The Mormon Empire

Improvement Era Vol. XXX JULY, 1927 No. 9 THE '"MORMON" EMPIRE By John Steven McGroarty [This timely article, reproduced by permission from the Los Angeles Times of some months ago, is full of praise for Utah, her pioneers and her people. One statement therein gives rise to these questions: Will the time ever come when the Prophet's people will walk their own land as aliens? Will the stranger at last overwhelm them? Shall the youth of Zion falter? The young men and women of the Church must answer these questions with an emphatic, "No! We will go on and conquer, with the tremendous faith and spirit of the Pioneers." — Editors.] Lately, when I had a loan from God and was on my way to the old blue hills of home in Penn's Woods where I was born, I spent a few handfuls of my golden store of time in Utah. It is a place where I have often longed to be — the great "Mor- mon" Empire, the vast beauty of which, with its thrilling story, had lured and fascinated me this long time since. I have already related in the Synagogue as best I could — yet feeling so very futile about it — the wonders of Zion with its stu- pendous temples and gleaming domes; and I have told the strange tale of the Red City that Bryce, the Scot, found on a wandering day in a great gash of the Wasatch Hills. But, all that is only a little of the far-flung wonderland of Utah. And now, at last, I have crossed its domain from end to end, and am left awed in the overwhelming realization of what it means to be an American. GREAT AMERICA; GREAT UTAH For, this is what you must realize when you cross the continent — that it is a tremendous thing to be an American. When one's mind grasps the fact that Utah, alone and by itself, is a greater country Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1911, authorized on July 2, 1918, $2 per annum. Address Room 406, Church Office Building, Salt Lake City, Utah.

758 IMPROVEMENT ERA in every way than all Europe put together, and yet that it is only a small part of our America, after all, then the very stars on the flag take on a brighter glory and its crimson stripes a deeper flame. Utah stands at the back door of California, less than twenty-four hours away by train or auto. Its incalculable wealth within easy reach of our hands, and its indescribable beauty under our very eyes. And, beyond it, stretching limitlessly to the Atlantic, the sweep of the con- tinent. All of it American, and all of it ours. Wherefore is it not meet and just that we stand bowed before the Throne of the Lord God of the Ages in reverent mind with grateful hearts? EXODUS OF THE PIONEERS As I traversed Utah, my first thought was of the Pioneers. I could not get my mind away from them and all that they had endured to reach a "Promised Land." It is difficult to find its parallel in human history — an exodus before which that of Israel, itself, would seem to pale into insignificance. There was a writing man, the latchets of whose shoes I could never hope to be worthy to have loosed, who has put this thing into wondrously eloquent words. I read them on a creaking caravan — words written long ago by the late Judge Goodwin, sometime editor of the Salt Lake Tribune — and that ran thus: "The exodus of Utah was not like any other recorded in history. The exodus to Italy was to a land of sunshine, native fruits and flowers; the march of Xenophon's immortal band was a march of fighting men back to their homes; the exodus of the Pilgrims was to a new world of unmeasured possibilities; but the exodus to Utah was a march out of despair to a destination on the unresponsive breast of the desert. The Utah pioneers had been tossed out of civilization into the wilderness, and on the outer gate of that civilization a flaming sword of hate had been placed which turned every way against them. "All ties of the past had been sundered. They were so poor that their utmost hope was to secure the merest necessities of life. If ever a dream of anything like comfort or luxuries came to them, they made a grave in their hearts for that dream and buried it, that it might not longer vex them." This is what Goodwin said of the "Mormon" pioneers, and no one will ever say it with a more exquisite, poignant touch. MORE 'THAN EIGHTY YEARS LATER And now, three-quarters of a century after, I saw their green farms on the banks of shining rivers, their villages among the trees that their strong hands planted; and I walked the thronged streets of Salt Lake City, the stately capital of the empire that rose from their faith out of desert sands.

