MORMON POLYGAMY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1097, 8 April 1911, Page 5

MORMON POLYGAMY.

MARRIAGES STILL TAKING PLACE.

ERADICATION HOPED FOR.

HEAD' OF CHURCH ADMITS 1100 LAST YEAR.

By Telegraph—l'ress Association-Copyrizlil (Rec. April 3, 0.57 a.m.) Washington, April 7. Mr. J. F. Smith, president of the Mormon Church, in addressing the Church Congress, admitted . that tho Church of Jesus Christ of La Iter Day Saints, as the Mormon organisation is styled, lnd solemnised 1100 polygamous marriages in 1910. The church, declared Mr. Smith, was endeavouring to eradicate polygamy,' which was not in accordance with its laws.

• POLYGAMY REVIVED. No fewer than five different magazines (says the Marcli issue of "Current Literature") have taken it upon themselves to proclaim in trumpet tones that Mormonism is onco moro a "burning issue, and that the Federal Government will soon bo compelled to face the problems raised by the revival of'polygamy in Utah. ExSenator Frank J. Cannon, himself the eon of one of tho ablest and most fincero qt all the Mormon leaders, declares in the first of a series of articles in "Everybody's Magazine": "I propose to show that tho lenders of the Mormon Church _ havo broken their covenant with the nation. I undertake to expose and to demonstrate what I do believe to he one of the most direful conspiracies" of treachery in th'J history of the United States." Mr. Burton J. Hendrick, in "M'Clure's Magazine," brands tho Mormon Church as "a great secret society existing very largely for criminal purposes." Of the five exposes, that in "M'Clure's Magazine" is presented in the neatest and riiost compact form. Mr. Hendrick brieliy reviews tho history of tho Mormon Church in America, and the events leading up to the admission of Utah into Statehood. ■Deep ingrained in the whole history of Mormonism, he reminds us, has been the strugglo to retain polygamous marriage. At one time-the Federal authorities sent more than a thousand nolygamists to gaol, Only twenty-three years ago," Congress. confiscated the property of the Mormon Church on the'ground that it was a treasonable and law-defying organisation, and proposed to disfranchise all Mormons. It was not until 1890 that tho Church confessed itself beaten and disclaimed polygamy, It was then admitted to Statehood.

NEW ZEALAND CONVERTS. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) • Auckland, April 7. The president -of tho Now Zealand Mormon Mission, who is about to return to his homo at Salt Lake City, leaving next month, in an interview to-day gave an emphatic denial to the press cablo from Switzerland,' published a few days ago, stating that during the past five years the Mormons had secured the annual emigrationof ,150_ Swiss girls to Utah. . None of their missionaries, ho assorted,Vi/wcre allowed; to' baptise any girl "or wife without the consent of tho parents, husband, or guardian, as tho case might be, and no one was allowed to emigrat-o' under ago without tho full consent of the parents or guardians. By the San Francisco steamer to-morrow, three families .of New Zealand converts to Mormonism, comprising twelve persons, will leavo for America.'