History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

384
MORMONISM AND POLYGAMY.
That the race deteriorates under the polygamous
system is not true, they say. The single wife is very
often hurried to a premature grave by an inconsiderate
or brutal husband, the offspring which she
meanwhile bears being puny and ill-developed. And
again, it is only the better class of men, the healthy
and wealthy, the strongest intellectually and physically,
who as a rule have a plurality of wives; and
thus, by their becoming fathers to the largest number
of children, the stock is improved.
The charge of immorality, as laid upon the Mormons
as a community, is likewise untenable. Morality
is the doctrine of right and wrong, the rule of conduct
implying honesty and sobriety. In all honesty and
sobriety the Mormons live up to their standard of
right and wrong, they claim, more completely than
any other .
people. They indulge in fewer vices,
such as drunkenness, prostitution, gambling, and likewise
fewer crimes. There is nothing necessarily immoral
in the practice of polygamy; if it is not immoral
for a man to take one wife, it is not for him to take
twelve wives.
The Mormons are loyal to their consciences and
convictions. They are essentially a moral people,
moral in the highest sense of the term, more so, they
claim, than the average American or European. They
do not drink, cheat, or steal; adultery is scarcely
known among them; they are not idle, profligate, or
given to lying. They are true to themselves, true to
their principles, and true to the world. Of what
other society can you fairly say as much? They
are honest in all things, and law-abiding when the
law does not touch their rights or their religion; when
it does, all who are not dastards will fight. Judge
them by their fruits; if a sect is to be regarded from
the standpoint of its imperfections and inconsistencies
rather than from its results, what shall be said of
Christianity, which has butchered millions for the faith,