[George Q. Cannon]
Considerable discussion was had to-day upon the question of our brethren who are accused and convicted of unlawful cohabitation making some promise that would furnish our friends in Congress who might favor the admission of the Territory as a State in the Union with grounds for defending us in regard to this matter. There was only one saving clause connected with it, in my opinion, and that is the proposition to refrain from associating with any wife, legal wife included. Of course, a promise of this kind could not be made by young men, who had young wives; but in the case of aged men such a thing might barely be possible. Still I could not myself favor it unless President Woodruff were to say that it was the will of the Lord. In connection with this subject, I spoke quite strongly about the practice of selecting what are called the legal wives to live with and relegating the others into a condition akin to concubinage. I feared the effect of this practice, if carried on among us to any extent; for I thought it would have a very bad effect upon the rising generation – I mean the children of such mothers, who, seeing their mothers treated in this way, would grow up disliking the system which would produce such results, especially when they saw the first wife and her children favored and esteemed as legitimate. I thought that it was a bad condition of affairs, and that everything should be done to endeavor to correct it. ...
[Source: The Journal of George Q. Cannon, Church Historian's Press, https://churchhistorianspress.org/george-q-cannon]
No comments:
Post a Comment