The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-11-21
WILL MORMON P0LYGAMY RECUR?
4 A Study by One Who Was Reared Within the System

| or selnsn ueiSHt, dPPtoNSh " oot an"
iourishing by permission OF an easy
/ going world.
Can any student Of psychology doubt
that feelings and faith so determined,
so resolute, so selfish, so alive and sup
pressed only by greater brute strength,
| vii! break out and flourish in swagger-
! ing self-expression as soon as the
paddock is taken of, or the seethlng
caldron can remove or lift the nd
Even twenty years have not cooled
those fires. and il is not by any means
certain that the younger generations
will greatly diverge from the path OF
their fathers They are. many of them,
at least. "chirs off the old blocks y
so far as Intelligence. understanding,
sympathy and Spirituality. go.
a sufficient distance of time inter
venes between today and the heart
breaking experiences of their fathers
that those heart cries have been for
gotten If the prophet says: Thus
saith the Lord at moment when ne
believes he can safely do so, since the
rulers OF his country are tired and have
ceased TO watch, he will find thousands
of willing henchmen to obey. And he
is waiting aud itching to say 1T. Hun
dreds are anxious that he shall.
II is not wise. in the consideration or
ally If done publicly, for public enlight-
eminent and the betterment of humanity
and it's condition 10 treat such theme
with prejudice We have sometimes
preindiCe that amounts 10 superstition
in favor Of some long established lns1tn-
tion so long established IN fact that
it has come to seem God-ests sblshed,
On the other hand our prejudices
against some new idea which we have
had neither time, opportunity nor lncll-
nation to examine, may blind us wholly
TO new light and keep us forever
crawling in the old rat with eyes shut
to q bright new truth.
The Mormon people clam that poly
eamy is God-inspired solution of the
marriage problem. That marriage is
problem Is conceded hv thousands of
intelligent aud pure minded people,
Some of the most earnest and honest of
our race have thought deeply and pure
" upon the subject, with pare aim
10 solve problem that lies at the root
not only of our happiness and progress,
but at the very springs of humanity.
The divorce courts prove too we'll that
TO many our system of marriage has
been proved q failure While many
hold that the unwritten history of mar
riaee which Will never be told, even
where people are doing as well as pos
sible, according to their conception of
the relation, is an Indictment against
the institution.
We viii remember rs We read the
past, that many solutions of the sex
relation have been tried by the human
race; and today the majority Of the civ
ilized world are living according to the
homogeneous standard. Christians claim
that this has been established by God,
I'm N nd of m
divorce courts and in various WAYS.
Mormonism comes forward, and even
TO the Smoot Investigating Committee,
SAYS:
IL believe that polygsmy would
solve the social problem Let us be
fair and brave enough to admit that
throughout the length and breadth of
our country today. there are thousands
Of men, and perhaps women as we'll,
who lend semi-listening, semi.acquies-
cent ear to the suggestion.
VIII 1t? Would II, If given chance
by becoming legalzed
Let ii never be forgotten that Nor
mon polygamy means female subservi-
ence. \ wife. first, second. or tenth. is
bound by bonds as unbreakabe, as
inaissoluble. as binding as are the mar
rage bonds of the Christian monoga-
nous wife; and that hateful as they
may become under the dominance of
another and fayorite wife, they ure IN
eXtricable In binding wives TO the
Mormon, though il may be twenty, each
one is really bound. and To her mar
rage must be sacred, To the woman
there is no elasticity, no 60 solution Of
the problem, should IT prove to be ''for
worse. though to the man the differ
encc of condition can be easily discov-
cred. So far does the Mormon belief
carry tins subscrvience OF woman that
it is ono of their tenets that Christ shall
raise the man from the grave in the
morning OF the resurrection, bnt woman
must depend upon her husband for this
awful redemption from death. He IT is
who takes her nand and bids her arise
to everlasting life, If she be worthy!
Any serious misstep in her life. IN her
fidelity to him, no matter how large a
harem he may have, may mean refusal
on his part 10 thus arouse her from
her eternal sleep
Let the thinker, the man or woman
who is seeking truth, righteousness. Jus.
ticc, the triumph of light and right,
consider whether such a solution to the
social problem is good one Cou-
slider the psychological effect upon the
race OF such condition of iniquity be
tween the sexes. The mothers subdued,
suhservient, Jealous, disconteuted. dis.
satisfied, believing themselves to be
born inferior iu the vcrv sight of God;
the fathers arrogant. dominant self
satlsned through pride of authority in
a patrlarchal order that places them in
The high seats of the synagogue among
The elders, with the worshipfu ewes Of
the women and other interiors gazing
mp at them admiringlyl Their hearts
growo proud, cold. uuIoviug. selfish.
don,nceriug by the very force of the
situation: perfectly natural result. To
say nothing Of the privatiou to
woman of bcr natural mate and loving
companion, and the coarse, brutal
physical concept of the relation of tho
sexes which would be aud is. the dc.
grading result TO the man,
This is the history to which we of a
generation ago look back with aching
memories And so we can send our as
surancc 10 rcformers of social condi-
I