MORMONISM 
 
 THE ISLAM OF AMERICA 
 
 BRUCE KINNEY 
 
MORMONISM 
 
 The Islam of America 
 
Interdenominational 
 Home Mission Study Course 
 
 Each Volujne I2mo, cloth, 5oc. net: 
 paper, 300. net. 
 
 /. Under Our Flag 
 
 By Alice M. Guernsey 
 
 2. The Burden of the City 
 
 By Is a belle Horton 
 
 j. Indian and Spanish Neighbours 
 
 By Julia H. Johnston 
 
 4. The Incoming Millions 
 
 By Howard B. Grose, D.D. 
 
 5. Citizens of To-Morrow 
 
 By Alice M. Guernsey 
 
 6. The Call of the Waters 
 
 By Katharine R. Crowell 
 
 7. From Darkness to Light 
 
 By Mary Helm 
 
 8. Conservation of National Ideals 
 
 A Symposium 
 
 p. Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 By Bruce Kinney, D. D. 
 
 JUNIOR COURSE 
 Cloth, net 400. ; paper, net 250. 
 
 Best Things in America 
 
 By Katharine R. Crowell 
 
 Some Immigrant Neighbours 
 
 By John R. Henry, D. D. 
 
Statue to Brigham Young and the Pioneers 
 
Issued under the direction of the Council of 
 Women for Home Missions 
 
 MORMONISM 
 
 The Islam of America 
 
 By 
 BRUCE KINNEY, D.D. 
 
 Formerly Super inien dent of Baptist Missions 
 in Utah 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 LONDON AND EDINBURGH 
 
Copyright, 1912, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 125 North Wabash Ave. 
 Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 
 
With remembrance of my mother, who 
 first taught me the way of life, and 
 special mention of my wife, whose lov- 
 ing sympathy and self-sacrificing co- 
 operation in service have made this 
 work possible, this book is dedicated 
 
 to the splendid 
 WOMANHOOD OF AMERICA 
 
From the Editorial Committee 
 
 THE title of this, the latest of the text-,, 
 books issued by the Council of Women 
 for Home Missions, may need a word 
 of explanation. It is generally acknowledged 
 that Mormonism is similar to Mohammedanism 
 in its endorsement of the practice of polygamy, 
 and its ideas of heaven. Many other points of 
 similarity between these systems have been noted 
 by students, and the Book of Mormon has marked 
 resemblance to the Koran. As all ancient re- 
 ligions have a modern equivalent, Mormonism 
 can justly be claimed to be the modern form of 
 Mohammedanism, and not incorrectly termed 
 " the Islam of America." 
 
 While the subject considered in this book 
 should be approached only in a spirit of fairness 
 and Christian sympathy, it has become of too 
 great importance in our national life to be omitted 
 as a topic for careful study. It is in response to 
 a wide-spread realization that this subject is a 
 national problem, and bears an important relation 
 to Home Missions, that the Council of Women 
 presents this book. 
 
 In beginning its study, it is wise to free the 
 mind of some misapprehension. Prominent 
 5 
 
6 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 among our national ideals are those of religious 
 liberty for ourselves, and toleration for our neigh- 
 bours' faith. No violation of this principle is 
 involved in a candid, just and sympathetic study 
 of any system of religious belief. 
 
 In the Handbook of our faith Christians are 
 exhorted to prove all doctrines in order rightly 
 to measure their truth and test their moral stand- 
 ards. In this spirit this text-book has been writ- 
 ten. Dr. Kinney is peculiarly fitted to deal with 
 his subject, both from careful investigation, and 
 from personal acquaintance with it in Utah. 
 
 The Mormon problem is not primarily a re- 
 ligious one, nor should it be so considered. The 
 hierarchy which embodies this system has ex- 
 tended its influence into so many lines of our 
 national concerns, that Mormonism has ceased 
 to be of merely theological or religious signif- 
 icance. It must be studied in its relation to gov- 
 ernment and commerce ; to social conditions ; 
 to its influence on state policies and even on the 
 utterances of the press, before it can be rightly 
 understood as a factor in our present-day nation- 
 ality. 
 
 In all these connections it is presented by Dr. 
 Kinney, and while he regards with Christian 
 sympathy the followers of the Mormon religion, 
 he sees, and presents clearly, the dangers inher- 
 ent in the designs, ambitions and methods of the 
 all powerful hierarchy, which absolutely controls 
 
From the Editorial Committee 7 
 
 the affairs of the church and the lives of every 
 one of its members. The undue influence in the 
 affairs of the nation and the councils of the gov- 
 ernment attained by this powerful body makes 
 its beliefs and practices of national concern. 
 Dr. Kinney's point of view is intelligent, broad, 
 and just. The Council of Women for Home 
 Missions is glad to give to its readers and stu- 
 dents a text-book so full of carefully authenti- 
 cated information, and written in a spirit of such 
 justice and chanty for those deceived, indeed, but 
 honest in their mistaken beliefs. 
 
Preface 
 
 THOUGH this book may contain some 
 material not hitherto published, its 
 author lays no claim to originality ex- 
 cept in the arrangement of the material, although 
 every known source of information has been 
 drawn upon. But there is no desire to evade 
 responsibility for any statement made. The 
 purpose has been to compile the greatest amount 
 of information in the space allowed. 
 
 Some may ask, " Why take the time to study 
 this people when there are only about half a 
 million of them ? " 
 
 There are in China alone a thousand heathen 
 to every one of the Mormons. But these people 
 have been in our midst and easily accessible for 
 eighty years, and our shame is all the greater that 
 we have not more fully taken the Word to them. 
 
 More than that, there is no other body of 
 people from whom we have so much to fear in 
 proportion to their numbers. No one else is 
 trying to set up an imperium in imperio or to 
 control either the state or national government. 
 They are promising their followers nothing less 
 than that they will in time control things po- 
 litically in the United States. Considering their 
 numbers, no other body of people in the world 
 exerts so large an influence upon the nation of 
 which it is a part. 
 
 9 
 
l o Preface 
 
 Nothing that may be said in this book must 
 be taken as necessarily applying to the Re- 
 organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day 
 Saints, having headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa. 
 The official name of the Utah church does not 
 have the word " Reorganized." The Iowa church 
 claims to be the true church, asserts that after the 
 death of Joseph Smith the control should have 
 passed to his son and namesake, now their head, 
 and that Brigham Young usurped authority and 
 corrupted the practices and doctrines of the 
 church. The Iowa adherents of Joseph Smith 
 are called " Josephites " by their Utah brethren 
 and they, in turn, hurl the epithet " Brighamites " 
 at the Utah church. 
 
 The Iowa church accepts the Book of Mormon 
 and some of the Doctrine and Covenants, but 
 repudiates polygamy. To further set forth their 
 differences is not within the scope of this work. 
 It may be said, however, that the Josephites are 
 a law-abiding body of American citizens and that 
 there is no direct descendant of the original 
 prophet in the fellowship of the Utah church, 
 the present president of that church, Joseph F. 
 Smith, being a nephew of Joseph Smith, Jr. 
 
 The author wishes to acknowledge his special 
 indebtedness for material found in the writings of 
 A. W. Linn, Rev. John D. Nutting, Rev. M. T. 
 Lamb and Ex-United States Senator F. J. Cannon. 
 
 BRUCE KINNEY. 
 
 Topeka, Kansas. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 HISTORY OF THE MORMONS . . 1 5 
 
 THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE MORMONS , 45 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF THE MOR- 
 MON CHURCH . . . . 71 
 
 IV. MORMONISM AS A RELIGION . . 101 
 
 W V. MORMONISM AS A LIFE . . . .129 
 
 VI. MISSIONS AMONG THE MORMONS . 159 
 
 APPENDIX 181 
 
 (a) BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . .183 
 
 (^) RESUME" OF THE HISTORY OF MORMON 
 
 POLYGAMY . . . . .185 
 
 (r) COVENANT ON POLYGAMY . . .186 
 
 ii 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Statue to Brigham Young and the Pioneers . Frontispiece 
 
 First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter-Day Saints, 1912 . . . 43 
 
 President John Henry Smith 
 President Joseph F. Smith 
 President Anton H. Lund 
 
 Interior Mormon Tabernacle . . . 75 
 
 Temple and Grounds, Salt Lake City . . 1 26 
 
 Saltair Pavilion on Great Salt Lake . . . 134 
 
 Interior Saltair Pavilion , . . . .164 
 
ABBREVIATIONS 
 
 BM Book of Mormon. 1 
 
 Caswell City of the Mormons. 
 
 Cat Catechism. 1 
 
 Call 2,000 Changes in the Book of Mormon. 
 
 Comp Compendium of Theology. 1 
 
 DC Doctrine and Covenants. 1 
 
 Ford History of Illinois. 
 
 Gregg History of Hancock County, Illinois. 
 
 Howe Mormonism Unveiled. 
 
 JD Journal of Discourses. 1 
 Juv Juvenile Instructor. 1 
 
 Key Key to Theology. 1 
 
 Linn The Story of the Mormons. 
 Lamb The Mormons and Their Bible. 
 Lee Mormonism Unveiled. Mormon. 
 LS Biographical Sketches by Lucy Smith. 1 
 
 News Deseret Evening News. 1 Official Mormon Paper. 
 
 Pearl- Pearl of Great Price. 1 
 
 Roberts Mormonism ; Its Origin and History. 1 
 
 Star Millennial Star. Early English Mormon Paper. 1 
 Stenhouse Rocky Mountain Saints. Ex-Mormon. 
 Schroeder Origin of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 WitnessThe New Witness by B. H. Roberts. 1 
 
 1 Published and circulated by the authority of the Mormon 
 Church. 
 
I 
 
 HISTORY OF THE MORMONS 
 
" The people of the United States are more sensible of the 
 disgrace of Mormonism than of its dangers. . . . The 
 Mormon Church is probably the most complete organization in 
 the world . . . and so highly centralized is the power, that 
 all these threads of authority are gathered into one hand, that 
 of the president." Jonah Strong. 
 
 "The real miracle in Mormonism, then the wonderful 
 feature of its success is to be sought, not in the fact that it has 
 been able to attract believers in a new prophet, and to find 
 them at this date and in this country, but in its success in 
 establishing and in keeping together in a republic like ours a 
 membership who acknowledge its supreme authority in politics 
 as well as religion, and who form a distinct organization which 
 does not conceal its purpose to rule over the whole nation. 
 
 " Had Mormonism confined itself to its religious teachings, 
 and been preached only to those who sought its instruction, 
 instead of beating up the world for recruits and bringing them 
 home, the Mormon Church would probably to-day be attracting 
 as little attention as do the Harmonists of Pennsylvania.'* 
 
 A. W. Linn. 
 
HISTORY OF THE MORMONS 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH, JR., the founder of the 
 Mormon Church, was born December 23, 
 1805, at Sharon, Vermont. He was the 
 fourth of nine children. His parents and rela- 
 tives were all poor, ne'er-do-well visionaries, 
 guided by dreams, seeking hidden treasures and 
 often in conflict with the officers of the law. 
 Joseph was regarded by his neighbours as the 
 worst of the lot. Orson Pratt, his Mormon 
 biographer, says that Smith could write with 
 difficulty and was absolutely ignorant of the 
 branches taught in common schools at that time. 
 As Joseph grew older he developed craftiness 
 and assumed an air of mystery. About 1825 he 
 bought a " seeing stone," by which he claimed to 
 locate hidden treasures for which others dug but 
 which they always failed to find. In 1827 he 
 found Emma Hale, whom he persuaded to elope 
 with him because her parents objected to their 
 marriage. He claimed, also, to have found in 
 the same year the Golden Bible. April 6, 1830, 
 he organized the church at Fayette, N. Y., which 
 now bears the official name of The Church of 
 Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 
 17 
 
l8 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Almost from the very first the infant church 
 became involved in various troubles with its 
 neighbours. 
 
 It was a time of religious frenzy over " Miller- 
 ism " and other cults, and the preachers of this 
 new religion floated into popularity on the tide 
 of this enthusiasm. In 1831 the Mormons moved 
 to Kirtland, Ohio, where they built their first 
 temple. Here considerable numbers accepted the 
 new faith. 
 
 Smith soon received a revelation in which the 
 Lord was reported as saying, " I will consecrate 
 the riches of the Gentiles unto My people " 
 (DC 42). It is said that this was so liberally 
 interpreted by his people that they were soon in 
 disrepute among their neighbours, and in 1832 
 Smith and his associate, Rigdon, were tarred and 
 feathered by a mob. It may as well be stated at 
 once that all of the "persecutions " suffered by 
 the Mormons were in reality prosecutions which 
 arose not because of their religious views but 
 because they outraged human decency, violated 
 personal and property rights and considered it 
 their privilege to " spoil the Gentiles." 
 
 Internal dissensions and financial troubles arose 
 and multiplied; prophecies failed of fruition, 
 promised miracles were not realized, alleged 
 translations by Smith were proven fraudulent and 
 many apostatized. Men within the inner circle 
 hurled the most serious charges of dishonesty 
 
History of the Mormons 19 
 
 and immorality at each other; fights occurred 
 in the temple in which knives and pistols had 
 their part. In 1837 it was falsely reported that 
 Smith and Rigdon were to be arrested, and they 
 fled one night, "when no man pursued," to 
 Mormon colonies in Missouri. The Kirtland 
 bubble burst, hundreds losing all they had, and 
 that city ceased to be an important Mormon 
 centre. The old temple is now owned by the 
 Reorganized Church, which has a few followers 
 in that vicinity. 
 
 The Missouri colonies had been established in 
 1831 and had been visited previously by Smith. 
 They had already won the cordial hatred of their 
 neighbours by " consecrating the riches of the 
 Gentiles " to their own uses. A non-Mormon 
 mass meeting had declared, " It is a duty we owe 
 to ourselves, to our wives and children, to the 
 cause of public morals, to remove them from 
 among us." The Mormons were ordered out, 
 their newspaper office was destroyed " with the 
 utmost order," and some of the bishops were 
 tarred and feathered. Finally they agreed to 
 leave but gave no evidence that they meant to 
 keep their promise. After they had agreed to 
 go Smith had a revelation that " Zion could not 
 be moved out of her place " (DC 97). He or- 
 dered the Missouri Mormons to build their sec- 
 ond temple at Independence and threatened fire 
 and sword upon all who refused to obey. This 
 
2o Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 aroused the mob spirit and the Mormons were 
 driven from Jackson County into Clay County. 
 
 Smith started from Kirtland with an " Army 
 of Zion " which was soon ignominiously broken 
 up by disease which Smith's promised miracu- 
 lous power failed to cure. Peace lasted for 
 about three years after this removal, but the 
 Mormons kept intimating and then claiming that 
 the land was theirs by inheritance from God, and 
 that their " enemies " would be driven out. 
 Charges of thieving, murder and polygamy were 
 made against the Mormons and mob violence 
 again prevailed. At last the legislature created 
 a new county with Far West as the county seat. 
 As there were none but Mormons in this county, 
 there was peace for a time. 
 
 It was at this juncture, January, 1838, that 
 Smith and Rigdon, having fled from Ohio, came 
 to abide in Missouri. The Missouri Mormons 
 had lived in harmony among themselves up to 
 the coming of Smith whose dictatorial policy 
 soon created troubles they had not hitherto 
 known. Many of their prominent leaders were 
 either cut off by Smith or apostatized. Finan- 
 cial difficulties now arose and tithing (from which 
 Smith and Rigdon were exempt) was introduced. 
 The third temple was begun at Far West and at 
 the laying of the corner-stone Rigdon preached 
 an inflammatory sermon declaring that a " war of 
 extermination" would follow any interference 
 
History of the Mormons 2 1 
 
 with their plans. This again created intense ex- 
 citement and mob law prevailed until the militia 
 came. Smith and others were put into jail on 
 the charge of treason but soon regained their 
 freedom through bribery and fled to Illinois. 
 The Mormons who remained were soon forced 
 to follow. That the Gentiles were not wholly at 
 fault is seen from the statement of the Mormon 
 Star which said, " Our people fare very well 
 and when they are discreet little or no persecution 
 is felt." General Clark, who commanded the 
 militia and who made the final report upon this 
 unfortunate affair, said that the Mormons had as 
 their final object : 
 
 Dominion, the ultimate subjection of the state 
 and the Union to the laws of a few men called 
 the presidency. . . . These people have 
 banded themselves together in societies, the ob- 
 ject of which was first to drive from their society 
 such as refused to join them in their unholy pur- 
 poses, and then to plunder the surrounding coun- 
 try, and ultimately subject the state to their rule. 
 
 That this is not an unjust representation ap- 
 pears from the sworn testimony of T. B. Marsh, 
 a president of the Twelve Apostles, in October, 
 1838: 
 
 The plan of Smith, the prophet, is to take the 
 state ; and he professes to his people to intend 
 taking the whole United States arid ultimately 
 
22 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 the whole world. The prophet inculcates the 
 notion, and it is believed by every true Mormon, 
 that Smith's prophecies are superior to the law 
 of the land. I have heard the prophet say that he 
 would yet tread down his enemies and walk over 
 their dead bodies ; that if he was not let alone he 
 would be a second Mohammed to this generation. 
 
 Volumes of similar evidence could be cited to 
 show that this was, and is, the spirit of the Mor- 
 mon Church. It is not at all strange, then, that 
 the Gentiles of Missouri adopted somewhat dras- 
 tic measures to rid themselves of such a danger- 
 ous crowd. 
 
 ttVl (j 
 
 In I-&3O. Hancock County, Illinois, had only 
 483 people. The Mormons colonized here and 
 as it was in a desperate financial condition they 
 were welcomed as settlers. They took possession 
 at Nauvoo and things fairly boomed. All sorts 
 of real estate schemes were launched and public 
 buildings were erected on a grand scale. As all 
 political parties desired the increasing Mormon 
 vote, an extraordinary charter was granted the 
 city of Nauvoo. The mayor was a member of 
 the city council and also of the municipal court* 
 which 'could issue writs of habeas corpus nullify- 
 ing the actions of all other courts, and its mili- 
 tary force was entirely free from state control. 
 Here for the first time the Mormons realized 
 their ambition of a government within a govern- 
 ment. 
 
History of the Mormons 23 
 
 In 1841 the corner-stone of the Nauvoo 
 Temple was laid with great pomp. The Nau- 
 voo Legion was out in full panoply of war with 
 Smith who had fled there from Missouri 
 at their head. He was arrayed in the uniform 
 of a lieutenant-general, assuming a rank held 
 by no one since Washington. This temple, said 
 to have cost $1,000,000, was destroyed in 1848 
 by a fire supposed to be of incendiary origin. 
 
 All these things entailed large expense for a 
 new community of poor people, but Smith ruled 
 with a high hand and allowed no interference 
 with his plans. Soon the same troubles arose 
 that had appeared everywhere else. Some of 
 the best Mormons openly charged that Smith 
 was trying to persuade their wives and daughters 
 to become his " spiritual " wives. 
 
 With brazen effrontery Smith announced him- 
 self as candidate for the presidency of the United 
 States, and wrote abusive letters to Clay and 
 Calhoun. Dr. Bennett, candidate with Smith 
 for the vice-presidency, afterwards said that 
 Smith sent over 2,000 missionaries into various 
 parts of the country in behalf of his candidacy. 
 
 The people of Illinois now began to realize 
 what they had on their hands and wished they 
 had granted the repeated demands of Missouri 
 for the extradition of Smith as a fugitive from 
 the law. Open rebellion arose within the church. 
 Smith issued a proclamation warning the lawless 
 
24 ' Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 " not to be precipitate in any interference in our 
 affairs, for as sure as there is a God in Israel we 
 shall ride triumphant over all oppression." 
 In an address he said : 
 
 Before I will bear this unhallowed persecu- 
 tion any longer, before I will be dragged away 
 again among my enemies for trial, I will spill the 
 last drop of blood in my veins and will see all 
 my enemies in hell. ... I will fight with 
 gun, sword, cannon, whirlwind, thunder, until 
 they are used up like Kilkenny cats. 
 
 This bombastic language is strangely incon- 
 sistent with his flights from Ohio and Missouri, 
 and with the fact that he and some of his com- 
 panions soon after started to fly to the Rocky 
 Mountains, but were detected by Mormon offi- 
 cials and compelled to remain. 
 
 Smith's language did not have a soothing ef- 
 fect but it caused many public meetings to be 
 held. At one in Warsaw, the following was 
 adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That the time has arrived . . . 
 when the adherents of Smith should be driven 
 . . . into Nauvoo ; that the prophet and his 
 miscreant adherents should then be demanded at 
 their hands, and, if not surrendered, a war of ex- 
 termination should be waged, to the entire de- 
 struction ... of his adherents. 
 
 Military companies were organized on both 
 
History of the Mormons 25 
 
 sides and the governor was obliged to take a 
 hand. Smith was arrested for declaring war 
 against the state and he and fourteen others were 
 lodged in Carthage jail and guarded by the 
 Carthage Grays. An order was issued to march 
 on Nauvoo but it was countermanded. Two 
 hundred of the disbanded Warsaw regiment went 
 to Carthage and attacked the jail, being fired on 
 by the guard with blank cartridges, apparently 
 by prearrangement. The mob rushed the guard, 
 entered the jail and began firing as soon as they 
 saw their victims. Smith's brother, Hyrum, fell 
 at the first fire. Joseph tried to defend himself 
 with a six-barrelled pistol which some one had 
 smuggled to him. Finding it of little avail he 
 rushed for the window, but was shot from within 
 and without the jail, dying instantly, June 27, 
 1844. While this was murder, pure and simple, 
 it must be borne in mind that Smith was re- 
 sponsible for inflaming public opinion and for 
 his defiance of the authority of the state. The 
 manner of his death gave to it the colour of 
 martyrdom and this idea has been made the 
 most of ever since. 
 
 Rigdon wanted to be president, while Smith's 
 family claimed that the mantle "of the prophet 
 should fall upon his son and namesake. But 
 there was another man to be reckoned with, 
 Brigham Young. Young was a man of no edu- 
 cation but of strong mental traits, shrewd and 
 
26 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 ambitious but, withal, wise. He had been will- 
 ing to bide his time and had never quarrelled 
 with Smith. As President of the Twelve he 
 quickly succeeded in deposing Rigdon and be- 
 came chief in authority. His modesty now van- 
 ished but he was cautious, for he advised delay 
 in the filling of the vacancies in the First Presi- 
 dency and he never issued but one written 
 prophecy. He was elected president after reach- 
 ing Utah. 
 
 Smith's death did not bring peace. In Jan- 
 uary, 1845, the infamous Nauvoo charter was re- 
 pealed and this made the Mormons defiant. 
 Upon the advice of the governor, Young issued 
 a proclamation the following September an- 
 nouncing that they would remove to some re- 
 mote place. This movement was begun in Feb- 
 ruary of the next year, being hastened by the 
 finding of grand jury indictments against several 
 of the Mormon apostles for counterfeiting, and 
 they were soon out of the jurisdiction of the Illi- 
 nois courts. By the following September not 
 less than 12,000 Mormons had left Illinois, most 
 of them spending the winter at winter quarters, 
 near Omaha. 
 
 In April, 1847, Young, with one hundred and 
 forty-three men and three women, started West, 
 arriving at what is now Salt Lake City the 24th 
 of the following July. To this day " Pioneer 
 Day " is celebrated with much more enthusiasm 
 
History of the Mormons 27 
 
 by the Mormons than is the national holiday 
 twenty days earlier. The next year Young 
 brought all of the Mormons to Utah. It must 
 be remembered that this was then Mexican ter- 
 ritory, with the seat of government two thousand 
 miles away, no settlements near and no transpor- 
 tation facilities. 
 
 Proselyting in the countries of northern and 
 western Europe was now pushed with vigour. It 
 is said that in fourteen years 50,000 persons were 
 baptized by the Mormons in Europe. Many of 
 these people had their expenses paid to Utah but 
 each was obliged to sign a bond as follows : 
 
 We do severally and jointly promise and 
 bind ourselves to continue with and obey the in- 
 structions of the agent appointed to superintend 
 our passage thither. And that, on our arrival in 
 Utah, we will hold ourselves, our time and our 
 labour subject to the appropriation of the Per- 
 petual Emigration Fund Company until the full 
 cost of our emigration is paid, with interest if re- 
 quired. 
 
 The "agent" (elder) received a commission 
 from the steamship^companies for all tickets sold. 
 Similar methods are employed to this day. 
 
 In 1 848^ Utah became part of the territory of 
 the United States but for many years the Mor- 
 mons controlled everything except a few federal 
 appointments. But even with these they often 
 so managed that Brigham Young, or some one 
 
28 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 who was truculent and servile to their demands, 
 was appointed governor. The local offices were 
 filled ex-officio by ecclesiastics. The church 
 granted deeds, gathered taxes and performed all 
 the functions of civil government. There was 
 unquestioned union of church and state. Brig- 
 ham Young fought the government and the 
 coming of Gentiles with varying success. But 
 the discovery of gold in California caused thou- 
 sands to pass through Utah and the discovery of 
 gold in Utah made it impossible to keep the 
 Gentiles out. 
 
 Young's family multiplied until he had, ac- 
 cording to Linn, twenty-five wives and forty-four 
 children. This account is vouched for by his 
 eldest son and seven of his wives. But no one 
 thinks this list is complete for in almost every 
 town in Utah he had women " sealed " to him 
 and no one knows how many children he had. 
 
 Young died August 29, 1877. Without doubt 
 he was a master of men but there was a lot of 
 bluff in his make-up, and nothing of the martyr. 
 He was brainy but brutal. The useless cruelty 
 of his dictatorial sway has scarcely been equalled 
 in the history of the world. His achievements 
 have been overestimated. His Cotton wood 
 Canal with its mouth ten feet higher than its 
 source, his beet sugar factory, his Colorado 
 Transportation Company, as well as every distant 
 colony he planted, were absolute failures. His 
 
History of the Mormons 29 
 
 audacious defiance of the government came to 
 naught when federal officers with some back- 
 bone were found. Had not gold been discovered 
 in California, causing the building of the Pacific 
 Railroad, it is doubtful if his settlements could 
 have lasted. Beadle says that " Young never 
 made a success of anything but managing the 
 Mormons. 11 
 
 When his alleged exploits are carefully studied 
 it is found that the halo of religious hero-worship 
 has coloured the reports of his credulous follow- 
 ers. Note some of his failures: In 1856, in 
 order to cut down expenses, he devised a way to 
 have the emigrants push their belongings in 
 carts across the continent from Iowa City. Five 
 companies attempted the trip in this way with 
 varying degrees of failure. One, under Chislett, 
 started out five hundred strong but only about 
 four hundred left Florence, Nebraska, and on the 
 way their carts gave out, buffalo stampeded their 
 oxen, supplies were not found as promised, the 
 cold weather caught them, and before they 
 reached Utah sixty-seven had died and others 
 were maimed for life. According to his own 
 letters, still extant, Young was directly respon- 
 sible for this tragedy, but he sought to lay the 
 responsibility on others. The death losses of 
 this overland " trek " were much larger than dur- 
 ing similar emigrations to Oregon and California. 
 
