CHURCH RULE IN UTAH.

THE FORUM for May contains an article from the pen of Captain C. E. Dutton, on "Church and State in Utah." It is written in an apparent spirit of fairness and is free from those bitter attacks which often disfigure anti-Mormon literature. The writer gives due credit to the people of Utah for many virtues, recognizes the changed condition of public affairs in that Territory, and acknowledges the sincerity of the voters who propose, under self-acting provisions of a State constitution, to prohibit and punish polygamy. But he is opposed to the admission of Utah as a State, for reasons that are not necessarily affected by the question of polygamy. Those reasons are founded upon alleged conditions which exist chiefly in Captain Dutton's imagination.

That lack of correct information on Mormon affairs which the gentleman perceives in "books and magazine articles without number," is just as painfully exhibited in his own exposition of "the Mormon polity." It is true, as he says, that "to those who know the framework and structure of Mormon society, polygamy is a mere incident and minor circumstance." It has been so hugely and so grotesquely exaggerated, that it is viewed by even the well-informed as the one distinctive characteristic of the system known as "Mormonism." The terms Mormon and polygamist have come to be almost synonymous; and yet but comparatively few of the Mormon people ever practiced plural marriage, and to-day, according to the most reliable estimate, not more than two thousand men in Utah, or one per cent. of the whole population, have a plurality of wives. But the general misapprehension of the facts on this question is not greater than Captain Dutton's in regard to the relations of church and state in Utah. "The Mormon church and state," he says, "are one

and indivisible." On this erroneous hypothesis he makes many other statements equally incorrect; for instance:

"This people form a compact, thoroughly-organized, and well-disciplined society, living under a government which is about as far removed from the republican form guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States as it is possible to conceive. . . . The Mormon has no civil liberty, as we understand it. . . . The supreme rulers of the Mormons are a self-constituted and self-perpetuating body, by which all subordinate officials who are of any real importance are appointed, and the layman or 'elder' has no voice or weight in the matter.”

All this is, doubtless, in line with popular notions concerning the Mormon system. But indisputable facts, and the whole theory of Mormon doctrine and discipline, prove that these assertions are erroneous. In Utah church regulations and the territorial government have always been entirely separate. No man has ever held any civil office by virtue of his ecclesiastical position. Brigham Young was for seven years governor of Utah; but that was by federal appointment, not by church authority. Other persons holding prominent offices in the church have occupied places of public trust under the laws of the United States and of the Territory; but they were duly elected by the votes of the citizens, and served simply as secular officials. The political machinery and that of the church have always been separate, and are entirely dissimilar. The politics of the majority are conducted under the rules of the People's Party, a distinctly political organization. Its members hold their primaries and county and territorial conventions, in which tickets are formu lated after due discussion and then submitted to the people. The elections are conducted under secular laws. Every voter, Gentile, Jew, or Mormon, is equal at the polls. The ballot is strictly secret. There are no means of discovering how an elector votes. Envelopes of uniform color and size are provided for the judges of election by the county courts. The voter brings his own ballot neatly folded, and places it in one of those envelopes, which is deposited by the judge in the ballot-box; but if it bears any mark or device it must be rejected. If two or more tickets are found in one envelope when the counting occurs, the whole contents must be thrown out. This is an anti-repeating and absolutely secret ballot. For six years all polygamists have

been disfranchised, and to-day no man can hold office or vote unless he subscribes to an oath pledging his obedience to the laws.

If there is anything anti-republican in the form of government existing in Utah, it has been established by the national power and not by the Mormon Church. The people have no voice in the appointment of the officials imposed upon them by the federal authority, nor in the election of the President and Senate of the United States who make the appointment. The governor has the power of absolute veto over the acts of the elected legislative assembly, and neither a two-thirds nor a unanimous vote of that body is equal to this arbitrary one-man power. But these unrepublican features of the local government are not of church origin; they are vestiges of the old despotic colonial system which still disfigure the face of our fair republic.

