The Mormon puzzle, and how to solve it

AND HOW TO SOLVE IT.
BY REV. R. W. BEERS, A.M., PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ELKTON, MD.
“A disposition to reserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman”—Edmund Burke.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, By FUNK & WAGNALLS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
To my Parents , TO WHOSE SELF-SACRIFICE AND DEVOTION I OWE SO MUCH, THIS VOLUME IS LOVINGLY Dedicated .

The following pages have at least the merit of being addressed to a subject of living interest to the American people. Perhaps with the single exception of the labor problem, the Mormon problem is the most important question before the people of our country at the present time. It is a problem which has thus far been unsolvable by the moralist, the statesman, and the politician. It still remains a Puzzle. No feasible plan has yet been hit upon for getting rid of it.
From the past failures to solve it, it would seem that the problem has either not been studied from the proper standpoint, or has been misunderstood. Accordingly, we instituted a careful study of the problem in all its different phases, and endeavored to conduct our investigation in a fair and impartial manner. In doing so we consulted the leading authorities, both Mormon and non-Mormon, and must here acknowledge our indebtedness especially to “New Light on Mormonism,” by Mrs. Ellen E. Dickinson; “Illiteracy and Mormonism,” by Henry Randall Waite; Professor Coyner’s “Handbook on Mormonism;” Schaff-Herzog’s “Encyclopædia of Religious Knowledge;” and back files of the Independent , Christian Union , and Deseret News —all of which were freely used in the preparation of this volume.
It has the merit of being the product of about two years’ careful thought and research. Most of the writings on Mormonism at the present day are the result of a few days’ study of the subject on the field of Utah; but, apart from the insufficient time which such authors devote to the study of so knotty a problem, their minds are very apt to be warped by the people among whom their lot is cast during their short visit there, and they almost inevitably present a one-sided view of the question.