaries were con-
tent simply to proselyte for their faith.
Converts were all they were after.
They generally Travelled in pairs, and
went from house to house, quietly
pushing the work Of convincing men
and women that the Latter-Day
Church offered a simpler and nobler
plan of salvation and belief than the
older denominations
They were careful, in order to over
come in part at least the antipathy to
anything Mormon, to insist that the
Church had been reOrganized and that
polygamy was no longer one of its car
dinal doctrines. They admitted that
the old leaders had practiced polygamy
and that while they were obeying the
letter Of the law in that they lived
with but one wife they were not shirk-
ing the duty Of support to the others
still alive.
In their crusade they were aided by
submitted to the inevitable and had
banished polygamy. They held public
meetings also and openly sought for
converts. That they were successful
was proved by the number of congre-
cations they organized in various parts
Of Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa.
The campaign now being prosecuted
IS a masked one. 1t is no longer in
sisted ON that polygamy has been BAN
ished from the Church. In a covert
way it is stated that they are now
seeking converts to the Church be-
cause polygamy is possible in Utah and
Idaho, where the Mormons are the
dominant power in politics.
One of these missionaries is quoted
as having said recently in a talk with
prospective converts that the true Nor
mons have never relinquished their
pOlygamous beliefs, and that he ex-
pected to secure many converts be-
cause most men are by instinct poly
gamous, and that in a church gov
erned and run as a business organiza-
tion plurality of wives is not only not
a burden, but a distinct help to world
ly prosperity.
These arguments, confined as they
are to the less educated part Of the
population, have been bearing fruit,
and it is said that the spring will see
a considerable immigration to the two
States named.
These missionaries have been quot
ing leaders of the Church as saying
that the law of plural marriage is God
given, and that no Mormon need fear
man-made laws. They are also ac-
cused Of tempting their prospective
converts with picture Of Mormon SUI
premacy in the future by reason Of
the fact that plurality of wives means
larger families, and that as the aver
age non-Mormon family numbers no
more than three children, in time the
whole earth will be filled by the true
believers. They seek to prove that in
ancient days according to both thef'
Bible and that Of the Christian Church,
polygamy was not regarded as a sin.
In fact these missionaries are preach
ing the old gospel according to Joseph
Smith, but with more cunning and d.
plomacy. Here in the West it is rec
Ognized that the Mormon Church holds
the balance Of political power in WyO-
ming, Nevada and Idaho, which means
that its very practical leaders lind il
easy to make bargains with the ma
chine politicians, who in turn for votes
grant immunity from arrest and prose
cution to those Mormons who discreet
ly desire to continue their old prac-
tees. Even in the most fragrant cases
of violation Of the Anti-Polygamy law
only nominal fines are assessed, and
most Of the offenders Immediately re-
turn to their wives.
The Rev. Mr.. Lillywhite, who has
been in charge Of the Nebraska propa-
ganda, says that the Church has now
1000 earnest and active missionaries
at work in the United States. This in
cludes those who do missionary work
only, and not those in = charge of