THE "MORMON" EMPIRE 759 They had made graves in their hearts to bury dreams of comfort and luxury "that it might not longer vex them," lived on to meet the resurrection of those dreams among smiling fields and flower- flamed gardens' in the desolation of a wilderness that they made to blossom as the rose. A SCULPTURED RECORD OF FAITH I am not too well informed as to just what exactly the religious creed of the "Mormon" church is — that church which once wholly dominated Utah, to a great extent dominates it still. It is something with which I am not concerned. It is a matter of their own consciences, solely. But, I do know that the "Mormon" pioneers in Utah were possessed of a tremendous faith. There is a sculptured record of that faith erected from enduring stone and bronze in the beautiful gardens of the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City — the exquisite monument of the sea gulls. There is no more wonderful story of human faith than this which is told by the monument of the sea gulls. It was in the year 1848 that the pioneers planted their first crop of grain in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, upon reaching the "Promised Land" after the untold hardships of the exodus from civilization. The very lives' of the set- tlers depended on the harvest. And the seed that was sown in hope grew and flourished until it was at last ready for the scythe. Then one day the skies were darkened with endless swarms of marauding crickets that swooped down on the fields, destroying every growing green thing that they touched. The settlers fought them with the strength of despair, but all in vain. Nothing that human power could do was able to beat back the black hordes of the destroy- ers. And so, not knowing where else to turn, the people fell upon their knees amid the vanishing harvest, and sent up from their weary hearts supplications to God. Immediately, then, came swift answer to their prayers. Looking up, they beheld legions of white-winged gulls, swifter than the winds that bore them, flying from the Great Salt Lake, the sky vibrant with their rescuing cries. They were the fowled Bluchers come to Waterloo. Down upon the crickets the white gulls fell, devouring them even as they had devoured the almost ripened grain. And so the crop upon which life depended was saved. The base of the monument is made eloquent with scenes in bronze that go to make up the story. But the feature of it all that impressed me most was the sculptured legend, the words of which tell that the sea gull monument was "erected in grateful remembrance of the mercy of God to the 'Mormon' pioneers." After this, the "Mormon" church was assuredly "on its way." And it had left its martyrs not only with the grave of its prophet, but in the lonely silences of the hard road it traveled to its Canaan.

760 IMPROVEMENT ERA PROFOUND ADMIRATION FOR THE PEOPLE Whatever your religious convictions may be, or if it be that you have none, you must still, in all honesty, feel a profound admiration for the "Mormon" people after you have come to know their story. Stand now in the green valley of Salt Lake, clustered with trees, and then realize that when Brigham Young's pioneers reached the spot there was but one lone scraggy tree in that vast desolation to greet their eyes. Of what heroic stuff they must have been made not to have been disheartened as they gazed upon that inhospitable scene! How perfect must have been their faith as they accepted without a murmur the dictum of their leader when he said, "This is the place." The Promised Land of Israel was a land of corn and wine; it flowed with milk and was sweet with honey. It was a land in which a man's belly would rejoice. But, to greet the weary hearts, the tired eyes and the aching bodies' of the "Mormons" was this vast desolation. And yet, they accepted it, even gladly. They lighted their camp fires upon the arid wastes and lifted up their voices in wild, grateful hymns of praise to God amid the unwelcoming and inhospitable hills. WILL THE STRANGER OVERWHELM THE SAINTS Things are changing in Utah, as everywhere else, and the "Mor- mon" is losing control. It is history repeating itself. Massachusetts is no longer Puritan, Virginia no longer Cavalier, California no longer Franciscan. One man blazes a trail that another man may trudge it. The "Mormons," however, were never very strong numerically. And although their numbers have increased and not lessened, there are not yet more than 500,000 of them in the whole world, the bulk being in Utah. They have today 2000 missionaries at work here' and abroad, but the growth is slow. They still constitute 70 per cent of Utah's population, but only 40 per cent of the population of Salt Lake City, which is at once the capital of the State and of the "Mor- mon" Empire. I suppose the day will come when the prophet's people will walk their own land as aliens. The stranger will have, at last, overwhelmed them. But time will never be able to obliterate wholly the footprints that they left in the sands. Utah is destined to see great days — great days of boundless riches and civic glory, yet it will not and cannot for- 1 get the deathless glory of its pioneers — they who drove the stakes of the Commonwealth and reared the rafters of the State. And, in thosv days that are to be, there will doubtless be some carping critic to find fault and belittle them, and to sneer and to laugh, ribalding, above the graves of Brigham Young and his nineteen wives. But, with all that — which was) his own business and something that has nothing tc do with his almost unparalleled record as an empire builder — history will be sure to write him down clearly and without prejudice. As for me, who am as far away from the "Mormons" in their

