Show THE UTAH BILL proceedings in lit the U S senate on rebr february uary JL fla ZE I A 22 mr the question of a political question within the control of the thet political power at all times I bc be aeve everybody ody agrees to that all that senator has said respecting the opinions of mormon woman H is entirely apart from this bill that tilsit ia is motive merely it is not law in lit the next place if we sauld get at the real mon gorfien wo had gave t ve them thern the me frky exercise ot of those a of f bre breaking alting nans tip as lam am these fraad cea oes in that territory I would aou d say if the mormon lormon A women could not now vote they should have the right to vote because if you can get at their thi real opinions 1111 on as these corn id did from many of them ts awe E should hould find gd that the very nature of woman in general the very nature of virtuous woman revolt revolts at the no and find ofa of ma in fluence fluen cef but they are like the wo men of central ama avid at thia this t present teut moment they are dominator domin atod by the ada rda of creation who ho wish to keep lup u P ia is opposed H ad myself n ii self agree to everything that ii is good aa as we un skor wind it in this world and that we all aaeree iu desiring iring to to put down yr that at fir ial is I hol ho i l way it stand The therefore we do nut evade any principle evadeane or coutil cou til anT gov eminent in in arr arranging a n ii th the political ef pa T over which vf wo awes dominion if thear the argument of a learned citizen odthe of the state yf pennsylvania said to have been delivered deli ered committee toa to of odthe the house of of representative and a copy of which has been bce n seni sent to me pe ia is that we have no right to I t b kanoof anhof the transact tos X in ltd th berri ia ry of utah at tit nil all and utah is entitled to the same power of self government by a ste ideis is but I do nut pr pas eto etu e to go g il into that question I dis luls it as one to which no senator or very few senators will alaree agree at all itil then having the political power of arranging the sul suffrage in that territory and being determined to put down ta practice of polygamy there and anti to abolish abolia this anti lican lie in hierarchy which is founded on that alone I think we are justi aed zed in taking any step that protects equal end the motive is banot not to distinction in ill respect to opinions but the motive ia is to libe liberate rute these women from front the dure durem m under which they keep up a government there which is injurious to their own fortune their own honor bonor their own prosper ity and their own instincts of female virtue that is it and that is all of it p my learne inquires why we 40 qt ex luu le ne men 00 on a co ri ici P ai 11 11 J genera r ral al run rufes wo we have not undertaken and I do not wis it to undertake and I do not think it right to undertake and I doubt it if it ia is constitutional to undertake I will not say I doubt I am am surp itis a 11 jai to disfranchise chise any man on oh account afan of an opinion that he lie has bas or any woman persona mist be dis disfranchised on borne some other local ebal ground everybody I suppose except judge black agrees that t a in point poin t blaw 14 r we te can an any territory lorfn iii bia aiato to property holders of and that would reduce the government of the district to probably one wo we can confine it in the territories to to and reduce the whole territory to one hundred men very like ily we VIC can t h who has a it dollar ollar d in li ahall be entitled to vote we ic can say that nobody who haa has any amount of prop erty shell be entitled to vote and that all riua alio ho havoc no property at all the paul shall be the tot sina over which n q orui r I fh the district of columbia is we tit think in k it wife tr ie i e to t do d it hoiu c e we make a geneal genera fc classification if you olude men trien iti aimell atoll ai ii aho Moi ubil women you must exclude tb the czenthe men inell as its well a edo I ly this bill the Cen tUft women om A and ii d then you neta ta yata in the territory lit tit all alt so sa with the motie J with the tile utmost plaintive in p pow ow craod rau d relieving these mormon women from th the and burc durea s kiaer which mova wt their vote it o a certain wity way it is right and proper to dp do this thing that ia is theli the whole cleot of iff nir ir nolif ln ny afrie 42 if churetta chu setta is ia I I is ady ini ration and desire for woman man suffrage bat Q at lie is unwilling to take every step possible lawfully lawful lly to repress pre polygamy and afta this hierarchy haindel hi foun indel deil on it in that territory that he Ike prefers to have polygamy with a than a n to have havno no poly giray A t for or the lime time bsma that af pf will account tor or hia his position i ira ri hour IV by doc does tibt the senator abolish there altogether rote allow ice me to oak as hiro him air mr edmunds I will state eta te that sir mr hoar we wc have the same saine right to do it mr edmunds we bovo the same right to abolish suffrage altogether then than what are you going to do you must govern that territory just as you govern t the he dig dis triet of columbia golumbia by a steady and constant act of congress like