AND HOW TO SOLVE IT.
BY
REV. R. W. BEERS, A.M.,
PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ELKTON, MD.
“A disposition to reserve, and an ability to improve, takentogether, would be my standard of a statesman”—Edmund Burke.
| FUNK & WAGNALLS, Publishers. | ||||
| CHICAGO: | NEW YORK: | LONDON: | ||
| TIMES BUILDING. | 18 & 20 ASTOR PLACE. | 44 FLEET STREET. | ||
| 1887 | ||||
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886,
By FUNK & WAGNALLS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
To my Parents,
TO WHOSE SELF-SACRIFICE AND DEVOTION I OWE SO MUCH,
THIS VOLUME IS LOVINGLY
Dedicated.
The following pages have at least the merit of being addressed to asubject of living interest to the American people. Perhaps with the singleexception of the labor problem, the Mormon problem is the most importantquestion before the people of our country at the present time. It is aproblem which has thus far been unsolvable by the moralist, the statesman,and the politician. It still remains a Puzzle. No feasible plan has yetbeen hit upon for getting rid of it.
From the past failures to solve it, it would seem that the problem haseither not been studied from the proper standpoint, or has beenmisunderstood. Accordingly, we instituted a careful study of the problemin all its different phases, and endeavored to conduct our investigationin a fair and impartial manner. In doing so we consulted the leadingauthorities, both Mormon and non-Mormon, and must here acknowledge ourindebtedness especially to “New Light on Mormonism,” by Mrs. Ellen E.Dickinson; “Illiteracy and Mormonism,” by Henry Randall Waite; ProfessorCoyner’s “Handbook on Mormonism;” Schaff-Herzog’s “Encyclopædia ofReligious Knowledge;” and back files of the Independent, ChristianUnion, and Deseret News—all of which were freely used in thepreparation of this volume.
It has the merit of being the product of about two years’ careful thoughtand research. Most of the writings on Mormonism at the present day are theresult of a few days’ study of the subject on the field of Utah;[Pg vi] but,apart from the insufficient time which such authors devote to the study ofso knotty a problem, their minds are very apt to be warped by the peopleamong whom their lot is cast during their short visit there, and theyalmost inevitably present a one-sided view of the question.
Thus, some have fallen into the hands of the Mormons; and they havereturned from Utah delighted, and let fall from their lips naught butencomiums for the priesthood and apologies for the Mormon system. Many ofour legislators have in this way been the dupes of the