The Rat's Partner

WAPITI WRESTLES WITH THE WEATHER 6i3

tainsand the Teton ranges of western Wyoming in summer, which swarm the Jackson Hole valley in winter if the weather be severe. After one or two favorable seasons the natural increase may reach ten thousand in all the herds, but after a severe win- ter this increase is lost again, and often many thousands besides. An open game season each autumn in most surrounding regions, until midwinter usually, has served to prevent the herds from becoming unduly large at any time, thus reducing the prospec- tive wholesale destruction by the weather that must follow a shortage of winter forage or feed. For while the summer range, in the Park, the bordering Game Preserve to the south, and the adjacent National Forests, as well as over the mountains accessi- ble only to wild animals, is usually much larger than is needed by the elk, the available winter range on the adjacent lowlands is far too small for even a fraction of the elk in a severe winter. Originally native to almost the entire continent, Wapiti is not at home in the rugged higher mountains, nor in a region where the weather forces an annual migration to a winter range on which ordinary domestic grazing stock would starve. Indeed she does very well to make her last stand in so rugged a region. Even her early day trails to milder winters away down the river valleys have been closed for many elk generations by farmers, ranchmen and even towns. Therefore, nowadays the deep snows of winter force her down against the fields and fences. The wind-swept ridges of the lower hills are the favorite stamping ground in winter, from whence short journeys are made for browse from the brush which she had learned reluct- antly to eat, and for the weeds and grass which she may be able to expose with her dextrous feet through the snow. Here she proudly stays, alert and distrustful always, when not overcome by that greater fear of hunger, always keeping a wide scope of country about her in view, across which the coyote pack, the black bear, the cougar, and the hunter must come to molest her. But during the past winter, deep snow and consequent hunger, pains far greater than the fear of a fighting death, drove her far down among the ranches early in October. The frontier farmers are foremost in the general efforts to protect the elk, as a rule, realizing that much of the wealth of this remote country is its attractiveness to the tourist, the va-

cationist, and the sportsman. Indeed many of these ranchmen are in the dual business of livestock ranching and "dude" ranching, that is, keeping summer and winter boarding homes for so-called tenderfeet; and to these the native elk and other animals and attractions are necessary. A ranch of far greater importance is the Winter Elk Refuge, a ranch of more than a thousand acres owned by the United

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WAPITI WRESTLES WITH THE WEATHER 645

States Biological Survey in Jackson Valley, Wyoming, for grow- ing hay which is fed to the elk in winter. From six to eight thousand elk follow the horse-shoe trails of the hay sled daily through each winter on this ranch, but in severe winters there are often fifteen thousand elk needing feed. A similar ranch is promised by the Bureau of National Parks to be located about fifteen miles north of the Park, to relieve the herds that have been decimated by the weather starvation and greed in that region. Every farmer who can do so, sells his hay to the govern- ment, and to the State of Wyoming, for the elk, and ships his own stock to other pastures or to early markets. Those resi- dents who must have hay for domestic stock often employ guards to sleep on the hay stacks to keep the elk away with guns; and stray elk, "besides themselves" with hunger, have sometimes taken possession of barns, barnyards, and even ranchmen's yards in quest of something to eat; while piles of them perish outside the hay stack fences. Tooth hunters there are, men who would rather have a bull elk's tooth on a watch charm than to have the stately, many- pronged owner as a charm of the mountains, and also there are hunters who will pursue a hungry elk in the snow until he falls, thereby stealing his life, and then his teeth, which are sold to collectors. But it is only fair to say, that the Great or- ganization of B. P. 0. E. is one of the greatest single powers behind the movement for the proper preservation of the emblem of their Lodge.

Love

I know sweet Love is a holy thing, From a sun-lit sky down-pouring, Attuned to the song that the Joy-Birds sing, In the airy lightness soaring; As a lily white, by a crystal spring, I know sweet Love is a holy thing. I know fair Love is a holy thing In the dawn of a sweet forever; Like a heavenly song that the angels sing, Its glory fadeth never. Where the purest hopes of the heart upspring, Ah, Love, sweet Love, is a holy thing.

