Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-06-08

life which compels comparison Of
opinion comparison Of creed. and COM
parison Of the results OF practice.
whatever will do this, Is TO my mind
OF service to the body polite, Plural
| marriage win be stamped out only by
| proving 10 those who entertain IL as Il
| correct theory who regard IL as vo
| cation for those who are especially
| called TO &c, that Il Is a false doctrine.
| II VIII be eradlcAted only by bringing
| those who practise It I'm contact with
| the nobler ideals concerning domestic
| life, which so far as | know are enter
| tanned az ideals and as doctrines by all
| other divisions Of the Christian
| church. whatever sad dlgressons we
| may witness IN practise among them
| Having been asked by body outside
| OF any National Council OF Women T.
| present before the International Coun.
| eli at It's approaching Quinquennial at
Berlin, a Resolution excluding the two
| societies mainly composed OF Mormon
| women from the National Council Of
Women OF tho United States ! feel
| called upon TO explain the structure Of
| the International Council. The socie-
| ties which ] am asked to be instru-
mental In having excluded from the
International Council are members Of
II through their membership In the Ma
tional Council Of the United States. and
the latter Is the only body which can
leglslate in respect 10 its members.
| Should accusations be brought against
any individual or any organization
membership in the National Council
the latter has the power to investigate,
and should It be discovered that I'M
worthy individuals or unworthy or
ganlzat atoms are within It's membership
Il, Of course, has the power to expel
them
| remember that some years ago.
President Eliot OF Harvard university
suffered an almost violent attack by
the press OF the country, because some
thing which he had said ia a speech
delivered upon the social conditions
which he found prevailing In Utah,
seemed to imply that the Mormon"
is the peer and the parallel OF the Puri-
tan. Certainly nothing Is gained by
Disgusting the truth nothing Is gained
by undertaking the virtues and over
stating the defects OF those who are diff
ferent from ourselves. In 1901 ] spent
some time in Salt Lake city. Provo,
ana other points IN Utah All that /
saw and heard confirmed the opinions
that / have expressed IN this letter
and | was amazed at the Puritanlc
forms which prevailed I'm family and
social life In the family I'm which I
was entertained, the youngest children
"a boy Of nine. and q little girl Of sew
en--were as capable Of pronouncing
grace before meat as any clergyman
whom ever saw lead IN that ceremony.
The one member Of the household who
did not with apparent perfect uncon-
seriousness take his turn in the grace
before and the Thanksgiving after n
meal and In family prayers night and
morning, was the eldest son who was
Just graduated from an eastern unlyer-
sity. His mother deplored the lax
opinions and the careless religious hab-
It's which he had acquired I'm his New
England associations. This family
was ardently Mormon" but no mem
Der Of Il had ever lived In plural mar
rlage OF course, II can easily he said
that this family was an exception, as
II probably was In wealth and intclli-
gence as well as In rigid religious train.
ing; but the religious habit seemed to
be the universal habit OF mind among
both men and women. To them, as 10
me- polygamy appeared 10 be rather an
incident In the historic evolution Of
their faith. than a form essential 10 it's
continuance.
cannot leave this part Of my letter
without paying what J consider a de-
served tribute to the Mormon women
whom / have most intimately known
/ consider II n privilege TO have known
several OF the surviving wives Of
Brigham Youngi n privilege TO have
known the late President Snow and
his wife, Mrs Minnie j. Snow; a privi-
lege TO have known Mrs. Emeline Is,
Wells, born and reared I'm Boston, as
we know; with a sort Of Prlscilla-like
Puritanism still cXholing from her.
Daughters and grand-daughters Of the
most famous Of the early opponents OF
this doctrine, ! am proud and CRATE
ful TO count among my friends. ] have
found them women Of exceptional abil-
ability which comes from thinking hab-
itually upon serious and important sub
jects; women Of perfect deicacy Of
mind and habit; women Of lofty aspir-
ations and capable of giving themselves
IN generous service for the betterment
of the community. / cannot blame these
women for being unwilling TO attest
their belief I'm monogamy by reproach-
ing the memories Of their fathers and
their grandfathers. To my mind the
best proof they can give Of their belief
I'm the mOnOgamic marriage is that
they have formed such marriages and
that they live chastely and lovingly,
bearing and rearing their children IN
the fear and knowledge OF the Lord To
my mind, recognizing that we are all
of us the results OF the evolutionary
process. a process devised, created, and
directed by Him whom We call by DIFF
ferent names but who, 10y whatever
name He may be called IN any part Of
the world, is recognized as Fountain
and Goal Of the human soul. recognlS-
ing that every one NJ us exhibits diff
ferent degree Of illumination at differ-
ent periods Of her individual Or Of her
social development, we ought TO have
sufficient confidence IN the inherent
charms Of the monogamic relation, to
believe that by contact with those
whose antcccdents have been different,
and certainly less desirable than our
own. we may win them from whatever
danger there may still exist OF their
falling into ancient errors
I now come 90 the last point which |
wish 20 discuss, namely: Where rests
the responsibility for the degeneracy of
current opinion and current practise IN
respect to MARRIAGE" From my point
of view. much OF this degeneracy pro-
ceeds from the fact that women have
assumed that they alone are ia be the
maintainers Of the home, the protectors
OF It's purity, that upon them rests the
responsibility for preserving the insti-
tuition which is so dear TO them
would excuse no woman for any light
ness OF view or any laXness of prac-
tlse: but "a exactly the same degree OF
responsibility for the pure home to
which / hold women, to that would !
unyieldingly hold men with the deepest
sympathy with what the women desire
who have been passing condemnatory