WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
A stronger force was sent to Utah. Fighting and bloodshed lasted for about two years, until the Mormons were constrained to acknowledge the Federal authority. Peace reigned for a time. But the Government were determined to suppress Mormon polygamy. Young was seized and indicted with the teaching and illegal practice of plural marriage. Various enactments were directed from time to time against polygamy, and it was stated that the custom was waning. But this form of marriage survived the attacks of the central government. It is now said to have fallen into disrepute among the Mormons themselves, but it is not entirely unknown in the society.
As the Mormon community affords the only instance of polygamy, sanctioned by religion, among Western civilised peoples, it is useful to inquire into the effects of this sex relationship. Soon after the institution of the creed of Mormonism, the "saints" claimed that they had banished the evils of seduction, infanticide, and prostitution, so common among their "Gentile" neighbours. They had also solved the problem of compulsory celibacy for women.
I am informed by a friend who has lately spent some time in Salt Lake City that prostitution is not quite unknown. This may be a result of the decay of polygamy.
A seceder, General J. C. Bennett, wrote a very
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