 Young will long be remembered for his bru- 
 
30 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 talitics, but his greatest crime was the Mountain 
 Meadow Massacre. In 1857 a party of people 
 from Arkansas started for California by way of 
 Utah. Every unbiased source of testimony says 
 that they conducted themselves with propriety, 
 yet on September I ith of that year they were all 
 treacherously massacred with the exception of a 
 few children. The real reasons were, first, to 
 give force to Young's edict forbidding persons to 
 pass through Utah ; second, to take revenge for 
 the killing of Parley P. Pratt by an Arkansan 
 whose wife Pratt had stolen to make his ninth 
 wife ; and, third, to secure plunder valued at 
 about $70,000. All the way through Utah the 
 Arkansas people had been harassed by the re- 
 fusal of the Mormons to sell them food. With 
 their stock almost exhausted, they camped at the 
 Meadows a valley about five miles long by one 
 wide and with only one outlet, located about 
 three hundred miles southwest of Salt Lake City. 
 On September 7th the party was surprised at 
 being attacked by Indians. They defended 
 themselves with such vigour that assault after 
 assault was repulsed. The evident plan of the 
 Mormons was to have the whole thing done by 
 the Indians, but the vigour of the defense made 
 a change of programme necessary. On the 
 morning of the nth a Mormon came to the be- 
 sieged with a flag of truce. This was the only 
 white man they had seen, and he was hailed with 
 
History of the Mormons 31 
 
 delight. He offered them safe conduct to Cedar 
 City. They hesitated but, being nearly out of 
 ammunition, accepted. John D. Lee then car- 
 ried out the rest of the plot. He told them to 
 put the wounded and small children in wagons, 
 that the women and older children must go on 
 ahead, and that the men must surrender their 
 arms to show their peaceable intent to the Indians. 
 An armed Mormon marched by the side of each 
 Arkansas man to " protect " him. When the 
 women, in the advance, were in the midst of an 
 Indian ambush the agreed-upon signal was given 
 and each Mormon shot his Arkansas companion. 
 The Indians and Mormons then fell upon the 
 women and children and amid unmentionable 
 scenes killed all but seventeen of the smaller chil- 
 dren. About a year afterwards these children 
 were hunted up by the government and returned 
 to Arkansas. 
 
 The Mormons held a meeting of prayer and 
 thanksgiving because their enemies had been de- 
 livered into their hands, swore each other to 
 secrecy, and divided the plunder. No Indians 
 ever committed a more treacherous and indefen- 
 sible crime accompanied by more cruel and re- 
 volting details than this. The Mormon press 
 made no mention of it. Young, though Super- 
 intendent of Indian Affairs, forgot (?) to speak of 
 it in his reports. After seventeen years of 
 spineless conduct on the part of the United 
 
32 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 States government officials, the crime was finally 
 traced to its source and Young coward that he 
 was surrendered John D. Lee as a scapegoat 
 for himself and others. Lee was executed 
 March 23, 1877, and all indictments against 
 others were dismissed by the government, appar- 
 ently by previous agreement. 
 
 Young came to Utah with no money; in spite 
 of the cost of maintaining such an immense 
 family he left them an estate of $3,000,000. He 
 had no productive business but the tithes he 
 wrung from his people. The fact that after the 
 probating of his will the church sued for and re- 
 covered about one million dollars that he had 
 willed to his family shows how creditable (?) some 
 of his transactions were. 
 
 Young was succeeded in the presidency by 
 John Taylor, and he in turn successively by Lo- 
 renzo D. Snow, Wilford Woodruff and Joseph 
 F. Smith. 
 
 We can pass over this period with mere men- 
 tion. It was not until the Gentiles became nu- 
 merous that there was much political trouble. 
 But so high-handed did the political methods of 
 the Mormons become that in the eighties the 
 Gentiles organized the Liberal Party to offset the 
 Mormon People's Party. In the year 1890 the 
 Mormons were defeated at their own political 
 game in Salt Lake City which went into the 
 control of the Liberal Party. They realized that 
 
History of the Mormons 33 
 
 they must change their tactics. They held con- 
 ferences with the political leaders and said : 
 " Some of us are naturally Republicans and some 
 just as naturally Democrats. We all want state- 
 hood. We can never have it so long as national 
 party lines are obliterated. Let us live in har- 
 mony and divide along national party lines and 
 work together." This was done, and until the 
 American Party won the city a few years later, 
 the Mormons controlled everything as effectively 
 as before the coming of the Gentiles. A Mor- 
 mon never votes the Republican or the Demo- 
 cratic ticket he votes the Mormon ticket. He 
 votes with the party and for the men from whom 
 the church can get the most. For several years 
 the Republican party in Utah and Idaho has 
 been controlled absolutely by the Mormon 
 Church. 
 
 After the granting of statehood, Brigham H. 
 Roberts, a Democrat, wanted to run for Con- 
 gress but was forbidden by his church. After 
 being disciplined he was permitted to run and 
 was elected, but by vote of the national House of 
 Representatives was not allowed to take his seat. 
 Moses Thatcher was an apostle and desired to 
 run for the United States Senate. He was 
 " counselled " not to do so. He insisted that he 
 would do as he pleased. The church defeated 
 him and deposed him from his apostleship and, 
 until his death, he was one of the few leading 
 
34 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 men in the church who held no ecclesiastical of- 
 fice. October, 1896, the church adopted a rule 
 in this case, in part as follows : 
 
 Our position is that a man, having accepted 
 the honour and obligations of ecclesiastical office 
 in the church, cannot properly, of his own voli- 
 tion, make these honours subordinate to or even 
 coordinate with new ones of entirely different 
 character. 
 
 Against the secret protest of Gentile Repub- 
 licans, Reed Smoot, an apostle, was foisted upon 
 the Republican party of Utah as its candidate for 
 the national Senate. No one would have thought 
 of him as a senator had not the church thrust 
 him forward. He received his certificate of elec- 
 tion in January, 1903. An official protest was 
 signed by nineteen representative citizens of Salt 
 Lake City and backed by thousands of the best 
 citizens of the state, of all churches and parties 
 which were not under the domination of the 
 Mormons. The official " Protest of Citizens," a 
 pamphlet of sixty-two written pages, elaborates 
 and proves from Mormon sources the following 
 points : 
 
 I. The Mormon priesthood ... is vested 
 with supreme authority in all things temporal and 
 spiritual. 
 
 II. The First Presidency and the Twelve 
 Apostles are supreme in the exercise and trans- 
 mission and mandates of this authority. 
 
History of the Mormons 35 
 
 III. This body has not abandoned . . . 
 political dictation nor belief in polygamy and 
 polygamous cohabitation. 
 
 IV. That this is their attitude ever since the 
 Manifesto of 1890 is evidenced by their teachings 
 since then. 
 
 V. These officials, of whom Reed Smoot is 
 one, encourage and practice polygamy and 
 sought to pass a law nullifying enactments 
 against polygamous cohabitation. 
 
 VI. The supreme authorities, of whom Reed 
 Smoot is one, protect and honour these violators 
 of the law all of which is contrary : 
 
 1. To the public sentiment of the civilized 
 world. 
 
 2. To express pledges given to secure am- 
 nesty. 
 
 3. To conditions upon which escheated 
 property was returned. 
 
 4. To the pledges given by church officials 
 in their plea for statehood. 
 
 5. To pledges required by Enabling Act 
 and given in State Constitution. 
 
 6. To the following portion of the Consti- 
 tution : 
 
 " There shall be no union of church 
 or state nor shall any church domi- 
 nate the state or interfere with its 
 functions " (Art. I, Sec. 4). 
 
 7. To the law. 
 
 Every item of this protest was justified by the 
 testimony, covering nearly three years, taken at 
 
36 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Washington. In spite of a majority report un- 
 favourable to Smoot from the Committee on 
 Privileges and Elections, he was seated by a 
 vote of forty-two to twenty-eight, eighteen 
 senators being paired. Smoot admitted going 
 through the Endowment House of which scores 
 have testified that every one is required to take 
 an oath like the following : 
 
 You and each of you covenant and agree that 
 you will pray and never cease to pray Almighty 
 God to avenge the blood of the prophets on this 
 nation, and that you will teach the same to your 
 children and your children's children unto the 
 third and fourth generation. 
 
 One of Smooths own witnesses, Dougal by 
 name, testified that such was the case. 
 
 It was admitted by President Joseph F. Smith, 
 and by Smoot, that the latter could not become 
 a candidate for the Senate without the consent of 
 the Apostolate. If a man cannot be a candidate 
 for an office contrary to the approval of the 
 apostolic body, how can he act in that office 
 contrary to that body ? 
 
 The Tribune of Salt Lake has repeatedly made 
 the following charge which has never been re- 
 plied to by any person or paper : 
 
 No bill has ever been passed by the Utah 
 Legislature which has been opposed by the chief 
 hierarchs ; no bill has ever failed of passage in 
 
History of the Mormons 37 
 
 the Utah Legislature when the chief hierarchs 
 urged its passage ; no act has ever been signed 
 which was opposed by the chief hierarchs ; no 
 act has ever been vetoed by a governor of Utah 
 whose approval was demanded by the chief hier- 
 archs of the Mormon Church. 
 
 We have seen the attitude of the Mormons 
 towards the laws of their own state which they 
 helped to formulate. We will now consider their 
 attitude towards the national government. 
 
 A Mormon band sailed around the Horn, ar- 
 riving at San Francisco in 1846. When their 
 leader, Brannan, saw Old Glory floating over the 
 
 city he exclaimed : " There is that d flag 
 
 again." 
 
 Utah came into the control of the United 
 States one year after the Mormons reached the 
 Salt Lake Valley. Without authority from Con- 
 gress they established the state of Deseret. 
 They applied for its admission to the Union but 
 so patent were their intentions that their appli- 
 cation was not taken seriously. Utah was made 
 a territory in 1851 but that did not prevent the 
 Mormons from passing laws to suit themselves. 
 Young in one of his official orders said : " This 
 order does not come from the governor but from 
 the President of the church." 
 
 For some years the Mormons issued paper 
 money, coined gold, and placed the bills of the 
 defunct Kirtland Bank on a par with gold. An- 
 
38 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 other prophecy fulfilled ! They levied duties and 
 taxes upon all persons and goods passing through 
 Utah to the coast. 
 
 We now come to the period when the " Dan- 
 ites " flourished and church-inspired murders 
 were common. The Danites, an order of the 
 church, were under the absolute control of Presi- 
 dent Young, and the awful crimes of which they 
 were guilty defy adequate description. The 
 Borgias and the Inquisition furnish no worse ex- 
 amples of awful cruelty than the punishments 
 meted out to those who offended the church. A 
 military posse was needed to support a marshal 
 when papers were served on one of these men. 
 Judge Cradlebaugh, after several years of judicial 
 experience in Utah, told Congress : 
 
 " I am justified in charging that the Mormons 
 are guilty and that the Mormon Church is guilty 
 of the crimes of murder and robbery as taught in 
 their books of faith." 
 
 When federal officials began to be sent to 
 Utah, Young and his followers abused them most 
 shamefully if not subservient to his wishes. 
 When Colonel Steptoe was appointed governor 
 to succeed him, Young declared in the tabernacle, 
 February 1 8, 1855 
 
 " For a man to come here (as governor) and 
 infringe upon my individual rights and privileges, 
 and upon those of my brethren, will never meet 
 with my sanction and I will scourge such an one 
 
History of the Mormons 39 
 
 until he leaves. . . . Come on with your 
 knives, and your swords, and your fagots of fire 
 and destroy the whole of us rather than we will 
 forsake our religion." 
 
 David H. Burr, appointed Surveyor General of 
 Utah in 1855, reported: 
 
 " The fact is, these people repudiate the au- 
 thority of the United States in this country and are 
 in open rebellion against the general government." 
 
 When the news reached Young that President 
 Buchanan was sending a military expedition into 
 Utah under Col. Albert Sydney Johnson, he 
 declared to a large gathering : 
 
 " You might as well tell me that you could 
 make hell into a powder house as to tell me that 
 they intend to keep an army here and have 
 peace." 
 
 On September 15, 1857, Young issued a proc- 
 lamation forbidding " all armed forces coming 
 into this territory under any pretense whatever." 
 The Nauvoo Legion had been kept up in Utah 
 and Young sent orders to the commander, D. H. 
 Wells, to find the United States troops and pro- 
 ceed " at once to annoy them in every possible 
 way. Stampede their animals, set fire to their 
 trains. . . . Watch for opportunities to set 
 fire to the grass on their windward, so as, if 
 possible, to envelop their trains. . . . God 
 bless you and give you success. Your brother 
 in Christ," 
 
4O Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 When Colonel Alexander was marching towards 
 Utah, Young wrote him of his great loyalty 
 and advised him to return to the East. When he 
 saw that Alexander could not be bluffed he made 
 no effort to conceal his rage and wrote him : 
 
 If you persist in your attempt to locate an 
 army in this territory . . . with a view to aid 
 the administration in their unhallowed efforts to 
 palm off their corrupt officials upon us and 
 to protect them and the blacklegs . . . and 
 murderers, you will have to meet a mode of war- 
 fare against which your tactics furnish you no 
 information. 
 
 Months of parleying followed, at the end of 
 which time Young abjectly surrendered and con- 
 sented to the coming of the United States troops. 
 
 During Lincoln's administration the govern- 
 ment was having its troubles and the Mormons, 
 wishing for the downfall of the Union, became 
 more outspoken. Young said on one occasion : 
 " Shame, shame on the rulers of this nation. I 
 feel myself disgraced to hail such men as my 
 countrymen." Fine words to use of Lincoln ! 
 In May, 1862, Col. P. E. Connor was sent to 
 Utah to hold their treason in check. All sorts 
 of threats were made against him, but in battle 
 array he marched his few troops through the 
 main streets of the city to the residence of 
 Governor Harding. The governor made an 
 address in which he referred to the situation in 
 
History of the Mormons 41 
 
 unmistakable language. The Mormons sent a 
 committee to bulldoze Connor but he said 'to 
 them: 
 
 " Go back to Brigham Young, your master, 
 that embodiment of sin and shame and disgust, 
 and tell him that I neither fear him nor love him 
 nor hate him that I utterly despise him." 
 
 Brigham Young prayed in the tabernacle that 
 both the North and the South might be destroyed. 
 Dakota with 4,000 population in 1860, and 
 Nevada with less than 7,000, sent troops to the 
 defense of our government under their own 
 state banners (Army Register VII and VIII). 
 Utah had over 40,000 population but not a man 
 in general government service. Young said in 
 1862: 
 
 Let the present administration ask us for a 
 thousand men, or even five hundred, and I would 
 see them damned first and then they could not 
 have them. (Cries of " Good, good " from all 
 over the house.) 
 
 But when it became evident that the Union 
 would triumph the Mormons speedily began to 
 make friends with the federal government. No 
 one was deceived and a sturdier class of govern- 
 ment officials was sent, and the government finally 
 began to assert itself. The story is too long to 
 be told in full, but in 1874 the Poland Bill against 
 polygamy was the first step in the right direction 
 
42 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 and this did not increase the love of the Mormons 
 for the government. Then came the Edmunds 
 and the Edmunds-Tucker laws and then the 
 Mormons made incendiary speeches to the ap- 
 plause of great multitudes. United States flags 
 were placed at half mast and on one occasion, as 
 late as 1879, publicly trailed in the dust. 
 
 In 1877, Wilford Woodruff, afterwards presi- 
 dent of the church, in the dedicatory prayer of 
 the St. George Temple used this language : 
 
 And we pray Thee, our Father in heaven, in the 
 name of Jesus Christ, . . . that Thy servant, 
 Brigham, may stand in the flesh to behold the 
 nation which now occupies the land, upon which 
 Thou, Lord, has said that Zion shouldst stand in 
 the latter days ; that nation which shed the blood 
 of the prophets and saints ; which cry unto 
 God day and night for vengeance ; that nation 
 which is making war against God and His Christ ; 
 that nation whose sins and wickedness and abomi- 
 nations are ascending up before God and the 
 heavenly host. . . . Yea, O Lord, that he 
 may live to see that nation, if it will not repent, 
 broken in pieces, like the potter's vessel, and swept 
 from off the face of the earth as with the besom 
 of destruction. 
 
 In brief the Mormon Church murdered federal 
 officials, tried others for alleged offenses against 
 Mormons in the East, burned government sup- 
 plies, robbed the mails, intercepted official com- 
 munications, and an illegal legislature met and 
 

 History of the Mormons 43 
 
 did business for ten years after the territorial 
 government 1 had been established by the national 
 government. 
 
 Just after statehood had been secured on solemn 
 promises, 1 all of which have been broken, President 
 Smith said at the dedication of a meeting-house 
 in Payson, " Take care of your polygamous wives 
 we don't care for Uncle Sam now. " 
 
 This same man when confronted at the Smoot 
 trial with his duplicity and lawlessness said : 
 
 I choose, rather than to abandon my children 
 and their mothers, to take the risk before the law. 
 I want to say, too, that it is the law of my state, 
 and the courts of my state have competent jur- 
 isdiction to deal with me in my offenses against 
 the law, and the Congress of the United States 
 has no business with my private conduct. 
 
 Much credit is justly given to the Utah Battery 
 for its record in the Philippines. It was sometimes 
 called the " Mormon Battery " but this name 
 was resented because there were only 119 pro- 
 fessed Mormons to 225 non-Mormons. In one 
 town where the Mormons have ninety-five per 
 cent, of the population eleven men were enlisted, 
 not one a Mormon every one of the eleven was 
 educated in a home mission school. Loyal 
 Mormons did not enlist ; only the nominal ones, 
 as a rule, were found in that battery. 
 
 1 See page 145. 
 
44 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 In the Salt Lake Tabernacle, on Sunday, April 
 24, 1898, Apostle Brigham said: 
 
 It is wrong for us to think of sending our 
 young men to Cuba. . . . The fact that they 
 would go from these lofty mountains into the 
 malarial swamps of the South would make them 
 much more liable to catch fevers and perish than 
 volunteers from almost any other part of the 
 country. 
 
 In the Smoot investigation witnesses testified 
 that the church had always appointed a steering 
 committee to tell the legislators what to do. 
 
 Shortly after the church had compelled the 
 Republican party to send Smoot to the Senate 
 there was organized the American Party of Utah. 
 This party does not fight Mormonism as a religion 
 but the domination of the state by the church. 
 Some Mormons in good standing supported this 
 party and even became its candidates. They 
 were defeated in the first municipal campaign. 
 Soon after that the Republican state convention 
 voted down a resolution condemning the domina- 
 tion of the state by any church. This gave the 
 American Party new impetus and at the next 
 election they won practically every office in Salt 
 Lake City and remained in power until the elec- 
 tion of November, 1911, when other issues be- 
 came involved and the commission form of gov-s 
 ernment was adopted. 
 
II 
 
 THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE 
 MORMONS 
 
Of a manuscript discovered in Honolulu and now in Oberlin 
 College, President Fairchild writing to the New York Observer t 
 February 5, 1885, sa id: 
 
 " Mr. Rice, myself and others compared it with the Book of 
 Mormon and could detect no resemblance between the two in 
 general detail. . . . Some other explanation of the origin 
 of the Book of Mormon must be found, if an explanation is re- 
 quired." 
 
 This was quoted approvingly many times by the Mormons. 
 The fact is that no one ever claimed that the Honolulu manu- 
 script was the original of the Book of Mormon. The claim is 
 made that one of Spaulding's manuscripts did constitute the 
 basis of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 Some years later, President Fairchild wrote to Rev. J. D. 
 Nutting of Cleveland : " With regard to the manuscript of Mr. 
 Spaulding now in the library of Oberlin College, I have never 
 stated and know of no one who can state that it is the only 
 manuscript that Spaulding wrote, or that it is certainly the one 
 which has been supposed to be the original of the Book of 
 Mormon. The discovery of this manuscript does not prove that 
 there may not have been another, which became the basis of 
 the Book of Mormon. The use of statements emanating from 
 me as implying the contrary of the above is entirely unwar- 
 ranted." 
 
II 
 
 THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE MORMONS 
 
 THE Mormons claim that Joseph Smith 
 received revelations at the early age of 
 fifteen. For this reason he is often 
 called the " Boy Prophet." They also claim that 
 these revelations continued at frequent intervals 
 up to the time of his death. Smith often ad- 
 mitted his own youthful sinfulness even after the 
 time when he claims to have communed with 
 God. Scores of his neighbours in every state in 
 which he ever lived have made sworn testimony 
 that immorality and criminality prevailed in his 
 make-up. As a boy they considered him the 
 worst of a worthless family. In his after years 
 he carried his shifty trickery into his real estate 
 and all his other business dealings. His Kirtland 
 Bank, established by revelation, went to the wall 
 after eight months, leaving nothing but ,$150,000 
 of liabilities and hundreds of ruined creditors. It 
 was established without authority and it ran in 
 violation of the law all the time it did business. 
 
 Mormons who were closest to Smith were open 
 
 in their charges of his immoralities with a young 
 
 girl who lived in his home in Kirtland. He was 
 
 often under indictment and for various crimes. 
 
 47 
 
48 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Sometimes he was freed by the perjury of Mormon 
 witnesses or Mormon jurors. He left Kirtland 
 under cover of night to escape punishment for 
 his crimes, he fled from Missouri under indictment 
 for treason, and when he was killed the same 
 charge lay against him in Illinois. In fact from 
 the time he left Kirtland until his death he was a 
 fugitive from outraged law and justice. 
 
 It is hard to find that Smith ever earned an 
 honest dollar, yet at his death he was the richest 
 man in Nauvoo. God may reveal Himself to any 
 man, woman or child, but that He would choose 
 such a man as we know Smith was all his life to 
 be His " vicegerent on earth " we cannot for a 
 moment believe. 
 
 Smith was not a willing martyr. He died with 
 a six-shooter in his hand, firing at his assailants 
 until his weapon was useless. Yet this is the man 
 whom the Mormons believe to have discovered 
 and translated the " Golden Bible." In view of 
 all that is known of his ancestry, natural bent 
 and character it is not at all strange that he 
 claimed to have discovered this or anything else 
 that his fancy might dictate. 
 
 The accounts of how it all occurred differ 
 widely. The stories told to various people by 
 Joseph himself differ on essential points. The 
 account given by Smith's mother differs so widely 
 from his own that the Mormon Church has tried to 
 secure and destroy all copies of it. The account 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 49 
 
 that Smith finally prepared eleven years after the 
 alleged discovery differs most radically from all 
 the rest. This version, that the Mormons wish to 
 have accepted, declares that Smith went into the 
 woods to pray, was overcome by some mighty 
 power, and saw a pillar of light and two persons 
 of ineffable glory who told him that all churches 
 were wrong. Some years after this, they say, in 
 1823, a person, " having a countenance truly like 
 lightning," came into the room where he was 
 praying and told him of the plates and two stones, 
 Urim and Thummim, by which the plates could 
 be translated. He then went to " Mormon Hill," 
 near Manchester, Ontario County, New York, 
 where he found the things mentioned by the 
 angel under a large stone and in a stone box. 
 He was forbidden to take them at this time but 
 finally secured them in 1827. His mother said 
 that he showed her all the plates ; Joseph asserted 
 that he spoke to his mother about them but did 
 not show them to her. He tried to impress a 
 man named Hussey and showed him the plates 
 wrapped in canvas but told him that if any one 
 looked upon the plates it would mean instant 
 death to him. Hussey took the risk, suddenly 
 knocked off the canvas and disclosed a brick 
 not even a gold one. Smith, with ready wit, 
 then told Hussey that he was "just fooling" 
 him. 
 
 Probably Joseph Smith did not intend at first 
 
50 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 to found a new religion, but to prop up the 
 waning faith in his peep-stone and its value. In 
 fact Peter Ingersol, one of Smith's closest friends, 
 made affidavit in 1833 that Smith said to him 
 soon after his alleged finding of the plates that it 
 
 was all a fraud and "I have the fools 
 
 fixed and will carry out the fun." Smith's brother- 
 in-law bore similar testimony. However, the easy 
 credulity of his mother encouraged him. She had 
 said to friends in Vermont, long before, that she 
 would be the mother of a prophet. 
 
 The first outside the family to give credence 
 to Smith's claims was one Martin Harris. He 
 was a versatile religious enthusiast, having been 
 successively a Quaker, a Universalist, a Baptist 
 and a Presbyterian. He claimed to talk with 
 Jesus Christ, ghosts and the devil, and to have 
 made one trip to the moon which he described in 
 detailed and lurid terms. His neighbours said 
 that he was a brute to his wife, the dupe of Smith, 
 and a conceited hypocrite. Smith took Harris 
 into partnership for a consideration the latter 
 having hope of financial returns. 
 
 On Harris' money Smith moved to Harmony, 
 Pennsylvania, where the work of translation 
 began, Harris for a time acting as amanuensis for 
 Smith who was separated from the former by a 
 screen. Harris wanted to see the plates and 
 Smith gave him a copy of some of the writing on 
 a paper which he showed to famous linguists all 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 51 
 
 of whom declared that it was a palpable and 
 aggravated fraud. 
 
 Smith was now . living near his wife's family 
 but he never won their regard, and Isaac Hale, 
 his father-in-law, declared that the whole Book 
 of Mormon was " a silly fabrication of falsehood 
 and wickedness got up for speculation and with 
 a design to dupe the credulous and unwary." 
 
