Show defor for the r NEWS POLYGAMY FROM A philosophical standpoint the unlawful act of governor murray in giving a certificate to campbell campbeli Campbe II the very small minority candidate for delegate to congress has drawn the attention of the press generally throughout the united states to utah and the mormons cormons Mor mons in those references one is forcibly struck with the flippancy with which polygamy is alluded ito to wit with 1 the a priori conclusions of its evil effects with the variety of means suggested for its extermination with the apparent purity of society in general and the impurity of the mormons cormons in irk particular it is also curious to no tice the wild incoherent and primitive views entertained by perhaps otherwise intelligent men who ostentatiously pride themselves in being emancipated from the superstitions ions of the past and in being no longer influenced by them nearly all these writers claim that polygamy is bad because it is in opposition to law the religion 4 of f the christian world its morality and physical and social well being truth is eternal being colst coexist co exist ent with space matter and deity itself and as such is the very essence of life by it then let the fore foregoing abing assertions be judged and if they stand the test let us forsake polygamy if contrariwise let such divest their minds of all their preconceived erroneous i ideas and look at it candidly y fairly and squarely and in order that we may look at it harmoniously let us denine define the terms good and bad that definition given by an eminent philosopher is probably as correct as any that can be given which is that a thing is el either elther th er good or bad according as it conduces to and sub serves life or as it hinders binders or destroys it those who apply the religious test to polygamy are the most clamorous use the most epithets and are so in we endeavor to enlighten we must enjoin them to study the Bib bible leand and think of those worthies which they hold up as bright examples such as abraham abrahams jacob david davids solomon anda auda and aud a host of others whether polygamy is against morality is such a complex question involving as it does the whole ethical code that we do not purpose to enter into its consideration particularly when that of physical and so cial well being settles this as well as the religious one it is 1 asserted that polygamy is wrong because it is practiced in opposition to the law of congre s of 1862 which prohibits and entails penalties upon if it now na perhaps berha s the converse of ai this zay may may bo saad baid eaid with more justice and it may be that the law in this case is wrong because it prohibits prohibit i it the constitution ution of the united states is the i gauge by which all laws are or should be framed it is therein expressly stated that congress shall make mabe no law respecting an establishment of religion or P prohibiting rohi rohl biting the free exercise thereof hereof t true the constitutionality constitution a I 1 of the said law has been ruled 91 upon on by the tho highest judicial tribunal in in the land and it has been declared to be consonant therewith but the empirical decisions made perhaps under the influence of prejudice do not make mabe essentially wrong that which is essentially right rights nor false that which ia is true los it is too late in the day for any legislative body to declare anything ng criminal which does not endanger the of the individual or society polygamy in utah existed long before the passage of th law against it therefore it is not against but the law against it this is a factor which seems to be ignored altogether by our opponents and one which gives a favorable instead of unfavorable view it is a fact that none can deny that polygamy is a most important and integral of the religion of the lat ter day saints and this being the case any ladof jaw law of the united states framed against is clearly unconstitutional in so far as we are concerned and the enforcement of such a law is Js an act of persecution which history clearly elearly informs us is calculated calu to gerpe perpetuate in lieu of annab annihilating there are other phases pleases to this question but this will suffice for any candid minded person now let us look at the most important assertion that polygamy is 0 opposed p 0 s ed to physical and social bp e ln g S society can be said to be in its highest state when it brings the g greatest r eanest totality of life in self offspring and fellow man and in gen eral terms conduct should be such as to conduce to the preservation of the individual family and society excess or defect in the individual causes disorder deranges the functions bodily ana and and mental and entails wea weakness kness on the progeny if polygamy as practised practiced by the for mons is an excess or defect physically for it certainly is an excess or defect defee t or it ia Is not taking the affirmative then it is in opposition onto to the above rule if the negative e then it is in harmony with the lassof laws of life and as such is worthy of the countenance at least of every intelligent being the great majority of earths inhabitants have been polygamous from froni time immemorial and are unto this day this maybe may be a startling declaration for some but it is never the less true now excess or defect brings d disorder is order and if if polygamy is such we should havery this time at least the earth very sparsely in 1 habited by a race moo of bf puny weakly beings if any at all nil were left the evidence on tuis thia subject taken from the effects of Mor mormon mony mons polygamy indubitably show that it is in harmony with life look at their children and deny it if you can what can we say about polygamy endangering life lige when we daily meet boys resultants of such unions weighing over pound pounds sand and their parents perhaps not over we speak of a thing as good or bad according recording as it is ill ili or well adapted to achieve the end in view The great greal end of life in man is perpetuation for without this all other means of ol 01 happiness fail fall if polygamy does this to the greatest extent then it is good and true and it is useless for even to fight it for sooner or later they must succumb if it is bad proscriptive prescriptive ae legislation i is us useless e it will die a natural death and the need have no fear of being eon con contaminated laminated by they can awford afford to be generous let our senators and representatives tives s our philosophers our intelli gen gent men consider this ere any coercive coercive measure truly a relic of barbarism is advocated or adopted toward those industrious peaceable aud aad truly mom moral people let them iu in all their deliberations upon this point bear in mind the aphorism above enunciated that the conduct of all men sh should ouid be such as to conduce to the preserve preservation a of the individual family and society and not to its destruction or annihilation let them remember that the true deterrent of evil does not lay in representations of fines and imprisonments but in moral precepts and examples get the mind of the individual and you have him mind and body cease the hue and cry about loyalty for it is coeval with the ghost story in the meantime the mormons Mor mons ss will remember that the do dogmas domas mas of one age are often the he heresies her reses esies of th the next that the youth on whom diligence is enjoined turns out to be the man of business so absorbed in labor labon that he cannot be induced to relax that their worst enemies are the religious bigot and the cantin canting hypocrite that therefore th the e opposition is weak and stands on a sandy foundation that their ultimate axi triumph I 1 is sure and certain and near hear uma at hand and for history repeats itself coming events cast their then shadows before them and truth is mighty and will prevail WILLIAM WIILIAM R IN may MAT nephi feb 10 issi 1881 0 negro laborers in the tobacco belt bell va caare are forming a league which prohibits members from hiring to white planters ian lan banters the object being to force lind land landowners landowners land owners to work tracts on shares |