1850 11,380
1860 40,273
1870 86,786
1880 143,963
1890 207,905
1900 276,749
The census of 1890 (the religious statistics of the census of 1900 are not yet available) shows that, of a total church membership of 128,115 in Utah, the Latter-Day Saints numbered 118,201.
What may be called the Mormon political policy embraces these objects: to maintain the dictatorial power of the priesthood over the present church membership; to extend that membership over the adjoining states so as to acquire in the latter, first a balance of power, and later complete political control; to continue the work of proselyting throughout the United States and in foreign lands with a view to increasing the strength of the church at home by the immigration to Utah of the converts.
That the power of the Mormon priesthood over their flock has never been more autocratic than it is to-day is the testimony of the best witnesses who may be cited. A natural reason for this may be found in the strength which always comes to a religious sect with age, if it survives the period of its infancy. We have seen that in the early days of the church its members apostatized in scores, intimate acquaintance with Smith and his associates soon disclosing to men of intelligence and property their real objects. But the church membership in and around Utah to-day is made up of the children and the grandchildren of men and women who remained steadfast in their faith. These younger generations are therefore influenced in their belief, not only by such appeals as what is taught to them makes to their reason, but by the fact that these teachings are the teachings which have been accepted by their ancestors. It is, therefore, vastly more difficult to convince a younger Mormon to-day that his belief rests on a system of fraud than it was to enforce a similar argument on the minds of men and women who joined the Saints in Ohio or Illinois. We find, accordingly, that apostasies in Utah are of comparatively rare occurrence; that men of all classes accept orders to go on missions to all parts of the world without question; and that the tithings are paid with greater regularity than they have been since the days of Brigham Young.
The extension of the membership of the Mormon church over the states and territories nearest to Utah has been carried on with intelligent zeal. The census of 1890 gives the following comparison of members of Latter-Day Saints churches and of "all bodies" in the states and territories named:—
******* L.D. SAINTS **** ALL BODIES
Idaho******* 14,972 **** 24,036
Arizona***** 6,500 **** 26,972
Nevada****** 525 **** 5,877
Wyoming***** 1,336 **** 11,705
Colorado**** 1,762 **** 86,837
New Mexico** 456 **** 105,749
The political influence of the Mormon church in all the states and territories adjacent to Utah is already great, amounting in some instances to practical dictation. It is not necessary that any body of voters should have the actual control of the politics of a state to insure to them the respect of political managers. The control of certain counties will insure to them the subserviency of the local politicians, who will speak a good word for them at the state capital, and the prospect that they will have greater influence in the future will be pressed upon the attention of the powers that be. We have seen how steadily the politicians of California at Washington stood by the Mormons in their earlier days, when they were seeking statehood and opposing any federal control of their affairs. The business reasons which influenced the Californians are a thousand times more effective to-day. The Cooperative Institution has a hold on the Eastern firms from which it buys goods, and every commercial traveller who visits Utah to sell the goods of his employers to Mormon merchants learns that a good word for his customers is always appreciated. The large corporations that are organized under the laws of Utah (and this includes the Union Pacific Railroad Company) are always in some way beholden to the Mormon legislative power. All this sufficiently indicates the measures quietly taken by the Mormon church to guard itself against any further federal interference.
The mission work of the Mormon church has always been conducted with zeal and efficiency, and it is so continued to-day. The church authorities in Utah no longer give out definite statistics showing the number of missionaries in the field, and the number of converts brought to Utah from abroad. The number of missionaries at work in October, 1901, was stated to me by church officers at from fourteen hundred to nineteen hundred, the smaller number being insisted upon as correct by those who gave it. As nearly as could be ascertained, about one-half this force is employed in the United States and the rest abroad. The home field most industriously cultivated has been the rural districts of the Southern states, whose ignorant population, ever susceptible to "preaching" of any kind, and quite incapable of answering the Mormon interpretation of the Scriptures, is most easily lead to accept the Mormon views. When such people are offered an opportunity to improve their worldly condition, as they are told they may do in Utah, at the same time that they can save their souls, the bait is a tempting one. The number of missionaries now at work in these Southern states is said to be much smaller than it was two years ago. Meanwhile the work of proselyting in the Eastern Atlantic states has become more active. The Mormons have their headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, and their missionaries make visits in all parts of Greater New York. They leave a great many tracts in private houses, explaining that they will make another call later, and doing so if they receive the least encouragement. They take great pains to reach servant girls with their literature and arguments, and the story has been published* of a Mormon missionary who secured employment as a butler, and made himself so efficient that his employer confided to him the engagement of all the house servants; in time the frequent changes which he made aroused suspicion, and an investigation disclosed the fact that he was a Mormon of good education, who used his position as head servant to perform effective proselyting work. By promise of a husband and a home of her own on her arrival in Utah, this man was said to have induced sixty girls to migrate from New York City to that state since he began his labors.
* New York Sun, January 27, 1901.
The Mormons estimate the membership of their church throughout the world at a little over 300,000. The numbers of "souls" in the church abroad was thus reported for the year ending December 31, 1899, as published in the Millennial Star:—