 Harris declared that he would put no more 
 money into the enterprise unless he could show 
 his wife the translation. Right here the Lord 
 seems to have made a mistake, for Smith says 
 that he received a special revelation directing him 
 to satisfy the curiosity of Mrs. Harris who, failing 
 to convince her husband of his folly, stole the 
 papers and they were never seen again. When 
 Smith heard of this he exclaimed, " Oh, my God ! 
 all is lost." He had kept no copy and knew 
 that he could not produce another identical 
 " translation " and feared that Mrs. Harris would 
 produce the original should he try it. This 
 incident caused a break between Smith and 
 Harris and a " revelation " (DC 3) declared Harris 
 " a wicked man." 
 
 For months the translation languished and 
 then a " mysterious stranger " appeared at the 
 Smith home on various occasions. This was 
 Sydney Rigdon. Rigdon had been reared in 
 western Pennsylvania and had become a Baptist 
 preacher. In 1821 he became pastor of the First 
 
52 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Baptist Church of Pittsburgh where he was soon 
 expelled for doctrinal error. Soon after he be- 
 came associated with Campbell and Scott in the 
 organization of the Disciple Church. 
 
 Some facts about Rigdon may well be noted 
 here showing that he was fundamentally dis- 
 Jionest. In 1822-23 he showed Rev. John 
 Winter a " Romance of the Bible," and told him 
 that a minister named Spaulding had written it. 
 In 1839 he declared in writing that there was no 
 printer in Pittsburgh by the name of Patterson 
 while he lived there. But Spaulding left his 
 manuscript with a printer named Patterson, and 
 it can be proved that Rigdon knew him in- 
 timately. Alexander Campbell charged that 
 Rigdon had advanced information about the Book 
 ^of Mormon and manuscript in his possession 
 which corresponded to the Book of Mormon as 
 afterwards published. A niece of Mrs. Rigdon 
 declared that she had seen and read a manuscript 
 of similar import that was in Rigdon's possession. 
 For months before Rigdon was " converted " to 
 Mormonism he preached doctrines that were 
 afterwards recognized as being peculiar to that 
 religion. In 1830 he said to Dr. S. Rosa, of 
 % Painesville, Ohio, that a new religion would soon 
 be springing up. 
 
 When the real work of getting out the Book 
 of Mormon began both Spaulding and his printers 
 were dead. On his death-bed he charged Rigdon 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 53 
 
 with having stolen his manuscript. When the 
 Mormon elders first came to his place in Ohio, 
 Rigdon invited them into his pulpit. After 
 making a great pretense at defending his own 
 doctrines he was miraculously converted one 
 night and baptized and ordained the next day ! 
 So much for Rigdon ! 
 
 The prophet's wife now acted as scribe in the 
 work of translation until Oliver Covvdry, black- 
 smith and school-teacher, came to Smith's help. 
 The accounts of the method of translation vary 
 as much as the accounts of the finding of the 
 golden plates. Smith said at one time that he 
 used his peep-stone. At another time he said 
 that he used the Urim and Thummim. The work 
 was at last completed and a publisher sought. 
 After many had declined to publish the book 
 Egbert B. Grandin, of Palmyra, N. Y., agreed to 
 print and bind 5,000 copies for $3,000. Harris* 
 farm seems to have restored him to favour in spite 
 of his wickedness, and this was mortgaged to 
 guarantee payment. 
 
 In spite of Smith's oft-repeated declaration 
 that " the translation was just as it was engraven 
 on the plates, precisely in the language then 
 used," the printers refused to set it according to 
 copy, so poor were the spelling and grammar. 
 Finally Smith was obliged to agree to many 
 changes. 
 
 In 1830 the book was offered to the public 
 
54 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 and Harris held exclusive rights of sale on con- 
 dition that he would never sell it for less than 
 one dollar and twenty-five cents per copy ; but 
 no one wanted it at any price. The mortgage 
 on Harris' farm was finally foreclosed to satisfy 
 the debt. 
 
 Solomon Spaulding graduated from the Dart- 
 mouth School of Theology in 1787. Failing to 
 succeed as a preacher he moved to what is now 
 Conneaut, Ohio, became an infidel and turned his 
 attention to writing, with the special intention of 
 discrediting the Holy Scriptures. His first story 
 pretended that a manuscript found in a stone box 
 in a cave gave an account of the aborigines of 
 America who, he claimed, were descended from 
 the lost Ten Tribes of Israel. 
 
 In 1833 when a Mormon elder went to Con- 
 neaut and in a public meeting read copious ex- 
 tracts from the Book of Mormon, Solomon Spauld- 
 ing's brother John was in the audience. This 
 good man, being " eminently pious, " was much 
 grieved that the writings of his dead brother 
 should be thus prostituted for the purposes of 
 religious deception, and he publicly protested. 
 He declared that he recognized manufactured 
 proper names, peculiar idioms, historical ideas and 
 data which he remembered as having seen in his 
 brother's story. A dozen other Conneaut people 
 who knew Solomon Spaulding and his story 
 made affidavit to the same effect 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 55 
 
 The Spaulding manuscript which is now in 
 Oberlin College l was the first rough draft of the 
 story which was afterwards written over with 
 Scriptural terminology. Members of the Spauld-% 
 ing family testify to this. It was the latter version 
 that was stolen from the printers by Rigdon and 
 which became the basis for the Book of Mormon. 
 
 The title " Manuscript Found " is not on the 
 Oberlin copy, which has been published by the 
 Mormons to refute any possible connection 
 between Spaulding and the Book of Mormon. 
 However, that title was on the manuscript taken 
 by Spaulding's widow to the home of her brother, 
 W. H. Sabine, at Onondaga Valley, N. Y. If 
 there was no relation between the Spaulding story 
 and the Book of Mormon the reasonable query is, 
 how did the modern Mormons hit upon that 
 title when they published the manuscript ? 
 
 What was the underlying motive for all this 
 manifest deception ? Rigdon was undoubtedly 
 piqued at being expelled by the Baptists, and 
 angered at being set aside by Campbell in the 
 Disciples' organization. For him and for the 
 others, in addition to the thirst for prominence, 
 there was the absorbing desire for money. All 
 ofnheir unlawful schemes speak the same word. 
 Even their revelations from God declare that all 
 money must be given into the hands of the priest- 
 hood (DC 119), yet Smith, a man of magnificent 
 
 1 See page 46. 
 
56 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 physique, was not to labour but was to be sup- 
 ported. 
 
 Greed of power and greed of pelf were reigning 
 motives in the life of Smith. Nowhere is this 
 more clearly seen than on the title page of the 
 Book of Mormon where he claims to be " Author 
 and Proprietor." To believe that the whole 
 scheme was a conscious fraud is not out of har- 
 mony with the known facts in the private and 
 public careers of the originators of Mormonism 
 both before and after the publication of the Book 
 of Mormon. But the church asserts : 
 
 We consider the Bible, the Book of Mormon, 
 book of Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great 
 Price, and the Sayings of Joseph, the Seer, our 
 guides in faith and doctrine. The first four have 
 been adopted as such by the Saints in General 
 Conference (Pref. to Comp.). 
 
 In every edition of the Book of Mormon the 
 testimony of the " Three Witnesses " and also 
 of the Eight Witnesses " is published. The 
 " Three" were Cowdry, David Whitmer and 
 Martin Harris. Four of the " Eight " were Whit- 
 mers, the others being Hiram Page, their brother- 
 in-law, and three members of Smith's own family. 
 Smith repeatedly said that no one but himself 
 could look on the plates and live. But he after- 
 wards declared that they " teased " him so that he 
 finally had a revelation (DC 5) in which the 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 57 
 
 Lord said that he might show the plates to three 
 of his servants " And to none else will I grant 
 this power to receive this testimony among this 
 generation." Smith then tells that he took the 
 " Three " into the woods, left Harris by himself 
 and went further into the woods with Cowdry and 
 Whitmer and, in answer to prayer, the angel 
 of the Lord came and showed them the plates. 
 Smith says that he then went to where Harris was 
 engaged in prayer and told him of their success 
 and in response to further prayer " the same 
 vision was opened to our view, at least it was to 
 me again, " and Harris rejoiced with the others. 
 The " Eight " in their testimony say : 
 
 We have seen the plates which contain this 
 record, . . . and we also testify that we have 
 seen the engravings which are upon the plates ; 
 and they have been shown to us by the power of 
 God ... an angel came down from heaven 
 and he brought and laid before our eyes and it is 
 by the grace of God that we beheld and saw the 
 plates. 
 
 Is it not justifiable to inquire right here as to 
 whether the Lord had forgotten that He said, * 
 when He showed the plates to the " Three, " that 
 no one else in that generation should see them ? 
 The general reputation of these eleven witnesses 
 was bad even among the Mormons. In 1838 
 Cowdry and two of the Whitmers were driven 
 
58 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 out of Far West by the Danites, and Smith 
 and Rigdon had the most serious charges made 
 against them by their own brother Mormons. 
 Many of the eleven apostatized and died out of 
 the faith of Mormonism. Cowdry said upon one 
 occasion that he was willing to expose Mormon- 
 ism and that when he signed that testimony he 
 " was not one of the best of men." In the 
 revelation granting permission to see the plates 
 it was said, " It is by faith you shall see them." 
 David Whitmeri afterwards denied that he had 
 actually seen the plates and said : " Suppose you 
 had a friend whose character was such that you 
 knew it was impossible for him to lie ; then if he 
 described a city to you which you had never seen, 
 could you not, by the eye of faith, see the city just 
 as he described it ? " 
 
 Harris afterwards told a lawyer of Palmyra that 
 he did not actually see the plates " as I do that 
 pencil case, yet I saw them with the eye of 
 faith . . . though at the time they were 
 covered up with a cloth." He evidently had 
 forgotten that the Lord had warned him to say 
 nothing about this experience except to insist 
 that he had seen the plates. 
 
 The Book of Mormon claims to be the record 
 of three colonies of people who came from the 
 old world in ancient times, and lived on this con- 
 tinent for 2,500 years. The first party, consist- 
 ing of about twenty-five people under Jared, left 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 59 
 
 Asia soon after the flood and after floating three 
 hundred and forty-four days, landed on these 
 shores. They prospered and multiplied and 
 finally divided into two rival nations which ex- 
 terminated each other with the exception of one 
 man, Coriantur. 
 
 About this time, 600 B. c., another party 
 under Lehi left Jerusalem and after drifting 
 across the Pacific Ocean, landed upon the shores 
 of South America. As they multiplied, the de- 
 scendants of two brothers, Nephi and Laman, 
 became two nations. In about nine years, a 
 third party left Jerusalem headed by one of the 
 sons of King Zedekiah and settled somewhere 
 in South America. About four hundred years 
 later they were discovered by the Nephites and 
 absorbed into their own nation. 
 
 The Lamanites (Indians) multiplied and popu- 
 lated all of South America, and the Nephites 
 spread all through North America, where they en- 
 joyed a highly-developed Christian civilization. 
 It is claimed that Jesus, after His ascension as re- 
 corded in the Bible, visited this continent and 
 repeated His wonderful life and works. Very 
 soon all of the Lamanites and Nephites were 
 converted and two hundred years of peace, pros- 
 perity and purity followed, only to be disturbed 
 by a terrible apostasy on the part of the Laman- 
 ites who finally destroyed all of the Nephites 
 about the year 384 A. D., and were left in un- 
 
60 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 disturbed possession of the Western hemisphere 
 until the coming of Columbus. A man named 
 Mormon was commander-in-chief of the Ne- 
 phites. Before their total destruction he gathered 
 all their sacred writings together and made a 
 careful condensation of the same which he com- 
 mitted to his son Moroni who, in turn, hid them 
 in the hill where Smith alleges that he found 
 them. 
 
 The effect of the whole book is disappointing 
 for, outside of the passages quoted, or, rather, 
 plagiarized from the Bible, there is absolutely 
 nothing uplifting or inspiring. One looks in 
 vain for a Twenty-third Psalm or a fourteenth 
 chapter of John. Everything is stilted, compli- 
 cated, diffuse, meaningless or even brutal. Many 
 passages might be quoted which would be more 
 easily understood if only about one-third as 
 many words had been used. Even Jesus, whose 
 simple, direct, incisive language is the admiration 
 of the world, is represented as using one sentence 
 which is so repetitious as to be all but meaning- 
 less (Nephi 21 : 2-7. Originally one sentence). 
 
 Whoever was the author of this book had 
 various pet words and expressions which are 
 used over and over again in spite of the absurd- 
 ity. The words " more " and " more part " are 
 thus repeated ; for example : " For a more part 
 history are written upon nine other plates " 
 (Nephi 4: 14). Similarly absurd uses of this 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 6i 
 
 expression are frequent. 1 It should be explained 
 that the reader may never find some of these ex- 
 pressions in the present editions of the Book of 
 Mormon. The Mormons are constantly making 
 changes in the wording and grammar of the 
 book. In 1898 Lamoni Call, of Bountiful, Utah, 
 printed a pamphlet giving more than two thou- 
 sand changes that had been made in the Book 
 of Mormon up to that time. Some of the 
 changes entirely alter the meaning as well as 
 the wording. Inspiration is claimed for the trans- 
 lation as well as the original of the Book of Mor- 
 mon. Smith often repeated the statement that 
 " the Book of Mormon is the most correct of any 
 book on earth." Martin Harris said : 
 
 There were no delays over obscure passages, 
 no difficulties over the choice of words, no stop- 
 pages from the ignorance of the translator ; no 
 time was wasted in investigation or argument 
 over the value, intent or meaning of certain char- 
 acters. . . . The translation of the char- 
 acters appeared on the Urim and Thummim 
 sentence by sentence, and as soon as one was 
 correctly transcribed the next would appear. 
 . . . But if not correctly written it remained 
 until corrected (" Myth of Mormonism," p. 91). 
 
 Until the writing was correct in every particu- 
 lar the words last given would remain before the 
 
 1 See Book of Mormon, fourth Chicago edition, 1908, pp. 
 18, 447, 448, 487, 494, 495, 546, etc. Other pages given re- 
 fer to same edition. 
 
62 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 eyes of the translator and not disappear (Whit- 
 ney's " Brief History," p. 28. Mormon author- 
 ity). 
 
 The accounts of alleged miracles given in the 
 Book of Mormon are puerile in the extreme. 
 Passing by the absurdities of making fire, the 
 brass ball with its spindles and pointers and the 
 strange compass (pp. 36, 38, 40, 46), we notice 
 the curse of the Lamanites which was a dark 
 skin given to them (who had been fair) that they 
 might not be so enticing to the Nephites (p. 72). 
 But five hundred years afterwards, on their be- 
 coming Nephites, their skin became fair again 
 (p. 480). One of their greatest absurdities is the 
 story of Jared's barges. They were built " ac- 
 cording to the instruction of the Lord" (p. 4/3), 
 and the bottom, sides, ends and doors were 
 " tight like a dish/' and " the length thereof was 
 the length of a tree" (p. 576). These ships 
 were so tight that the people could not breathe, 
 so Jared cried to the Lord for relief and was in- 
 structed to make holes in the top and in the 
 bottom. Even then there was no light and the 
 people cried out against the darkness. The 
 Lord was obliged to ask the brother of Jared 
 what to do and he readily solved the difficulty 
 for he went forth into the mountain and " did 
 moulten out of a rock sixteen small stones ; and 
 they were white and clear even as transparent 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 63 
 
 glass/' These upon being touched by the finger 
 of the Lord became luminous and were placed in 
 the vessels and gave light. 
 
 The impossible statements regarding the geog- 
 raphy of the world, the increase of people, the 
 feats achieved, are too numerous to mention. 
 
 There is a long prophecy (pp. 65-67) in refer- 
 ence to Joseph Smith, in which it is said that he 
 was to be a descendant in direct line of the elder 
 Joseph through Lehi. Now the account further 
 says that all the Nephites were destroyed and 
 only Lamanites (Indians) were left upon this 
 hemisphere. Therefore Smith must have been 
 an Indian, but his mother tells us that he was 
 descended from one Robert Smith who lived in 
 England three hundred years ago. It will not do 
 to say that he was of the " spiritual " seed of Lehi 
 for in the prophecy the expression " fruit of thy 
 loins " is used too often in referring to Joseph. 
 
 Towards the end of the career of the Nephites, 
 while pressed upon every side by the Lamanites, 
 the Nephite leader, Mormon, writes to the com- 
 mander of the Lamanites that if he will meet him 
 at the hill Cumorah he will give battle. This hill 
 was 5,000 miles from the home of the Lamanites 
 and 3,000 miles from the nearest cities of the 
 Nephites (p. 559). 
 
 These Lamanites were a peculiar people. In 
 one place they are represented as naked, ferocious 
 savages who do not know enough to make 
 
64 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 helmets and other weapons of defense. Yet it is 
 also said that they possessed great cities, sanctu- 
 aries, dwelling houses, temples, flocks and herds, 
 and contended for universal salvation (pp. 240, 
 284, 297, 298, 361 to 366). 
 
 There are various anachronisms in the book. 
 In many places expressions are used that were 
 particularly familiar in the days when the book 
 was put upon the market. We find " arms of 
 his f love " (p. 59), " chains of hell," " redeeming 
 love," " change of heart " and " the song of 
 redeeming love " (pp. 246-247). 
 
 The circulation of the blood was not known 
 until 1619 A. D., yet King Benjamin (126 B. c.) 
 thus speaks of Christ : 
 
 And lo, He shall suffer temptations, and pain of 
 body, hunger, thirst and fatigue, and even more 
 v than man can suffer, except it be unto death ; for 
 behold, blood cometh from every pore (p. 167). 
 
 It was many centuries after this that science 
 
 knew anything about pores. On pages 324 and 
 
 ^463, writers before the time of Christ describe 
 
 in a modern way the movements of the sun and 
 
 earth. 
 
 Hundreds of years before they were recorded by 
 John in Revelation xxii. n, Nephiis represented 
 as quoting the words there spoken by our Lord 
 (p. 80). Again this same man quotes the Apostle 
 Paul in the past tense, anticipating by hundreds 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 65 
 
 of years the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. 
 Other similar " breaks " might be mentioned. 
 
 It is alleged that this book was compiled by 
 Mormon 1,500 years ago, from the records of the 
 Nephites made more than a thousand years 
 before that ; yet more than one-fourth of the 
 entire book is made up of quotations, or garbled 
 quotations, from the King James Version of the 
 Bible. If the pretended dates of the Book of 
 Mormon are true, Jesus was a plagiarist quoting 
 parrot-like the sayings that Mormon sages had 
 uttered centuries before He lived. There are 
 scores of cases where modern words, expressions 
 and idioms, wholly unknown two centuries ago, 
 are put into the mouths of crude savages of 2,500 
 years ago. 
 
 This book claims that the people mentioned in 
 it lived on this hemisphere from before the time 
 of Christ until the white man came from Europe. 
 There are well preserved ruins and other remains 
 in abundance throughout Mexico, Central and 
 South America where their great cities are sup- 
 posed to have been. We have a fairly good 
 idea of the life, civilization, religion, habits, laws 
 and customs which these people had, yet they 
 correspond in no respect to the representation 
 made in the Book of Mormon. The Mormons 
 would have us believe that there was one univer- 
 sal language on this continent and they show 
 specimens of it. The fact is that, during the very 
 
66 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 period of which their book tells us, there were 
 unnumbered scores of different languages and 
 peoples. Their writings remain until this day, 
 but not one of them is in any respect similar to 
 % that which they claim alone existed and which 
 appeared on the golden plates. 
 
 The authentic cities of the ancient world, or 
 their ruins, exist to-day, and in most instances 
 they have the same names. But not one of the 
 cities of the Book of Mormon has come down to 
 us nor is it known where their ruins are. Ac- 
 cording to the Book of Mormon, the Ne- 
 phites and Lamanites were originally all Jews, 
 with certain well defined physical characteristics 
 that remain the world over and through the 
 centuries. But the skulls and human bones that 
 ^have been preserved from that period until this 
 day bear no resemblance to the Hebrew contour, 
 and give us every reason for believing that no 
 white race ever lived on this continent until the 
 coming of the Spaniard. The whole alleged 
 civilization of the Book of Mormon is a myth. 
 The writer incorporated into the life of its people 
 conditions and ideas identical with those held in 
 1825 with reference to the Mound Builders of 
 the Ohio Valley. 
 
 There is not the slightest evidence that the 
 aborigines of this continent anywhere knew any- 
 thing about the practical use of iron, steel and 
 brass. However, we read : 
 

 The Sacred Books of the Mormons 67 
 
 And I did teach my people to build buildings ; 
 and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, 
 and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of 
 gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which 
 were in great abundance (pp. 71, 153, 186). 
 
 We have abundant evidence as to the fauna of 
 this country but there is not the slightest evi- 
 dence for believing that previous to the coming 
 of the Europeans there existed here any of our 
 present domestic animals or even others at all 
 similar. The Book of Mormon says : 
 
 And it came to pass that we did find upon the 
 land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilder- 
 ness, that there were beasts in the forests of t 
 every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the 
 ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, 
 and all manner of wild animals which were for 
 the use of men (pp. 47, 151, 295, etc.). 
 
 This book also represents that there was a 
 complicated system of gold and silver coinage 
 among its people (p. 265). Greek and Roman 
 coins have come down to us from before the 
 time of Christ. Various articles have been found 
 in the ruins of this continent where they were 
 left before the time these Jews are alleged to have 
 come, but there is no evidence that a gold or 
 silver coin was ever used here before the advent 
 of the Europeans. 
 
 We have devoted most of this chapter to the 
 
68 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Book of Mormon for the prophet himself said, 
 " It is the keystone of our religion." It is upon 
 the credibility of this book that the Mormon re- 
 ligion stands or falls. The evidence that has 
 been given in the preceding pages by no means 
 exhausts the material of a similar kind that may 
 be found in it. 
 
 The Book of Doctrine and Covenants is com- 
 posed of seven lectures on faith and one hundred 
 and thirty-six alleged revelations from God said 
 to have been received by Smith, Cowdry, Rig- 
 don, Partridge and John Whitmer. It must be 
 said, however, that most of the revelations were 
 given through Joseph to some one or else given 
 to that other person in the presence of Joseph. 
 It would seem that the Lord could not be trusted 
 to give a revelation to any one unless Joseph was 
 around to see that everything was all right. 
 Space is lacking to mention here the discrepan- 
 cies between the different chapters of the book 
 and between this book and other sacred writings 
 of the Mormons. An application of the follow- 
 ing statement, given in reference to one specific 
 case, may explain them all : 
 
 " These discrepancies can best be accounted for 
 by the explanation of different accounts of an 
 event that never happened, and told to conceal 
 one that did happen." 
 
 The Pearl of Great Price is composed of the 
 books of Moses and Abraham, an inspired (?) 
 
The Sacred Books of the Mormons 69 
 
 translation of a small part of the book of Mat- 
 thew, a portion of Smith's autobiography and the 
 Articles of Faith of the Mormon Church. A 
 large part of the Book of Moses and of the Book 
 of Abraham is made up of direct quotations from 
 the King James Version of the Bible. All told 
 there are only one hundred and three small pages 
 of coarse print. 
 
Ill 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF 
 THE MORMON CHURCH 
 
DANITE OATH 
 
 In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I do solemnly 
 obligate myself ever to regard the Prophet and the First Presi- 
 dency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints as the 
 supreme head of the church on earth, and to obey them in all 
 things, the same as the supreme God ; that I will stand by my 
 brethren in difficulty and in danger, and will uphold the Presi- 
 dency, right or wrong, and that I will ever conceal, and never 
 reveal, the secret purposes of this Society, called Daughters of 
 Zion (first name given to Danites). Should I ever do the 
 same, I hold my life as forfeiture, in a caldron of boiling oil" 
 quoted by Linn, p. 192). 
 
Ill 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF THE 
 MORMON CHURCH 
 
 WE can do no better here than to give 
 a condensation from the pamphlet 
 " Mormonism ; Its Origin and His- 
 tory," by B. H. Roberts : 
 
 The Saints believe in the same organization 
 that existed in the primitive church of Christ 
 . . . but in consequence of the early Chris- 
 tian annals, . . . the description exists only 
 in the merest outline. ... I propose to de- 
 scribe the church or organization as it has been 
 developed not only through the knowledge that 
 may be obtained through the New Testament 
 Scriptures . . . but by the revelations which 
 God gave through the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
 
 Priesthood is the power which God delegates 
 to man, by which man is authorized to act in the 
 name or authority of God . . . and so long 
 as he performs his official acts in accordance with 
 the laws of the priesthood . . . it is as valid 
 as if it were done by the Lord Himself. 
 
 First there is a division into what are called, 
 respectively, the Melchizedek and the Aaronic 
 priesthoods. The former is the greater, and de- 
 voted more especially to spiritual things ; while 
 the latter has most to do with temporal concerns. 
 
 The officers of the Melchizedek Priesthood are 
 Apostles, Patriarchs, High Priests, Seventies, 
 
 73 
 
74 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Elders. The officers of the Aaronic Priesthood 
 are Bishops, Priests, Teachers, Deacons. 
 
 Another division may be recognized based on 
 work, viz., the Foreign Ministry and the Home 
 Ministry. The Foreign Ministry consists of the 
 Twelve Apostles and the Quorums of Seventy. 
 The Home Ministry consists of the High Priests, 
 the Elders, and all the officers of the Lesser 
 Priesthood. 
 
 First Presidency 
 
 Three presiding High Priests, chosen by the 
 body, appointed and ordained to that office, 
 . . . form the Quorum of the Presidency of 
 the Church. The Presidency presides over all 
 the departments of the church universal, and in 
 it adheres all power, ecclesiastical, legislative, ju- 
 dicial and administrative. . . . 
 
 The Twelve Apostles labour under the imme- 
 diate direction of the First Presidency. They 
 are special witnesses in the name of Christ in all 
 the world. The work of the Foreign Ministry 
 more especially comes under their immediate 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 The Seventies 
 
 Their special calling is like that of the Apos - 
 ties to be witnesses of Christ in all the world. 
 . . . They labour under the Apostles and 
 while others may be, these are expected to fill 
 the callings for preaching abroad instead of 
 others. 
 
 Presiding Bishopric 
 
 The fourth general council is the Presidency 
 over the Aaronic Priesthood, the Presiding Bish- 
 opric which has special jurisdiction over the 
 

 Organization and Methods 75 
 
 temporal affairs of the church, the collection 
 of tithes, supervision of its property, distribution 
 of charities, and so forth. 
 
