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Show Howell Takes Mr. Smoot's Place I ' SHey jBFv' In an Interview with Kate Karew, the Noted Correspondent. wt Utah Representatives View of Conditions in the State of Utah !Kate Carcw, tlio noted correspondent endeavored en-deavored to Interview tlie Hon. Heed Smoot at Washington n few dajs ago, but that. gentle-man gentle-man positively declined to be Interviewed, preferring pre-ferring to stick to a tcsoliitlon made some , . time befoie. As this correspondent desired nothing more than general Infoimatlon, Mr. s Smoot sent the lady to Hon. Joseph Howell, Utah's representative and a n.it le of Cache county. The Interview with Mr. Howell np-j np-j pearcd In both tho New York World and San Francisco Chronicle. According to Kate "the pioxy Interview took place in the Mormon Representative's 9 private slttlng-ioom at the Dewey Hotel. She "I began by referring to the Incident of Senator Sena-tor Smoot's mother and the handcart, and that evoked fiom Mr. Howell a littlo histoilcal sketch of the Moimon emigrants emerging fiom the mountains those red mountains that look so savage and desolate from the Union 1'acillc Hallway and looking out upon Salt Lake valley. val-ley. That was on .luly 2t, IS 17 Utah's natal v day. Hilgham Young, who had Ik-cii sick, announced that lie had iccelved a icvclatlon that this was the destined home of the Latter-day Latter-day Saints, and lalslng himself on his cot as lie surveyed the baricn prospect, lie said, "Hear a little to the right." (fi Hut the Moi monism of M7 was not so much to Clio point as the Mormonlsm of today. 1 gently approached the subject of polygamy. Mr. Howell responded with perfect frankness. ' Ho lias a, vigorous way of emphasizing his points by thumping the arm or his chair. . "This I will say," he said: "The best, the ; most exemplary men among us, the men of J the m6st piofound moral convictions and per- isonal uprightness, the men of greatest Intel-t Intel-t lectual and spiritual callbci In a word, the - men who weie natmal leaders havo been k polygamlsls." L' s 'You'ie an exception to that," Interrupted i Mr. Howcll'.s secretary with a smile. Mr. Howell waived tho exception and Intio- ' i, ' duced me to the secietary an agreeable and & : intelligent voung man, son of the Mormon piosldent, Geoigc Q. Cannon who thereafter r ' took part In the eonveisatlon. M "Thcie has never been In the history of man- kind," continued Mr. Howell, "a system of polygamy comparable to ouis, unless It was i among the ancient patrlaichs." J IN MKPKNSKOK I'Ol.VOAMV. He thumped the arm of his chair. The ', secretary nodded. I settled mjseir to- listen attentively tlieic was no need for prompting. "Tlio man cnteilng into polygamy feels that L ho is assuming a sacred responsibility. The father of two families or more, as the case may I f be, must be a wise man, a Just man, a man of r wholly rcmurkable virtues and talents, If ho Is g tosucceed and sucli were the men that did en' jn' tcr into that state. Jt means a lire of self- II denial, of entire consecration to others. It W I means having every step scrutinized, never p taking an unwise course. I have never been Si ' In polygamy mjself." It "Rut jou had the opportunity," Interrupted f young M r. Cannon, the secietary. (What he meant was that at the time of the passage of the Edmunds act prohibiting polygamy poly-gamy Mr. Howell was old enough to have al-, al-, ready ncqulicd as many wives as he pleased. "" "Well, 1 was 25 years old at that time," said Mr. Howell, dubiously. ' As tlio Edmunds act was passed In 1882, the Representative Is 17 jcais of age. Senator , Smoot might be anything from :t."i to 40. "For my part, I never felt that 1 possessed T the coiiiinandlng moral (liialllleatloiis for as- f ' sumlng that solemn obligation," continued J' Mr. Howell, "but I can Imagine the feeling of ' i responsibility and sclf-sacrlllce with vvhlcli I p? would approach It. The man who makes a K failure of a pluial marrlage-tho man who W falls to retain the atfectlon and respect of his W wives and children loses caste In the commun- h - lty"" & "So there are failures?" I Interposed J' "I have known of such," leplled Mr. hovvell, fy , gravely. "Have jou not known of