Show AX AN OPEN LETTER TO henny hrnry WARD wand brecher BEECHER PROVO CITY dec SO 30 1883 henry mard ward beecher Se echer esq deft delu delair dek sir I 1 was much pleased with that portion of your lecture delivered ont on thanksgiving day referring to the people of my faith the mormons cormons Mor mons so called pleased with the humanitarian view in w which you regard us and consider that in your views as expressed on the occasion mcalli on is couched an ek exhortation horta t to your hearers to give us at least f fair air play for tor which you have my iny thanks hanks i now while I 1 admire your fairness I 1 n ess I 1 am sorry that you have spoken unadvisedly in regard to some points for instance you are arc entirely astray when you state that the bishops or priesthood have absolute power ower oyer the irrigation sects or ditches now my dear sir such is not the case it Is true our teachers a portion of our priesthood in regard to matters in dispute between brethren may advise antl anel e exhort and also give their views upon the matter but so far their duties are at an end they have no executive power the bishop may then hear the case in dispute and render his decision thereon havin having executive power to the r of offenders appeal may be taken erom brom from the bisho bishops Is court to our high councils and ae the decision of the bishops bishop s court be sustained or set aside by the high council yet there are those of our falth faith who refuse to abide by the decision of that body of men allow themselves to suffer the penalty of excommunication and geek seek their rights real or suppose aas th maybe mayhe may be before the district courts ane one instance occurred of late in which I 1 saw parties who bou bought lit a case of disputed water rights nights ri lits before beyore the high council one of them then and there declared he not abide the decision but would suffer the penalty excommunication and seek ills rights through the civil law now these courts of not come in collision with the district courts or the laws of the Terri territory tor q or the united states as when questions are in dispute relating relating to property ri rights ats our courts decisions are often made with the view that they shall be assented to by uie vie th e parties litigant land carried to the district courts of the territory that record may be made and so become legalized allow me therefore to inform you that our I 1 pr priesthood lest iest hood do not I 1 own the machinery through which flows our irrigation streams and have no absolute qs as an appeal to q judge emerson Emer emen sou son or an any of bur district very soon determine but our water nights rights are held under the law by corporations in some instances munica municipal all subject and in conformity to t the tall tail e laws aws ot of the territory the sl absolute power I 1 I 1 of priesthood our is all bosh let a bishop interfere with a mans irrigation stream when he is using the water within the time to him by the duly installed and in many instances the absolute powerlessness of the bishop would be made manifest before the enraged farmer whose crop was possibly burning up for the want of water it is wonderful to all that with the number of farns farms small and lar large ede pendent dependent od onlie the irrigation stream sf sor or the watering inhof of the crops that we get along as ag well as we do dom in the regulation and distribution trib ution of the water ta wehe gehe the owners of the land we how however evero at ver very y great eat intervals have assault and baffert battery coes originating in disputes overt over the lse tso ise L so at the st reans rehna absolute power spiritual despotism poti sin indeed the men meu and w women or too for folt that matter matte comprising the great bulk of our people have shown shown too much moral m onal oral courage in their acceptance of a creed for which they lost place and antl friends in the countries that gave them birth it may be we have been gathered from the lower walks of life tiie tile the ri ot of the nazarene were not of the upper class but the sacrifice flee of the love of dearest relatives of home and native lands is as great reat to us as to the greatest and shows hows a moral courage that will not be browbeaten brow beaten by any priesthood or tyrannized over by any set of men the great mystery of our union uni on and obedience to good counsel is solved in the word love ove oye the love of god the love of jesus his teachings and as gospel the love of that which is pure is the key to the mysterious cause that binds this people together I 1 am not surprised so much at your language I 1 an odio odious us thing to have such a stinkpot right in the midst of the nation we loathe the mere thought of polygamy so did 1 I mr beecher it was entirely in opposition to my traditions and preconceived ideas and not only myself but the greater part of our people were op opposed ased to it for the same reasons AM and I 1 have heard many of our best and most beloved men c express x how great grea tYas was wag their abhorrence at plural marriage when it was first taught to them ai as a principle for their belief and practice let me hold thi this 3 stinkpot stink pota pot a littie tittle closer to your nostrils for fear that your olfactory nerves may have deceive eryou some time last fall I 1 met a man on our streets whose years carry him past the middle age in company with one of his wives walking on their way to the house of a married barrica daughter who had the day previous given birth to a child and in their solicitude they were walking walkin a distance of a few blocks to be of as assistance sf t in this critical time ot their daughters dau hoerts ht erts erys life accompanying them were some of their children a fine healthy bouncing boy in the mothers arms another boy of six or seven years whose band the father grasped somewhat tightly I 1 thought owing to a scare he gave the family the lay day before in his slIP slipping flippin PIn off with some neighbor boys to a dangerous swimming g loie lole nole noie two other children completed the group girls of eight and twelve respectively As I 1 looked upon them the reflection came upon iny my mind does this parental solicitude this care and i char charge chare e of children such as this meil meli indicate lust as the author such children I 1 too with mental endowments of a high i swale smale and physically well developed j the pride 0 oi their torrents parents rents and doing lionor or to 0 the th 0 land of Or their nativity the I 1 na nation t on liht t consider itself enriched b by the he gift ft of such sons and dau daughters aters as L this thi man mau had given to it wese uese these thebe were vire vere only ili lil the lie representatives of a family I 1 of