| OCR Text |
Show 11 i M ANOTHER CONVERT. H Elbert Hubbard of the Philistine has been M to Utah. He was hero a few hours. Like Ella M Wheeler Wilcox he wont away entirely competent M to discuss nicely all the features of Utah, its M history, its customs and especially polygamy. We M take it he began with the advantage of having ( M a contempt for nearly all forms of religious wor- M ship and with an innate disposition to say and M do what he pleases his own desires being the M only conscience to which he appeals. His plea M is not a justification for polygamy on an original M basis, but his effort seems to be to prove that M a kindly and upright man who is a polygamist M is a better man than one who" is a monogamist H without a manly or honest attribute. It is an old argument which wo often heard fifteen years M ago, which reduced to its real substance was M that polygamy was better than prostitution. He Hi was here but a few hours, but wont away fully -'& H capable of describing the perfect virtue and holi- H ,ness which prevailed before the coming In force H of Gentiles; ho discovered also that neither Mor- H mon men nor women evor went astray, and in- H directly carries the idea that they are the only H people thus sanctified. ' H His article abounds with the direct and im- H plied falsehoods of the past twenty years, and H ho gets a backing for his statements from rene- H gade Gentile judges and doctors. H We hope he received a reward commensurate H with his work. It is enough to state that he wrote H upon a theme of the practical truth of which he H knows nothing; that his references to monoga- - H mous marriage give an impression that he estl- H mates its sanctity from the divorce court stand- H point, that his general estimate of the average vir- H tue of Mormonism is of such a nature that in his H deeper judgment he is ready" to accept the assumed H belief that woman's real place is one of servitude. H He frankly admits that polygamy puts woman H on her good behavior, says she is taught that H the Lord of tho harem is a Lord-God, and that H he will. spend most time with the wife who treats H him best and is tho best cook. H Of course when a man is ready to put out an H argument of that kind with his own approval, it H is as idle to enter into an argument with him , H as it would be to try to convince the sultan of H S'ulu that his marriage rolatlons are not quite ' H orthodox. ' H His article roads all the way through as though H it were a brief which he prepared for a consid- , H eration and with the old lawyor's advice to the H young lawyer in mind: "When you have no mer- H it on your own side abuse your opponent, do not H leave him a shred of reputation." It would be Ihe H least bit annoying to those who have been here H a good while and who know the facts, to read H the revamped falsehoods of the old days, and H look upon the pictures which gifted men and H women can paint when properly stuffed for the H work, if we were not accustomed to such exhlbi- H tions. As it is, they are not worth minding except H so far as they throw dirt upon the American H 'home, discount the allegiance due to native land H and .by indirection stamp upon both- religion and . H morality. In this Hubbard goes a little farther H than did' Ella Wheeler Wilcox, but both were H stuffed from the same spoon. H M |