THE "MORMON" EMPIRE 761 religious beliefs and practices as a man can be, they have my profound respect. I would not like, to think that I could not grant them the justice that history cannot withhold from them. WHAT THE EMPIRE OF UTAH REALLY IS It staggers the imagination to contemplate what this empire of Utah really is — the empire that the "Mormon" people opened up for the world by their faith and sacrifice and sublime courage. Its natural and still undeveloped wealth is so immeasurable and boundless that one does not wonder that Abraham Lincoln, in a moment of pro- phetic vision, declared that "Utah is the treasure house of the nation." There is today unmined coal in Utah sufficient to supply the needs of the entire world for the next hundred years to come, regardless of the most profligate and improvident uses. It has mountains of iron and copper, almost inexhaustible stores of silver, great deposits of gold. It has limestone, petroleum, asphalt and a hundred and one other minerals. It is, indeed, a storehouse of the nation. And it is at the back door of California. It will send us coking coal for the steel mills that we are to build and that will speed theit products upon the laden ships to the Orient and South America. It will supply us with much raw material that we have not ourselves. Needful things that California can telephone for and have delivered to it over night. Nor does this potential commercial alliance of California with Utah stop at the raw materials of the mines. California, it appears clearly, is destined to become the most densely inhabited section of the globe. Its thousand miles of length will be crowded with homes and marts of trade. There will no longer remain lands for the pur- suits of agriculture and stock raising, dairying and all that. There will be one vast city from San Diego's harbor of the Sun to Sonoma in the Valley of the Seven Moons, and far beyond that. But, there will still be Utah at the back door. Just now, it is a marvelous experience to ride through the "Mor- mon" empire just to see the sheep, alone. You will meet them crossing the high roads in endless droves, their shepherds and their sheep dogs with them. It is always a sight that the heart lingers upon lovingly. One thinks of the sunlit plains and starlit hills of Judea. And the darling dogs that are always so seriously at their task of guardianship. You will love the sheep and the dogs in Utah; and the "Mormon" shepherds will wave a friendly hail to you as you pass. SALT LAKE A BEAUTIFUL CITY As a wind-up of your journey you will, perhaps, spend some time in Salt Lake City. Nor will it be time lost, though you may say,

762 IMPROVEMENT ERA with others, that "all cities are alike." For, it is, after all, true that there are a half dozen or so beautiful cities in the world. Salt Lake is one of them. And you will be glad that good fortune led your steps within its sunny gates. The Founding of Salt Lake City 'Mid hoary and barren mountains, beside a great dead sea, In a vale of rolling sandhills which gave life to one lone tree. 'Mid waste and desolation where famine frowned on the land, A band of exiles refuge sought from persecution's hand. Over the plains through barren wastes, through heat and bitter cold, 'Cross rivers wide and mountains high, came exiles brave and bold. Onward they pushed through sun and rain, battling with courage known To those who for conviction seek in a vale of death their home. Around the winter camps they sang, with strong hearts true and brave; They felt no blasts of winter's wind, nor darts the ice king gave. Westward they moved, ever westward, 'mid sorrow, toil and tears. Till they reached the vale of desolation — these dauntless pioneers! "This is the place!" their leader said; "'tis hither we have come, Led by the hand of Providence; this is our welcome home!" In thanksgiving they raised their voices; with faith and trust they sang; 'Mid the caverns of those mountains hoar the echoes of their anthem rang. The lone tree welcomed these pioneers to the life that was to be In that valley in the future beside that silent sea. The mountains from the barren wastes their hoary heads raised high, And bade a welcome to this band in silent majesty. The screaming seagulls s"houted as they moved o'er that dead sea. "We'll aid you in your new-found home where you at last are free." Then let us join in honor and praise with the mountains, gulls and tree. To this band of exiles brave and bold, who through toil and misery. Mid persecution, grief and pain, fearlessly stood alone, And sought in this western wilderness a welcome and honored home. Spokane, Washington Al.ICE B, PADDOCK