Part 6 (1/2)
The education of the South and the South-west is the great task of the statesmans.h.i.+p of to-day. There are a hundred million dollars lying in our National Treasury, and we do not know what to do with it. The nation should take some of it and undertake the work of public education in the Territories; for while there is some objection to national aid to education in the States, as a needless interference with State rights, yet there is no doubt as to the right of the National Government to appropriate money for educational purposes in the Territories, since they are under its immediate control. The Government should begin educational work in _all the Territories_ at once, and push it vigorously. Its future safety and welfare demand it.
But especially is that necessary with regard to Utah. The despotism of the Mormon hierarchy has for its keystone the superst.i.tion and ignorance of the people. If the Government would put a public school in every school district in Utah, it would undermine that despotism quicker than anything else. Give the Mormons light and education, and they will burst the bonds of their thraldom. The Mormon priesthood, well aware of this, take great pains to keep the people unschooled. The public schools of the Territory are entirely in the hands of the priesthood, and, as a general rule, only Mormons are allowed to be teachers. They are scarcely worthy the name of schools; but, more than that, in violation of a fundamental principle of our Government, they are used for the propagation of religious tenets, and accordingly they become the means of instilling disloyal sentiments into the minds of the rising generation.
If Utah is to be thoroughly redeemed, it must be through proper influences brought to bear upon the Mormon youth of to-day; but the only loyal schools at present in Utah are those conducted by the Christian churches, which are far from sufficient in number. It therefore becomes the duty of the National Government to provide a loyal system of public instruction for Utah.
This could be accomplished only partially by making the Superintendent of Public Schools a Federal officer, as Senator Edmunds proposes in his new bill. The administration of such an officer, if he be properly qualified, and if he be supported by provision for the withholding of public funds from schools which instruct in matters of religion, and have also the power of vetoing the appointment of improper teachers, would so change the character of the schools of Utah as to make them efficient means for breaking down the disloyalty of the Mormons, instead of being, as they now are, a potent means for the propagation of Mormonism. But that is not all that is required.
The territorial schools now established are far too few to accomplish the desired end. The National Government should make an ample appropriation.
It ought to put a public school in every city ward and every considerable village. It ought to equip them with the best appliances and the best teachers. It ought to fling their doors wide open to every comer. It ought not to teach any religion, Mormon or Gentile; it need not; but it ought to inculcate principles of patriotism and loyalty, and ought to teach the pupils to think and question for themselves. The parental instinct is stronger than a hierarchy. The appet.i.te for knowledge is invincible, even by superst.i.tion. It would not be necessary to establish a compulsory system. It would be enough to establish a free system. The schools established by the different Christian denominations have proved that. Their Gentile schools are filled. The nation's schools would be crowded.
This would also go a great way toward disarming the prejudice and hostility of the older Mormons toward the Government. A great many of them are immigrants from other countries, who on landing in America were immediately taken to Utah; consequently the Mormon immigrant has known the United States only as _an enemy_. It is time that we taught him that the United States is _his friend_; and in what better way could this be done than by establis.h.i.+ng well-equipped schools for his children? This would show that the Government had the interests of his family at heart. And we all know that there is nothing which will so soon touch the heart of a mother and father, too, as a kindness done to his child. Whatever prejudice or hatred there might have been before toward that person, after the kindness has been done to his child the prejudice departs and he treats him as a friend. So would it be if the Government would establish national schools of the best type in Utah. Many who are now its enemies would be its friends. Yes, put liberty and education in that Territory in the manner suggested, and liberty and education will solve the Mormon political puzzle. ”We can let the Mormons bring over their s.h.i.+ploads of immigrants unhindered by us, so long as they bring them to a community made free and enlightened. We can let them build their temple, so long as we overtop it with the school-house and the college. We can let them preach their superst.i.tious liberalism, if we invite the ready minds of the oncoming generation to demand rebelliously a reason for the faith and the fear that are preached to them.” Let the Government only grant a half million of dollars, and school-houses can be built and equipped everywhere. And to what better use could the money be put? It will not cost as much to buy books and pay the salaries of competent teachers as it would to dig graves in a war of extermination, and a far better result would be effected, with no blood spilled and no tears shed except tears of grat.i.tude; for instead of heaps of men and women unnecessarily slaughtered, we would have A REDEEMED PEOPLE--redeemed from slavery to liberty, redeemed from disloyalty to loyalty.