 Standing Ministry 
 
 High Priests with the Lesser Priesthood con- 
 stitute the standing Ministry of the church. 
 From the ranks of the High Priests are chosen 
 the Patriarchs, Presidents of Stakes, High Coun- 
 sellors, Bishops and their Counsellors. 
 
 A Stake 
 
 This is a territorial division of the church, 
 embracing several wards and branches. It is 
 presided over by a President who is a High 
 Priest, with two other High Priests as Coun- 
 sellors . . . subject to the general authorities 
 of the church. 
 
 In addition" to the foregoing there are other 
 ranks of authority, such as High Councils in 
 each Stake ; Patriarchs " to designate the lineage 
 of the Saints," High Priests, Bishops, Elders, 
 Teachers. In fact nearly every male member 
 of the Mormon Church in good standing holds 
 some ecclesiastical office. There are various 
 auxiliary organizations, such as Relief Societies, 
 Sabbath-schools, Young Men's and Young 
 Women's Mutual Improvement Associations, 
 Religion Classes and so forth whose purpose 
 will be readily understood without description. 
 In addition there is an elaborate church educa- 
 tional system with a number of academies in 
 
76 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 various parts of the state, culminating in the 
 Deseret University in Salt Lake City. In these 
 purely educational institutions, instruction is 
 given in church history, the Book of Mormon 
 and other sacred books, the lives of the saints 
 (living and dead) and all other subjects that will 
 keep alive their interest in the church. These 
 studies are compulsory for all Mormon youth 
 who attend these schools. 
 
 Religion Classes are organized in the public 
 schools wherever they have Mormon teachers 
 and dare to do it. Professedly these classes are 
 held after regular school hours, but the fact is 
 that often they are held before the regular time 
 for dismissal and those wishing to leave find 
 themselves made conspicuous and uncomfortable. 
 In 1904 charges were made of the illegal Re- 
 ligion Classes which the News, edited by Apostle 
 Penrose, denied ever existed. Finally they sent 
 a letter to the wrong man as follows : 
 
 Office of the Stake Board of Religion Class 
 
 Work, Brigham City, Utah, Sept. //, /po^. 
 DEAR BROTHER: 
 
 As the Stake Board of Religion Class 
 Work we earnestly request that you take hold 
 of the work in your school that you have been 
 engaged to teach. As you know, dear brother, 
 the call to the work comes from the Presidency 
 of the church and the call comes to every day- 
 school teacher of our common faith, for the 
 

 Organization and Methods 77 
 
 reason that by education they are the most em- 
 inently fitted to take hold of this work. . . . 
 Your special calling is to sow faith of the 
 gospel seed in the hearts of your pupils. . . . 
 Praying the Lord to bless your efforts, we re- 
 main. Your brethren, 
 
 FRED J. HOLTON, 
 (Signed) NELS MADSEN, 
 
 GEO. W. WATKINS, 
 Stake Presidency of Religion Class Work. 
 
 After this was published and their duplicity 
 again exposed the authorities gave orders for the 
 discontinuance of the Religion Classes which 
 they had asserted never existed. 
 
 In 1902 Mr. Roberts gave the numbers in the 
 various offices of the church as follows : 
 
 First Presidency 3 
 
 Apostles 12 
 
 Patriarchs 200 
 
 High Priests \ 6,800 
 
 Seventies 973 
 
 Elders 20,000 
 
 Total of the Melchizedek Priesthood 36,745 
 
 There are about 25,700 in the Lesser Priest- 
 hood and they claim a total membership in the 
 auxiliary organizations of 264,000. 
 
 The Mormons are, above all, propagandists. 
 This idea is inculcated into them from childhood. 
 It is not unusual, for example, for a motorman 
 
78 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 on the trolley cars in Salt Lake City to " bear 
 his testimony/' that is, talk Mormonism to the 
 unknown passenger standing beside him. A 
 strange family moving into any Mormon com- 
 munity is soon visited by some of the priest- 
 hood. 
 
 They usually make these visits by twos and 
 insist upon gaining an entrance into the house 
 and talking with inmates even though it is not 
 a Mormon family. 
 
 When the missionary goes away from home 
 he must make his way as he goes unless he has 
 money to take with him. This does not mean 
 that they earn their way. They " sponge" their 
 way off the Gentiles wherever they can gain en- 
 trance to a home. Often they seek out some 
 widow and if they gain a lodgment it is some- 
 times hard to get rid of them. In this way they 
 have established missions in Great Britain, Ger- 
 many, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, 
 Norway, Finland, Russia, Austria, Iceland, Italy, 
 Switzerland, Hindustan, Malta, Cape of Good 
 Hope, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 
 Turkey, Palestine, Japan, Central America, the 
 Island of Jersey, and the Samoan, Hawaiian and 
 Friendly Islands. It must be said that they have 
 had little success in Catholic or pagan countries 
 except as they have proselyted from the converts 
 of evangelical missionaries. 
 
 The elders out on a mission in the United 
 
? 
 
 Organization and Methods 79 
 
 States l usually introduce themselves as ministers 
 f Christ. They will not admit that they are 
 Mormons until forced to do so. They present 
 some harmless (?) bit of literature which empha- 
 sizes, as they do in their talk, the essentials of 
 Christianity upon which all agree. At first they 
 give their victims the " milk of the word " and 
 do not feed them upon the " meat of the Gospel " 
 intil they are thought to be able to bear it. 
 iten these elders seek out deliberately mem- 
 :rs of churches who are dissatisfied with their 
 church relationships. They flatter them and tell 
 them that they, the really spiritual people, could 
 not well be satisfied with a Gospel which at best 
 incomplete. 
 
 There are certain classes in every community 
 ho are easy subjects for the Mormon elders if 
 .ey can secure the right approach to them. As 
 rule they are the uneducated, or the foreigners 
 in our city slums. To this latter class the appeal 
 made of the communistic paradise that the 
 ormons have in Utah and how they will prosper 
 f they but accept the gospel and move there. 
 Now and then a man of some education is won 
 into their fellowship but such are usually those 
 who are given to beliefs that most people call 
 lt queer." People who are superstitious, who be- 
 
 1 For 1909 Mormon missionaries report one million meetings, 
 hree and one-half million families visited, and eleven million 
 tracts distributed. 
 
80 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 lieve in ghosts, dreams, visions, and spirits, are 
 among those who are easy dupes to the Mormon 
 elders'. 
 
 A fact not to be lost sight of in this connec- 
 tion is that most of the converts to Mormonism 
 have been at some time members of evangelical 
 churches. Whether at home or abroad the 
 Mormon missionaries seem to have no message 
 for those whom we commonly call the uncon- 
 verted. The elders are essentially, systematically, 
 deliberately and persistently proselyters. A part 
 of their earnestness is accounted for by the fact 
 that when they have served on their mission fruit- 
 fully for two years the church pays their expenses 
 home. If they desire ecclesiastical preferment, 
 they know that much depends upon these first 
 two years, for after that, if they give their time to 
 the work, the church will support them. 
 
 To the classes mentioned the elders have a 
 message which appeals when the listener is not 
 able to differentiate between the false and the 
 true. They claim to have had restored to them 
 simple, primitive Christianity with all of its gifts 
 of tongues, healings, miracles of all kinds, and 
 the Apostolic Priesthood with all its powers. 
 They allege that they have established a paradisi- 
 acal theocracy where sin never enters. At the 
 proper time the elders tell wondrous stories of 
 their own conversions, coupled with miraculous 
 visions and spiritual demonstrations, and of their 
 
Organization and Methods 81 
 
 own sufferings and persecutions in the work of 
 their mission. They claim more Bible than we 
 have, more complete and continuous revelations 
 that are " right up to the minute." They pro- 
 vide a way such as no other system claims by 
 which dead relatives may be saved if the living 
 will be baptized for them. Then there is the ap- 
 peal to the sensual that is made by polygamy ; 
 and to the covetous, for all the Saints are repre- 
 sented as being prosperous in this world's goods. 
 In addition there is always held up the prospect 
 of ecclesiastical advancement. Somehow there 
 is an inseparable connection between high office 
 in the church and financial prosperity and there 
 is a reason. Bishops are usually chosen from 
 among the wealthy or they soon become so. 
 While the women shudder at polygamy and some 
 of the other teachings, there is something attract- 
 ive to offer them. They are taught the eternity 
 of the marriage relation and that if the wife is 
 faithful here she will be the wife of a god in the 
 hereafter with all the glories attaching to such a 
 state. 
 
 The Mormons are great colonizers. They do 
 not allow their people to scatter broadcast a 
 family here and another there. The church buys 
 a promising tract of land where it wants a colony 
 and then sells to Mormons only. It is prac- 
 tically impossible for a Gentile to buy out a 
 Mormon in a" place where the church desires to 
 
82 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 retain its hold. If they decide to make a political 
 impression upon a county or state and volunteers 
 do not come fast enough, the authorities will 
 send out a requisition for a certain number of 
 families from certain wards and the bishops must 
 see to it that their quotas are filled. As a last 
 resort sufficient families are " called " to colonize 
 just as they are " called" to " go on a mission." 
 In this way flourishing colonies have been es- 
 tablished in Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, 
 New Mexico, California, Oregon, Colorado, Old 
 Mexico and Alberta. 
 
 If necessary to accomplish their purpose the 
 church will advance money to the convert from 
 foreign parts or to the colonist going out from 
 Utah in order that he may get started in business 
 but in such cases it never forgets to take a mort- 
 gage for the debt at a big rate of interest. This 
 also enables the authorities to have a stronger 
 hold upon the masses. So thoroughly have they 
 colonized the states from the Rocky Mountains 
 west that one authority (Cosmopolitan, April, 
 1911) gives the Mormon population of those 
 states as follows : California, 40,000 ; Washing- 
 ton, 61,000; Colorado, 83.000; Oregon, 58,000; 
 Montana, 87,000; Utah, 212,000; New Mexico, 
 24,000; Idaho, 81,000; Arizona, 39,000; Wyom- 
 ing, 46,000; and Nevada, 22,000. These figures 
 may be large from the religious point of view but 
 they are perhaps not too large from the political 
 
Organization and Methods 83 
 
 point of view ; for thousands who have given up 
 Mormonism as a personal system of salvation, 
 nevertheless, are Mormons when it comes to 
 politics. The government " Report on Religious 
 Bodies," published in 1909, gives the information 
 that eighty-seven per cent, of all the members of 
 religious organizations (not population) in Utah 
 are members of the Mormon Church. In Idaho 
 the percentage is forty-three, in Wyoming 
 twenty-one, in Arizona thirteen, in Nevada 
 seven, with smaller percentages in the rest of 
 these states. These religious figures would seem 
 to more than justify the figures on population 
 given above. At any rate in the last named states 
 they hold the balance of power, at least in all 
 things vital to themselves. A very significant 
 thing in this connection is that*\in the Smoot con- 
 test only two senators from that region voted 
 against the apostle. One of those was a Dem- 
 ocrat and he lost his seat at the next election and 
 turned the state into the Republican column, 
 where it has been ever since. * Because of their 
 numbers, organization, solidarity, fanaticism and 
 unpatriotic political intentions, they constitute 
 the gravest menace to our American and Chris- 
 tian institutions. 
 
 In every community where Mormons live they 
 exert a political influence out of all proportion to 
 their numbers. In all of these Western states the 
 non-Mormon political leaders hate the Mormons 
 
84 Morrnonism, The Islam of America 
 
 and their dominating influence, but they cater to 
 them for their own selfish interests and party 
 victory. In the state politics in Idaho they are 
 as thoroughly dominant as in Utah. One in- 
 stance will show why the Gentiles in Idaho who 
 have any self-respect left do not like Mormon 
 political activity. A few years ago this situation 
 existed in Bear Lake County, Idaho; William 
 Budge was a high Mormon official and was living 
 openly with three women as his wives. The 
 main officers of that county were : 
 
 District Judge, Alfred Budge, son of William 
 Budge. 
 
 Court Stenographer, Ella Hoge, sister-in-law 
 of the judge. 
 
 County Attorney, J. R. S. Budge, son of Will- 
 iam. 
 
 Chairman County Commissioners, J. R. Shep- 
 herd, son-in-law of William. 
 
 County Treasurer, E. T. Shepherd, brother of 
 above. 
 
 Auditor and Recorder, J. E. Hart, son of 
 counsellor to William. 
 
 Duputy Recorder, wife of Hart. 
 
 Postmaster at Paris, Idaho, Lillis Budge, 
 daughter of William. 
 
 Superintendent Government Assay office, H. 
 S. Wooley, son-in-law of William. 
 
 State Senator, W. L. Rich, counsellor to Will- 
 iam. 
 
 The Sheriff and Probate Judge were Mormons 
 and every postmaster in the county was also a 
 Mormon. 
 
Organization and Methods 85 
 
 In other words every political office in that 
 county but two was filled by members of the 
 domestic or ecclesiastical family of that one man, 
 William Budge. There is a virtual union of 
 church and state in Idaho as well as in Utah. 
 
 Many times when people come from afar to 
 Utah with great expectations they are sadly en- 
 lightened before they have been there long. 
 While some who have the money and courage 
 abandon Mormonism almost immediately only a 
 few of these converts have the requisites for 
 freedom, so they suffer and endure as well as they 
 can. Free Americans sometimes wonder why 
 these old-world peasants submit to some of the 
 grinding hardships imposed upon them by the 
 Mormons, but bad as we might consider their 
 lot, they are better off than they ever were in 
 their native lands. At least they have a fair 
 living and will have as long as they are obedient 
 to their superiors, although only the favoured few, 
 who cannot be kept down, or who can be used 
 by the hierarchy, are allowed to accumulate much 
 of a surplus. 
 
 Just after the General Conference of the Mor- 
 mon Church in April, 1903, the Salt Lake Tribune 
 published the following : 
 
 The authorities of the Mormon Church have 
 ordered George H. Crosby to move to Arizona 
 and locate in St. Johns for the practice of law. 
 
86 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 He will close his business in Utah as quickly as 
 possible and migrate with his family to his South- 
 ern home. Mr. Crosby was Committee Clerk 
 and Minute Clerk for the last state Senate, and 
 his friends are scattered all over Utah. 
 
 Of course, the News, the official Mormon 
 paper, denied that such action had been taken by 
 the authorities, but it was guilelessly admitted by 
 Crosby before he realized the bearing of his ad- 
 mission. The reason Crosby was " called " to 
 Arizona was that there was no Mormon lawyer 
 in that county, and he was offered the county 
 attorney's office as soon as he gained his resi- 
 dence. This also was denied, but he went to 
 Arizona and at the first election after gaining 
 his residence he was made county attorney as 
 promised. This illustrates how they go after 
 what they want and get it. 
 
 From the beginning Mormon leaders have 
 insisted upon dictating to their people in the 
 minutest affairs of life. (See Linn, p. 256.) This 
 was true at Kirtland, Far West and even more so 
 at Nauvoo and Salt Lake City. Smith in his 
 autobiography records saying on one occasion : 
 " I remarked that the brethren who came here 
 [Nauvoo] having money, and purchased without 
 the church and without counsel, must be cut off." 
 The Nauvoo Neighbour of December 27, 1843, 
 had an official church notice in it which said : 
 " Let all brethren consult President Joseph 
 
Organization and Methods 87 
 
 Smith . . . and purchase their land from him 
 . . and they will be glad they did." 
 At Salt Lake City, Young did not want the 
 mines developed and he told the people publicly 
 that if they went to the mountains and secured 
 pouches full of gold there would be no gold in 
 those pouches when they got back to the city 
 (Linn, p. 434). He well knew that if gold were 
 produced in paying quantities nothing could keep 
 out a great influx of Gentiles. On another oc- 
 casion he said : 
 
 I say rather than that apostates should flour- 
 ish here I will unsheath my bowie knife and 
 conquer or die. Now, you nasty apostates, clear 
 out, or judgment will be put to the line and 
 righteousness to the plummet (JD, I, 82). 
 
 Tullidge in his " History of Salt Lake " says 
 (pp. 246-247) : " To become a merchant was to 
 antagonize the church and her policies, so that it 
 was almost illegitimate for Mormon men of enter- 
 prising character to enter mercantile pursuits." 
 
 Young's city police spied on the Mormons 
 who traded at a Gentile store and they were 
 treated accordingly. Those who had the temer- 
 ity to question Young's conduct were at least cut 
 off from the church many were cut off from the 
 earth and he promised in addition that those 
 who did not " get on the Lord's side " would be 
 hewn down with the broadsword (JD, III, 266). 
 
88 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 To-day the president of the church, Joseph F. 
 Smith, is president also of many of the largest 
 business corporations in Utah and a director in 
 more interests than he can remember offhand. 
 Among them are the following : 
 
 Zion's Commercial Mercantile Institution. 
 State Bank of Utah. 
 
 Zion's Savings Bank and Trust Company. 
 The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company (part of 
 Sugar Trust). 
 
 Salt Lake Knitting Company. 
 Consolidated Wagon and Machine Company. 
 Home Fire Insurance Company. 
 Beneficial Life Insurance Company. 
 Inland Crystal Salt Company. 
 Deseret News Publishing Company. 
 
 His successor will be president of these same 
 concerns by virtue of his office. Woe be to any 
 one who attempts to enter into competition with 
 any of these business interests of the Lord ! The 
 very tithes that a member pays into the church 
 may be used by one of these church corporations 
 to crush out the business of the very man who 
 contributed them. 
 
 Not only do the Mormons make leagues with 
 political parties but the business interests of the 
 aforementioned concerns, as well as others, are 
 
 x The anti- Mormon public is beginning to ask if the Mormon 
 Church is not a gigantic " Trust," and so in violation of the 
 Sherman law. 
 
Organization and Methods 89 
 
 so great that they have the backing of some of 
 the most gigantic commercial organizations in the 
 country. 
 
 They are not above petty persecutions of one 
 who has offended them but whose business is 
 really of small value. One man who became a 
 Mormon in England moved to this country, but 
 after living in Utah some years discovered that 
 Mormonism was not all he had hoped for. He 
 abandoned the church and earned a living as a 
 shoemaker. He had a fair trade until summoned 
 to give evidence in the Smoot case. This evi- 
 dence was damaging to the Mormon cause. On 
 his return from Washington he found that, under 
 instructions from the church, three new shoe 
 shops had been opened close to his, and that all 
 the Mormon trade was transferred to them. In 
 one of the smaller cities the only jeweler en- 
 joyed a good trade until he apostatized and 
 joined an evangelical church. Immediately a 
 Mormon young man was " called " to go East 
 and learn the jewelry business and on his return 
 was set up in business by the church authorities 
 to run the apostate out. 
 
 Much is said of the cooperative methods of 
 the Mormons when in fact there is very little of 
 anything of the sort. The Zion Commercial 
 Mercantile Institution is the greatest wholesale 
 and retail concern in Utah. It is not cooperative 
 in any sense but is a very close corporation con* 
 
90 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 trolled exclusively by the church, which means in 
 reality a very few of the favoured high ecclesi- 
 asts. The same may be said of the great beet- 
 sugar factories. All of the employees of the 
 church corporations have their tithing deducted 
 from their wages on pay day. Worse than that, 
 although a mere pittance of the public poor 
 funds is distributed by Mormon officials, the 
 Mormon bishop collects a tenth of this for his 
 church. 
 
 The church business houses do not treat their 
 own people with as much consideration as they 
 do the Gentiles. For example, the Consolidated 
 Wagon and Machine Company, having branches 
 all over Utah, will sell the average Gentile a 
 machine for less and upon easier terms than it 
 will to one of their own Mormons. This must 
 be either because the Mormons think that the 
 Gentiles are more trustworthy, or that the Mor- 
 mons are obliged to trade with them anyhow 
 and they can, therefore, charge them what they 
 wish. The first reason is hardly creditable to 
 the Mormon people and the second is surely not 
 to the church. 
 
 The Mormon Church has always attempted to 
 dictate to the courts or to usurp their functions. 
 
 Courts of civil jurisdiction are instituted and 
 regularly carried on, trying all kinds of property 
 questions, including titles to lands, with appellate 
 
Organization and Methods 91 
 
 courts, and ending with the First Presidency as 
 the court of last resort. The defendant must 
 submit to the jurisdiction of the court under 
 penalty of excommunication and ostracism, and 
 judgment or decrees are in like manner enforced. 
 In the Birdsall case, concerning which the full 
 official record is contained in the testimony in 
 this case, involving title to land, the accused was 
 involuntarily compelled to appear and defend 
 (Smoot Case, Arguments, 46). 
 
 In the case above mentioned one Leavitt 
 claimed that Isaac Birdsall had alienated in some 
 way to him a portion of his government home- 
 stead, but that he, Birdsall, had " relinquished " 
 it to his daughter Cora, who " proved up " on 
 said claim in 1896 and refused to deliver to him 
 the property claimed by Leavitt. Now, regard- 
 less of whatever moral right Leavitt may or may 
 not have had, every one knows that it is against 
 the federal law for a man to sell, mortgage or 
 otherwise place any lien against any homestead 
 before he has proved upon it. Moreover any 
 such lien is illegal, so that Leavitt could have no 
 possible standing in law, yet the bishop's court 
 decided in his favour. Then Cora asked per- 
 mission of the First Presidency to take the case 
 into the civil courts and was told that she must 
 " follow the order provided of the Lord to 
 govern " in her case. The decision of the 
 bishop's court was affirmed by all the upper 
 
92 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Mormon ecclesiastical courts but Cora still re- 
 fused to deed the property over to Leavitt. She 
 was then excommunicated, June 19, 1903. This 
 excommunication so terrified her that she became 
 demented, which the priesthood said was a visita- 
 tion from heaven for her sin " in failing to abide 
 by the decision of the mouthpiece of God." 
 
 The Mormons are often lauded as the finest 
 farmers in the world. If one desires to see Mor- 
 monism as it really is, religiously, ecclesiastic- 
 ally, industrially, agriculturally or, in fact, from 
 any point of view, he must leave the paths that 
 are beaten by the tourist and globe-trotter and 
 get into the regions where little of outside or 
 Gentile influence has percolated. There he will 
 see sweet clover, sunflowers and noxious weeds 
 growing as high as his buggy top in the roads, in 
 the orchards and in the midst of other growing 
 crops. Many a community, long settled by the 
 Mormons and cultivated in an indifferent way, 
 has had to wait for its real development for the 
 coming of the Gentile with his greater thrift, in- 
 genuity and enterprise. 
 
 A high Mormon ecclesiastic, prominently con- 
 nected with the Mormon beet-sugar industry, 
 said recently that the average Gentile would 
 raise from two to four more tons of beets per 
 acre than the average Mormon. He further 
 stated that because of better care given them and 
 intelligence used in growing them a Gentile's 
 
Organization and Methods 93 
 
 beets would have from ten to twelve per cent, 
 more sugar than those of his Mormon neighbour. 
 Utah is a state of magnificent natural resources 
 and in view of this it is a significant fact that 
 during the last decade it had the lowest percentage 
 of increase in population of any of the states 
 from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. 
 The others averaged an increase of more than 
 sixty-seven per cent., while poor old Utah brought 
 up the rear with less than thirty- five per cent. 
 There is a reason ! 
 
 / Formerly the Mormon Tabernacle was open 
 at all times to any one who wished to enter. 
 To-day the building is kept locked and the 
 visitor is obliged to go to the Bureau of (mis) 
 Information on the temple grounds. The pur- 
 pose of this is to oblige every one to come in 
 contact with the Mormon " missionaries " who 
 are kept there for that purpose. The visitor is 
 engaged in conversation as long as possible on 
 Mormonism and its doctrines, his pockets are 
 filled with all the literature he will carry and 
 finally, after he has registered his name and 
 address, he ,is given a guide who shows him 
 through the tabernacle. The guide is all the 
 time talking up the doctrines of his church. If 
 the visitor has given his correct name and address, 
 Mormon literature will be sent him for months 
 after he has gone away. 
 I The most attractive Mormon young women 
 
94 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 are sent to Eastern universities and women's 
 colleges, at the expense of the church, to " bear 
 testimony " to the Gentiles. It is a distinct part 
 of their mission to defend Mormonism and 
 polygamy and to soften the prejudices against 
 their people. These girls work their way into 
 sororities and use such organizations, both local 
 and national, to further their purposes. ' 
 
 In recent years Mormon women have sought 
 entrance to all the women's lodges and clubs of 
 Utah. They have exerted powerful influence 
 upon these bodies and have done much to pre- 
 vent the passage of any resolutions unfavourable 
 to themselves. The Mormon headquarters know, 
 as if by wireless, all that takes place in these 
 organizations. Mormon women, acting upon 
 committees of various women's societies, have 
 openly refused to sanction proposed movements 
 until they have " taken counsel " (received orders) 
 from their church authorities. 
 
 While acting as representative abroad of one 
 of our most powerful national women's organiza- 
 tions, Susan Young Gates, daughter of Brigham 
 Young, defended polygamy in scores of the 
 most famous parlours in various countries of 
 Europe. 
 
 To show what methods the church employs 
 even to this day we will give, just as he wrote it 
 for the author, an experience of one whom we 
 will call Mr. William Sherman Grant. This 
 
Organization and Methods 95 
 
 man's real name would be known all over 
 America by Christian workers. 
 
 I had an engagement in Winnepeg, Manitoba, 
 November, 1907. After speaking on Sunday a 
 reporter for one of the papers called for an in- 
 terview on Monday. In the course of my con- 
 versation I mentioned that I purposed while in 
 Calgary to go down into Raymond and look over 
 the Mormon settlements there. I wanted to find 
 if there was any ground for Bishop Whitney's 
 prediction that Alberta would be a future Mormon 
 stronghold. 
 
 Incidentally I mentioned to the reporter that 
 the Canadians seemed not to realize the danger 
 that was threatening them. This, of course, found 
 place in the published interview. 
 
 Not less than half a dozen times while travelling 
 westward I was accosted by persons on trains 
 who mentioned my intention to go down into 
 Alberta. On two occasions hotel clerks referred 
 to it, having seen my name on the register. The 
 first incident, however, that impressed me as 
 irregular was when I registered at the Yates 
 Hotel in Calgary. I found a letter asking me to 
 call up a certain telephone number as soon as I 
 arrived. I did so and the man simply wanted to 
 know when I arrived and when I was leaving. 
 On investigation I found that the man was a 
 Mormon bishop. 
 
