There is a block of 18,000 acres lying in the southern part of the rich and productive Cache Valley north of Salt Lake City, which Brigham Young secured by trampling the laws of the United States under foot. It is said that he had a four-roomed house built on runners. Hauling it to the centre of a section of land, each one of the four quarters would have a room on its corner. Four men would sleep there one night, each occupying a separate room; and the next day they would make pre-emption filings at the land-office, while four other men would perform a similar act the next day and night; and so on, until most of the beautiful Cache Valley was thus entered. Soon afterward the men appeared at the land-office, paid over $1.25 per acre, and then they deeded the land to Brigham Young.
When the Government of the United States first undertook to establish a surveyor-general’s office in Salt Lake City for the sake of surveying the public lands and disposing of them in accordance with the laws of Congress, the surveyor-general was given to understand that that country belonged to the Mormons, and he had to fly for his life. In 1856 all the representatives of the Government without exception had to escape from the Territory to save their lives, and were plainly shown that Americans had no rights in Utah.
And when, with a new body of Federal representatives, there soon came a military force under General Sidney Johnston sufficient to compel respect and obedience, Brigham Young cursed the Government, the troops, and the Gentiles, and in his usual coarse and emphatic style declared that he would “send them all to hell on wooden legs,” and that they had better supply themselves then, when lumber was cheap. I mention these facts simply to show that the main object of the Mormon leaders from the very first was to establish a separate and independent government of their own, whose authority should be considered by the Mormon people superior to the authority of the Federal Government. And this accounts for the conflict which has existed between the Mormon authorities and the United States Government for the past thirty-five years, and which is still going on.
But not only does this hostility to our Government arise out of the fundamental idea of their religion as a THEOCRACY and hence opposed to democracy; but also, and in great part, because of their early persecutions in the States of Missouri and Illinois, and the unavenged murder of their chief, Joseph Smith, whom they regarded as God’s greatest prophet. The inhumanity, barbarity, and injustice that was meted out to them in their early history I have already mentioned; and in considering this perplexing puzzle, we must recollect that the Mormons have some cause for their enmity to our Government. On account of wrongs done them, they are the sworn enemies of the Government and people of our land.
They practise certain secret and mysterious ordinances known as “Endowments.” To the faithful Mormon these are made to seem precious initiatory rites whereby he is advanced in his knowledge of the true faith and exalted by the possession of new privileges. In reality they are a sort of crudely-acted religious drama, not unlike the miracle plays of the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. God and Satan, Adam and Eve, and others are persons in the drama. In its course there is a jumble of washings and anointings, of grips, and key-words and new names, and the investiture of each of the initiated in an Endowment robe. This sacred undergarment is always thereafter to be worn next to the person, carefully shrouding it at the last for its burial. There are also prayers and solemn promises and awful oaths, with penalties more awful, appended. It has been charged against these rites that they are scenes of indecency and licentiousness; but probably the charge is false. Absurd, irreverent, and even blasphemous they doubtless are, but it is to be believed not indecent.
Now, among the oaths there taken is one of resentful hostility to the American nation for not avenging the death of Joseph Smith or righting the persecutions of the Saints; and thus the secret endowment ceremonies act as a powerful agency in ministering an unpatriotic, if not treasonable, bent to the Mormon system. Every Mormon who passes through the Endowment House takes an oath of eternal enmity against the people and Government of this land.
Yes, the fact is that there are 130,000 people in Utah cursing the American flag! And this was clearly seen on the Fourth of July last (1885), when the Stars and Stripes were hung at half mast on the Mormon buildings of Salt Lake City. Thus did they insult the whole American nation, and show their disloyalty in an unmistakable manner.
They are taught to be traitors to the Government. The children do not know the name of our President, and are told that John Taylor is their President. Many of the Mormons are scarcely conscious that there is a world outside of Utah. Salt Lake City is their Mecca, and John Taylor is greater than all the kings of the earth. They all believe him to be at the head of the Government, and that the laws are broken when his commands are not obeyed. It is flatly denied that the State has any authority over them, and it is expected that all Mormons will, if required, shed their blood in resisting the civil power if it interferes with their laws and customs.
The country at large seems blindly ignorant of the dangerous character of this institution that rears its insolent crest in the very heart of our country. The truth is, that in Mormonism we are confronted with an organized treason against our Government and our laws. Its spirit is that of rebellion. It will not down; on the contrary, it is growing and spreading daily. The Mormons are penetrating Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington Territory. The income of the Church is about $3,000,000 annually, and is used in propagating the faith. Emissaries are sent to England, Sweden, and Denmark, proselyting the ignorant, and bringing them to our shores at the rate of about two thousand every year, to swell the number in their kingdom. One of the probable objects to be attained by the promulgation of the doctrine of polygamy was the speedier increase of their numbers than could be obtained in the ordinary Christian way. Their number in our land at the present time is about 150,000, and they openly boast of their power in politics. Recently Bishop Lunt, of Cedar City, Utah, in addressing a gathering of the Saints, declared: “We look forward with perfect confidence to the day when we will hold the reins of the United States Government. That is our present temporal aim; after that we expect to control the Continent.” And, after speaking of how rapidly the Mormons are spreading in the Territories and in Nevada, he said: “All this will in time help us to build up a political power which will, sooner or later, compel the homage of the demagogues of the country. Then, in some great political crisis, the two political parties will bid for our support. Utah will be admitted as a polygamous State, the other Territories we have peacefully subjugated will be admitted also, and then we will hold the balance of power and will dictate to the country. In time our sacred principles will spread throughout the United States.”
That is their confessed plan, and in its execution they are shrewd and far-seeing politicians. No men better understand how to run “the machine.” If any one takes the Mormon leaders to be fools, he is wonderfully mistaken as to their capacity. But while this is a shrewd plan from the Mormon standpoint, it seems to me that a great deal of alarming talk has been needlessly uttered about the fact that the Mormons are no longer staying in Utah exclusively, but are going into other Territories also and trying to subjugate them. The scattering of the Mormons would be the very best way to break up the evil which would result from their political power. If only the Mormons were to divide up, and companies of them go to every Territory, their political power would be broken; for they would be but a small minority of the people of any Territory, and their votes would be neutralized. The only danger is in their being so massed together as to control by their votes the State or the Territory wherein they dwell; and the United States and the Territories should be on their guard so as to prevent their becoming a majority or even a large minority of the people in any one State or Territory where there are Mormon colonies at present. But it is not very probable that the Mormons will in the near future become the controlling element in any Territory or State outside of Utah.