THE MORMON PROBLEM.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1331, 3 December 1883, Page 2

THE MORMON PROBLEM.

* . .Colonel Godfrey, a member of the United States Commission, lias just returned from Utah, and gives bis ideas of the ultimate effect of the Edmunds Bill in accomplishing the purpose for which it was intended. "There are 160,000 people in Utah to-day," said Colonel Godfrey. "Of these 15,000 are polygamists. The operation of the Edmunds Bill is confined solely to those who practice polygamy. A professor of the Mormon religion with only one wife does not come within the scope of the law. The work of the Commission has been confined to disfranchise polygamists. I The law provides that every citizen i shall be registered before he shall have the right to vote, and if his name don't appear on the register he has no ap- „ ,peaL As female suffrage is one of the Mormon institutions, :$, large number oif women — more women indeed than m«n — have been omited from the registry lists along with their lords and masters. So far as possible the Commissioners have endeavored to keep the name of every polyganiist from appearing on the lists. The Mormons are disposed to interpose every obstacle to the enforcement of the law, which to them is extremely odious. They have made up ten test cases, which will be submitted to the Court as soon as possible. While there is no \ doubt that the Courts will affirm the constitutionality of the law, the Mormons will leave no stone unturned to impede its operation. The suppression of polygamy is only a question of time. While the Edmunds Bill may not accomplish all that is claimed for it, I regard it as the entering wedge which is designed to divide the Mormon Church. The power of naming the officials has heretofore rested with the Church as a whole, but when the law is enforced so that no polygamist can vote, the voting class will determine the candidates, to the letter and spirit of the law. This itself will utterly break down polygamy. The railroads also accomplish much in this direction. With railroads opening up the country, thousands of Gentiles pour in, who will speedily outnumber the Mormons and get possession of the municipal offices, which are now held by Mormons. When it becomes apparent that a polygamist cmnot rise to honor or profit, an abridgement of the number of wives will speedily follow. •• The Mormon people are quiet and orderly, a^_Pj^^ rogwjations_are lived up to the same as elsewhere. Salt Lake will compare favorably in this respect with any Eastern city of like population. Contrary to general impression, licentious practices are not more prevalent than in Gentile communities. There are many wealthy Mormons, especially in Salt Lake ; these for the most part, are content with one wife. It is due to the more refined classes to state that among them polygamy is gradually falling into disrepute. Those who till the barren soil of that region compose the poorer classes, and among tliem plurality of wives is quite common. Numbers of proselytes, induced by missionaries to come from Europe, arriv© on every train. They hunt out little valleys between the mountains and scratch the unproductive soil with rude implements, obtaining only a miserable subsistence. Numbers have entered Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Arizona, where they follow the course of the streams." '■* ... .1. — — ~ —