The year 1891 formed a crisis in the history of Mormonism in America. For a long time after their settlement in the “Great American Desert,” as it was then called, Mormons repudiated United States authority. Gentile pioneers and recreant saints they dealt with summarily, witness the Mountain Meadow massacre of 1857, where 120 victims were murdered in cold blood after surrendering their arms.
The Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City.
Anti-polygamy bills were introduced in Congress in 1855 and 1859. In 1862 such a bill was made law. Seven years later the enforcement of it became possible by the building of a trans-continental railroad and the influx of gentiles drawn by the discovery of precious metals in Utah. In 1874 the Poland Act, and in 1882 the Edmunds Act, introduced reforms. Criminal law was now much more efficiently executed against Mormons. In 1891 the Mormon officials pledged their church’s obedience to the laws against plural marriages and unlawful cohabitation.
America was quick and generous in her response to the famine cry that in 1891 rose from 30,000,000 people in Russia. Over a domain of nearly a half million square miles in that land there was no cow or goat for milk, nor a horse left strong enough to draw a hearse. Old grain stores were exhausted, crops a failure, and land a waste. Typhus, scurvy, and smallpox were awfully prevalent. To relieve this misery, our people, besides individual gifts, despatched four ship-loads of supplies gathered from twenty-five States. In values given New York led, Minnesota was a close second, and Nebraska third. America became a household word among the Russians even to the remotest interior.
CHAPTER V.
THE WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION
Columbian Celebration, New York, April 28, 1893.
Parade passing Fifth Avenue Hotel.
The thought of celebrating by a world’s fair the third centennial of Columbus’s immortal deed anticipated the anniversary by several years. Congress organized the exposition so early as 1890, fixing Chicago as its seat. That city was commodious, central, typically American. A National Commission was appointed; also an Executive Committee, a Board of Reference and Control, a Chicago Local Board, and a Board of Lady Managers.
The task of preparation was herculean. Jackson Park had to be changed from a dreary lakeside swamp into a lovely city, with roads, lawns, groves and flowers, canals, lagoons and bridges, a dozen palaces, and ten score other edifices. An army of workmen, also fire, police, ambulance, hospital, and miscellaneous service was organized.