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Show 203 consecration and stewardship. He said, "The inauguration of this imaginative mixture of individualism and collectivism, and the acceptance of the philosophy underlying it, go far toward explaining the social union and cohesiveness of the Latter-day Saints which antedated the persecutions usually credited with generating this outstanding characteristic of Mormon group life.4 To what extent was plural marriage practiced? "Curious visitors to Utah in the days when polygamy was flourishing were usually told that about one tenth of the people actually practiced it. Since the abandonment of the principle this estimate has been revised downward," Ivins said. Paul E. Reimann offered that: Even before there was any interdicting legislation, the Church had exercised such restriction and rigid control that the men who married plural wives likely did not constitute on an average, more than two percent (2%) of the church membership, and might have been as small as one and one-third percent (1 1/3%). Regardless of what has been written on the subject, plural marriage never was designed to replace monogamy.6 What was the average number of wives per husband? The men with many wives constituted a few exceptions. Ivins said, "66.3 percent married only one extra wife...The typical polygamist, far from being the insatiable male of popular fable, was a dispassionate fellow, content to call a halt after marrying the one extra wife required to assure him of his chance at salvation." and further, "It is evident that, far from looking upon plural marriage as a privilege to be made the most of, the rank and file Mormons accepted it as one of the onerous obligations of church membership. Left alone, they were prone to neglect it, and it always took some form of pressure to stir them to renewed zeal.6 Perhaps, through today's perceptions, plural marriage cannot be fully appreciated. But that comprehension which is possible must be |