The Mormon Church itself is one of the most democratic ecclesiastical organizations on earth. It has not an officer, from the president down to the deacon, who occupies his position without the free vote and consent of the members. Captain Dutton refers to the "Doctrine and Covenants" as a source of Mormon authority. It is regarded as a sacred book, and, with the Bible and "Book of Mormon," forms the Mormon standard of faith and discipline. It contains revelations to the church. through their prophet, Joseph Smith. The following passages on organization are taken from that book:

"Of the Melchisedek priesthood three presiding high-priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayers of the church, form a quorum of the presidency of the church.* . . No person is to be ordained to any office in this church where there is a regularly organized branch of the same without the vote of that church... . All things shall be done by common consent in the church by much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith."‡

In the light of these revelations what can be thought of Captain Dutton's statements that the "rulers of the Mormons," as he pleases to call the leaders of the church, are "self-appointed," and that the "layman or elder has no voice in the matter," and none in the appointment of "subordinate officials"? It must be + P. 127. + P. 137.

* P. 285.

known to every person at all acquainted with Mormon Church usages that twice every year, at their general conferences, all the officers of the church are submitted to the vote of the members, every baptized person, male and female, having an equal voice.

As to the relations of the church to the state, the following, from the same book, will show that he is as greatly in error as in regard to the "self-constituted and self-perpetuating body" of "supreme rulers." I quote again from the "Doctrine and Covenants":

"We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man, and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, either in making laws or administering them for the good and safety of society. We believe that no government can exist in peace except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life. We believe that religion is instituted of God, and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others. We do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion; that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul. We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges and the individual rights of its members as citizens denied. We believe that all religious societies have a right to deal with their members for disorderly conduct according to the rules and regulations of such societies, provided that such dealings be for fellowship and good standing; but we do not believe that any religious society has authority to try men on the right of property or life; to take from them this world's goods, or put them in jeopardy of life or limb; neither to inflict any physical punishment on them. They can only excommunicate them from their society and withdraw from them their fellowship."

These sentiments are in accord with positive commandments by revelation, as, for example:

"Wherefore, be subject to the powers that be, until He reigns whose right it is to reign, and subdues all enemies under his feet. Behold, the laws which ye have received are the laws of the church, and in this light shall ye hold them forth.... Importune for redress and redemption by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over you, according to the laws and constitution of the people which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; that every man may act, in doctrine and principle * Pp. 483, 484. † P. 219.

pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto them, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judg ment. Therefore it is not right that any man should be in bondage, one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose.* . . No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned." +

Captain Dutton's ideas of the power of a Mormon bishop are as mistaken as his assertion that "the bishop is appointed without the knowledge or consent of the people whose affairs he is to administer." It is not true that he "controls the occupancy of the land" or "fixes the allowance of water." He has nothing whatever to do with either. Both are regulated by civil law. Land in Utah is acquired and held by each individual owner, as elsewhere. A much larger proportion of the inhabitants own the houses they dwell in and the land they till than in any other part of the world, and none of it is held in common. The title is vested in the purchaser, and may be legally transferred at will. The bishop is not, as Captain Dutton informs the public, "the chief functionary." He is a subordinate officer in the church, and has no authority in affairs of state. The water is not under his control, but the right to its reasonable use is acquired individually, by priority of diversion from its natural source, and determined by elected secular officers, whose decisions are subject to judicial revision. Water rights are matters of public record and of legal transfer.

In the settlement of newly-opened districts some discipline and community of interests and co-operation in labor are essential to success. Usually three practical men are selected and accepted, by common consent, as a bishop and his counselors, to direct the affairs of the colony. But the people who form the new settlement are not "ordered" there, nor compelled by any force, religious or otherwise, to go there; they move of their own free will to better their condition, and they appreciate the gratuitous advice and example of the experienced men who act as their leaders. When occupying the public lands, each man's acreage is determined by the colony, usually in proportion to + P. 424.

* P. 357.