 When I registered in the hotel in Vancouver 
 I was accosted by a stranger who asked many 
 impertinent questions about my trip. He also 
 was a Mormon bishop. 
 
 In Victoria I received another letter asking 
 
96 Mormonisrn, The Islam of America 
 
 me to call up a certain telephone number but on 
 finding that this man was also a Mormon bishop, 
 / did not call him up but went to four other 
 hotels to see what I could find, and found the 
 same communication at each. They evidently 
 wanted to keep tab on me. 
 
 My plan was to return East directly from 
 Victoria but I was obliged to change my course 
 and finally returned through Salt Lake City. 
 There I went to the Mormon Bureau of Informa- 
 tion and registered as William Sherman, rather 
 than as W. S. Grant, my usual signature. A 
 guide showed me over the grounds. I drew him 
 on and found that he knew all about the move- 
 ments and utterances of W. S. Grant while he was 
 in western Canada. He told me that Mr. Grant 
 was last located in Victoria and was headed for 
 Salt Lake City and would probably arrive that 
 very day, and that when he registered at their 
 bureau they " had a bunch to hand out to him." 
 
 It is needless to say that they never saw Mr. 
 Grant. After suffering this careful and systematic 
 espionage for two weeks, I was glad to return 
 home without further dealings with my Mormon 
 friends. It made me realize what might have 
 happened to me in an earlier day. 
 
 After all that has been learned about the 
 Mormons, is it any wonder that our intelligent, 
 patriotic, Christian citizens object to the Mormons 
 and their methods? That all who think un- 
 favourably of them are not bigots may be seen 
 from the facts which follow : 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas, former champion of the 
 
Organization and Methods 97 
 
 Mormons on the floor of the United States 
 Senate, in a speech at Springfield, 111., June 12, 
 1856, called Mormonism "this loathsome, dis- 
 gusting ulcer " (New York Times , June 23, 1856). 
 
 President Buchanan, in his message to Con- 
 gress, December 8, 1857, said: 
 
 " All officers of the United States, judicial and 
 executive, with the single exception of two Indian 
 agents, have found it necessary for their own 
 safety to withdraw from the territory [of Utah]." 
 
 In 1860 the national House of Representatives 
 declared that the Mormon Church " had such 
 monstrous powers and arrogant assumptions as 
 are at war with the genius of our government. " 
 
 President Hayes, in his message in 1880, rec- 
 ommended that " the right to vote, hold office 
 or sit on juries in the territory of Utah be con- 
 fined to those who neither practice nor uphold 
 polygamy. " 
 
 President Garfield said in his inaugural ad- 
 dress : 
 
 "The Mormon Church not only offends the 
 moral sense of mankind by sanctioning polygamy, 
 but prevents the administration of justice through 
 the ordinary instrumentalities of law. Con- 
 gress should not allow any ecclesiastical or- 
 ganization to usurp in the smallest degree the 
 functions and powers of the national govern- 
 ment." 
 
 Presidents Arthur and Cleveland also spoke 
 
98 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 most scathingly of the whole Mormon system 
 and recommended drastic legislation. 
 
 A. L. Thomas, Governor of Utah, in his report 
 for 1889, page 25, uses this language: 
 
 That instinctive love of country, which is the 
 distinguishing characteristic of the American peo- 
 ple, does not find a responsive sentiment in Utah. 
 The orthodox Mormon, in every political and 
 business act, puts the church first, country after- 
 wards. It cannot be otherwise, for the priest- 
 hood claims all government but its own to be 
 illegal, and claims a separate political destiny and 
 ultimate temporal dominion, and by divine right. 
 
 Verdicts of many courts from the highest to 
 the lowest might be quoted to show the spirit of 
 the Mormons. One will suffice, for it is part of 
 the finding of the United States Supreme Court 
 as given by Justice Bradley in the Escheat case 
 (i 36 U.S. i): 
 
 It is unnecessary to refer to the past history 
 of the sect; to their defiance of government 
 authorities, to their attempt to establish an in- 
 dependent community, to their efforts to drive 
 from the territory all who were not connected 
 with them in communion and sympathy. The 
 tale is one of patience on the part of the American 
 government and people, and contempt of author- 
 ity and resistance to law on the part of the 
 Mormons. . . . Then look at the case as 
 the finding of facts presents it; we have before 
 us Congress had before it a contumacious 
 
Organization and Methods g$ 
 
 organization wielding by its immense resources 
 an immense power in the territory of Utah, and 
 employing these resources and that power in 
 constantly attempting to oppose, thwart and sub- 
 vert the legislation of Congress and the will of 
 the government of the United States. . . . 
 Notwithstanding the stringent laws which have 
 been passed by Congress; notwithstanding all 
 efforts made to suppress this barbarous practice, 
 the sect, or community, composing the Church 
 of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, perseveres, 
 in defiance of law, in preaching, upholding, pro- 
 moting and defending it. 
 
 Though this opinion was handed down nearly 
 twenty years ago it may truly be said to rep- 
 resent the attitude of the Mormon of to-day in 
 so far as he puts his belief into practice* 
 
IV 
 
 MORMONISM AS A RELIGION 
 
The Mormons claim there was no church or Gospel or pos- 
 sibility of salvation for any one on earth for about 1,70x3 years 
 prior to the coming of Joseph Smith. 
 
 " When what was left of the form of Christianity became 
 allied to the softened paganism of the Roman Empire . . . 
 the Church of Christ was gone, without even a shadow of its 
 presence to be seen upon the earth . . the living and the 
 dead were left in the spiritual darkness of the centuries of 
 apostasy to wait until the dawning of the great and last dispen- 
 sation." Mormon Doctrine, 28, 29. 
 
 If Brigham Young and Joseph Smith, who made Mormon- 
 ism, did not know what Mormonism was, then no lesser Mor- 
 mon of to-day can tell us. If they were true prophets of God, 
 as both they and the present leaders claim, then they told the 
 truth about Mormonism. ... If they did not speak truly, 
 as their successors imply by their course, then they were not 
 sent of God but of Satan, and the whole system falls with their 
 claims. What was true of Mormon doctrine then must be 
 equally true now. Mormonism cannot go back on itself at 
 convenience, but must stand or fall by the utterances of its 
 great leaders." John D. Nutting. 
 
IV 
 
 MORMONISM AS A RELIGION 
 
 THE Mormons make a great deal of their 
 Articles of Faith, and well they may, 
 for these articles are the most respec- 
 table part of Mormonism. They are printed on 
 leaflets which advertise various stores, they are 
 pressed into the hands of tourists as they alight 
 from the trains, they are put into little racks in 
 depots and hotels hundreds of miles from Salt 
 Lake City, they are printed on letter-heads by 
 Mormon business firms, and in every way brought 
 to the attention of the public. 
 
 The Christian worker who has heard about the 
 horrible Mormon doctrines is astounded to see 
 how closely these articles accord with the belief 
 of evangelical Christianity. They do if the 
 words used mean the same to Mormons that 
 they do to others. If they do, and if these 
 articles contain their whole belief, there is com- 
 paratively little to which we could object ; but 
 the fact is that these articles give a stranger ab- 
 solutely no idea of what Mormons really believe. 
 
 MORMON ARTICLES OF FAITH 
 Article i. We believe in God, the Eternal 
 Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 103 
 
104 Mor monism, The Islam of America 
 
 Article 2. We believe that men will be pun- 
 ished for their own sins, and not for Adam's 
 transgressions. 
 
 Article j. We believe that through the atone- 
 ment of Christ all mankind may be saved, by 
 obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gos- 
 pel. 
 
 Article 4. We believe that the first principles 
 and ordinances of the Gospel are : First, faith in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; second, repentance ; 
 third, baptism by immersion for the remission of 
 sins ; fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Article 5. We believe that a man must be 
 called of God, by " prophecy and by the laying 
 on of hands," by those who are in authority, to 
 preach the Gospel and administer in the ordi- 
 nances thereof. 
 
 Article 6. We believe in the same organiza- 
 tion that existed in the primitive church, namely, 
 apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, 
 etc. 
 
 Article 7. We believe in the gift of tongues, 
 prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpreta- 
 tion of tongues, etc. 
 
 Article 8. We believe the Bible to be the 
 word of God, so far as it is translated correctly ; 
 we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the 
 word of God. 
 
 Article p. We believe all that God has re- 
 vealed, all that He does now reveal, and we be- 
 lieve that He will yet reveal many great and im- 
 portant things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 
 (See under 7 and 8.) 
 
 Article 10. We believe in the literal gather- 
 ing of Israel and in the restoration of the ten 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 105 
 
 tribes. That Zion will be built upon this conti- 
 nent. That Christ will reign personally upon the 
 earth, and that the earth will be renewed and re- 
 ceive its paradisiacal glory. 
 
 Article n. We claim the privilege of wor- 
 shiping Almighty God according to the dictates 
 of our conscience, and allow all men the same 
 privilege, let them worship how, where or what 
 they may. 
 
 Article 12. We believe in being subject to 
 kings, presidents, rulers and magistrates, in obey- 
 ing, honouring and sustaining the law. 
 
 Article ij. We believe in being honest, true, 
 chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good 
 to all men ; indeed, we may say that we follow 
 the admonition of Paul : " We believe all things, 
 we hope all things," we have endured many 
 things, and hope to be able to endure all things. 
 If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good 
 report or praiseworthy, we seek after these 
 things. 
 
 These Articles of Faith are misleading from 
 two points of view ; first, because of their decep- 
 tive use of words and, second, because they make 
 no mention of many of the most important 
 Mormon doctrines and practices. 
 
 To illustrate let us carefully examine the first 
 article. Any evangelical Christian would en- 
 dorse it as it stands, but does it mean what it 
 says ? Do they get from the terms " God," 
 " Jesus Christ " and the " Holy Ghost " the same ' 
 meanings which those terms have had ever since 
 
106 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Christ came ? We shall interpret these terms by 
 authoritative utterances found in Mormon pub- 
 lications bearing the official imprint and approval 
 of the Mormon Church. 
 
 " Are there more Gods that one ? Yes, 
 many "(Cat., p. 13). " God Himself was once 
 as we are now, and is an exalted man " (JD, 
 VI, 4). " And you have got to learn how 
 to be Gods the same as all the Gods have 
 done before you " (Comp., 283). " He [Adam] 
 is our Father and our God and the only God 
 with whom we have to do " (JD, I, 50). 
 " There is no other God in heaven but that 
 God who has flesh and bones " (Comp., 287). 
 " When our Father Adam came into the Garden 
 of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body and 
 brought Eve, one of his wives, with him " (JD, 
 I, 50). " Jesus Christ and the Father are two 
 persons, in the same sense that Peter and John 
 are two persons . . . possessing every organ, 
 limb and material part that man possesses " 
 (Key, 42). " Each God through his wife, or 
 wives, raises up a numerous family of sons and 
 daughters . . . for each father and mother 
 will be in a condition to multiply forever and 
 ever " (The Seer, I, 37). " His chief glory will 
 be to bring to pass the eternal life and happiness 
 of his posterity " (Witness, 462). 
 
 The following quotations are taken from the 
 Key to Theology, pages 37 to 45 : 
 
 Beings which have no passion have no souls, 
 . . . But every one who is eventually made 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 107 
 
 perfect, raised from the dead, and filled or quick- 
 ened with a fullness of celestial glory, will be- 
 come like them [the Gods] in every respect, 
 physically, and in intellect. . . . Gods, 
 angels and men are all of one species, one race, 
 one great family, widely diffused among the 
 planetary systems as colonies, kingdoms, nations, 
 etc. . . . An immortal man possessing a 
 perfect organization of spirit, flesh and bones, 
 and perfected in all his attributes, in all the full- 
 ness of celestial glory, is called a God. . . . 
 Again it follows that in the use of this power, 
 by consent and authority of the Head, any one 
 of these Gods may create, organize and people 
 and enjoy worlds on worlds . . . each of 
 them can find room in the infinitude of space, 
 and unoccupied chaotic elements in the bound- 
 less storehouse of eternal riches, with which to 
 erect for himself thrones, principalities and powers, 
 over which to reign in still increasing might, 
 majesty and dominion, forever and ever. . . . 
 It is, therefore, an absolute impossibility for God, 
 the Father, or Jesus Christ, to be everywhere 
 personally present. 
 
 A little further explanation is necessary to 
 show their idea of the origin of the race. The 
 devil's punishment consists in not having a body 
 and therefore he cannot enjoy the pleasures of 
 the body and cannot have even a probation for 
 exaltation. These gods propagate spirits which 
 inhabit the air waiting for " tabernacles of flesh," 
 for the " principle of happiness consists in having 
 a human body." Only in this way can these 
 
io8 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 spirits become candidates for eternal glory 
 and the " greatest exaltation." Therefore it is 
 the duty of every good Mormon to provide as 
 many as possible of the tabernacles of flesh 
 (human bodies) for these waiting unembodied 
 spirits. Notice how this idea is articulated with 
 polygamy, for in turn those who are faithful 
 (that is, propagate numerously) are sent to peo- 
 ple other worlds and rule over them as Adam 
 does over this. The favourite hymn of the 
 Mormon Church is based upon this idea. It was 
 written by Eliza R. Snow, the first woman 
 " sealed " to Joseph Smith. After his death she 
 became the polygamous wife of Brigham Young. 
 She was also a sister of another president, Lorenzo 
 D. Snow. The hymn follows : 
 
 Oh, my Father, Thou that dwellest 
 
 In the high and glorious place ; 
 When shall I regain Thy presence, 
 
 And again behold Thy face ? 
 In Thy holy habitation 
 
 Did my spirit once reside. 
 In my first primeval childhood 
 
 I was nurtured by Thy side. 
 
 For a wise and glorious purpose 
 
 Thou hast placed me here on earth 
 And withheld the recollection 
 
 Of my former friends and birth. 
 Yet ofttimes a secret something 
 
 Whispered, " You're a stranger here ; " 
 And I felt that I had wandered 
 
 From a more exalted sphere. 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 109 
 
 I had learned to call Thee Father, 
 
 Through Thy spirit from on high, 
 But until the Key of Knowledge 
 
 Was restored, I knew not why. 
 In the heavens are parents single ? 
 
 No ; the thought makes reason stare. 
 Truth is reason ; truth eternal 
 
 Tells me I've a mother there. 
 
 When I leave this frail existence, 
 
 When I lay this mortal by, 
 Father, mother, may I meet you 
 
 In your royal court on high ? 
 Then, at length, when I've completed 
 
 All you sent me forth to do, 
 With your mutual approbation 
 
 Let me come and dwell with you. 
 
 This doctrine is not obsolete, for in the Salt 
 Lake City Tabernacle, February 24, 1907, a high 
 Mormon ecclesiastic used this hymn as his text 
 and in the course of his sermon said : 
 
 The family in all its relations will exist 
 throughout the countless ages of the world to 
 come. My wife and mother will not be sexless 
 beings in the hereafter. I insist that I will enjoy 
 with them there all the same pure and holy 
 emotions that I have felt in this life. 
 
 If further evidence of the sensualism of the 
 whole system is needed note the following : 
 
 This individual spiritual body was begotten 
 by the heavenly Father, in His own likeness and 
 
no Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 image and by the laws of procreation. It was 
 born and nurtured in the heavenly mansions. 
 . . . The spirits which kept their first estate 
 were permitted to descend below and obtain 
 tabernacles of flesh (Key, 56-57). 
 
 This is practically a revival of the ancient 
 Phallic religion or equivalent to the introduction 
 into America of the worship of the Hindu Siva. 
 It may be further said that there are passages in 
 the Mormon books so much more gross than 
 these that we could not quote them here. 
 
 Concerning Christ Brigham Young declared 
 (JD, I, 50), " He was not begotten of the Holy 
 Ghost." In a sermon (JD, II, 81, 82) Apostle 
 Hyde declared that Christ was married to the two 
 Marys and Martha at the wedding in Cana of 
 Galilee. From the passages in the fifty-third 
 chapter of Isaiah, " He shall see His seed " and 
 " Who shall declare His generation ? " Hyde 
 argued that Christ must have been married and 
 that He also had children. He also claimed that 
 the use of the term " Lord " by the women at the 
 sepulchre was equivalent to saying " husband." 
 
 The one hundredth anniversary of the prophet's 
 birth came on a Saturday in 1905 and the fol- 
 lowing Monday was Christmas. On the Sunday 
 intervening a great celebration of the " Two 
 Birthdays." was held in the Salt Lake Taberna- 
 cle. The whole front end of the tabernacle 
 ceiling was lined with light blue bunting studded 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 1 1 1 
 
 with many stars. On either side of the organ 
 were two large stars cut in the bunting which 
 were illuminated by electric lights from behind. 
 These two stars represented Jesus and Joseph 
 Smith. Both here and in the addresses, Jesus 
 and Joseph Smith were recognized as of equal 
 magnitude in the Mormon firmament. 
 
 The teaching concerning the Holy Spirit may 
 be seen from the following : 
 
 The Holy Ghost comes only by the laying on 
 of hands by the priesthood (Mormon Doctrines, 
 1 6, 17). This leads to the investigation of that 
 substance called the Holy Spirit. . . . There 
 are several of these subtle, invisible substances as 
 yet little understood by man, and their existence 
 is only demonstrated by their effects. Some of 
 them are recognized under several terms, electric- 
 ity, galvanism, magnetism, animal magnetism, 
 essence, spirit, etc. The purest, most refined and 
 subtle of all these substances, and the one least 
 understood, or even recognized, by the less in- 
 formed among mankind, is that substance called 
 the Holy Spirit. This material, like all others, is 
 one of the elements of material or physical exist- 
 ence and therefore subject to the necessary laws 
 which govern all matter as before enumerated. 
 J . . (Key, 46.) 
 
 No one would ever dream of reading into their 
 Articles such meanings as these. Do such defi- 
 nitions of the character, attributes and activities 
 
112 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 of the Holy Spirit satisfy the evangelical Chris- 
 tian ? Repeatedly He is referred to as " it " : 
 " Like electricity it is imparted by the contact of 
 two bodies through the channel of the nerves." 
 
 In article three they profess to believe in the 
 atonement of Christ but only " by obedience to 
 the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." But in 
 their Compendium (8, 9) they say that faith 
 in the atonement of Christ saves no one, and that 
 men are saved by a life of good works. Talmage 
 (Articles of Faith, 120) says that the doctrine of 
 justification by faith is evil and only evil. No 
 one can be saved without baptism (Cat., 40) 
 and all who are not Mormons will be damned 
 
 (JD, 139). 
 
 The Mormon interpretation of article four 
 follows : 
 
 There is but one kind of baptism . . . 
 any other kind of baptism is spurious and of no 
 effect. The living may be baptized for the dead. 
 . . . The living relatives . . . stand in 
 name and place of the departed and receive the 
 ordinances to be placed to the credit of the dead. 
 . . . The place for these administrations is 
 in a temple built to the Most High God, after 
 the pattern revealed. . . . The fathers in the 
 spirit world look to the children in the flesh to 
 perform for them the works which they were 
 unable to attend to while they were in the body 
 (Mor. Doc., 38, 40). 
 
 There is a set mode by which this great gift 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 1 13 
 
 [the Holy Spirit] is conferred upon mankind 
 . . . the laying on of hands by men who 
 have themselves received it and have been called 
 of God and ordained to administer it (Mor. Doc., 
 16, 17). 
 
 No one would think by reading article five 
 that the chief hierarchs of the Mormon Church 
 claim the utmost of authority over the priest- 
 hood and all others under them, yet here is what 
 they say : 
 
 Men who hold the priesthood possess divine 
 authority thus to act for God ; and by possessing 
 part of God's power they are really part of God. 
 . . . Men who honour the priesthood in 
 them honour God, and those who reject it reject 
 God (Witness, 187). 
 
 I would just as soon think of heaven entering 
 into chaos and of the throne of God being shaken 
 to its foundation as to think that the priesthood 
 of the Son of God had gone wrong in its author- 
 ity (President Cannon, in tabernacle, April 5, 
 1897). 
 
 Their priesthood gives them the right to ad- 
 vise and instruct the Saints, and their jurisdiction 
 extends over all things spiritual and temporal 
 (Sermon by President Gowan, Logan Journal, 
 May 26, 1898). 
 
 Whatever I might have obtained in the shape 
 of learning by searching and study respecting 
 the arts and sciences of men, whatever principles 
 I may have imbibed during my scientific re- 
 searches, yet if the prophet of God should tell 
 me that a certain theory or principle which I 
 
114 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 might have learned was not true, I do not care 
 what my ideas might have been ; I should con- 
 sider it my duty at the suggestion of my file 
 leader to abandon that theory or principle 
 (Woodruff, JD, V, 83). 
 
 If brother Brigham tells me to do anything it 
 is the same as though the Lord told me to do it. 
 This is the course for you and every other saint 
 to take (Apostle Kimball, JD, I, 161). 
 
 At the Smoot investigation the present presi- 
 dent of the Mormon Church, Joseph F. Smith, 
 declared that they did not pretend to exercise 
 control over any one except in spiritual matters, 
 yet this same man said at Provo, " When a man 
 says you may direct me spiritually but not tem- 
 porally, he lies in the presence of God " (News, 
 April 25, 1895). 
 
 Space to deal thus with all of these articles is 
 lacking, though all might be treated in a similar 
 manner. In articles eight and nine, their ex- 
 pressed faith in the Bible as the Word of God is 
 modified by " so far as it is translated correctly." 
 How much this means is seen by the following : 
 
 Add all this imperfection to the uncertainty of 
 the translation, and who, in his right mind, could, 
 for one moment, suppose the Bible, in its present 
 form, to be a perfect guide ? Who knows that 
 even one verse of the Bible has escaped pollu- 
 tion, so as to convey the same sense now that it 
 did in the original ? (Divine Authority of BM, 
 218). 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 1 1 5 
 
 Thou fool that shall say a Bible, a Bible, we 
 have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. 
 . . . Ye need not suppose that it contains 
 all my words ; neither need ye suppose that I 
 have not caused more to be written (BM, II ; 
 Nephi 29: 6-10). 
 
 Wilford Woodruff is a prophet and I know 
 that he has a great many prophets around him, 
 and he can make Scriptures as good as those in 
 the Bible (Apostle, afterwards President, J. W. 
 Taylor, Conference, April 5, 1897). 
 
 It does not at all trouble the Mormons that 
 their books or revelations contradict each other, 
 for President Woodruff, at the conference just 
 referred to, placed the Bible, the Book of Mor- 
 mon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl 
 of Great Price on the pulpit and said, " Compared 
 with the living oracle these books are nothing to 
 me," That is to say, the president of the church 
 is the mouthpiece of God and whatever he says 
 has authority even though it contradicts all of 
 their sacred books, because it is the most recent 
 expression of the mind of God. The writer has 
 attended scores of services in the tabernacle in 
 Salt Lake City, in other parts of Utah and adja- 
 cent states and has seen the Bible used in such 
 services but once. A friend states that he has 
 attended fifty-four Mormon services and has 
 never seen the Bible used. 
 
 Another friend was discussing Mormonism 
 
1 16 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 with Bishop Chipman, of American Fork, Utah, 
 and the bishop declined to accept as true certain 
 Bible verses. He was reminded that he had 
 quoted Scripture to prove his point and that if it 
 was authoritative in one place it must be in an- 
 other. The bishop replied : " I quoted the 
 Bible just because you fellows believe in it." 
 This reply illustrates fairly the attitude of the 
 average Mormon towards the Word of God. Just 
 remember this when some Mormon elder calls at 
 your door and in his pious cant tells you of his 
 reverence for the Bible. 
 
 From article eleven one would think that 
 they took exceptionally high ground with refer- 
 ence to evangelical churches but in other places 
 they say that the ministry of the Christian 
 churches is : 
 
 A spurious priesthood, destitute of divine au- 
 thority, divine inspiration and power . . . 
 set up by ambitious and designing men . . . 
 base counterfeit of the true and heavenly coin 
 (Mor. Doc., 21). 
 
 Such persons [ministers, etc.] are false teachers 
 and the wrath of God is kindled upon them 
 (Cat., 44). 
 
 Any person who shall be so wicked as to re- 
 ceive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the 
 ministers of the apostate [Christian] churches 
 will be sent down to hell with them, unless he 
 repents of the unholy and impious act (Seer, I, II, 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 117 
 
 Article twelve seems all right until we get 
 their point of view from such utterances as 
 follow : 
 
 The priesthood holds the right to give laws 
 and commandments to individuals, churches, 
 rulers, nations and the world ; to appoint, ordain 
 and establish constitutions and kingdoms ; to ap- 
 point kings, presidents, governors or judges 
 (Key, 70). 
 
 The priesthood will bear rule, and hold the 
 government of the kingdom under control in all 
 things (JD, II, 189). 
 
 The priesthood is the legitimate rule of God, 
 whether in the heavens, or on the earth, and it is 
 the only legitimate power that has a right to rule 
 on the earth ; and when the will of God is done 
 on earth as it is in heaven, no other power will 
 be or rule (JD, V, 186). 
 
 These explanations are very important as 
 proving the menace of Mormonism to our polit- 
 ical institutions. That these sentiments are not 
 obsolete we need only to read (News, December 
 6, 1900) what the present " Prophet, Seer and 
 Revelator " said to his people on this point : 
 " The question with me is ... when I get 
 the word of the Lord as to who is the right man 
 [to vote for] will I obey it, no matter if it does 
 come contrary to my convictions ? " 
 
 No fault could be found with their last article 
 if it really meant what it says. In this connec- 
 
1 1 8 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 tion an utterance from Brigham Young is inter- 
 esting, to say the least. It is pleasant to be able 
 to agree, in part, with what that vigorous man 
 said about his own people : 
 
 I have many a time in this stand dared the 
 world to produce as mean devils as we can. We 
 can beat them at anything. We have the great- 
 est and smoothest liars in the world, the cunning- 
 est and most adroit thieves, and any other shade 
 of character that you can mention. We can 
 pick out elders in Israel right here who can beat 
 the world at gambling ; who can handle the 
 cards ; can cut and shuffle them with the smart- 
 est rogue on God's footstool. . . . We can 
 beat the world at any game. We can beat them 
 because we have men here that live in the light of 
 the Lord ; that have the holy priesthood and 
 hold the keys of the kingdom of God (News, 
 VI, 91). 
 