chi children ii dren numbering about seventeen c could guid quid 1 I as I 1 turned to gule gale frize on ten this couple coupie 0 u ae observe anything that waso wase I 1 odious or loathsome in their parental solle solicitude boltl ude for their heritage from the IL lord you may answer now I 1 V 0 or comparisons sake let me describe a scene that I 1 as a boy saw in I 1 regent eget street L london some twenty e eight g ty years ears cars ago A beautifully dressed woman came calne out of a side door of one of the stores which led to apartments above accompanied by a gentleman in black with the white necktie so indicative of your profession DD pray excuse desir me sir the female was a splendid type of womanhood a ainge in stature well veil proportioned aua aud and beautiful to look upon as gods fair daughters should be she was in a great state of excitement which her companion was trying to allay but her excitement increased rather than abated until it became a frenzy of rage in the midst of which she took from her foot an unlaced boot and beat the man on the head and shoulders uttering cries of rage in a jar jargon on that I 1 did not understand immediately she was seized by a policeman upon whom she now turned in all her fury and would seemingly have overpowered him had it not been for the timely arrival of a brother officer in the mean time her gentlemanly companion had passed assed unnoticed out of sight and as I 1 1 followed the woman now in Marge charge of the q offers T aers ifft w ith alfh i the crowd that gathered for the moment I 1 learned that she was a french prostitute who had lately come from paris and was starring among the wealthy weal thy and aristocrat it rouell rou esi esl of the british metropolis I 1 dislike very much to put these cases side by side and should be severely scolded by malady my lady friends for so doing did they know know U but b let iet t me moe for tile the present do 0 so and I 1 simply call for the bearing of your powerful mind for a few moments upon them and their tendencies one the honorable union of two human beings to raise laise offspring offs off spring prin and mutually make agreeable tile the pathway pathway of life if peradventure she may have been the fourth of four living wives the other an odious thing indeed to be loathed yes my boyish mind went out in bitterness and loathing towards that poor pitiful sneak of a man whose deeds were evil and who shunned their consequences the husband of many wives the father of many children pays dear for his whistle mr air beecher Beech cr pals pais ft f the b gratification ratification of lust is all hewl hawl h wishes sies to acque ach eive elve and had better take lessons from the london roue 11 A good healthy body upon upon which t these hese cancers are feeding I 1 have a neighbor a gentile a good square honest man with a wife and about s six ii children wio who who attends the methodist church and is a faithful member thereof well this man moan in conversation with me lately approached mg nig this way wat air mr jones the reason I 1 want polygamy 1 0 1 y put u V dawnis dow d own nis is I 1 aur nur tearful fearful thatty agam my children wilL ill lii I 1 am sending my older children to your school ac hoot hooi and they come came home and remark about this thi way sway father ivr mr A aldir an and dIr mr B visited the school today to day 1 and in addressing addres the school they spoke I 1 in n such a kind manner and with such truthful effect that they certainly must roust be good men and yet they have more wives than one how is that father there is a di discernment about children especially young girls for measuring the genuineness of human nature t that ha t Is remarkable at times and is seldom misled I I 1 have lived with this people since 1856 and have been a close observer of men in their practice of plural marriage and my testimony is that it is a hard life for those who through sin make themselves unfitted for its successful practice and that it is attended with disastrous effect to the man who fails the late president brigham young said of the principle of plural marriage that it would damn as many as it would save showing the narro narrow iv path the man must tread wilo who essays kowalk to walk therein the great increase of divorce in the eastern states shows a dreadful amount of domestic infelicity poor christiancy Christi christl ancyl 1 and you may consider what a state of enjoyment for the poor 19 mormon formon whose attempt proves he has not the ability and force of character to harmonize the varied dispositions of two or more wives in the course of your own married life and experience you no doubt although mr beecher may be of a ery veri very c cry amiable disposition have found it sometimes necessary to take a stand against your cifes ideas and purpose and from that know full well that there is a ce certain r amount of command to be exercised by the husband and that too in love and fairness and maintained for the happiness 0 of wed wedded ded dod life do you think that a craven lustful and unjust man can act the part of husband to two or more such women as are found in this mountain region and maintain that relation with any happiness resulting if you do you are terribly mistaken sir my dear sir you and the very great majority of the civilized world are much astray in your ideas relative to the tendency of plural marriage and in regard to the sex and while weetie you look for iniquities that are said to exist in utah you fall fail to see the alarin glaring iniquities of your own mt cities at home the pollution of the fair daughters of earth cries aloud to god for redress can it be stopped and how should be the absorbing question for clergy and congress before its foulness vitiates the entire blood of the nation but it seems to be beyond your power to restrain and if god has revealed to us as we say ile he has a solution oi of the question let the nation await with patience the result of our attempt as we believe that the marriage principle le we practice besides other 6 great princey resu results ts con contains L ains the solution and su suppression of the social evil een ten let plural marriage be sanctioned ione lone A by our nation as it is by the god of heaven and then deal with the seducer as your our hearts desire would be to do unit unto the B seducer of your own sister and the problem Is solved mans in aws sex sexual U relations purified and make acceptable to gods law and followed by ills his divine blessing mr nir beecher bee Bec cher with all due re regard ard for your tour 0 u r experience your ability and abid learning in g g the principles of your faith our social and political relations demand closer study before you are justified in giving your views upon them I 1 yours with respect JONES joses |