Opposing counsel then replied. He ridiculed the assertion of Mr. Setemup that over-population had been responsible for the ills of mankind, which he attributed to the selfishness and wickedness of the world, and asserted that, on the other hand, the District Attorney had made it evident to his auditors that advancement from grazing to agriculture, and from agriculture to manufacture, and thus on to the perfections of civilization, had been due to the fact that the necessities of increasing population had begotten superior intelligence from age to age; that the times of least population, due to the ease of existing, were times of least intelligence; and he asked: "Is it not probable that the tendency now is deterioration?" He suggested that the days of greatest distress were the days of most prolific invention; that to the centuries where poverty was most general are to be attributed the invention of the railroad, the telegraph, the ocean steamship, the telephone and the thousand other applications of electricity. He argued that even admitting that the ultimate results of old systems would be the crowding of the earth, that it might be possible, certainly that was the belief of his client, that the Almighty might choose to raise up a righteous seed unto Himself, in which event the multiplication of such a seed would be right, no matter what might be said of the rest of the world. He said that such considerations would suggest that the prevailing moral sense of civilized nations, which was shocked at the family customs of the Morekidites, was based not so much upon reason as upon the ex cathedra decrees of tradition.

A glance back at the varying marriage customs of the ages, would show us that moral sense changes from time to time, and "Were it not presumptuous in us, 'he said, "to criticize the morality of the age that produced an Abraham, a Moses, that made adultery punishable by stoning to death, that closed the mouth of our Savior against the marriage customs of his own and the patriarchal age; to criticize the morals of the great reformers, who were monogamists in the old sense,

and some of whom, sanctioned the morality of polygamy. The assertion that these were ancient times does not meet the point; since if it were assumed that virtue comes with intelligence we should look for the upper strata of society, the educated and enlightened, to surpass in virtue their less favored contemporaries-while the contrary is notoriously the case. And again, we would expect to find the intelligent nations, those in the vanguard of civilization, more moral, possessing a higher moral sense than the barbarous and semi-barbarous nations of the world. But, we find statistics will demonstrate that the contrary is the case-that we can find no barbarous country that presents a condition so appalling as some of the European nations, where a quarter of the births are outside of legitimate wedlock. Are we then in a position to hold up our hands in holy indignation at the morals of this community, being ourselves poisoned through and through with poisons of immorality, while every authority bears record of the fact that this sect is singularly free from sexual sins and that the adulterer can have no place among them? I, for one, bow my head in reverence to their superior morality. Let not the age, the people, that licenses prostitution, and revels in the evils of illicit intercourse, cast a stone at the age, or the people, who live in a moral righteousness. Would not a man be a hypocrite, who would exact of others that which he scorns himself? Is not a nation, a generation of hypocrites, which, being steeped in licentiousness, punishes a people of superior morality for a fancied evil?"

The judge charged the jury in his usual style; had something to say about the five hundred millions of people in this glorious country being shocked, and being in earnest, called the defendant hard names, and in one of his more forcible strictures threw an inkstand at the defendant, which nearly brained him, and wound up by dancing a frenzied jig on the judicial rostrum. The jury then retired, sought the judicial bar-room, ordered twelve deep potations, agreed that any man who failed to drink voted

not guilty, and drank unanimously to the health of the defendant. They came into court and delivered their verdict.

Upon sentencing the prisoner, the judge remarked that there was an ancient Arizona precedent, for trying a man under one statute and sentencing him under

another, that, therefore, he would sentence the prisoner for horse stealing, the penalty being the more severe.

Thus ended the trial of John Anderson McAnderson, in which the great government of the United States was the party plaintiff. Samuel Sorghum.

So many dangers beset the walks of Saints that signals are required for their preservation. The ministers of life selected by the Lord and entrusted with the care of His people in this dispensation, have done well their part in notifying the latter of the pitfalls that are open for them. If the warning of the past were sufficient to save the people, writing and preaching for that purpose would no longer be needed. But new members are gathered in, and they with the youth in Zion, need the same signals that have done such good service in the past. Then those who have been warned are forgetful and become careless, and incline to treat lightly the lessons of the past, in some instances, and require constant reminding.

The unequally yoking' together of believers with unbelievers is a great danger threatening the Latter-day Saints. The daughters of Zion are more inclined to make this mistake than her sons. But in olden times history testifies the reverse to have been the rule. The men of Israel were condemned frequently for marrying strange women. Now the Lord has gathered His people by the preaching of the Gospel to this choice land, to educate them and to raise up a righteous seed that will hear Him and do His will. He has given us one faith and one spirit. He has called us out of and .to be separate from the world; from their ways and from their spirit. Our gathering and coming out from the world would be in vain, if we were to mix and mingle with the world in marriage and all their ways as before. We cross the danger line if we engage in any manner, in ways the Lord designed us to avoid, when He gathered us out.

