xxxvi INTRODUCTION 



instances in the development of the western part of 

 the United States was the migrations of the Mormons 

 under the autocratic, shrewd leadership of Brigham 

 Young, from Missouri to the valley of the Great Salt 

 Lake. Those people represented a religion which was 

 founded on pure fallacy on the one hand and colossal 

 egotism on the other. Yet it commanded the devotion 

 of thousands of men and women through religious 

 persecutions surpassing any ever inflicted in this coun- 

 try. It sent the contingent over a thousand miles of 

 unknown desert and mountain; persuaded them to set- 

 tle In a region so salt and arid that only one scrubby 

 tree grew there; and Induced them to accept an insti- 

 tution, that of plural marriage, so repugnant to the 

 natures of many of them who were of New England 

 Puritan extraction, that they declared they would 

 rather have died than conform. If there Is any Influ- 

 ence In this world which can exceed that of a religious 

 Idea, true or false, which has become a conviction In 

 the human mind, it has not been our fortune to have 

 chanced upon It. Salt Lake City and the development 

 of Utah is proof. 



What we wish to prove Is this, however. Religion 

 has been trying these centuries of time to demonstrate 

 the reality of God; and to assign him place and meas- 

 urement. It has been trying with equal diligence and 

 methods to prove that man is Immortal. It has failed 

 In both Instances. Religion certainly has not failed 

 to Implant convictions In response to which men have 

 joyfully confronted physical torments. It has not 

 failed to provide consolation and reassurance for mul- 

 titudes of saddened people. An honest practice and 



