“His Excellency Thomas Ford.”
IV.
I think that the unpalatable assertion in the text will be proved by the following contrasted extracts from the London “Times” and the “Deserét News.”
The Black Country.—The reports of the assistant commissioners engaged in the recent education inquiry contain some very painful notices of the state of morals in some parts of the kingdom. In collier villages in Durham, where the men earn high wages, which they know no way of spending but in the gratification of animal appetites, the condition of the people in respect to morals and manners, it is said, may not be described. Adultery is made a matter of mere jest, and incest also is frightfully common, and seems to excite no disgust. In some of those parts girls mingle with boys at school till 13, 14, or 15 years of age, and that in schools not superintended by women; it is impossible to state the coarseness of manners that prevails in these schools. Coming south, into Staffordshire, we are told that in the union of Dudley, where boys and girls can earn high wages, their independence of their parents’ aid to maintain them leads to a remarkable independence of conduct, and, in fact, no restraint is put upon their inclinations either by their parents or the opinion of the neighborhood. It is held rather a shame to an unmarried woman not to have had a child; and the assistant commissioner, Mr. Coode, says that the details given to him by the most respectable and trustworthy witnesses would, if they could be reported, be discredited by most men of the world only acquainted with the ordinary profligacy of the poor; but he adds that, notwithstanding all this, the behavior and manners in other respects of girls and women is not in public less decent than that in places of better repute, and it is generally asserted that this early corruption of females does not hinder them from being very good neighbors, and excellent, hard-working, and affectionate wives and mothers. Education in this district is not much prized; it is a common saying, “The father went to the pit and he made a fortune, the son went to school and he lost it.” But so much has been done by the upper classes in providing schools for the lower that education is gradually making its way, and many who can not read are ashamed of their deficiency, and desirous to have their children taught. In a village where an energetic clergyman, who has adopted a rough, strong style of preaching, has succeeded in filling his church, Mr. Coode noticed during the service that all the people affected to find the place in the books furnished to them, but full half the books were held upside down, and within his observation not one was open at the right place, except where some young person taught to read in the school was by to find it.
An Ordinance relating to Houses of Ill-fame and Prostitution.
Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the City Council of Great Salt Lake City, that any person or persons who shall be found guilty of keeping, or shall be an inmate of any house of ill-fame, or place for the practice of fornication or adultery, or knowingly own or be interested as proprietor or landlord of any such house, or any person or persons harboring or keeping about his, her, or their private premises any whore-master, strumpet, or whore, knowing them to be guilty of following a lewd course of life, shall be liable to a fine for each offense not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction. In a prosecution under this section, the person having charge of any house or place shall be deemed the keeper thereof.
Sec. 2. It shall be lawful, on the trial of any person before said court charged with either of the offenses named in the preceding section, for the city to introduce in support of such charge testimony of the general character and reputation of the person or place touching the offense or charge set forth in the complaint, and the defendant may likewise resort to testimony of a like nature for the purpose of disproving such charge.
Sec. 3. No person shall be incapacitated or excused from testifying touching any offense committed by another against any of the provisions set forth in the first section of this ordinance by reason of his or her having participated in such crime, but the evidence which may be given by such person shall in no case be used against the person so testifying.
Sec. 4. The word adultery, as made use of in this ordinance, shall be construed to mean the unlawfully cohabiting together of two persons when either one or both of such persons are married; and the word fornication shall be construed to mean the cohabiting together of two unmarried persons.