When a daughter of Zion marries an unbeliever she separates herself from her family, from the Saints, from the ordinances of the Gospel, and consequently from the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. She deprives herself of family prayers, her children are not heirs of the New Covenant, and they are deprived of the Patriarchal blessings and instructions that the children of Saints are entitled to. Chances are largely against their ever embracing the Gospel, and if they do not, they fall into line against the Kingdom of God. Thus the sins of the parents fall upon posterity, and the consequential | damages are greater than we can estimate. There is also danger of contamination of other branches of the family by communication and association. Strange men and women lead away the hearts of the sons and daughters of Zion after idols, and from the true and living God. There can be no harmony and but little peace in such a family unless the believer deserts the faith and cuts loose entirely from allegiance to the Gospel. If there is not union in the household, contentment and happiness are gone. No daughter of Zion should receive the attentions and give encouragement to an unbeliever. It is a sure sign of weakness of faith; and the same is true in regard to the sons of Zion.

Isaac and Rebekah had the correct feeling upon this subject, and their minds were full of grief when Esau took Hittite women of the land to wife. Gen. xxvi. 34, 35. "And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these

which are daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?" Gen. xxvii. 46. The course of Father Abraham, when he was near his death, as recorded in Gen. xxiv, is the strongest lesson on record of the importance of proper marriages. He called to him his eldest servant who ruled over all he had, and said to him: "Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou wilt not take a wife unto my son, of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac." And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and sware to him concerning that matter. We find this servant, under this solemn oath and charge, fitting up for his journey of several hundred miles from Hebron in Judea, to Nahor in Mesopotamia, with ten camels; and a very important lesson is taught us in the operation of this trusted man, for he conversed with the Lord, asking Him to overrule and arrange the approach of the damsel, that he should know her. The Lord sent Rebekah so that she was readily recognized by the servant.

How many of the young men and maidens of Latter-day Israel have had such vigilance exercised over them, in regard to making their selection of husbands and wives? I fear that gross negligence is chargeable to parents in Zion on this score and undying sorrows entailed upon families. This great danger would be still more frequently met with, if we were to allow our children to be taught by imported teachers. The spirit of the Gospel revolts at the approach of all such dangers, while the spirit of the world is eager to have us embrace them. This is one sign by which we may know the spirit of the Lord. I have never known the contrast between it and that of anti-Christ more plainly exhibited, than in the camp-fires of the G. A. R., held in Salt Lake City during the past summer. They exhibited the same spirit of murderous diabolism that has

sacrificed the lives of the innocent in all ages, and that invented the tortures which man has endured from his brother.

Do Latter-day Saints wish to be baptized with that spirit? Oh no! It is the spirit of the evil one, that takes men down to the pit. It should be shunned as the gates of hell. In absence of other friends, the spirit of the Lord will always raise a danger signal for us when one is needed; therefore to retain this spirit and to become acquainted with its operations, is a most important duty.

Proper and timely danger signals should be raised by all parties who have the care of souls; and thus relieve themselves of responsibility, and be saviors indeed to those whom God has entrusted to their care. There is danger of fathers being too reticent with their families. I have known men, who were ministers of the Gospel, to spend a great deal of time with their children, but would never speak to them upon the principles of the Gospel, nor teach them to pray. They appeared to think their public teachings were all sufficient and, in order that the praying should be well done, they would do it all themselves; thus letting their children, grow up in theological idleness. Parents should converse freely with their children upon every principle of life, that they may early understand them and practically demonstrate their truth and power. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit every child should be converted to the truth, by the teachings of its parents. Parents should be good authority to their children, and should be competent to teach them the principles of the Gospel, as early as they can receive them. Then all the additional light they can get from public instructions, sabbath schools, improvement associations and from private individuals, as well as from reading good books, will tend to strengthen the faith and enlarge the understanding and confirm the doctrines planted in them by their parents. Children are entitled to benefit by what their parents know, in regard to religious as well as secular affairs; and how can they profit unles they be taught?

There is danger in backbiting, talebearing and evilspeaking. I know of nothing of an ordinary nature that will sooner disturb or offend the Spirit of the Lord than speaking evil of neighbors; speaking of and sometimes exaggerating their faults. It is a grievous sin, and when it is indulged in, where the Spirit of the Lord is, it will surely be rebuked or the spirit will be withdrawn. We should cultivate the habit of speaking of our neighbor's virtues, and if we talk of their vices let it be to them, with the view of making reformation.