I know dear Love is a holy thing; Ye mortals, can ye seek it? spring Deep, deep in the soul doth its rapture To the lips that fain would speak it Harken, how clear doth the message ring, thing. Ah,' Love, sweet Love, is a holy Wrt/7„„„ Minnie Iverson Hodapp

Joseph Smith as a Statesman* IV—JOSEPH SMITH A CANDIDATE—HIS PLATFORM Qualifications of a President We are on the eve of a presidential election, and in order to select a candidate for President of the United States who will best serve the welfare of the nation, we are carefully reading the speeches and declarations of the several candidates in order to choose, if possible, the man best fitted to solve the difficult prob- lems of reconstruction. We are anxious to know each candi- date's program and to determine from it whether the man advo- cating it is a statesman or a politician. It is difficult to look into the futrue and to decide in which class to put a man, but gener- ally we regard a statesman as one who can outline a program so fundamental in its nature that it will meet the practical condi- tions of a nation, furnish the necessary relief and permanently solve the extraordinary problems such as are before the nation now or as were before the nation in the period preceding and following the Civil War. If a man can do this in the large sense, we will readily agree that he is a statesman worthy of the suf- frage of the people, whether he receives it or not. It is often exceedingly difficult to draw a correct conclusion in advance of the completion of the program. When, however, history is made and half a century or more has elapsed since the program was proposed, it is much easier for those who come after us to classi- fy the men formerly in public life and place them in the cate- gory of politician or statesman. That is especially true where a man in declaring himself a candidate for high office, offers a defi- nite program to the public. It matters little, whether he secures the election or not, for the estimate must ultimately be based upon the solution offered and its success. History will tell its story, and if the proposals made by any candidate become the accepted policies of the nation and accomplish the desired results, or if they were not adopted but in the light of history and reason they would have proved a more efficient means than those adopted, the author may surely be classed as a statesman. If this criterion applies to other men, it seems fair and reason- able to apply it to Joseph Smith. In the Prophet Joseph Smith's day there were several large and very difficult national problems pressing hard for solution. The most immediate of them all and so great as to almost divide the Union before it was solved, was the question of slavery. Na- tional leaders were cognizant of the gravity of the situation, but

Lessons for weekly joint M. I. A. meetings up to June Conference.

JOSEPH SMITH AS A STATESMAM 647

were only able to offer measures of expediency or those render- ing only temporary relief. They failed completely to offer a . fundamental solution. In this lesson we are not considering how or why Joseph Smith came to announce his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States, nor are we concerned as to what his chances were, or as to whether he expected to win or lose. That would be an interesting, topic for discussion, but it must be omitted for the present. We are, however, interested in the means of solution that Joseph Smith offered to the problems then confronting the nation. Platform The platform announced by him in declaring himself a can- didate for the presidency of the United States embodied eight fundamental propositions. 1st. Abolition of slavery through the purchase of the slaves by the federal government. 2. The aboli- tion of imprisonment for debt. 3. Prison reform. 4. The reduc- tion of the membership of the House of Representatives. 5. Re- form of trial by court-martial. 6. Annexation of Oregon, New Mexico, and Upper California. 7. Federal control of lawlessness within the States. 8. A larger navy. Slavery.

Undoubtedly morally, politically and in every other way, the most momentous question in this program was the abolition of slavery. It was the one that meant much to the United States at that particular time, and later involved it in four years of bloody conflict, where brother was called to fight brother. It was the one most urgent of immediate solution in order that the public opinion might become settled and turn its attention to other problems. The logical policy would have been to allow a period for adjustment, and it was only just that the owners of the slaves should be compensated. Such a policy, if honestly and sincerely carried out, might easily have avoided a bitter conflict. Subsequent events tend to confirm this contention, yet the na- tion was allowed to drift and none of the leaders offered any real solution more than merely temporary adjustments that accom- plished very little. Through it, the nation was dragged into a four-year war. Joseph Smith's plan was to give the slave owners six or ten years in which to prepare to free the slaves and then pay for them and free them. Such a program certainly would have been well worth trying. If it could have been done, its bene- fits would have been immeasurable. Wise men on both sides of the controversy realized that slavery as an institution was slowly dying out in the world and it was ultimately doomed, and if

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the south could have been assured fair treatment and pay for their slaves, it would undoubtedly have had a pacifying influence on the southern people. The institution itself if left uninter- fered with could not have endured many decades, for the moral sentiment of the world was running too strongly against it. It did, however, ultimately lead the nation into a war in 1861, after passions had been aroused, and the right of secession also became an issue. Cost to Free Slaves One of the great objections to the plan outlined by Joseph Smith was that it would cost the nation too much money, yet when we stop to consider this plea in the light of subsequent his- tory, it shows how cheap it would have been to have purchased the slaves as compared with the costs of the Civil War. There were, in 1840, about 2,487,455 slaves in the United States which the south valued at six hundred million dollars. The total ex- penditures of the Civil War including the destruction of prop- erty was nine billion dollars. The amount since paid out in pensions to the Civil War veterans and their widows has amounted to over five billions of dollars. It is conservatively estimated that it costs a thousand dollars to rear a child to manhood, and on both sides together, about a million men lost their lives. By computing each man lost or killed at $1,000 it cost the nation a billion dollars to rear these men and just

