Charges Against Mormonism
Mormonism.—The Independent of March 3 has a symposium on the Mormon Question, in which some startling charges are made, with the citation of authorities to prove them. For instance, Prof. Marcus E. Jones, of Salt Lake City, tells us that Mormon marriages may be performed even by a Mormon elder; that there are no penalties for performing polygamous marriages; that these marriages are always in some temple in which no Gentile is allowed to enter (the dedication of the Salt Lake City temple being an exception); that all records are kept secret; that, rather than deliver them to the officers of the law, the custodians will perjure themselves; that “ninety-nine out of every hundred polygamists when brought to trial commit perjury without hesitation, their wives and families the same, and are even advised to do so by their church leaders;” that while the Deseret News, the Mormon official organ, owned by the George Q. Cannon family, denies the practise of polygamy, Cannon is known to have resumed his polygamous relations; that there is no law in the State against polygamy or adultery that is enforced; that “social vice is rampant, and chastity is the exception rather than the rule;” but that the rank and file of the Mormon Church “are unmistakably against polygamy, are measurably honest, are socially loose,” and “many good mothers and pure girls” “deplore this rotten state of affairs.” It is a dark picture, and the only remedy suggested is the absolute disfranchisement of Mormons (an impossibility), and, by another, a national marriage and divorce law. Other writers show that the polygamy principle was never abandoned, and is held by the Mormons as an “everlasting covenant,” an “essential” part of their religion. Their increase the past year has been over 60,000, or nearly 33 per cent. Surely the picture is a dark one, but the only way to save people from their deceptive, destructive heresies is to lift up Christ, to preach the Word.