failures among monogamous marriages?" , Have jou, gentle leadei? "What do jou mean by plural marriage be ing successful?" I asked. Wr! "I mean a happy adjustment of relations B-J among all parties and the rearing of a large, P healthy and prosperous family; the. wns of the different vvhes living together In amity, and the w Ives loving one another as sisters?" "Is It customaiy for pluial wives to love ono another as slstcisV" "Yes. Not demonstratively, perhaps, but In a family such as I describe as successful they do regard one another with a sisterly atfectlon." "Is a pluial family a souice of wealth?" "No, but It Is a soutce of self-support. There aic many cases of that kind. I know of one, for instance, in which a man has four wives, and each wife has her own little estate, which she cultivates, raising pigs and chickens and so on. Each property is self-supporting under the administration of the wife, under the direction of the husband, who visits all and exercises a gencial supervision over their affairs. Families of that kind arc a model of organlatlon." 1 did not (tulle see the distinction between pluial families as a souice of wealth and a souicoof self-support oi', rather, why, If they were the latter they should not become the former, but 1 did not care to press tlio point. "Organization" continued Mr. Howell with some fervor, "is the kcjnoto of Mormon sue-ccs. sue-ccs. Order Is the first law of heaven!" He spoke of families of fotty, containing twenty healthy, capable, men. Such families arc the pride of Utah. The thought of a man with many wives suggested certain domestic problems to my monogamous mind. When a polygamous Mormon has to go home to dress for dinner, for example, which li6mc docs he go to? 1 longed to Inquire, but feared to be thought frivolous. IK TIIK KIltST WIKK. 01UKCTS. 1 had hea id Senator Smoot say that the proportion of plural marriages. In Utah had not been more than 5 percent, and that among the joung geneiatlon polygamy was dying of natuial causes, such as the increased cost of llv Ing. Representative Howell confirmed this. Explaining the alleged snail percentage of pluial mairiagcs he said: "Thousands have acquiesced In poljgamy as adoctilne, but never practiced It. The responsibility re-sponsibility Is too grave a one to be undertaken under-taken lightly. To begin with, the support of pluial wives entails an expense that notcvciy man can undeitake. Another deterrent Influence In-fluence Is the necessity of convincing the first wife that pluial mairlagc is a dcshable condition. condi-tion. Sometimes the first Is not to be convinced." con-vinced." To the Ocntile mind there Is a whimsical suggestlvcness In the thought of a fond husband hus-band striving eloquently to convince madam that she would be happier if he presented her vvlth a little sister, but please remember that this is a scilous conversation. THE MOIMIOX IINIVKIIS1TY l'ltOKKSSOK. And hcic another person lntrposod a tall, good looking joung man, who had entered some minutes previously and had sat In silence at the other cud of the room. "There Is more real religion In .one Latter-day Latter-day Saint than In many entire congregations here," he exclaimed, Impulsively. Mr. Howell Introduced him as Mr. Ljman, son of an eminent Mornon of that name a piesldcnt of tho church If 1 am not mistaken. The young man Is a professor and Instructor at tho Unlveislty of Utah, but has recently spent some time at Cornell. Theieafter the conversation conver-sation was sporadically a four-cornered one Mr. Lj man's face glowed with enthusiasm over the virtues of his people, and with Indignation Indig-nation over the calumnies leveled against them. He would make a good mlsslonarj Mr. Lynutn went on to enlarge on the lack of lellglon he found in the East, and then, levertlng to tho Mormons, said: "We have no poor and no Ignorant. We arc .spending moro money on education than any other state, and our proportion of Illiterates Is lower than that of any other state except one. Our students aio everywhcie." "How many are thcie atComell?" asked Mi. Cannon. "Oh, about a dozen." And then, addressing me again: "Among us labor Is honored. Here It Is a 'stigma. Our missionaries come homo In many cases to icsume blacksmithlng