Show wire tiie eue TUB MORMON moll MOIl mos MOy PROBLEM A WRITER by the name of charles charles charies H brigham I 1 in n the new magazine magazines old and Z new for the month of may has a jong long ong article on the mormon problem he discusses the question at some length and in a spirit that is not rancorous yet by no means favorable the th elements of strength in the 11 mormon 51 ormon position and the reasons why the theses system should outlast what he be seems to think is its present crisis are first the numbers of its adherents second its prosperity third the religious enthusiasm ol 01 its followers fourth its tragic history fifth the general ignorance of the people sixth the feeling of fear entertained towards the le adeis leaders seventh the operative cooperative co trade system eighth the method of managing property I 1 ninth its vigorous from these an idea of the character of his arguments can be formed how any sane man can imagine that in an age like the present and in circumstances like those chieh surround the people of utah a continental railroad running through our land and constant intercourse being carried on fear towards the leaders should be an element of strength in the mormon system is a is problem thab that we cannot solve neither can we understand how bow Ig ignorance nonence can be viewed as an element of strength or a means of pe perpetuating rule when so many active agencies are in operation to dissipate ignorance the last paragraphs of his article are fair sample of those which precede them the system believed in by the latter day saints is indeed a problem to him and his writing has failed to elucidate a single point of the system in fact he leaves it more of a problem to those who follow and accept his views than it would have been to the majority of them if they had never seen his article his conclusions summed bummed up amount to it is and it it may be and it be he says bays with this summary of the elements of strength and weakness in the present position of the mormon state to what conclusion shall wo we come comparing these opposing g forces on which side will the balance incline the decision is not easy but on the whole there seems beems more reason to predict the near downfall of the mormon power than its gain or its long life it is an absurdity and an anomaly in tb this is age ag and country it is denied by the spirit 0 of the age that the sect may exist in n its integrity or in its fragments for a long time to come is quite probable it may take its place with the shakers and im mennonites en no and second adventists and other eccentric bodies of religionists bu usan ksau isau an organized civil and ecclesiastical 1 power cr holding lands making laws and keel keeping 1 rig consciences it is probably near its end wid the contes contest which it wages with the tho nation and with the civilization of the cantu century ry is i too unequal and not all the resources olits ants material prosperity and its religious reli gous zeal can be equal to such an issue Thet the trail trall of the coletis comet is large betit but it is a comet achmet after all and not a stable planet the apparent completeness eness of union between church and state in the mormon system will prove t tc be its loss and destruction if it were only a religious vagary it might have a bette better chance of long liti life e upon the earth it is not well nevertheless to prophesy too confidently the growth and development of the mormon community thus far is a phenomenon of our ap age which contradicts all precedents there were wise men who prophesied after the death of joseph smith a quarter of a century ago that the contemptible fanaticism had hadl received its finai final blow and would be heard of no longer when the tho mormons cormons encamped in their far off valley it was predicted that they would perish in the wilderness the seers have found themselves more than once at fault in telling of this people and it may be that here in this free land ot light and knowledge a comman community ity shall maintain itself that re rejects acts our laws and our ideas and beefs keeps a civilization of its own the Ca manutes lived lived for ages in the crimea and the jews too in china though the laws and customs of the men around them were all ail al alien allen and hostile |