 It is to be doubted if any more blasphemous 
 statement can be found in the English language 
 than the reasons why Mormons " can beat the 
 world." After such a statement from Young the 
 Mormons have no right to complain at anything 
 that may be said about them by others. 
 
 It is evident that these Articles of Faith are 
 misleading because no one could possibly get the 
 Mormon idea by studying them, and because of 
 what they omit No man can be a Mormon in 
 good fellowship and standing to-day without 
 believing and practicing these omitted doctrines. 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 1 1 9 
 
 There is no hint of them in the published arti- 
 cles unless they may be supposed to be included 
 in the " etc." of article seven. 
 
 In this " etc/' not one word is said about the 
 " everlasting covenant of polygamy " in which 
 they must abide or be " damned," in spite of the 
 fact that " no one can reject this covenant, and 
 be permitted to enter into my glory" (DC, 132). 
 Joseph F. Smith said to a General Conference of 
 the Young People's Mutual Improvement Asso- 
 ciation, held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, June 
 5, 1904: 
 
 There is no exaltation for any man without 
 a woman nor for any woman without a man. 
 . . . Alone is not in the likeness of God. 
 There is no exaltation or eternal progression 
 without a wife. We must live as God lives. 
 [Note the inference.] Marriage is eternal. 
 Neither man nor death can separate. The only 
 thing that can separate is absolute apostasy from 
 the Mormon Church. Then his once wife, or 
 talent, as Jesus put it, will be taken from him and 
 given to one who has ten. This is the most 
 vital principle of the Gospel. It involves the 
 well-springs of life. 
 
 This same man is one of those who in order to 
 secure statehood promised not to teach polygamy 
 and who, under oath during the Smoot investiga- 
 tion, said that he did not teach it. Be that as it 
 may, it would seem that the " most vital principle 
 
1 2o Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 of the Gospel" ought to be mentioned in the 
 Articles of Faith. 
 
 It may be stated without fear of successful 
 contradiction that the older Mormons, and the 
 present hierarchy (which absolutely controls the 
 affairs of the church), are living up to this omitted 
 doctrine as nearly as they dare. The same may 
 be said with reference to the other omitted doc- 
 trines. 
 
 The Articles do not mention tithing, yet the 
 Mormon Church demands that every convert 
 shall pay into its treasury one-tenth of all his 
 possessions, and thereafter, one-tenth of his an- 
 nual income. This is the sine qua non of a good 
 Mormon. If he does not leave this undone he 
 may do almost anything else, and still retain his 
 standing in the church. Contrary to the usual 
 supposition these tithes do not go to pay the ex- 
 penses of the local meeting-house or worship. 
 This money goes to the centralized hierarchy at 
 Salt Lake City, which has never given an ac- 
 count of how much has been received or of what 
 has been done with it. At each general confer- 
 ence the leaders appoint an auditing committee 
 from among themselves and the report is given 
 briefly, in the most general terms. Nor does 
 this tithing end the financial obligation of the 
 Mormon to his church. The first Sunday of 
 every month there must be a fast and what has 
 been saved in this way must be brought to the 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 121 
 
 priesthood. All local expenses, such as the 
 building of meeting-houses, their repairs, litera- 
 ture, lights, heat and everything else must be 
 borne by the local worshipers in addition to 
 their tithes. Some official statements follow : 
 
 It is a day for the tithing of my people ; for he 
 that is tithed shall not be burned at his com- 
 ing " (DC, 64, 23). A record is also kept of all 
 people who are not tithe-payers, so that it might 
 be known who are faithful and who are not 
 (News, April 10, 1900). 
 
 The tithing books are also the books from 
 which the faithful dead are called up. Presiding 
 Bishop Preston (who has charge of the tithing) 
 said " that we should be judged out of the books 
 and that all would be judged according to their 
 works " (News, May 30, 1898). 
 
 The doctrine of brother Joseph is, that not one 
 dollar of that you possess is your own ; and if 
 the Lord wants it to use, let it go, and it is none 
 of your business what He does with it (Young, 
 JD, I, 340). 
 
 Every adult male member is expected, upon 
 " call," to spend at least two years on a " mission " 
 at his own charges wherever the authorities may 
 direct. If a poor man is " called " his ward 
 sometimes gives him a farewell benefit dance or 
 in some other way raises money to send him off. 
 His poor wife must struggle along as best she 
 can at home to support herself and babies and 
 send some of her pittance to her husband that he 
 
122 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 may carry on his missionary work. People often 
 wonder at the self-sacrifice of these Mormon 
 elders. It must be borne in mind that they are 
 not volunteers. They are " called " to go which 
 means that they would be ostracized socially, 
 boycotted commercially and practically excom- 
 municated from the church should they refuse. 
 Not infrequently these missionaries heap the 
 vilest curses upon the authorities for sending 
 them but they go just the same. A bishop may 
 have the monopoly of some industry in his town 
 and some bright young fellow may cut in on his 
 trade. The bishop then sees to it that the impu- 
 dent offender is sent away on a two years' mis- 
 sion. It is said that elders who are faithful, " Shall 
 not be weary in mind, neither darkened, neither in 
 body, limb or joint, . , . and they shall not 
 go hungry nor athirst . . . therefore let no 
 man among you from this hour take purse or 
 scrip, that goeth forth to proclaim this Gospel of 
 the kingdom " (DC, 84, 86). 
 
 In spite of this injunction they do not go with- 
 out purse or scrip but provided with as much 
 money as their condition warrants. They go 
 two by two and usually one of the two is a man 
 of some experience who sees to it that his com- 
 panion, a novice, does his full part. 
 
 If comparisons with Gentiles, " who preach for 
 money," as the Mormons charge, are desired, con- 
 sider the fact that most of our evangelical minis- 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 1 23 
 
 ters spend not two, but four, seven or even ten of 
 the best years of their lives at their own expense, 
 that they may fit themselves for the ministry of 
 Christ. 
 
 Although there is not so much as a suggestion 
 in article four that the Mormons believe in bap- 
 tism for the dead that is not all of it. They be- 
 lieve that the Gospel will be preached to departed 
 spirits in the next world, and as no one can be 
 saved without baptism every good Mormon is 
 baptized for as many of his dead relatives as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 When the lost spirit accepts the Gospel this 
 proxy baptism becomes efficacious for his salva- 
 tion. If it is not convenient for the one con- 
 cerned to be baptized for his dead relatives he 
 can hire " temple workers " to be baptized in his 
 stead. These " temple workers " are usually old 
 people who make their living in this way. It is 
 held that this proxy baptism once removed is 
 just as efficacious as the other. We quite agree. 
 But still further, if one wishes to be baptized for 
 his ancestry farther back than he has their names, 
 he can take his troubles to one of the patriarchs 
 who, by inspiration, will provide him with a cor- 
 rect list of his ancestors as far back as he is will- 
 ing to pay for them. " To them (patriarchs) is 
 given the power by the inspiration of the Lord 
 to designate the lineage of the saints, and in their 
 blessings point out the possibilities to which they 
 
124 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 can attain through their faithfulness " (Roberts, 
 
 P . 6 2 ). 
 
 The Mormons do not like to be reminded that 
 they ever practiced the doctrine of blood atone- 
 ment and of course it is not mentioned in their 
 Articles. That doctrine is, in brief, this : there 
 are certain circumstances, especially in cases of 
 threatened apostasy, when the only way to save a 
 man's soul is to kill him. Under the guise of this 
 beneficent doctrine the " Danites " or " Aveng- 
 ing Angels," as they were variously called, put 
 out of the way men who were offensive to the 
 church. These avengers were under the direct 
 personal supervision of the president of the 
 church and sworn to obey unquestioningly his 
 slightest command. The doctrine is not prac- 
 ticed now but was taught and practiced when 
 they dared to do so, and in the history of Utah 
 and Mormonism hundreds have been ruthlessly 
 slain in harmony with its teaching. It has the 
 sanction of no less a man than Brigham Young : 
 
 Will you love your brothers and sisters like- 
 wise when they have a sin that cannot be atoned 
 for without the shedding of their blood ? That 
 is what Jesus Christ meant [ by " love thy neigh- 
 bour as thyself"]. I could refer you to plenty 
 of instances where men have been righteously 
 slain in order to atone for their sins. . . . 
 The wickedness and ignorance of the nations 
 forbid this principle being in full force, but the 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 125 
 
 time will come when the law of God will be in 
 full force. This is loving our neighbour as our- 
 selves ; if he needs help, help him ; if he wants 
 salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on 
 the earth in order that he may be saved, spill 
 it. . . . That is the way to love man- 
 kind (JD, IV, 219, 220). 
 
 John D. Lee in " Mormonism' 1 declares that 
 until after the railroad was built across the state 
 it was a rare thing for a man to escape from 
 Utah with life and property secure. Fathers 
 have been known to. assist in the assassination of 
 their own sons for no other crime than that they 
 were quietly trying to leave Utah and the thrall- 
 dom of Mormonism. In recent years the Mor- 
 mons have vigorously denied that such a doctrine 
 was ever taught or practiced. But a pamphlet 
 was written a few years ago by one of the apos- 
 tles, C. W. Penrose, in which after making many 
 denials he says, referring to Young's language 
 just quoted : 
 
 Do we need the same language now ? I hope 
 not : but if there was any need of it, it would 
 be just as applicable now as then. . . . 
 After baptized persons have made sacred cove- 
 nants with God, and then committed deadly sins, 
 the only atonement they can make is the shed- 
 ding of their blood. At the same time the laws 
 of the land, and the prejudice of the nation, and 
 the ignorance of the world are such that this law 
 
1 26 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 cannot be carried out, but when the time comes 
 that the law of God should be in full force upon 
 the earth, then this penalty will be inflicted for 
 those crimes committed by persons under cove- 
 nant not to commit them. 
 
 In other words Penrose, a living apostle, de- 
 clares his belief in the doctrine just as Young 
 preached it and also that when they are able to 
 live this doctrine as they desire, they will see 
 to it that the old reign of terror under the Dan- 
 ites is revived. The Articles of Faith make no 
 mention of the " Endowments " that take place 
 in the temple at Salt Lake City. Here also are 
 performed baptisms for the dead and other secret 
 ceremonies. Before this temple was dedicated, 
 large numbers of Gentiles were invited to go 
 through it but since the dedication no Gentile 
 eyes have desecrated the interior. Not even 
 every Mormon can get in. One woman told the 
 writer that she joined the Mormon Church purely 
 out of curiosity to see what was in the temple 
 and to know its secrets. She said that she had 
 been faithful for ten years but had never been 
 able to gain the desired admittance within its 
 sacred walls. The " Temple Mormons " are a 
 higher class than the others and look down upon 
 their less fortunate brethren much as did the old 
 time Pharisee upon the Jew " without the law." 
 As the Temple Mormons rank higher in this life 
 so, they claim, they will hereafter, for only such 
 
55 
 P 
 O 
 
 55 
 
 ""S 
 
Mormonism as a Religion 127 
 
 can ever hope to become ruling gods in the next 
 world and enjoy the greatest exaltation. 
 
 Even a Temple Mormon cannot get into the 
 temple unless he has some business there that 
 can be transacted nowhere else. Then he must 
 have a certificate from the bishop of his ward, 
 countersigned by the president of the Stake of 
 which his ward is a part, stating that he is of un- 
 doubted loyalty, has paid his tithing to date and 
 is obedient in all things to his superiors. 
 
 The secrets of the ceremonies have been ex- 
 posed by various persons who have abandoned 
 Mormonism. As totally unconnected individ- 
 uals have given essentially the same accounts it 
 is believed that they are correct. But " Temple 
 Mormons " who have abandoned their religion 
 rarely say anything about these endowments 
 because of the blood-curdling oaths they were 
 obliged to take, oaths which imposed the most 
 horrible penalties if they divulged the secrets of 
 the temple. 
 
V 
 MORMONISM AS A LIFE 
 
" Behold David and Solomon truly had many wives and con- 
 cubines, which thing was abominable before Me saith the 
 Lord." BM, Jacob 2 : 23, 24. 
 
 " David also received many wives and concubines, as also 
 Solomon and Moses, my servants ; as also many others of my 
 servants, from the beginning of creation until this time ; and in 
 nothing did they sin, save in those things which they received 
 not of me." DC, 132, 38. 
 
V 
 
 MORMONISM AS A LIFE 
 
 their fruits ye shall know them." 
 One does not like to write about the 
 kind of life that results from Mormon 
 doctrine. Either he will not say all that he feels 
 and knows, or some one will think him needlessly 
 brutal and unkind. But truth must be told 
 and the whole truth ought to be known in order 
 that conditions in Utah may be fully understood. 
 Mormons of all classes are notoriously untruth- 
 ful, especially with reference to things vital to 
 themselves. Apostle Penrose, for years editor of 
 the Deseret News, the official paper of the Mor- 
 mon Church, is commonly known as the " Apos- 
 tolic liar." He seems to have deserved the title. 
 While the Smoot investigation was in progress 
 charges were made that the Mormon leaders had 
 not kept faith with the government. Each time 
 the charge was made Penrose denied it in his 
 editorial columns. Once he wrote : 
 
 " We again emphatically deny . . . that 
 the church leaders have broken any pledges. 
 . . . No pledges have been broken by the 
 church leaders or by their permission." 
 
132 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 This same Penrose was called to Washington 
 a few days after that to testify before the Smoot 
 Committee, and he admitted that he was a 
 polygamist, living with two plural wives. Mr. 
 Tayler asked him, " Did you receive special 
 amnesty at the hands of President Cleveland, in 
 which one of the conditions was that you should 
 thereafter obey the laws relating to living in 
 polygamy ? " 
 
 Penrose replied : " Yes, sir." Tayler then 
 asked : " Have you lived up to that amnesty ? " 
 Penrose replied to that : " No, sir." 
 
 Professor Tanner was charged with making 
 Clarice Thatcher his plural wife. Her father, 
 Apostle Thatcher, was placed on the witness 
 stand and said that Clarice was his daughter but 
 that he did not know whether she had married 
 Tanner or not. He admitted that there had been 
 a child born in his home but said that he really 
 did not know to whom it belonged. 
 
 Profane and obscene language is common 
 among men, women, and children. Bishops and 
 apostles are not above it. One of the oldest 
 apostles, who died in 1911, was notorious for the 
 objectionable stories which he told. A few years 
 ago Apostle Lyman declared in the tabernacle 
 that obscenity was the chief sin of the Mormons. 
 At a Salt Lake Stake Conference, December 15, 
 1902, President Smith insisted that some of the 
 priesthood were getting careless, and the paper 
 
Mormonism as a Life 133 
 
 reports him as saying on that occasion : " If the 
 High Priests are frequenting whiskey saloons and 
 immoral places the people are entitled to the 
 knowledge." In the evening of that day Apostle 
 John Henry Smith is reported by the same paper 
 as follows: 
 
 He reviewed the work of the day and reiterated 
 and emphasized the admonitions of President 
 Smith regarding profanity and lack of respect for 
 sacred things. He deplored the use of profane 
 language on the streets, especially by young 
 men and, in some instances, by girls. He thought 
 the leaders in other denominations were more 
 careful in this respect than the Saints and it would 
 be wise and prudent to follow the example of 
 such. 
 
 This is nothing new, for Brigham Young de- 
 clared in a conference, October 9, 1852 : " You 
 elders of Israel will go into the canons and curse 
 and swear curse your oxen, and swear by Him 
 who created you. Yes, you rip and curse and 
 swear as bad as any pirates ever did." 
 
 The Mormons claim that there was never any 
 immorality in Utah until the coming of the 
 Gentiles, but all through their history charges of 
 the grossest sins were common even after polyg- 
 amy was practiced. Stenhouse says (p. 296) that 
 on one occasion Young demanded in a male 
 audience that all guilty of the crime of adultery 
 
134 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 stand up, and that more than three-fourths of the 
 audience arose. 
 
 The Mormons make great professions in the 
 direction of temperance, but the fact is that 
 bishops and other higher officials use liquor. 
 Brigham Young established the first brewery in 
 Utah. Zion's Commercial Mercantile Institution 
 is owned by the Mormon Church, has branches 
 all over Utah and is the largest mercantile concern 
 in the state. In its grocery department there are 
 signs saying, "All kinds of liquors for family 
 use." It is said to sell at wholesale and retail 
 more liquors than any other firm in Utah. The 
 same kind of sign has been many times seen in 
 the drug store in Provo owned by the apostolic 
 senator, Reed Smoot. 
 
 Saltair is the name given to the great resort 
 on the shores of Great Salt Lake about fifteen 
 miles from Salt Lake City. There is an immense 
 pavilion, and bathing in the water, that carries 
 about twenty per cent, salt in solution, is one of 
 the unfailing delights enjoyed by thousands of 
 tourists. To this place thousands of Gentile and 
 Mormon young people go every hot day of the 
 summer season. For many years this whole es- 
 tablishment was owned by the Mormon Church 
 and they maintained there an open bar where 
 any one could buy intoxicating drinks. A dep- 
 utation of Christian ministers called upon the 
 president of the church some years ago and 
 
O 
 
 c 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 o 
 
Mormonism as a Life 135 
 
 urged him to use his influence to close this bar 
 which was doing so much harm. He declared 
 that he had nothing to do with it until the depu- 
 tation proved to him that they knew the books 
 of the bar were made out on every page, 
 
 In Account with Lorenzo D. Snow, Trustee in 
 Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 Day Saints. 
 
 The dance is a part of the Mormon religion. 
 It is also a part of their scheme to encourage 
 early marriage. Sometimes the dances are held 
 in the meeting-houses and have been known to 
 follow a religious meeting on Sunday night. The 
 bishop often opens the dance with prayer and 
 closes it with the benediction. In a small town 
 the Mormons had a shambling, old, frame meet- 
 ing-house and started to build a new one. The 
 foundation was laid and then the whole enter- 
 prise was given up. Weeds grew up around it 
 but soon on the same lot the church began work 
 on a very fine large dance hall and carried it to 
 completion. 
 
 In April, 1905, the president of the Mormon 
 Church attended a prize-fight that was staged in 
 the theatre owned by a church corporation of 
 which he also is president. He applauded vig- 
 orously the scientific but none the less brutal 
 pounding the fighters gave each other. 
 
 Of course the Mormons deny that their people 
 
136 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 are more immoral than others but Mormonism 
 seems really to have withered their moral sensi- 
 bilities. They do not have the same standards 
 as Christian people. Young men who are no- 
 toriously obscene and immoral are sent away on 
 missions. Indeed it seems to be designed to 
 send such young men on a mission in order to 
 reform them. Practices that would horrify any 
 but Mormons are common and are encouraged 
 by parents. Is it any wonder that where such 
 ideas prevail, according to the testimony of phy- 
 sicians and nurses, many marriages are hastily 
 made? 
 
 The history of polygamy is a record of moral 
 perversity and of disregard of law and decency 
 such as cannot be found elsewhere under the 
 guise of Christianity. It will undoubtedly sur- 
 prise many to know that the Book of Mormon 
 provides for but one wife, yet such is the case. 
 
 Behold, the Lamanites [Indians], your breth- 
 ren, whom ye hate, because of their filthiness 
 and the cursings which have come upon their 
 skins, are more righteous than you; for they 
 have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, 
 which was given unto your fathers, that they 
 should have save it be one wife ; and concubines 
 they should have none (Jacob 3: 5). 
 
 But the word of God burdens me because of 
 your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the 
 Lord, This people begin to wax in iniquity; 
 they understand not the Scriptures ; for they seek 
 
Mormonism as a Life 137 
 
 to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, 
 because of the things that were written concern- 
 ing David and Solomon his son. 
 
 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many 
 wives and concubines, which thing was abomina- 
 ble before Me, saith the Lord 
 
 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer 
 that this people shall do like them of old. 
 
 Doctrine and Covenants, published in Kirt- 
 land in 1835, Section 101, contains the following: 
 
 Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been re- 
 proached with the crime of fornication and polyg- 
 amy, we declare that we believe that one man 
 should have one wife, and one woman one hus- 
 band, except in case of death, when either is at 
 liberty to marry again. 
 
 In the same book (Section 49: 16) there is a 
 revelation given in March, 1831 : 
 
 Wherefore it is lawful that he should have one 
 wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all 
 this that the earth might answer the end of its 
 creation. 
 
 The Josephites strenuously deny that Joseph 
 Smith ever practiced or countenanced polygamy. 
 They claim that this was one of the corruptions 
 injected into the system after Brigham Young 
 gained control. Certain it is, however, that be- 
 fore they left Kirtland Joseph was accused by his 
 own people of conduct like unto polygamy. It 
 
138 u Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 is also certain that before the death of Smith 
 rumours were rife, inside and outside of the 
 church, that not alone Smith but many others 
 were practicing polygamy. Indeed the Mormon 
 records make practical confession, for at a meet- 
 ing of the Presidents of the Seventies, April 29, 
 1837, this minute was put on their books : " We 
 will have no fellowship whatever with any one 
 belonging to the Quorum of the Seventies who 
 is guilty of polygamy." 
 
 Eliza R. Snow, in her " Biography of Lorenzo 
 D. Snow " (pp. 68-70), says that she was a plural 
 wife of Joseph Smith, the prophet. Voluminous 
 testimony is given on this point (Linn, p. 275). 
 
 In Doctrine and Covenants polygamy is not 
 only permitted but is commanded in a revelation 
 claimed to have been received by Joseph Smith 
 at Nauvoo, July 12, 1843. (See Appendix.) 
 It was not given publicity at that time and the 
 Mormons continued to deny the belief, or prac- 
 tice, until long after. About this time Apostle 
 Taylor, afterwards president of the church, while 
 on a mission in France was waited upon by a 
 deputation of ministers and asked many questions 
 about his religion. Among other things they 
 asked about rumours which had reached them 
 that the Mormons practiced polygamy and he 
 made the usual strenuous and unequivocal denial, 
 saying that " it was too outrageous to admit of 
 belief." It is now well known that at that very 
 
Mormonism as a Life 139 
 
 moment he had six wives at home anxiously 
 awaiting his return. 
 
 Although the Mormons went beyond the jur- 
 isdiction of the United States when they went 
 to Utah, in a few short months they found that 
 they were again subject to its laws. But they 
 were a thousand miles from the outposts of 
 civilization, there were no railroads, the govern- 
 ment was beginning to have troubles of its own, 
 and in 1852 they felt safe in announcing to the 
 world their polygamous doctrine. Polygamy had 
 been previously practiced by those on the inside 
 and was known to all Mormons. 
 
 According to the Mormon idea of marriage, as 
 given in their own writings, all who obey the 
 covenant on polygamy shall be gods. All who 
 do not obey, that is, who do not become polyg- 
 amists, may be saved but cannot be exalted, 
 and must be servants of the gods. 
 
 All these marriages must be sanctioned " by 
 him who is anointed. " 
 
 Indeed it should be the privilege of every 
 virtuous female, who has the requisite capacity 
 and qualifications for matrimony, to demand, of 
 either individuals or the government, the privi- 
 lege of becoming an honoured and legal wife and 
 mother, even if it were necessary for her to be 
 married to a man who has several wives ; or, 
 as Jesus said in the parable, to take the one 
 talent from the place where it remains neglected 
 
140 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 or unimproved, and give it to him who has ten 
 talents (Key, 156). 
 
 All persons who attain to the resurrection, 
 and to salvation, without these eternal ordinances, 
 or sealing covenants, will remain in a single state 
 in their saved condition, to all eternity, without 
 the joys of eternal union with the other sex, and 
 consequently without a crown, without a king- 
 dom, without the power to increase. Hence 
 they are angels and are not gods ; and are minister- 
 ing spirits, or servants, in the employ and under 
 the direction of the royal family of heaven 
 the princes, kings and priests of eternity (Key, 
 161, 162). 
 
 The covenant on polygamy is alleged to be an 
 " everlasting " one, and " from the beginning of 
 creation until this time," and yet it is claimed to 
 have been given Smith by Him who is " the same 
 yesterday, to-day and forever, " who also forbade 
 this very practice through the same prophet, as 
 before noted. The inconsistency between the 
 two statements preceding this chapter cannot fail 
 to attract attention. 
 
 It is claimed by Mormon missionaries that 
 even in the palmiest days of polygamy a man 
 could not take a plural wife without the consent 
 of his first wife, and they quote " Doctrine and 
 Covenants " in proof. They always fail, however, 
 to point out that another verse of the same book 
 says that if the first wife fails to accept this 
 covenant and abide by it " she shall be destroyed." 
 
Mor monism as a Life 141 
 
 The polygamists are to become gods, and the 
 Mormon theory of marriage makes the Mormon 
 husband literally a god to his wife, for he has 
 complete control over her resurrection and eter- 
 nal exaltation. The writer heard Joseph F. Smith 
 say, " The blessings of the Gospel come to the 
 women only through their men, " meaning their 
 husbands. For this reason a woman was told 
 that, because she married a Gentile, her husband 
 could not raise her from the dead, so she was 
 " sealed " to her father for eternity. He, there- 
 fore, could raise her up and she would then be 
 his wife. (See also Linn, p. 287.) 
 
 The ceremonies connected with temple mar- 
 riage endowments bear out this interpretation. 
 In all these ceremonies the officiating priest, at 
 the proper time, gives to each man and his wife 
 (or wives) new celestial names. On the res- 
 urrection day the men who have paid their tithes 
 will be called from the dead by the angel Moroni 
 by their new names, and then the men, in turn, 
 will call out the celestial names of their women 
 and thereby raise them. It is said that all through 
 these ceremonies, which occupy several hours, 
 God and Jesus Christ are impersonated by high 
 Mormon officials and some one also imperson- 
 ates the devil. In the last room which they enter 
 there is a curtain at one end with openings 
 through which a man can put his face and hands. 
 The space in front of the curtain symbolizes 
 
142 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 earth, and that behind it heaven. When the 
 parties are properly arranged the official im- 
 personating God takes his place behind the 
 curtain and appears at the opening. He then 
 examines the bridegroom upon all the signs, 
 grips and passwords that have been given him 
 during the ceremonies. When the candidate is 
 found to know them perfectly, the priest (God) 
 receives him behind the curtain (into heaven) 
 with himself. The man then takes the place of 
 God and similarly examines his wife and receives 
 her behind the curtain (into heaven) with him- 
 self. It is no uncommon thing in the case of 
 trouble between a Mormon and his wife for the 
 husband to tell the wife that if she does not obey 
 him he will not raise her from the dead. This 
 seems absurd, but it is a fearful threat to any one 
 credulous enough to believe it. 
 