We are firmly convinced that, if this plan were faithfully carried out in all its parts, less than twenty years would see Utah, with her rich harvests and vast mineral wealth being developed, and her million or more of people, s.h.i.+ning forth as a bright star in the galaxy of American States, her people as loyal as those of Ma.s.sachusetts or Connecticut--loyal to the very core; and where now the Stars and Stripes are cursed, trampled under foot, and placed at half-mast, they would then be greeted with loudest cheers.
PART III.
THE SOCIAL PUZZLE.
”Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”--INSCRIPTION ON THE OLD LIBERTY BELL.
”The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation, rest upon our homes.”--PRESIDENT CLEVELAND.
CHAPTER VIII.
Polygamy only one of the Mormon social evils--Their social system _a system of bondage_--Contrary to natural law--Contrary to the spirit of the age--PERSONAL BONDAGE of the Mormons--Missionaries _must_ go on duty--Dictation of the priesthood with regard to boarders and rents--Immigrants under their control--All members subject to Church orders--Power of the Church over daily business--Mormon mining contractors--MENTAL BONDAGE of the Mormons--Converts illiterate--The Mormon Church the opponent of free education--No independent thought--Excommunication of Henry Lawrence and others.
If nine tenths of the people of our land were asked to denominate Mormonism as a social system, the answer that would be given by unanimous consent would be this: ”It is a system of polygamy.” And yet, after a careful study of the social condition existing among the Mormons, it is evident that _polygamy is only one of the social evils_--one of several branches from one parent stock, and therefore cannot be said to be descriptive of their whole social system.
One of the great political parties of our country has denounced slavery and polygamy as ”twin relics of barbarism;” and that is undoubtedly true.
But with regard to _Mormon_ polygamy, it will be seen that _slavery_ and _polygamy_ do not occupy with reference to each other the relation of twin sisters, but rather the relation of _mother_ and _daughter_: Slavery is the mother of Mormon polygamy and of all the other social evils of the so-called Latter-Day Saints; and therefore the proper denomination of Mormonism as a social system would be a SYSTEM OF BONDAGE.
It is consequently a system contrary to natural law as well as to the Christian conscience. According to Rousseau, the great French philosopher, man is a being by nature loving justice and order. In his opinion, in an ideal state of society each member would be free and the equal of every other--_equal_ because no person or family or cla.s.s would seek for any rights or privileges of which any other was deprived; and _free_ because each one would have his share in determining the rule common to all. It was these doctrines, taking root in the minds and convictions of men, that gave us our modern state of society, and that gave us our Nation, with its free thought, free speech, free press, and free Inst.i.tutions. The first public official doc.u.ment in which these opinions were clearly set forth was our ”Declaration of Independence,” which proclaimed that all men are ”equal” and that ”they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The same views also formed the element of strength in the French Revolution. The first article of the ”Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” adopted in 1789, at the beginning of the Revolution, a.s.serts: ”Men are born free and equal, and have the same rights.”
Indeed, these doctrines have been the source of all the social reforms of the past century. They are the guiding-star of modern civilization. They are the basis, not only of our Government, but also of our social system, which is one of liberty and equal rights. They are the spring of all n.o.ble thoughts given forth to the world and all the splendid achievements. To be majestic and enn.o.bling, thought must be unrestrained; to be praiseworthy, deeds must be uncontrolled.
In England the dominant party at present (June, 1886) is the Liberal Party, whose able leader is that ”Grand Old Man,” William E. Gladstone.
Last fall, just before their great election, that party issued a manifesto of a very unusual character. It took the shape of a book ent.i.tled ”Why am I a Liberal?” and contained definitions and confessions of political faith by the foremost leaders of the party. Among them Robert Browning answered the question in this characteristic sonnet:
”Why? Because all I haply can and do, All that I am now, all I hope to be, Whence comes it, save from fortune setting free Body and soul, the purpose to pursue G.o.d-traced for both? Of fetters not a few, Of prejudice, convention, fall from me.
These shall I bid men, each in his degree Also G.o.d-guided, bear, and gayly too?
”_But little do or can the best of us; That little is achieved through liberty._ Who then dares hold, emanc.i.p.ated thus, His fellow shall continue bound? Not I, Who live, love, labor freely, nor discuss A brother's right to freedom. That is why.”
Those are n.o.ble words, worthy a n.o.ble poet. If he had given no other poem to the world, that would place him on the list of poets to be remembered by future generations, who are destined to be, if possible, freer than we.