as they were beginning to be useful economically they were killed. This is a very low estimate in every item and yet it amounts to a total of fifteen billion dollars. This does not take into account the more important losses felt principally in the homes and by the firesides. In addition, through the untimely death of these young men, hundreds of thousands of women were deprived of homes and obliged to remain single throughout life and as a consequence the growth of the national population was seriously retarded. From every point of view, Joseph Smith's solution of the slavery question was reasonable, sensible and statesmanlike. The vision, however, of the national leaders was not great enough to make an effort in this direction and war was the result. The Prophet Joseph says: "Pray Congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising out of the sale of public lands and from the deduction of pay from the members of Congress." Imprisonment for Debt The second recommendation in his platform is very import- ant, although the question was not so prominently then before

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the public as the first. For centuries, even in the most civil- ized countries of the world, it had been lawful and likewise the practice, to imprison men for debt. A man who had become a debtor and could not pay his obligations was committed to prison where he was required to remain until he could pay. Once within the prison walls he necessarily found himself un- able to pay his debts even if he so desired and could only return to freedom through the good will of relatives and friends who could and would come forward and pay his obligations, for the law provided that he must remain there until his debts were paid. In the meantime, his wife and children were deprived of his support. Confinement in prison in many cases lasted a life time. The prophet saw the injustice of such a system and advocated the repeal of the laws which made such requirements. In his platform he says, "Imprisonment for debt is a meaner practice than the savage tolerates, with all his ferocity." Prison Reform The third plank in his platform called for prison reform. Since the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith, there has been a revolution in the treatment of men committed to prison and it is safe to say that the work has only fairly begun. The prison, practices of 1840 would not be tolerated today. In many in- stances men and women were committed to the same prison and associated together without any restrictions being placed upon them, with the result that hundreds of children were born within prison walls. Since then, men and women have been segregated in the prisons and where possible separate buildings have been provided. In those days, buildings were dark, dingy and filthy. Seldom was there sufficient sunlight to prevent the development of disease and a large number of the prisoners fell victims of tuberculosis. Food was of an inferior quality and too often the treatment of the prisoners was brutal.

It is strange when we think of it that society condoned such The declaration of Joseph Smith reads as follows: conditions. bur- "Advise your legislators when they make laws for larceny, glary or any felony, to make the penalty applicable to work upon roads, public works or any place where the culprit can be taught more wisdom and more virtue and become more enlight- Rigor and seclusion will never do as much to reform the ened propensities of men as reason and friendship. Murder only can penitentiaries be turned claim confinement or death. Let the where intelligence like the angels into seminaries of learning banish such fragments of barbarism. of heaven will condemns the old In this program, the prophet not only way to a new idea that is now coming system but points the During the more and more to dominate penal administration.

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last half centurythere has been a marked change in this direc- tion and it lies in the idea that penal institutions should be truly reformatory in their nature. The criminal should not only be punished, but at the same time he should be taught an hon- orable occupation that will benefit him morally and industri- ally when his time has been served, so that he can enter society and properly perform his duties. The best education for the average criminal is to teach him how to work, the very policy proposed by Joseph Smith in having male prisoners work on public works and roads. This treatment is now being actually carried into effect in many states of the Union. In addition to this kind of work which is very valuable to prisoners, the up- to-date penal institutions have become virtually seminaries of learning where almost all educational branches are taught and where men can be educated in the trades as well as in many branches of highly skilled and technical knowledge. For the man who had really repented, many schemes of reducing the effect of the penalty imposed upon him have been introduced, such as the reduction of sentence, this often abused, or the granting of a parole so that men upon certain conditions may be permitted to leave the prison. The treatment of prisoners has been changed to such a large extent that the abuse formerly practiced has been abolished and the treatment made very much more humane as was suggested by the Prophet Joseph. So we see in this great humane movement that the Prophet Joseph had a vision well in advance of his time. Smaller House of Representatives The fourth point was the reduction of the membership of the House of Representatives. This has not been done, due in the main to the indisposition of the older states not to accept a smaller representation than they formerly possessed, which would be necessary if the membership was to be reduced, on account of the growth of population in the newer states, ft is a recommendation, however, that the foremost students of government have repeatedly urged, for they insist that it would increase the efficiency of Congress. It is accepted by all care- ful students of government that the present House is much too large to do efficient work and that the only way that it can accomplish what it does is due to the fact that the power and control of the House, in general, has drifted into the hands of a comparatively few men. Under such circumstances it would appear to be very much better to have a small body but to require every member to be active and responsible for the legislation passed. This reform has not been tried but the prophet's views coincide with the best thought of the ablest students in government.