 For several years after the publication of the 
 commandment to observe polygamy, the practice 
 flourished almost without interference from the 
 outside. When the Civil War finally broke with 
 all its fury upon this country Lincoln is reported 
 to have said with reference to the Mormons : " If 
 they will leave me alone I will leave them alone." 
 During this period the Mormon authorities 
 sought, by fair means or foul, to compel every 
 one to " live his religion " ; that is, to practice 
 polygamy. Many whose vows, prior to marriage 
 or to the acceptance of Mormonism, had been 
 
Mormonism as a Life 143 
 
 made with the positive understanding that they 
 would under no circumstances become polyga- 
 mists, found that unless they did so they were 
 looked upon with suspicion and their property 
 and lives were placed in jeopardy. The author- 
 ities looked upon a refusal as the beginning of 
 apostasy and treated it accordingly. Many a first 
 wife who had been solemnly promised that she, 
 and only she, should be the queen and mother in 
 her home, saw the promise broken and another 
 and younger woman installed in the place that 
 was rightfully hers. 
 
 After the close of the Civil War and the period 
 of reconstruction, Congress, which had jurisdic- 
 tion over Utah as a territory of the United States, 
 began to give some attention to Mormonism. 
 The Morrill, Poland, Edmunds and Edmunds- 
 Tucker laws sought to deal with these conditions. 
 The first law passed to prevent the practice of po- 
 lygamy in the territories was in 1862, but scarcely 
 any attempt was made to enforce it. For almost 
 twenty years the Mormons were not seriously 
 molested in this regard. In 1882 more definite 
 measures were adopted. In that year practically 
 every office in Utah was held by a polygamist, 
 but two years later, not a polygamist remained in 
 office and twelve thousand Mormon voters had 
 been disfranchised. To add to their discomfiture 
 the government dissolved the church corporation 
 and confiscated the property it had owned. 
 
144 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 The Mormons, now brought to their knees for 
 the first time, desired four things at any cost : 
 statehood, the restoration of their escheated 
 property, amnesty for past crimes and the return 
 of their civil privileges. As a help in this direc- 
 tion Wilford Woodruff, then president of the 
 Mormon Church, issued his famous " Manifesto " 
 on polygamy. The only passage in the entire 
 document that touched the case at all is found in 
 the last sentence. After reciting the existing 
 conditions and the reasons for the manifesto it 
 closes with, " And I now publicly declare that 
 my advice* to the Latter-Day Saints is to refrain 
 from contracting any marriage forbidden by the 
 law of the land." 
 
 Contrary to the usual understanding this did not 
 annul nor abrogate the commandment on polyg- 
 amy, nor forbid its practice. At the most it re- 
 lieved the Mormons only of the mandatory part 
 of the covenant to practice polygamy. 
 
 The manifesto was accepted by the General 
 Conference of the church the following October, 
 1890, as " authoritative and binding." No other 
 revelation was ever presented to the Mormons 
 for ratification. Their theory is that each man is 
 authorized to receive revelations applicable to 
 himself only ; but when the " Prophet, Seer and 
 Revelator " speaks the will of God it must be un- 
 questioningly accepted. In spite of the unusual 
 
 1 The emphasis on " advice " is the writer's. 
 
Mormonism as a Life 145 
 
 authority behind this revelation, it was never 
 printed in " Doctrine and Covenants " until at- 
 tention was called to the omission during the 
 Smoot trial. It is now printed in that volume, 
 not with the other revelations but separated from 
 them by the index in the back of the book, and 
 is entitled " An Official Declaration." 
 
 Before Mormons could get back property 
 which had been forfeited the government wanted 
 to know just what this manifesto meant. A 
 hearing on their application to have their es- 
 cheated property returned was held before 
 Master in Chancery Charles F. Loofbourow, 
 October 19-20, 1891. Wilford Woodruff, then 
 president of the church, Lorenzo D. Snow, his 
 successor, and Joseph F. Smith, who in turn suc- 
 ceeded Snow, and many other prominent Mor- 
 mons testified under oath that the manifesto pro- 
 hibited both the contraction of new plural mar- 
 riages, and also the living in polygamous cohab- 
 itation with wives taken previously. They swore 
 that it was their intention to obey the law and 
 that, as officials of the church, they would see to it 
 that others did so. The joint resolution of Con- 
 gress giving back their property was dated 
 October 25, 1893, and contained these words : 
 
 Whereas said church has discontinued the 
 practice of polygamy and no longer encourages 
 or gives countenance in any manner to practices 
 
146 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 in violation of law, or contrary to good morals 
 or public policy, etc. 
 
 Upon this understanding their property was 
 restored. The Mormons now desired statehood 
 and their desire was reinforced by more than or- 
 dinary considerations. As a state Utah could 
 pass her own laws in reference to marriage and 
 her own courts would have jurisdiction in the en- 
 forcement of the same. In spite of the warnings 
 sent to Congress by Gentiles in Utah against the 
 duplicity of the Mormon leaders, a favourable re- 
 port was made on the Statehood Bill for Utah in 
 the following May, because, as the report said : 
 
 The Mormon Church, through all of its officials, 
 publicly, privately and in every way possible for 
 mortals to do and proclaim, have with bowed 
 heads, if not in anguish, pledged their faith and 
 honour that never more in the future shall polyg- 
 amy be in the Mormon Church either a doctrine 
 oi faith or practice. 
 
 The Mormon officials also publicly and pri- 
 vately pledged that the union of church and state 
 should cease and that there should be no further 
 domination of politics by the church. Frank J. 
 Cannon, as delegate from the territory of Utah 
 to Congress, bore authorized pledges from the 
 church officials to this effect. 
 
 Most of the Gentiles East and West accepted 
 these pledges in good faith. They agreed to let 
 
Mormonism as a Life 147 
 
 bygones be bygones. They helped the church 
 regain its property, and laboured for statehood. 
 The Liberal (Gentile) Party which was in power 
 in Utah, controlling federal patronage and with 
 the backing of Congress, voluntarily dissolved its 
 organization and assisted in securing the amnesty 
 that was granted all Mormons in 1893 and 
 legitimacy for children born of plural marriages. 
 
 Thus was statehood obtained, and on January 
 4, 1896, Utah took her place as a sovereign state 
 of the Union. 
 
 How did the Mormon Church fulfill its pledges ? 
 Hardly had statehood been secured before Presi- 
 dent Wilford Woodruff declared that the church 
 should by right control all things political as well 
 as spiritual and that they had surrendered none 
 of these prerogatives. The Gentiles passed over 
 this utterance as that of an old man in his dotage. 
 Immediately the church tried to force Frank 
 Cannon to quit the race for senator and give way 
 to his father, the second in authority in the 
 church. They successfully thwarted the political 
 ambitions of Apostle Thatcher and deposed him. 
 They humbled Brigham Roberts until he repented 
 in sackcloth and ashes. The church has made 
 and unmade senators in Utah and other states 
 and has ruthlessly deprived the very people who 
 so generously surrendered their power from 
 participating in any of the privileges of 
 government. According to their own sworn 
 
148 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 testimony during the Smoot trial, the president 
 and the apostles of the Mormon Church have 
 individually and officially violated every pledge 
 they gave by which they received back their 
 property and gained amnesty and statehood. 
 With unspeakable arrogance, the Mormon Church 
 connived to nullify the state constitution and the 
 laws against polygamy. They have switched 
 states from one political party to another and 
 have admitted that they always have a " steering 
 committee " in legislative halls. As a climax to 
 their perfidy they still compel every one going 
 through the Temple Endowment Ceremony to 
 take an oath of vengeance upon our nation for 
 the blood of the prophets. The writer has in 
 his possession a statement to this effect by a person 
 who took the " Endowments " as late as 1910. 
 
 As for polygamy, the ennabling act for state- 
 hood for Utah contained a proviso that polygamy 
 and polygamous cohabitation should be forever 
 prohibited. The state constitution was framed ac- 
 cordingly and the statutes forbid these crimes in 
 almost the same language as is used in the Ed- 
 munds-Tucker law, that was so effective. Polyg- 
 amy, according to the law, is the taking of new 
 polygamous wives, and is punished with heavy 
 penalties, while polygamous cohabitation, the 
 crime of living with plural wives, is simply a mis- 
 demeanour and usually punishable with fines only. 
 
 The trouble comes in the enforcement of the 
 
Mormonism as a Life 149 
 
 law. It would be difficult, even in a community 
 where every sentiment is against polygamy, to 
 punish that crime provided that there was no 
 record of the plural marriages, and that the various 
 wives, knowing all the circumstances of their 
 husband's life, were satisfied and would make no 
 complaint. How much more difficult it is in 
 Utah where sentiment is in favour of polygamy 
 and where the courts are in the hands of the 
 Mormons or those who, for political reasons, dare 
 not offend the Mormon Church ! Now that Utah 
 is a state she has power to repeal all her laws 
 against polygamy, and our government could do 
 nothing to punish her for her perfidy. All this 
 goes to show the necessity of an amendment to 
 our national constitution giving Congress control 
 over all matters connected with marriage and 
 divorce. This is the only way in which polygamy 
 can be wiped out. 
 
 In the face of all this the Mormons elected to 
 Congress a defiantly self-confessed polygamist, 
 Brigham H. Roberts. Repeatedly during the 
 Roberts excitement Mormon writers and speakers 
 stated that they were not bound to keep their 
 compact with the government, because they were 
 forced to make it in order to obtain statehood. 
 They openly boasted that Utah was now a state and 
 the government was helpless. Roberts was then 
 living in polygamy and is now (1912). While his 
 case was pending before Congress he said ; 
 
150 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Even were the church that sanctioned these 
 marriages and performed the ceremonies to turn 
 its back upon us and say that the marriage is not 
 valid now, and that I must give these good and 
 loyal women up, I'll be damned if I would (Case 
 B. H. Roberts, Utah, p. 13). 
 
 The house refused to admit him. One specific 
 thing that injured his case was the birth of twins 
 to one of his plural wives, Celia Dibble, about 
 that time. In the summer of 1902 this same 
 woman gave birth to another set of twins and 
 Roberts received the usual public and private 
 congratulations. At the same time the city 
 directory of Salt Lake City contained the follow- 
 ing : 
 
 Roberts, B. H., assistant historian's office; Presi- 
 dent Union Savings and Investment Company; 
 residence, No. 55 North State Street. 
 
 Roberts, Mrs. Margaret C., Physician, No. 55 
 North State Street ; residence same. 
 
 In the Salt Lake Tribune, September 8, 1899, 
 a statement signed by two reliable men attributed 
 the following language to Apostle H. J. Grant: 
 
 I am a lawbreaker ; so is Bishop Whitney ; so is 
 B. H. Roberts. My wives have brought me only 
 daughters. I purpose to marry until I get wives 
 who will bring me sons. 
 
 Angus M. Cannon was another self-confessed 
 lawbreaker. He admitted it in court, paid his 
 
Mormonism as a Life 151 
 
 fine, but kept on living with the woman for whose 
 sake he was fined until his recent death. In an 
 interview in the Salt Lake Telegram, November 
 25, 1 902, he said: " We never agreed to abandon 
 our families. I never did and I never will." 
 How do these statements correspond with the 
 sworn statements of the church leaders already 
 quoted ? 
 
 To show its powers as a state and its contempt 
 for the sentiment of the nation, the Utah legisla- 
 ture, then almost wholly Mormon, actually passed 
 the Evans Bill as late as 1901, which provided 
 that " no prosecution for unlawful cohabitation 
 shall be commenced, except on the complaint 
 of the wife or the alleged plural wife of the 
 accused." 
 
 Governor Wells in his veto message on this 
 bill said : 
 
 Myself a product of that marriage system 
 . . . and proud of my heritage, I have every 
 reason to believe that its enactment would be the 
 signal for a general demand upon the national 
 Congress for a constitutional amendment directed 
 solely against certain social conditions here, a de- 
 mand which, under the circumstances, would as- 
 suredly be complied with. ... It really 
 invites a deluge of discord and disaster upon us 
 all. 
 
 Those " social conditions " still exist in Utah 
 although the leaders of the church took oath that 
 
152 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 they should cease. As long as he lived Wilford 
 Woodruff had three wives ; President Snow con- 
 tinued marital relations with nine. During the 
 Smoot investigation President Smith testified 
 under oath that he had continued in marital rela- 
 tions with five different women all the time since 
 the Manifesto, that he was the father of forty- 
 two children, eleven of whom had been born to 
 five different women since that time. Soon after 
 that a forty-third child was born, this one to his 
 fifth wife, and on his confession he was fined 
 $300 in court, which fine he paid. In the Salt 
 Lake Telegram of December 2, 1902, Smith ad- 
 mitted that there were still eight hundred and 
 ninety-seven heads of families keeping up their 
 polygamous relations. 
 
 Reports that come from Mormon colonies in 
 Old Mexico and Alberta, Canada, say that polyg- 
 amy is flourishing there as in the olden times 
 in Utah. There is also every reason to believe 
 that many who marry polygamous wives in these 
 foreign countries bring them back to Utah and 
 live with them. In that case they cannot be 
 punished for a more serious crime than polyg- 
 amous cohabitation, because the marriage, if it 
 could be proven, took place outside the jurisdic- 
 tion of the state. 
 
 In the territory of Arizona, over which the 
 federal courts had jurisdiction and the Edmunds- 
 Tucker law was still in force, several Mormons 
 
Mormonism as a Life 153 
 
 have been convicted and punished for polygamy 
 during the past ten years. Being now a state 
 these restrictions are removed and it has power 
 to make its own laws. In Wyoming and espe- 
 cially in Idaho many families are living in open 
 polygamy. At one hotel in Wyoming the writer 
 has seen three different wives living in turn with 
 the same proprietor. 
 
 The evidence in the Smoot case shows that 
 high Mormon ecclesiastics have officiated at 
 many plural marriages since 1890. Some of 
 these were performed in Utah. Charles Merrill 
 swore that he was married to one wife in 1888 
 and to another in 1891, the latter ceremony being 
 performed by his father, Apostle Manner W. 
 Merrill, and that he had had continuous relations 
 with both women since. 
 
 Mr. Tayler, attorney for the protestants against 
 Smoot, used the following language in his final 
 argument : 
 
 Mr. Worthington [Smoot's attorney] admits 
 this particular marriage [Mrs. Kennedy's] when 
 Apostle Brigham Young, Jr., officiated. 
 
 We cannot for a moment doubt that, by valid 
 proof, absolutely convincing, wholly uncontra- 
 dicted, ... it has been shown that Apostle 
 Abram H. Cannon took a plural wife in the per- 
 son of Lillian Hamlin, in 1896. We know that 
 he travelled through California with Apostle 
 Joseph F. Smith, now president of the church, 
 proclaiming her as his wife. This 
 
154 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Joseph F. Smith testifies to himself. We know 
 that the family of Lillian Hamlin recognized her 
 as Cannon's wife. . . . We have the fact that 
 a child was born to whom the name of Cannon 
 was given because the child was permitted to 
 share in the estate [of its grandfather, George Q. 
 Cannon]. Then about 1896 George Teasdale, 
 while his first wife was living, married Marion 
 Scoles. . . . 
 
 S. S. Newton and his recent plural wife were 
 both personally served with process requiring 
 their presence before this committee and have 
 fled and have refused to appear. . . . Not 
 one of the many persons who have thus been 
 shown by indubitable proof to have taken these 
 plural wives has been criticized, disciplined or 
 prosecuted by the church officials. 
 
 Evidence was also brought out to show that 
 Apostles Cowley and Taylor had entered into 
 plural relations just previous to the Smoot trial. 
 The f Mormon authorities professed ignorance 
 but the matter was pressed, and finally as a sop 
 to public opinion they were deposed from the 
 apostolate. It was given out that they had 
 resigned but it is known that they fought their 
 humiliation bitterly. There were many who do 
 not see why these should have been made an 
 example of when others like Penrose 1 and Roberts, 
 
 1 Prof. J. E. Talmadge succeeded Penrose in the apostolate. 
 To a high Mormon it was stated that Talmadge was a polyga- 
 mist. He naively replied : " Talmadge is no more a polyg- 
 amist than were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." 
 
Mormonism as a Life 155 
 
 who have openly flaunted their polygamous rela- 
 tions, are exalted. 
 
 We have seen abundance of evidence that the 
 Mormons ^are practicing polygamy and polyga- 
 mous cohabitation even though they promised 
 that both of these things should cease. It is in- 
 teresting now to note how they have kept their 
 promises that polygamy should be no longer a 
 " doctrine of faith." 
 
 There is hardly a Stake or General Conference 
 held but some utterance may be heard commend- 
 ing polygamy. We shall be satisfied with only 
 the highest authority, the president of the church, 
 Joseph F. Smith, who, as he himself said, at 
 Washington is " its Prophet, Seer, its Revelator, 
 the Mouthpiece of God to the people. Christ's 
 Vicegerent on earth : the one and the only au- 
 thorized in the government of the church to re- 
 ceive the revelations of God for the church " 
 (Roberts, p, 59). 
 
 At the Weber Stake Conference, Ogden, June 
 12, 1903, this man said : 
 
 When it comes to the principle [of polygamy] 
 itself, I can defend it as a principle of purity 
 strictly in accord with the Gospel ... it is 
 a principle revealed to Joseph Smith by God, and 
 the Latter-Day Saint who denies and rejects that 
 truth in his heart might as well reject every other 
 truth connected with his mission (News, June 
 25, 1903). 
 
156 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 When Smith was confronted with this quota- 
 tion in Washington he admitted that he was cor- 
 rectly quoted but naively said that if he had been 
 consulted he would not have had it published. 
 Why not ? 
 
 Soon after President Smith gave his testimony 
 before the Smoot Committee, he said in the 
 presence of 10,000 people in Salt Lake City : 
 
 Recently I have testified before a committee 
 of the United States Senate, where I told them 
 boldly and frankly and truthfully what my status 
 was respecting the plural wives whom I have 
 married. I want to say to you who are here 
 present who, like me, have plural wives, I am 
 the representative of God on earth. ... I 
 have all the authority that Joseph Smith and the 
 other presidents of the church had, down the 
 long line of those great men, and I say to you, 
 with all the authority that is laid upon me, if you 
 are not true to your wives, if you obey the cus- 
 toms of the world respecting your relation to 
 your plural wives, you will be eternally damned ; 
 you will be denied the companionship of your 
 friends ; you will be denied the companionship of 
 God (Smoot Arguments, 74). 
 
 One of the horrors of the polygamy of these 
 days is that so much of it must be clandestine. 
 To quote Senator Cannon : 
 
 " The wife of a new polygamist cannot claim a 
 husband ; she has no social status ; she cannot, 
 even to her parents, prove the religious sanction 
 
Mormonism as a Life 157 
 
 for her marital relations " (Everybody s Magazine, 
 July, 1911). 
 
 Cannon further says that a polygamous father 
 cannot claim the authority of the church, for the 
 prophet must be protected ; the children cannot 
 possibly be legitimatized, nor can the father 
 publicly recognize them or their mother. A 
 new polygamous wife of one of the richest men 
 in Utah who was called before the Smoot Com- 
 mittee in 1904 refused to tell who was the father 
 of the little girl whom she admitted was her 
 child and declared that she had no husband ! 
 
VI 
 MISSIONS AMONG THE MORMONS 
 
*' The civilized world wonders that such a hideous caricature 
 of the Christian religion should have appeared in this most en- 
 lightened land, . . . that the people who most honour wom- 
 ankind should be the ones to inflict on her this deep humilia- 
 tion and outrageous wrong." Josiah Strong. 
 
 " From the first you have been sappers and miners, a forlorn 
 hope to storm the fortress of superstition, of ignorance, of dis- 
 trust and hate ; there has been no visible guidon to signal your 
 way, no music to cheer you on j it has been with you a march 
 over a flinty path without hope of reward, save what your faith 
 paints on the golden heights of the Beyond. I believe the time 
 is drawing near when the theocracy which rules here will have 
 to do one of two things : that it will have to take its iron 
 clamps from the souls of the people or suffer a mighty loss of 
 membership. You have wrought many holy triumphs, more 
 triumphs await you here, and if you will toil on unfalteringly 
 through the heat of the noon, I bespeak for you a serene even- 
 ing, a twilight that will be filled with warmth and calm, and 
 the night that will follow will be radiant with stars." Judge 
 
 C. C. Goodwin to the Salt Lake City Ministers' Association, 
 1904. 
 
VI 
 
 MISSIONS AMONG THE MORMONS 
 
 CAN any one who has read the preceding 
 pages question the need of missionary 
 work among the Mormons? Upon 
 evidence alone can the Mormons be considered 
 Christian in doctrine and life? There is no 
 grosser form of religion among any civilized 
 people. It is materialistic, formal and sensual ; 
 it is sacerdotal and sacramentarian. Either the 
 Mormons are justified in sending missionaries to 
 us or we ought to send missionaries to them. 
 Utah is the battle ground of Home Missions. 
 
 There are four hundred communities in Utah 
 reached by postal service. In only about ninety 
 of these is there any organized Christian work. 
 To be sure many of them are very small, but 
 there are more than forty cities and towns, each 
 having a population of five hundred or more, in 
 which there is no evangelical work. Utah has 
 twenty-seven counties. Seven of these have a 
 combined population of more than 20,000 with 
 no Christian work in any of them. There are 
 six other counties with a combined population of 
 over 34,000 with only one evangelical church in 
 each county. In addition to this there are 
 161 
 
1 62 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 30,000 people, mostly in the south end of Salt 
 Lake County, with practically no evangelical 
 privileges within reach. 
 
 A few years ago the writer went into one of 
 these counties which had a population of over 
 6,000 by the census of 1900. It was not large 
 geographically for a Western county but it con- 
 tained seven towns, all upon a railroad, each 
 having a population of from five to fourteen 
 hundred. In spite of the fact that these towns 
 contained an unusually large proportion of non- 
 Mormons, there was no church organization in 
 the county. There was no Christian minister or 
 missionary,living inside or outside of that county 
 who was doing any regular work therein. 
 
 We held a service at the county seat which 
 was attended by about forty people. At its 
 close, some women were eager to have regular 
 services. One woman, speaking for the rest, said, 
 " I am a Presbyterian, this lady next to me is a 
 Methodist, the next a Baptist, the next a Con- 
 
 gregationalist and the next lady is is " 
 
 Then she stopped, not knowing just how to 
 finish. The lady referred to replied, half-defi- 
 antly but with infinite pathos in her voice : " I 
 never had an opportunity to unite with any 
 church." She was the mother of seven children 
 between the ages of twelve and twenty, and had 
 been born in a county seat of an American 
 state, and yet could truthfully say that she had 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 163 
 
 never had an opportunity to become a member 
 of any church. 
 
 Yes, there are plenty of difficulties in the 
 work. Missionaries who have spent years in 
 India, Korea and on the Congo being obliged, 
 because of failing health, to seek work in this 
 country, have laboured in Utah. They tell us 
 that Utah is the most difficult of all fields in 
 which to obtain visible and permanent results. 
 Pioneer missionary work in the West has prob- 
 lems all its own. In Utah all these are found 
 and in addition, and the greatest hindrance of all, 
 Mormonism. 
 
 It must be admitted that many of the Mor- 
 mons are sincere, though deluded ; it is generally 
 conceded however that the higher a Mormon's 
 ecclesiastical rank the less likelihood there is of 
 his sincerity. In the matter of sacred books the 
 Mormons claim that they have all that we have 
 and much more ; that the Bible was all right for 
 the age for which it was given but that new 
 revelations are needed, and that they have them ; 
 and, still further, that the Living Oracle is ever 
 present with them. The " Living Oracle " is 
 the president of the whole church. In this way 
 they maintain that they are kept in constant 
 touch with the Infinite Will for the present mo- 
 ment. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the sanction of un- 
 limited carnality in this world and the promise 
 
164 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 of its continuance in the world to come is a 
 great attraction to many Mormons. It is boldly 
 and publicly taught that man is a polygamous 
 animal that polygamy is a physiological neces- 
 sity which Mormonism alone satisfies. 
 
 The Mormon organization is the most com- 
 plete, thorough and compact of any religious 
 body in the world. There is no other such 
 piece of ecclesiastical machinery. It is worked 
 out to the finest detail so that everybody is 
 under constant personal supervision and each 
 one knows it. The moment any one wavers 
 in his faith it is known and the weak brother 
 or sister is visited, " counselled " and if necessary 
 " dealt with " as the case demands. Unless a 
 complete return to the faith is made this brother 
 or sister becomes at once an object of suspicion, 
 mistrusted by family, friends and the church. 
 All sorts of pressure is brought to bear to keep 
 them in line. 
 
 In the remoter communities of Utah, where 
 the Mormons comprise from eighty to ninety- 
 five per cent, of the population, it is next to im- 
 possible to build up permanent and self-sustain- 
 ing evangelical churches. When a Mormon 
 unites with such a church there is no overt per- 
 secution he is simply let alone. If he is a 
 mechanic no one will hire him ; if a farmer, no 
 one will buy his produce except at ruinous 
 prices. The Mormons will patronize an out 
 
ot 
 
 15 
 in 
 
 o 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 165 
 
 and out Gentile far sooner than an apostate. In 
 order to support his family the convert is soon 
 forced to move to Salt Lake City, Ogden or to 
 some place where non-Mormons will give him 
 a chance. The elders gather around such con- 
 verts from Mormonism and tell them that apos- 
 tates never prosper, but if they will come back 
 to the church, work will be provided in plenty. 
 Prosperity will be theirs and they will not be 
 obliged to separate themselves from home, family 
 and friends for a cold and uncertain world. It 
 takes a man of great courage and convictions to 
 resist such appeals under such conditions. There 
 are many churches in Utah whose records show nu- 
 merous conversions from Mormonism but whose 
 membership is no larger than twenty years ago. 
 
