Arizona republican., 1910-12-24
Brigham Young and the Silver.

The people of Utah having decided to give a silver table service for the use of the officers of the battleship Utah. it was deemed appropriate by them to have the face of Brigham Young on the bas- relief of the silver pieces. For all we know, they will carry out their purpose. But the Women's Republican club of Manhat- tan has raised a vigorous objection These ladies protest that it would be outrageous" to place the benign features of the late leader of the Mormons upon the battleship's sil- yer
 We don't look for any popular up- rising against the proposal of the people of Utah, notwithstanding the fiery objections of the New York la dies. It is customary for the people of a state to contribute silver serv- ice to the battleship which bears the name of their state, and it is scarcely in good taste for anybody outside the state in question to undertake to give orders about the gift.
 But more than that, why should anybody object to the honor which the people of Utah wish to pay to Brigham Young? The west, espe cially, owes a great deal to Brigham Young The reclamation of the des erts by irrigation was begun by him. He was the white mans pio- neer in an industry which has trans formed the west He was a wise leader in laying the foundations of a great commonwealth. He was one of the shrewdest business men America has produced. After more experienced and better equipped and better edu- cated men than he had failed over and over again at different periods of the worlds history in trying to work out schemes of practical CO., operation in building up communities. he demonstrated that it was feasible
 
 wealthy by cooperation. Had it not been for his peculiar religious be- liefs and his championship of polyg- amy, Brigham Young, with his mate rial achievements to show for his talents. would have been acclaimed, even in his own lifetime. one of this country's greatest men.
 And of course it is because of his religion and because of pOlygamy that the New York women object to the honor to his memory which has been suggested. But why make a fuss over those things now? Polyg- amy is dead. and all the shrieks in the undertaking magazines in their wild efforts to work up a sensation on a new subject cannot arouse the public to even a Ianguid interest in the subject of polygamy. The Mor- mon people-as a people-are observ- ing in good faith the compact they made with the government when Utah was admitted. They have aban- doned polygamy as a part of their creed. If an occasional one of their number violates the compact-and the sensational writers have difficulty in showing that much-it is of no more significance than the occasional 'vio- lation of the law by "gentiles." Nor are such violations to be charged to the Mormons any more than to other churches in which unworthy members are found.
 As to the religious beliefs of the Mormons, aside from the faded bogey of polygamy. it will be impossible for either the excitable women of New York or the writers in the undertaking magazines to get public attention. It is the verdict in every state that has a Mormon population, that Nor mons are good citizens. It is eX- tremely rare that they are found as litigants in the courts. and more sell dom still that one of them is a crimi- nal We have a few Mormons in Arizona, and except for their bad habit of voting the democratic ticket. we find them wholly unobjection- able
 If it is the religion taught by Brig ham Young which makes good citi zens of the Mormons, there are some communities in the east in which a Mormon propaganda might do some good.