Show SALT LAKE CITY PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE this is really a beautiful mal in its location and surroundings and equally beautiful in its ori original lual design and subsequent substantial substantial improvements prove ments As we move along its spacious streets and sidewalks and view the numerous stately public buildings s and business blocks and the thousands of neat and comfortable residences most of which are surrounded by ample grounds for lawns flower gardens and small orchards we cannot avoid contrasting the bleak and barren past with the cheerful I 1 inviting and prolific present when the vanguard of the mormon hegira first looked down upon great salt bait lake valley in the summer of 1847 it must have appeared as a desolate waste a veritable desert in comparison with the picturesque scenery now presented to the appreciative beholder thenan inland lake of salt water skirted by an extensive but apparently barren plain or valley composed the body of the picture which was relieved only by the background of majestic mountains surrounding the ax extensive deep and comparatively ively barren depression but the persecuted weary and exhausted mormon pilgrims were more than ihan ready to halt balt and as the valley and its surroundings roun dings seemed to be the most favorable and inviting spot they had discovered on the long tedious and dangerous journey from toe the missouri river to the rock rocky mountains they naturally conclude conc concluded ludU that they had reached theland of promise and so they concluded to pitch their tents form the nucleus of a great colony for the latter day saints 19 build a great city for the elect and erect a magnificent temple to god who had revealed himself alike to 10 abraham moses isaiah jesus christ and joseph smith in this instance at least will carleton hardly describes the situation when he says it aint the funniest thing a man can do 4 existing in a country when its ita nw now nature who moved jn in first a good long while has things already somewhat her own style and she dont want her woodland splendors shattered her rustic furniture broke up and battered her paintings which long years ago were done by that old splendid artist ting king the sun torn down and dragged to civilizations gutter or sold to purchase settlers bread and butter the woodland splendors rustic furniture and natures exquisite 4 paintings were woefully iscom feten the newly discovered salt lake E basin asin it required the patient plod ding of human intellect the energy of humar human hearts the unceasing industry of human hands stimulated by a religious enthusiasm akin to a blind superstitious faith in order to corn complete the Mast masters erik p painting the saying is exceedingly trite yet et as forcibly true that the he latter latter day saints or Mor cormons mormons mons so called literally made the wilderness bloom and blossom as the rose under their in energy the apparently barren waste became a fruitful field the sterile soil was made to contribute to the wants of thousands wealthy wealth and prosperous cities villages and Tiam hamlets lets arose as if by magic all over the hitherto desolate plains and aided by annual accessions to the original number soon a populous and prosperous commonwealth was established in the very heart of the rocky mountains and embracing territory only heretofore looked upon as an and unproductive gor tion of the great american desert it detracts nothing whatever from the deserved credit or merit of the early pioneers into utah to say that they were actuated by a blind religious zeal or irrational superstition that knew no rational bounds it is enough to know that they under the greatest imaginable ima anable privations and persecutions whether whether deserved or not is irrelative I 1 to the subject cheerfully accepted the situation brought order out ot of chaos isolated themselves for many long years ears from the social and commercial world consecrated their own discovered laud of promise to their exclusive use and benefit and event bially demonstrated to the world that tally tinder ader the magic touch of intelligent human enterprise and industry even the wilderness may become a fruitful field and the barren wastes pastes be converted into prosperous commercial cities we are not of course prepared ared to say that the work would not in in time have been performed by other hands but inasmuch as it was not we see no reason why we should not graciously accord honor to whom graciously honor onor is due with all their alleged failings faults and crimes this much must stand on the credit side aide of the mormon ledger physically they have made their little world at least 1000 per cent better than they found ihnot content with making two spears of grass to grow where but one was growing before they have caused ten thousand fields of golden grain productive orchards vineyards and beautiful atif ul flowers to spring up and beautify and enrich their homes and adorn the plains where hitherto the sagebrush greasewood grease wood and cactus had bad reigned supreme however strong stron 9 the prejudices that may exist exil t against their professed religious beliefs peculiar rites and apparently ad surd ceremonies no one can successfully af ully gainsay or controvert the truth of history condensed luto into the forego ing remark mort moNism theologically VOWED VIEWED it is no part of our purpose to discuss mormonism from a religious or theological standpoint we may