 This leads to the consideration of another 
 difficulty which confronts the Christian worker 
 in Utah. The " hard headed business man " on 
 the Eastern Board says : " We look at this matter 
 from a business point of view and we must put 
 the Lord's money where it will bring the largest 
 returns ; therefore, we will not invest much money 
 in Utah." Yes, that is the commercial spirit but 
 it is not the missionary spirit, and surely it is the 
 missionary spirit which Jesus wants us to exem- 
 plify. Here are these people superstitious and 
 priest-ridden ; but they are our fellow citizens. 
 Shall we neglect them because the work is hard 
 and discouraging? 
 
i66 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Again, even though strong, permanent 
 churches cannot now be built up outside of the 
 large cities in Utah, the converts, wherever they 
 go, add their strength to the forces for righteous- 
 ness. Is the object to win lost souls and estab- 
 lish the kingdom of God, or to build up individ- 
 ual churches in small towns? If the latter it 
 would be well to withdraw the missionary from 
 all places except Salt Lake City and Ogden, for 
 there are almost no evangelical churches in Utah 
 outside these two cities that maintain all-the-year 
 preaching and are self-sustaining. 
 
 The " globe-trotter " is another hindrance to 
 the work. He comes to Salt Lake City with a 
 twenty-four-hour stop-over ticket, goes through 
 the Bureau of (mis) Information sustained by the 
 Mormons on the temple grounds, and, presto ! 
 he knows more about the Mormons than a mis- 
 sionary who has been there for thirty years. 
 Distinguished visitors are met at trains by care- 
 fully chosen escorts. They are feted and dined, 
 given special organ recitals and have the " time 
 of their lives," by order of the Mormon Church 
 and at its expense. They are kept so occupied 
 that none but good Mormons can get near them. 
 They think that it is not so bad " after all. On 
 their return to the East they call the missionaries 
 cranks and say that their presence in Utah is an 
 insult to such fine Christians as the Mormons. 
 
 The " Jack Mormon " also stands in the way. 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 167 
 
 Though a Gentile by birth and training, having 
 no use for their religion, nevertheless, for polit- 
 ical, commercial, social or other selfish reasons he 
 casts in his lot with the Mormons. Men who 
 have been active officials in churches in the East 
 locate in Utah and when at last the discouraged 
 missionary learns their identity and calls upon 
 them he is still more discouraged. Conversation 
 something like this occurs : 
 
 Minister : I hear that you were superintend- 
 ent of the Sunday-school in our church in the 
 East. We are surely glad to welcome reinforce- 
 ments and sincerely hope that you will take your 
 place with us for we sorely need all the help that 
 we can get. 
 
 Doctor, lawyer or merchant: Yes, I was quite 
 active once but I have served my time at that 
 sort of thing. I am out here to make money. I 
 hope you will be good enough not to mention 
 my former church connection for it would hurt 
 my business. Forget it. 
 
 A " has been " Christian is of no more value 
 for the building of the kingdom in Utah than a 
 " has been " egg for making fine cake. 
 
 There are probably more atheists in Utah in 
 proportion to the population than anywhere else 
 in the United States. Many who have had a 
 deep religious experience before becoming Mor- 
 mons have been led to believe that they would 
 find in Mormonism the sunimum bonum of all re- 
 
i68 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 ligious good. Their awakening, their disappoint- 
 ment, their despair have led them to the other ex- 
 treme of denying that there is any true religion 
 or even a God. Two sisters came into some 
 evangelistic meetings in Utah. Their father had 
 held high political and ecclesiastical office. In 
 the old country he had been deeply religious but 
 on coming to Utah he had discovered the 
 mockery of Mormonism. He went into blank 
 atheism and taught it to his children. 
 
 The sisters were bright school-teachers be- 
 tween twenty-five and thirty years of age. They 
 became so interested in the meetings that they 
 sought an interview with the pastor, and other 
 Christian workers. It was then that they heard 
 for the first time the story of the cross. The 
 older of the girls was much moved and said with 
 great emotion, " No one ever told me this before," 
 and in a perfect abandon of sobs cried, " Oh, my 
 God ! if I only could believe in Christ ! " So 
 chilled was her soul by the atheistic teachings of 
 her father that even the love of Christ did not 
 warm her heart. This story is both true and 
 typical. 
 
 While holding gospel meetings in one of the 
 towns of Utah the writer became interested in a 
 woman whose father had been a polygamist but, 
 after his conversion, had united with an evangel- 
 ical church. He desired to make provision for 
 his other wives and live with the first one. She, 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 169 
 
 however, was so staunch in her Mormonism 
 that she would have nothing to do with him. 
 She made her home with this married daughter. 
 We had been in the home several times but had 
 never been introduced to the mother. One night 
 at the close of the service the daughter said : " I 
 have been thinking about this and believe that I 
 am about ready to settle the question," and in- 
 vited us to call at her home the following morn- 
 ing to talk with her about personal religion. It 
 was learned afterwards that she fixed upon this 
 hour because her husband was then to be at 
 home. We called at the appointed time, and 
 while talking with the husband, who was a Ro- 
 man Catholic, we heard the wife say to her 
 mother in the next room, " Mr. Kinney is here. 
 Won't you come in and meet him ? " She did so 
 and we all sat down. The inquiring woman sat 
 between her Catholic husband and Mormon 
 mother. It did not seem to be a propitious oc- 
 casion to talk to her about her relations to her 
 Christ but, as she had invited the interview, we 
 breathed a prayer for guidance and, ignoring the 
 others, began to talk to her about her duty to 
 God. Her face lighted up with that " light that 
 never was on land or sea " and soon she gently 
 and nobly confessed her Lord. She was ready 
 to accept Christ and had arranged the time so 
 that her husband and mother might witness her 
 confession. That was as heroic as many a mar- 
 
1 70 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 tyrdom. A martyr may not have to keep his 
 courage up very long. It may not take endur- 
 ing courage to die for Christ but it takes sus- 
 tained courage to live for Him. Before we left 
 the house this woman went to the telephone and 
 called up two of her lifelong friends, who had 
 been Mormons, and with a voice breaking with 
 joy told them of her new experience and per- 
 suaded them to come with her ; some days later 
 the three were baptized together on confession of 
 their faith. 
 
 It is hard for a non-Mormon to realize the ter- 
 rible obstacle that polygamy presents to the ac- 
 ceptance of Christianity by a Mormon even 
 though he may hate it with all his soul. The 
 doctrine exerts a powerful influence for the soli- 
 darity of Mormonism because a large proportion 
 of the younger Mormons are either polygamous 
 children or have polygamous relatives. 
 
 " They cannot dishonour the institution (polyg- 
 amy) without dishonouring their own fathers 
 and mothers. ' Not to admit the purity of polyg- 
 amy/ one prominent Mormon said to the writer, 
 'is to pin the scarlet letter on my own mother's 
 breast and I will never do that.' " * 
 
 The- greatest difficulty, however, is the lack of 
 suitable workers. Not only are more mission- 
 aries needed but there is a crying need for more 
 patriotic men and women who will take their 
 
 J B. J. Hendrick, McClure's, February, 1911. 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 1 7 1 
 
 stand as Christian citizens. Men and women 
 ought to volunteer to live and work in Utah im- 
 pelled by the same spirit which prompts them to 
 go to the foreign field, or to the Indians, or to 
 live in the slum districts of our cities. It must 
 not be forgotten that while there are some two 
 hundred evangelical workers in Utah, the Mor- 
 mon Church has 1, 800 of its own missionaries 
 working in every part of the United States mak- 
 ing proselytes to its faith. 
 
 Missionary work was begun in Utah by the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in 1867. By the 
 close of the seventies most of the leading evan- 
 gelical churches had established missions which 
 have been maintained ever since. At first the 
 work was positively dangerous, and many are 
 the stories that could be told of the " Heroes 
 of the Cross " which would thrill our very souls. 
 With the ministers went their wives and, later, 
 trained women workers for school and church. 
 These God-sent women have been no less heroic 
 than their brothers and have often suffered even 
 greater privations and hardships. They went 
 into the Mormon homes and talked with the 
 women, dupes and slaves of Mormon priestcraft. 
 They could pray for them and sympathize with 
 them as no man could. They gathered the chil- 
 dren of these homes into industrial and other 
 classes and while the children worked the women 
 read to them or told them stories of Jesus and 
 
172 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 His love. Popular education had never been fa- 
 voured, but so eager were the children for learn- 
 ing that the Mormons were obliged, in self-de- 
 fense, to establish schools of all kinds which they 
 intended to keep under their own control. Their 
 children were being educated away from them. 
 
 The detailed story of these achievements is 
 too long to be fully told here. It is estimated, 
 however, that no fewer than 3,000 converts from 
 Mormonism have been received into Christian 
 churches. Some further results may be seen 
 from the following table gathered from authentic 
 sources : 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 173 
 
 Xyadojj looqog jo 
 
 o" o* 
 
 - Os r 
 
 s[idn d 
 
 O 
 
 O\ 
 
 ^fr I oo 
 
 s.iaqOBaj, | ff 
 
 N w%O ON ir>O 
 10 04 O\ OsvQ 00 
 
 op 'sassauopBaq; [ 
 
 I 2 2 
 
 s>2i 
 
 UIO.TJ diqsjaquia^ 
 
 io O O fo 
 N W vO CO 
 
 diqsaaquiaj^ 
 
 00 xoQ O OO OO 
 
 suoissij^ 
 
 * 
 
 oo \o 
 00 OO 
 
 O 1 
 
 r^ r>.v 
 
 00 OO 
 
 s s 
 
 go 
 
 . 
 
 Epi 
 
 Epi 
 
 Baptist 
 Congrega 
 Disciple 
 Lutheran 
 Methodis 
 Presbyter 
 Protestan 
 
1 74 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 In addition to the denominations mentioned in 
 the foregoing table it should be remembered that 
 in all the larger cities and towns the Jews and 
 Catholics have a numerous following. The Ro- 
 man Catholics have completed within a few years 
 a great cathedral in Salt Lake City which cost 
 several hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 It should also be said that there are several 
 churches of smaller denominations than those 
 mentioned in the table scattered around the 
 larger towns of Utah. In the cities and smaller 
 towns there are numbers of Greek Catholics. All 
 this is mentioned to show that the Mormons do 
 not have everything quite their own way in the 
 larger cities and in a few of the smaller ones. 
 
 In addition to the achievements that have been 
 recorded from year to year it must be remembered 
 that here are working plants valued at nearly 
 ^2,ooo,ooo. 1 They are still returning dividends of 
 redeemed and enlightened souls to the kingdom of 
 God. We must press the battle in Utah as never 
 before. Christianity is on trial is being tested 
 here as nowhere else. Shall we allow it to fail 
 at this crucial point ? 
 
 In summing up the results of Christian missions 
 in Utah we must not forget that many of them 
 are by-products whose value cannot be tabulated. 
 This is truer here than elsewhere. 
 
 1 This includes a reasonable estimate for property of evangel- 
 ical denominations not mentioned in the preceding table. 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 175 
 
 In December, 1911, a deputation of general 
 workers from the leading denominational bodies 
 doing missionary work in Utah visited Salt Lake 
 City and, in conference with their local represen- 
 tatives and workers, began to lay systematic 
 plans to cover the needs in Utah more effectually. 
 
 We may have painted a dark picture but there 
 are some rays of light visible to the feeblest 
 eye. There are some decidedly encouraging 
 conditions besides those already mentioned. 
 The Mormon Church itself is by no means what 
 it was when the first Christian missionaries went 
 to Utah and braved death to carry the Gospel to 
 the Mormons. During all of these years sapping 
 and mining processes have been going on. There 
 are distinct reasons for encouragement in press- 
 ing the battle for truth and righteousness. 
 
 The free public school was not established in 
 Utah until the year 1890. Many of the converts 
 to Mormonism from European peasantry had no 
 education and their children in Utah had no op- 
 portunity. It took some time to get the system 
 into complete operation, but to-day Utah has a 
 splendid public school system, especially con- 
 sidered from a material, or educational, point of 
 view. Not a generation has yet come under its 
 enlightening influence. Mormonism as it was 
 and still is cannot abide unchanged in the pres- 
 ence of the enlightenment of our American and 
 Christian educational institutions. 
 
176 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 Many Mormon young men are graduating 
 from our universities and professional schools. 
 The majority of these gradually lose connection 
 with the Mormon Church. Few, if any, of the 
 higher priesthood ever graduated from an ad- 
 vanced institution of learning. Thoroughly 
 educated young men are a very poor class from 
 which to recruit the Mormon hierarchy. The 
 Mormonism of to-day has been greatly modified 
 from that of yesterday; the Mormonism of to- 
 morrow will have been radically changed from 
 that of to-day. Indeed, this transformation has 
 already gone much farther than many have 
 thought. Many of the vagaries of the religious 
 fanatic, which the early Mormon absorbed from 
 his environment, such as Millerism, have already 
 been eliminated. The Mormons have been 
 obliged to abandon the practice (if not the belief) 
 of blood atonement. " Speaking in tongues " 
 and absurd miraculous healings are not mentioned 
 as often in their public gatherings as formerly. 
 The children of Mormon parents cannot be bound 
 as were their elders and are a fruitful field for our 
 endeavour. 
 
 In proof of what has been said about the 
 liberalizing influences now at work, it is a note- 
 worthy fact that even in communities where 
 Christian missionaries have never gone, the moral 
 tone is much higher than formerly ; and in towns 
 where they have been at work the moral and 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 177 
 
 social conditions are infinitely better than before 
 such work was done. This is often true in spite 
 of the fact that the permanent membership in 
 the little church may never have been large. 
 Simply the presence of a godly home in the 
 community is a rebuke that even brazen Mor- 
 monism cannot wholly ignore. 
 
 Throughout Utah there is an ever-increasing 
 number of educated Mormon young men and 
 women who appreciate these differences and are 
 insisting upon higher moral and social standards 
 in their leaders. There are not a few who are 
 demanding that they shall be led by a trained 
 ministry. This is a thing that has always been 
 scoffed at by Mormonism. It has hurled its 
 choicest invectives against the " hireling ministry" 
 of other churches but this new sentiment must be 
 reckoned with in years to come. 
 
 Is the Mormon Church growing ? The answer 
 depends somewhat upon the point of view. The 
 Mormons make great claims in that regard. They 
 would like to have it true " Once a Mormon 
 always a Mormon," but it is by no means so. 
 However, they always claim it except in cases of 
 definite apostasy or excommunication. 
 
 Some who ought to know as well as the writer 
 may differ from him, but it is his conclusion that 
 the number of those who have a vital faith in 
 Mormonism for their own salvation is not largely 
 on the increase. On the other hand there has 
 
178 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 been in the last few years great increase in Mor- 
 mon political power. How do we reconcile these 
 apparently paradoxical statements ? 
 
 In the first place, there are hundreds who, 
 while not recognized as apostates, have lost faith 
 in Mormonism as a means of their personal sal- 
 vation and have quietly dropped out of vital con- 
 nection with the church. The Mormons make 
 no converts in Utah from the Gentile population 
 except in cases of marriage between Mormons 
 and non-Mormons. Such examples are entirely 
 without significance, however, as, in fact, many 
 of these marriages work to the advantage of the 
 Gentiles. Then, too, in spite of their increased 
 force of missionaries all over the world they are 
 not winning the converts they once did. This 
 is largely because foreign nations, as a result of 
 the exposure of their teachings and practices, 
 have expelled their missionaries, or warned their 
 people against them. At their annual con- 
 ferences the missionaries almost universally sound 
 a note of discouragement. In telling their ex- 
 periences for the past few years they almost 
 invariably wind up with something like this : 
 " We have been working hard and faithfully and 
 while the results have not been what we had 
 hoped for, yet we have faith to believe that the 
 seed thus sown will in due time grow into a har- 
 vest." 
 
 But these very people who have no vital con- 
 
Missions Among the Mormons 179 
 
 nection with Mormonism as a religion are still 
 Mormons to all intents and purposes when it 
 comes to voting. Their old time friends and 
 relatives still abide in the church. Having no 
 strong anti-Mormon conviction they naturally 
 vote with the hierarchy. It is true that in Salt 
 Lake City the Gentiles preponderate but in the 
 state as a whole the Mormons overwhelmingly 
 outnumber the Gentiles. The church can lose 
 thousands of voters from Utah and still abso- 
 lutely dominate all its politics and policies. 
 These spare voters are colonized in the sparsely 
 settled Western states not in sufficient numbers 
 to outvote all Gentiles, but in sufficient numbers 
 to hold the balance of power between the two 
 dominant political parties when Mormonism is 
 not an issue. Thus it is that the hierarchy can 
 compel the party in power to accede to their 
 demands and they are not at all modest in mak- 
 ing them. The Mormon hierarchy was abso- 
 lutely regnant in the political affairs of Salt 
 Lake City long after the Gentiles outnumbered 
 them. 
 
 The Mormon Church is so fixed in its belief 
 that it is the true Israel that, to this day, it calls 
 all people outside its own fellowship Gentiles. 
 The Mormons are the only people in the world 
 who would call a Jew a Gentile. 
 
 Evangelical churches hold that all true believ- 
 ers in Jesus are the true Israel. If they are cor- 
 
180 Mormonism, The Islam of America 
 
 rect then we may look upon the Mormon as the 
 modern Samaritan. 
 
 The purpose of this book is to show that we 
 have not gone into this Samaria with the Gospel 
 of Jesus " once for all delivered unto the saints " 
 in any adequate way. It is confessedly written 
 from the point of view of evangelical Christianity 
 and in the interest of patriotic Christian citizen- 
 ship in the American Republic, for after all is 
 said and done the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the 
 only solution for the evils of Mormonism. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 MORMON SOURCES 
 
 Book of Mormon, 500. ; Doctrine and Covenants, 
 500. ; Pearl of Great Price, 350. ; Mormonism, Its 
 Origin and History, by Roberts, ice. ; Catechism 
 for Children, 150. ; Key to Theology, 250.; Tullidge's 
 Life of Brigham Young ; Biographical Sketches by 
 Lucy Smith. 
 
 .The above may be obtained from the Deseret News 
 Book Store, Salt Lake City: Numerous pamphlets 
 will be sent free on application. The Journal of Dis- 
 courses was published by the Mormon Church, but 
 copies of this work are now very rare. 
 
 The periodicals, Millennial Star and Times and 
 Seasons were Mormon publications, but can be found 
 in only a few historical collections. 
 
 PERIODICALS 
 
 Under the Prophet in Utah, by Ex-United States 
 Senator Frank J. Cannon ; in Everybody** from De- 
 cember, 1910, to August, 1911. For other material 
 see Poolers Index, Reader* s Guide, Publisher's 
 Annual Trade List, United States Catalogue, etc. 
 Cannon's Under the Prophet is published in book 
 form by C. M. Clark Publishing Co., Boston; net 
 
184 Appendix 
 
 HISTORICAL BOOKS 
 
 Linn, W. A. The Story of the Mormons. Mac- 
 
 millan Co. $4.00. By far the best modern 
 
 history. 
 
 Tucker Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism. 
 Howe Mormonism Unveiled. 
 Patterson Who Wrote the Mormon Bible ? 
 Caswell The City of the Mormons. 
 Wyly Mormon Portraits. 
 Pratt, P. P. (Mormon) Autobiography. 
 Dickenson New Light on Mormonism. 
 Demming Naked Truths About Mormonism. 
 Gregg History of Hancock County, Illinois. 
 Stenhouse (Ex- Mormon) Rocky Mountain Saints 
 
 and Tell It All. 
 
 Ferris Utah and the Mormons. 
 Turner Mormonism In All Ages. 
 Lee Mormonism Unveiled (Confessions of John 
 
 D. Lee). 
 
 Hyde Mormonism Exposed. 
 Bennett History of the Saints. 
 Greene Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the 
 
 Mormons from Missouri. 
 Ford History of Illinois. 
 Burton City of the Saints. 
 Folk The Mormon Monster. 
 Hickman Brigham* s Destroying Angels. 
 Riley The Founder of Mormonism (A study in 
 
 the psychology of Joseph Smith). 
 
 FICTION 
 
 Wilson The Lions of the Lord. 
 Henry By Order of the Prophet. 
 
Appendix 185 
 
 BOOKLETS 
 
 L am b The Mormons and Their Bible. 250. The 
 American Baptist Publication Society. 
 
 Schroeder The Origin of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 Call, Lamoni Two Thousand Changes in the Book 
 of Mormon. Bountiful, Utah. 
 
 Tribune, Salt Lake City Mysteries of the Endow- 
 ment House, Extracts From Testimony in 
 the Smoot Case, Protest of Citizens Against 
 Smoot, The Inside of Mormonism. 
 
 Freece, Hans P Send stamps for anti-Mormon litera- 
 ture. Address 655 W. lyyth St., New York 
 City. Special booklet, How Mormons Re- 
 cruit Abroad. 
 
 B 
 
 RESUME OF THE HISTORY OF MORMON POLYGAMY 
 
 Forbidden by Book of Mormon, published 1830. 
 
 Rumours of its practice beginning at Kirtland. 
 
 Forbidden again in 1835. 
 
 Practical admission by Quorum of Seventies, 1837. 
 
 Mormons now admit that it was practiced at Nauvoo. 
 
 Revelation commanding it alleged to have been re- 
 ceived, 1843. 
 
 The Smiths excommunicate Hyrum Brown for polyg- 
 amy eight months later. 
 
 Officially denied by the Smiths, March 15, 1844. 
 
 Strenuously denied for nine years, proclaimed 1852. 
 
 Practically unmolested until 1882. 
 
 Checked by Edmunds-Tucker law, 1888. 
 
 Manifesto advising against unlawful marriages, 1890. 
 
i86 Appendix 
 
 Mormon leaders swore Manifesto forbade all polygamy, 
 
 1891. 
 Leaders promised Congress to abandon it as doctrine 
 
 of faith and practice, 1894. 
 State laws against these crimes passed in 1896. 
 Evans Bill making punishment impossible passed (but 
 
 vetoed), 1901. 
 Eight of the fifteen in the Two Quorums polygamists 
 
 in 1911. 
 Salt Lake City Tribune publishes a list of 224 l known 
 
 cases of new polygamy with details. 
 Practiced and taught from 1840 (or earlier) until the 
 
 present time as much as they have dared. 
 It is yet, whatever may be said to the contrary, not- 
 withstanding. 
 
 COVENANT ON POLYGAMY 
 
 {From Section 32) 
 
 4. For behold ! I reveal unto you a new and ever- 
 lasting covenant ; and if ye abide not that covenant, 
 then are ye damned ; for no one can reject this cove- 
 nant and be permitted to enter my glory ; 
 
 6. And as pertaining to the new and everlasting 
 covenant, it was instituted for the fullness of my glory, 
 
 1 There can be no polygamy without at least three persons 
 involved, a husband and two wives. When it is remembered 
 that there are often more wives it can easily be seen that thou- 
 sands may be involved in the above cases. Joseph F. Smith 
 has five wives and forty-three children, making with himselt 
 forty-nine people involved in this one case. In addition there 
 are the chiidren-in-law and grandchildren. 
 
Appendix 187 
 
 and he that receiveth a fullness thereof must and shall 
 abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord 
 God. 
 
 15. Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the 
 world, and he marry her not by me, nor by my word ; 
 and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world, 
 and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not 
 of force, when they are dead and when they are out 
 of the world ; therefore they are not bound by any 
 law when they are out of the world ; 
 
 1 6. Therefore, when they are out of the world, 
 they neither marry nor are given in marriage ; but are 
 appointed angels in heaven, which angels are minister- 
 ing servants, to minister to those who are of a far more, 
 and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory ; 
 
 17. For these angels did not abide my law, there- 
 fore they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately 
 and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condi- 
 tion, to all eternity, and henceforth are not Gods but 
 are angels of God, forever and ever. 
 
 19. And, again, verily I say unto you, if a man 
 marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by 
 the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto 
 them by the Holy Spirit of Promise, by him who is 
 anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power, 
 and the keys of this Priesthood ; . . . and they 
 shall pass by the angels, and the Gods, which are set 
 there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath 
 been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a full- 
 ness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. 
 
 20. Then shall they be Gods, because they have 
 no end ; therefore shall they be from everlasting to 
 
l88 Appendix 
 
 everlasting, because they continue; then shall they 
 be above all, because all things are subject unto them. 
 
 27. . . . and he that abideth not this law can 
 in no wise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, 
 saith the Lord. 
 
 38. David also received many wives and concu- 
 bines as also Solomon and Moses my servants ; as 
 also many other of my servants, from the beginning of 
 creation until this time ; and in nothing did they sin, 
 save in those things which they received not of me. 
 
 52. And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, re- 
 ceive all those that have been given unto my serv- 
 ant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before 
 me. . . . 
 
 54. And I command mine handmaid, Emma 
 Smith, to abide and to cleave unto my servant Joseph, 
 and to none else. But if she will not abide this com- 
 mandment, she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord, 
 for I am the Lord, thy God, and will destroy her, if 
 she abide not in my law. 
 
 61. And again as pertaining to the law of the 
 Priesthood : If any man espouse a virgin and desire 
 to espouse another, and the first give her consent; 
 and if he espouse a second and they are virgins, and 
 have vowed to no other man, then he is justified ; he 
 cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him, 
 for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth 
 unto him and to no one else. 
 
 62. And if he have ten virgins given unto him by 
 this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong 
 to him, and they are given unto him, therefore is he 
 justified. 
 
 63. ... for they are given unto him to mul- 
 tiply and replenish the earth, according to my com- 
 
Appendix 189 
 
 mandment, and to fulfill the promise which was given 
 by my Father before the foundation of the world ; 
 and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds that they 
 may bear the souls of men ; for herein is the work of 
 my Father continued, that he may be glorified. 
 
 64. And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if 
 any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this 
 power, and he teaches unto her the Law of my Priest- 
 hood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she be- 
 lieve, and administer unto him, or she shall be des- 
 troyed, saith the Lord your God, for I will destroy 
 her ; for I will magnify my name upon all those who 
 receive and abide in my law. 
 
 N. B. Attention should be given to number 26 
 which reads : 
 
 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry 
 a wife according to my word, and they be sealed by 
 the Holy Spirit of Promise, according to mine ap- 
 pointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or 
 transgression of the new and everlasting covenant 
 whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they 
 commit no murder, wherein they shed innocent blood 
 yet shall they come forth in the first resurrection, 
 and enter into their exaltation. " 
 
 In other words, if a man is a polygamist he can 
 commit any sin except murder and yet will be exalted, 
 and murder consists in the shedding of innocent blood 
 only. The inference is that if they believe a man is 
 guilty of anything it is not murder to shed his blood. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America