112 PERILS. — MORMONISM. 



the Mormons and the United States government. It is 

 this which has prevented the admission of Utah as a 

 state. It is this against which Congress has legislated. 

 And yet, i^olygamy is not an essential part of Mormon- 

 ism ; it was an after-thought ; not a root, but a graft. 

 There is a large and growing sect of the Mormons, i not 

 located in Utah, which would excommunicate a member 

 for practicing it. Nor is polygamy a very large part of 

 Mormonism. Only a small minority practice it. More- 

 over, it can never become general among the "saints," 

 for nature has legislated on that point, and her laws ad- 

 mit of no evasions. In Utah, as elsewhere, there are 

 more males born than females ; and, in the membership 

 of the Mormon Church there ai-e several thousand more 

 men than women. 



Polygamy might be utterly destroyed, without se- 

 riously weakening Mormonism. It has served to 

 strengthen the system somewhat by thoroughly entan- 

 gling its victim in the Mormon net ; for a polygamist is 

 not apt to apostatize. He has multiplied his " hostages 

 to fortune ; " he cannot abandon helpless wives and chil- 

 dren as easily as he might turn aAvay from pernicious 

 doctrines. Moreover, he has arrayed himself against 

 the government with law-breakers. Franklin's saying 

 to the signers of the Declaration of Index:>endence 

 is appropriately put into the mouths of this class: 

 " If we don't liang together, we shall all hang sep- 

 arately." Still, it may be questioned whether polygamy 

 has added more of strength or weakness ; for its evil re- 

 sults doubtless have often led the children of such mar- 

 riages, and many others, to question the faith, and finally 

 abandon it. 



What, then, is the real strength of Mormonism? It is 

 ecclesiastical despotism which holds it together, unifies 

 it. and makes it strong. The Mormon Church is prob- 

 ably the most complete organization in the world. To 



The Josepliites. scattered through the United States, are law-abiding cit- 

 izens, deluded, but inoffensive. They are now said to number 25,000. 