ageg if lature which ig 13 impracticable imo amo people a n umber of Gentiles in that tha t territory were angry last year when we w pa parsed sed th the a former bill to which chii thins is r a supplement drawn got out by circumstance stance esaud cud in i it arii extremely that we should abolish suffrage rage altogether and put nut the of that territory into a and give the cout as practically we ire must if we do it at all legislative legis lalive powers I do 10 not believe the congress of the states ought to give any anywhere legislative lowi you clu can give them executive power powers but you must yourself exert the I legislative i power and we t anu coif the e way Y congress is blocked up I with busine s we N e cannot provide avol legislation ironi froin day to day and fro from time to time fur for that territory it cannot be daae and the tile co committee littee thought considering that part of the question that thatis it was improper P the aft thing ingrow now standi to govern that by a commis commission a that could lc iny invested ested with the necessary legislative powers fr the proper go government of it su sv we yve cannot do that then we go just aa far and as fast as the constitution will al lowus in every way wity to accomplish the end that I suppose suppo e we all have in view and so fai far is aa the thing stands in point of law there can be no question of our right g to regulate suffina suf suurje fira e in that territory suppose when you come to the question of motive thenny then any honorable friend is entitled to make the argument he be has made that this motive may apply just as well to men as women so it might raight lut we apply it both to the gentile women who arc are wiling illing and glad to buffer alila deprivation in order to accomplish this great good and to the mormon women alike istre tf we apply it to the mormon men we must apply it to the gentile men alike and then we shall have nobody to elect A a territorial legislature and mako make a government mr hoar I want to ask the senator a question but I want to found it if he lie will allow me on the rending of a passage ge from the last act the fhe senator as I understood him in what lie first said stated that them w women acted under duress cf of their husbands for that reason he ivis wished led to t exclude them the present law is this section of the act of march 22 1822 that no polygamist bigamist Kamiat bJ or any person coba biti anz with more than one woman and no woman cohabiting v with a au of the described aa aforesaid aid inthis section in any territory ry or ather place jaee over winch the united states have jurisdiction shall bo be entitled to vote at any election held in any such territory or other ther place or be eligible eli sibo for election or appointment to or be entitled to hold any office or place of public trust honor lionor or emolument in under or for any such suph territory or place or under iho ilie united states so you have already excluded every bigamist or polygamist man or woman every woman cohabiting with aay polygamist or bigamist and this is a proposition merely to extend ica i tion without extending it men th the e mormon man in in carrying his principles into practice is not excle ded now I wish to ask the senator from V vermont amont why it is that finding certain men not guilty of crime but only entertaining bad opinions and certain bomea not guilty gf crime hut soma tome efthem as lie supposes entertaining bad I opinion he lie makes a law lair applicable to the territory of utah by which he lie excludes all women from froin the franchise they now possess pome m ami anti celb refused es ta exclude not only all men but ev even en the men entertaining those opinions lair mr edin edmund ands stave I have answered juliat that already ajr eaily chave said lra blidt yur your law lav must be equal and is equal us its applied to classes ei nobody daubl s my friend from froin massachusetts docs does nut doubt that wherever we have I legislative eg LQ jurisdiction uri diction like a state has or r like Cong congress rw has over the district of columbia or a T territory Terri tery we may inay classify tho the people who are entitled to the e ot of political rights by a age e by sex by property or the want of property or any other su such ch thing that is general in its application n now in order to joae ne rpm thi th object we have vein in view one great and necessary step in it is to diminish the political power of the polygamous mormon 11 ormon church because o that is what it is and that is what it is alone as it is now constituted although it is an all in grafted contrivance on the original mor mon faith now how bow are you going to do 10 it I have answered that already you c can an do it by excluding all men in tha the territory if you please and leave it to a all I women but inasmuch as three fourt fourtha lis odthe of the women there are under it the domination of the men men I II who wish to keep up this polygamous church they vote voto jut ai as they are ue compelled to whether they arc are plural wives or not because the power ower of the church extends entirely ly beyond the mere polygamous relation it extends to almost all the female people of that Church as well as the male people and they tote vote almost solid in one