and farming, having tiaveled and seen the world and developed devel-oped their best mental powcis. Don't jou see what an avenue that Is for the spread of cultuie? Theic are no Ignorant Mormons. Every workman Is well Informed and can talk to jou Intelligently. I have seen a Hlsliop of our chmcli digging coal IGOO feet underground." under-ground." "A Hishop?" "Yes," explained Representative Howell." "We take our men of leading from the common walks of life." Returning to the work of Mormon missionaries, mission-aries, I asked Mr. Howell if he was aware that the popular impression was that ihey were recruiting re-cruiting In the Interests of polygamy. "I know It," he said, flushing angrily. "They arc supposed to be engaged in recruiting recruit-ing wives for Mormon harems. That Impiess-ion Impiess-ion is so vulgar and ridiculous that it Is hardly vvoith answering. Why, it would be suicidal for us tocncouiago such recruits. The problem pro-blem of what to do with the ghls Is Just as pressing with us as It Is everywhere else." And young Mr. Cannon added, with a cheer, ful grin: 'There arc scveial of our women at this hotel ho-tel who arc looking for husbands." If ever a bright joung Latter-Day Saint was a candidate for a hair-pulling! "We arc sulleilng," continued Mr. Howell, "from the untveisal disinclination of young mentomauv. That, In spite of the fact that our church holds It to be a duty of evciy young man to marry when he reaches maturity, and a reproach against him If he remains single." And, at the prompting of young Mr. Cannon, ho quoted President George Q. Cannon as having hav-ing said that any man not married at i" was a dangerous man in the community. MOItMONS LIKK AMUSEMENT. "Is yours a gloomy or a cheerful religion?" I. Inquired. "Oli, we make a great point of cheerfulness. Hrigham Young encouraged dancing and all forms of ainuscmement, and the pioneers used to dance on the plains after a day's march. One of the tirst public buildings. In Salt Lake City was a theater. It was put up before the settlers even had any nails. The Mormons are great play goers, and have all manner of organized organ-ized amusements among themselves. There are dramatic societies among others. In fact, the fostering of amusements Is enjoined as a dutj'. The old people as well as the young have their reunions, which are of the gayest character." He went on to outline the political career fif Reed Smoot how he had never been a polj--gamlst, how he had been an active Rcpiibll- ' can partisan since 1800, how he had been known In 1000 as a candidate for the Senate, and how he had announced himself as a candidate can-didate and entered the campaign In 1902. SMOOT NEVKll A I'OLYOAMIST. "During the campaign," hecontlnued, "the Democrats sought to use the fact of his apos-tleshlp apos-tleshlp to discredit him with the Gentiles among the Republicans, but without success. He was elected fair and square, the logical candidate of his party. After his election the tlrst protest of nineteen citizen's fell flat, because be-cause It merely alleged that he was an Apostle of the Mormon church. There was nothing in that to arouse the Nation, but the falsehood of the allegation that he was a poljgamlst did the work. Tho country. was aroused, Indeed. The charge has been disproved, and tho man that tiled It admits that he knows nothing about It, but the case has assumed another complexion, and an attempt Is being made to prove that merely to hold high oijlco In the Church of the Latter-Day Saints should disqualify dis-qualify a man for a seat in the United" States Senate." "What Is jour pcisonal opinion about polygamy?" poly-gamy?" I asked. "Do jou think It Is a good or bad thing for the Mormons to abandon It?" "Oh, there Is no question" he said, emphatically, "that the conditions In this Na- ' tlon are such that polygamy has become out of the question. It would be Impossible to continue con-tinue tt. It is Incompatible with tho temper of tho times." "And If It wcro not for tho temper of times, or If the Nation were converted to Mormonlsm Mormon-lsm In a day, as your religion teaches, you to hopo it will be, would jou advocate a return to polygamy?" "Oh, that Is a hjpothetlcal question," said the Mormon legislator. I |