F. M. Lyman.

BURDEN OF WELSH FARMERS. THE average American farmer loves a tax bill about as well as a black snake. He ought, therefore, to have a sympathetic feeling for his Welsh brethren, who are just now savagely fighting the church tithe system. An aggravating

feature of this tax is that it is collected for the support of clergy of the Church of England, while three-fourths of the tax payers are dissenters. The tithe is levied on all produce of land, while other forms of property are exempt. In England and Wales two-thirds of the land is subject to this impost, the other third being ancient church property whose tithes were long ago merged with the rents. Till the year 1836 the tithe was taken in kind. The parson was entitled to each tenth bundle of wheat or barley, each tenth cock of hay, each tenth calf, and foal, and lamb, and pig, each tenth swarm of bees, in fact the tenth of everything down to kitchen herbs. The farmer could not store his wheat or hay, rain or shine, till after proper notice was given to the clergyman, who was on hand to pick out his dues. Some of the inconveniences of this. system were abated by agreements to pay in money, and in 1836 a law was enacted making all tithes collectable in this form.

Estimates of the value of the chief crops were based on average prices for seven years, one year being knocked off and a new one added each season. For the greater part of the time the clergy have had the best of the bargain, though when the gold discoveries in California

and Australia brought prices up, they depressed the value of the tithe. This now stands at ten per cent. below par; that is, that which at one period went as high as one hundred and eleven pounds now rests at ninety pounds. But, to compensate for this, farm produce has fallen, while farm labor has gone up, so that to-day the tithe is an intolerable burden to the Welsh farmer. It is no less grievous in England, but the average agriculturist there is a good churchman, and pays his tithe with a similar fervor, though somewhat cooled no doubt, with which he reads his prayers. The best obtainable figures give the amount thus collected in England and Wales as nearly twenty million dollars yearly. That is, indeed, something to whistle over.

But the law is too

And the Welsh farmers are whistling a lively tune about this time. Their landlords have reduced rents from ten to even fifty per cent. in some cases, but the clergy are firm. The farmers refuse to pay. Then come seizures and sheriffs' sales. The farmers club together and abstain from bids. They boycott auctioneers and sheriffs. much for them. They are patient, however, and up to now they abstain from violence. But the agitation has spread, and the quarrymen and coal miners have recently joined the farmers. It is a pretty quarrel, and if John Bull does not withdraw his atttention from India and Egypt a bit and take a sympathetic peep at the Welsh farmers, he is likely some day to have a second Ireland on his hands.

HOW TO MAKE STEEL STOLEN.-A little more than a hundred years ago the manufacture of steel had a beginning in England, and about that time there was living in Sheffield a man by the name of Huntsman. He was a watch and clock maker, and he had so much trouble in getting steel that would answer for his springs he determined to make some himself. He experimented for a long time, and after many failures hit upon a process that produced a very fine quality of steel. The best steel at that time was made by the Hindoos and it cost in

England about fifty thousand dollars a ton; but Huntsman could make his for five hundred dollars a ton. He therefore found a ready market for all the steel he could make, and determined to keep his invention secret, and no one was allowed to enter his works except his workmen, and they were sworn to secrecy. Of course, other iron and steel makers were very desirous of finding out how he produced the steel he made, and accomplished it at last: One dark and cold winter night a wretched looking beggar knocked at the door of Huntsman's works and asked shelter from the storm that was raging without. The workmen kindly gave him permission to come in and find warmth and shelter near one of the furnaces. In a little while the drowsy beggar fell asleep, or seemed to do so, but beneath his torn and shabby hat his half-shut eyes watched with eager interest every movement made by the men about the furnaces, and as the charging of the melting pots, heating, and at last pouring the steel into ingots took several hours, it is hardly necessary to add that the forgotten beggar slept long, and, as it seemed, soundly, in the corner where he lay. It turned out afterward that the apparently sleeping beggar was a well-to-do iron maker living near by, and the fact that he soon

began the erection of large steel works similar to Huntsman's was good evidence that he was a poor sleeper but a good watcher.

THINK OF IT!-The following diagram represents in round numbers sundry yearly expenditures by the people of the United States. It compares the cost of their vices with their expenditures for the necessaries of life, and sharply defines the interest of the people at large, in the things that relate to the welfare of society.

Alcoholic Liquors, $900,000,000.

Tobacco, $690,000,000. Wool, Cotton and Sugar, $602,000,000. Iron, Steel and Lumber, $523,000,000. Bread, $505,000,000.

Meat, $303,000,000.

Public Education, $92,000,000.
Home and Foreign Missions, $5,500,000.

With the above figures before us can we wonder at the crime, social disorder, domestic unhappiness, sickness and sorrow that abound in the land? Truly they indicate a standard of morality, of which the nation might well take heed, when deliberating upon drastic measures for the correction of its best citizens, whose proportionate responsibility for the condition above shown is less than that of any other people of the Republic.