say however that while not taking the least stock or believing in its doctrines we are inclined to think that thai it has haa bad and will still have its uses and mission sioni among men we know of no reason on earth why joseph smith or brigham Brig hami young should not have been the favored of heaven and entitled to the revelations revelation of the divine mind provided other human beings have been so favored indeed it is one of the cherished sentiments of the Declaration i of independence that all men are created free and equal and endowed by the creator with inalienable rights among which are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness perhaps this recognition of equal rights and privileges ri I 1 did not originally incle include e the supernatural and the religious prejudices and superstitions of the past may still be clinging to us so tenaciously as to require a special declaration af rights ic garding divine Te revelation mormonism has taught or is gradually teaching the christian world one grand ennobling thop thought glit and that is the absurdity of any revelation that does not commend itself to human experience peri ermence ence and human reason as being for bior the best interests of men individually socially and morally As IL a rule men are better ebani athani the their religious creeds and the moral status of society as a whole is perhaps today to day superior more elevated than the sum total of revelation we are not saying of course how bow much we are indebted to revelation for this results result but somehow it appears asi though A the e human intellect was destined to outgrow revelation itself unless indeed the divine shall shall prove more expansive ald progressive than the human mind thus I 1 it t seems to be with the vexing question ol of polygamy that for years has agitated and kept in constant turmoil society in this territory it is claimed that it was revealed to brigham young A mistake it was revealed to joseph hint smith h that polygamy is right and there a appears pears to be be no express colmant command against it either la the old or new testament scriptures but taking experience observation and reason as guides civilized and refined relieved society has decided it to be wrong a thing that ought not to be tolerated in any community thus the congress of the united united states the lawmaking power 0 w er of the nation appears to 40 have gad had a clearer and more emphatic revelation on the subject than all the religious revelators revelatory of the world it is therefore a fruitless controversy tro versy to argue on the one hand that the bible forbids and denounces polygamy a in and on the other to attempt toi to demonstrate that it is right and proper because brigham young had a divine odivine revelation to the effect that it is right the matter is simply either elther right or wrong independent ot of either in free and enlightened america the voice of the people is the vote voice e ot of god and that voice in apparently unmistakable lau gaage gnage has declared that polygamy 01 shall ahall not be tolerated within in the attempted enforcement of this thia edict by the properly constituted authorities ties there is as necessarily engendered much hard feeling the advocates of the doctrine of brigham young thousands of whom are doubtless sincere and conscientious feel that their individual civil as well as religious rights ana and privileges are ruthlessly invaded and they are ready and willing to mate mae any sacrifice or resort to almost any means in order to defeat the to them obnoxious law on the other hand the gentiles who are greatly in the minority in attah are fully determined that the law shall be enforced at all hazards the battle ground so far has been virtually confined to salt lake city as this is the head and center of the mormon theocracy if polygamy goes oes down here it will become decidedly decidedly unpopular in all other portions of the territory already a number of convictions under the so called edmunds baw have taken place and the end is not yet polygamy has thus been allowed allowe dau an uninterrupted growth of a generation and a large number of persons perhaps to during that period have entered into polygamous alliances the question now is what I 1 is to become of the second third thira and fourth wives and progeny of such auch marriages are the POOF poor deluded unfortunate women to be turned adrift as common harlots and the thousands of children resulting from such marriages to be branded as illegitimate these are practical and serious questions especially ally under the present circumstances in our humble opinion both parties who appear to be arrayed against each other in almost deadly conflict should call a halt moderate counsels and action especially ork oa the part of the non mormon element should prevail the mormons cormons should de treated at least in a spirit of fairness it if not charity and all the peculiar circumstances of their present condition taken into calm consideration the present intense agitation is seriously interfering with the bu business ainess growth and general prosperity not only only of salt lake city but of them the territory at large the future can be properly gliates shaped for the correction ot existing evi evils but it is a question Qu whether past mistakes or offenses cark cani be remedied by arbi tary enactments or oppressive laws we have to deal with things as we find them not as we would wish to have them awn reagans agnitia Ag nivia |