OCR Text |
Show THE VICES OF MEN. llCfl In an article in a recent issue of the Deseret )1!H News appears the following: ' . j;B kt ft AH During the time of the rigid enforcement of the (f ffflfl acts of Congress specially framed for Utah, the M RflH vices now complained of were rampant in this city. ImSl But they could not be seen by the religious gentle- 87, frSfl men who were actively engaged in urging the en- Wr fflfl forcement of those laws and are now concerned iij afflH about conditions that are certainly not worse to- ;-1 i$fiH day than then, but which have been made promi- to'lraiH nent through crimes that have been recently dis- a? IkH closed. Jji f'SH Why that was lugged into an editorial on the iprfnfl vices of this city would by a mystery to any one g )(lfH unacquainted with the methods of the News. At ifl&'aBl the time referred to, two very upright Mormon IllEjifl Mayors had, practically, the control of the city. ilifPH One was the late Mr. Little, the other the late Mr. fliliwfl Frank Armstrong. During the administration of jf WJBM the first-named gentleman the News was dally de- fflfttfrlifl claiming that the city was given up to saloons p v W tfjH something never heard of until they were brought $ $fW here by Gentiles. In answer to that it was shown Ti&fHftl that when the first internal revenue office was es-' Ifjdb&HI tablished here the collector found that there were fEafil thirty-two distilleries in arrears for taxes in this Kl Hl Territory, that the chiefest of these was owned by IflrKwft Brigham Young, and that a subservient City Coun- l$JlM cil had given him, while President of "the celes- Mlf tial kingdom and the kingdom of God on earth" a 111 nil practical monopoly of the liquor-selling business of 'lUlul the city, and that it, of the vilest kind, was always i'lP flllH on tap in the church store. Again, at a church " 'Irifl meeting in his ward one Sunday evening, Mr. Lit- V J1jM tie, who was a candid and truthful man, took occa- .1 ijffl sion to state that he had been making some estl- W&m ifH mates and had found that if only Gentiles were KMlllfl drinkers in this city, they must average several Mffilll gallons per day to each one. H'ra 'Ivfl Mayor Armstrong, who was in matters relating Wm, ?fH to his church a born fanatic, undertook to stamp 'MffjllB out sexual vices in the city and after some months Mliilf II of zealous work one day said to a Gentile friend IPaJwJH who called at his office, that he had stamped out w . iljifl every house of prostitution in the city. The friend mim wifl suggested that he call in some of the police and If llyf ! ask their opinion. He did so, and was informed mil & that the local well-known houses were closed, but eIIn ! that the system was scattered from Fort Douglas fiP !) to the Jordan river. mji$ 'Silffl The News knew all these facts when, it pub- .! '!jH lished the above extract. It knew, further, that in Wit ''B those crucial days the money was subscribed by m$fik ;'' Jfl promient elders of the church to hire and furnish lifllilJB two houses, that women to supply them were lm- ffflpfc' fiB ported from the east and west, that the police were wHmHB stationed to report who called at such houses, the MflfflftBfl hope being to involve the then Governor of the flPflHftHH Territory, other prominent Federal officials and nPffflBfl prominent Gentiles. After that history it is the HSHhI least bit strange that the News continues to refer HhH to those years in a spirit of reproach to modern re- i&flrlwwMB formers. At that time, too, the city contained only HIDbH about one-third of its present population. fflfiSHflBB In the treatment of the vices of a city both the ' ffilfH News and the church people have always made the ' IffiH mistake of insisting that the practice of human BfrPnBI vices should be treated as a crime; the same as BH robbery or burglary or arson, though the world's f IrBSBH experience is that sr t. atment is never a rem- BHKHHHftl edy. In places when matter is understood the HHBhBIb! effort is not to accomp.if ., impossibilities, but to flHHnfl MBSftnH H9 vKftflftBHflftal Hi I lij hedge such places around with such restrictions H I il that the young and unwary will not be led astray, H I m and that order he maintained. I li H I n Men will follow their vices when they know H I t that their indulgence will cause their speedy H I j deaths. Under such circumstances it is idle to H I w think of stamping them out; the only thing to do H J fij .being to hold upon them such restrictions as will H ' 'I! protect the innocent and unwary and to preserve H R, ii! order and the peace of the city. |