way in order t to maintain this central power of the kind that I need not take time to dei describe cribe that is the reason and therefore having the power to make this clarification classification under the law and not having th e power to abolish it entirely with anar safety for the government of the territory for we cannot put it in a commission with ae legislative dilative Lila tive powers we must do this or do nothing and it really comes back to the question whether you prefer polygamy to suspending for the time being eing female euf frace irace in that territory and relieving these poor women who are fl far ar more vastly sinned against than sinning from the domination that forces them to uphold by their botts thi this institution that we arc trying to get rid of mr blair mr president t I believe in what is called manhood suffrage thai that is the right of in in the sovereignty on the part of every human being of mature powers whether male or female I admit that the awer to regulate the exercise of suffrage rage is in iii the political organization aa as it exists and that the extension of the suffrage is at ita its will not as a matter of right but as a matter of power because there it ii no other way to obtain the extension unless it a 13 exercised by force and violence which ii ip revolution wherever in in any republican community or in any community where the republican form of government prevails this richt right has been extended to all to w whom oin it belongs belong by nature I never will consent by act of mine to see any class clas rs despoiled of the exercise of tl that I at right and if in the territory of utah woman his has acquired it I will so far ai as my action is concerned in incline cline a alway ways ito to vote in euch such way wa aa as to sensible her to continue ra rather lar than to restrict her in its exercise but without entering upon the general question quest ioa of the right of female suffrage I wish to confine what little I have to tay say now to the tb specific provisions in this bill the exact state of the law teems to be this by BT the statute of the last every polygamist and bigamist of the right to vote tote and to hold office I suppose we would consider that they have the right to continue the exercise of euf suffrage frage and the right of office holding until tried and convicted of the crime mentioned according to law and it is bo because we cannot inflict this pain and penalty for certainly the deprivation of the right of partaking in the th suffrage is FU punishment ni because we cannot deprive them until after conviction by due course of law jaw that the tile mormon m men en still retain the right of suffrage therefore they can still vote mormon women can vote still both can vote until they ara are convicted of the crime specified in the act of last ac session sion now this pill bill comes to us and reads reaba as follows that it shall not be lawful for any female to vote at any election hereafter held iu in the territory of utah for any public purpose whatever and no such buell vote shall be received or counted or given effect in any manner what eer ever and any and every act ef of the governor and legislative lec is assembly of the territory of utah providing for or allowing the registration or by females is berea y annulled it does not touch the matter of office holding bolding it does not attack the right of suffrage rage in the bands of any but women and it makes no distinction c among women the senator from vermont b brings r ings in thia bill with this section b because can se certain of the women in the territory of f utah believe in polygamy and vote in accordance cor dance with th their air belief or if lie dees does not place it upon that ground I he be says tays it is because these women are practically enslaved and anti vote in accordance with ith the will ot of their 1111 husbands bAnds or their masters that is a question of fact pact and his hii proof of that question stion of fact id is I think liable tu to be controvert ed tu u be ture ure he sayd says that certain domitili comi cummia tili sione rs who went out there aud pent spent a few months come bick and say so idi do not know in what authoritative way they have ever oaid aid BO so but I do know knor that all the accounts I have ever heard from the territory of utah are overwhelmingly to the point that the women are as in much uch attached to the institutions as are the men in that territory and I think that is i the fact I happened to be tie last gen tile happened w who colv conversed eased with brigham aiu young before hi his death I was in the territory at that time it was on an a monday evening even inc aud and he lie died the next thursday I in it conversation with him and in ih conversation with many other leading men yuen and from observation that I had the opportunity of f making at a public festival and stud at other public gatherings gathering st aud ud assemblies sem blies which I witnessed while there I was thoroughly Fatis satisfied fied that the women as a whole were as strongly attached to the institution as w were ere the mormon men and I believe such to be their opinion to I day I believe that if the mormon women vote for sustaining that institution they do it as ft rule euleas as freely its do the |