Show 71c Ji fi UAPHAMS BILL I s JI l 1 i I I Eye F Feebleminded old Senator Lap I I i 1 ham has reintroduced in the Senate i I i his bill to amend the act establishing ji establish-ing a Territorial government for t jj Utah and a sillier lot of lush has fi l E 1 seldom been presented for the consideration I c i ii con-sideration of intelligent legislators F It starts in by changing the name oft of-t the Territory to Altamont which 1 I I suggests that the senile Senator is i poetical in his names and understands Nt under-stands something of Latin and French A literal translation of i I Altamont which we presume Mr Lapham desires pronounced Alta mong is high mountain which J i tf sounds both pretty and grand The I next secticn of the bill provides for a governor who shall be com 1 J manderin chief of the militia I I 1 f when we have any j shall perform 11 j c I the duties and receive the emoluments J emolu-ments including it is presumed 1 f pre-sumed the regular stealings of I 151 J t a superintendent of Indian affairs ij t s t shall send an annual message to the Legislature shall enjoy theabsolute veto power shall appoint three election elec-tion inspectors for each district8hall i commission all officers who shall be elected or appointed to office in the f Territory and in general take carey t care-y i II that the laws faithfully executed t these last two duties will settle at 4 1 1 I I least two questions one as to ri 1 I s whether or not officers should be and the other t F j commissioned as t0 J j the faithful execution of the laws 1 I The third section defines the qualifications r i quali-fications voters and requires that Y r each if required by the inspectors tot t q to-t 11 do so must prove that he possesses r 1 t 1 t I j the cualifications of residence and J f S citizenship and if challenged must f i I satisfy the inspectors that he is j fl guiltless of bigamy and has but f J one living wife The governor i secretary and district attorney are i J made a board of canvassers and e p are given full authority to count the r L ° votes and issue the certificates of election accordingly If a bigamist J by some trickery should get his r vote into the ballot box it must be rejected in the count and canvass if they can recognize it which is decidedly interesting in view of the fact that the voting is secret and the ballots must be so folded as to hide their contents Men having more than one living wife are not allowed to serve and perform the solemn duties of a grand or petit juror nor to be eligible to civil or military office The first legislature under the act is required to repeal all the statutes or partsof statutes of the Territory which authorize or sanction plural or polygamous marriages mar-riages But here comes what th boys would call the daisy part of the bill Upon our word and sacred honor We declare that the following is neither a stump speech nor a newspaper article but an exact and literal extract from Senator Lap hams bill And in view of the manifold sorrowsan miseries which that unwholesome prao tie in the Territory has entailed upon ignorant and deluded women and helpless help-less and suffering children that the said legislative assembly endeavor to provide by some law for the support during the remainder of their lives of the homeless and destitute female victims of polygamy and their hepless children For that purpose the said legislative assembly is hereby authorized and empowered to erect and build one or more houses of refuge and protection for euch victims and to levy on the real and personal property of the inhabitants of the Territory Terri-tory to defray the expense of the erection and maintenance of the said charities To the end that the male parents of destitute des-titute children and minors born of wo men in polygamous relations may be required to fulfill the natural paternal obligations the said legislative assembly is auU orized and enjoined to enact suitable suit-able laws for the enforcement of that parental obligation against fathers who have the moans to respond to it Section 7 provides that future marriages in order to deserve public pub-lic respect shall be publicly solemnized solem-nized in some building or place other than any Mormon endowment cloister in the presence of disinterested disinter-ested and respectable witnesses by a justice judge mayor or alderman or by a minister of the gospel of some accredited religious denomination other tnan the establishment or society of the Mormons The ancient statesman then proceeds to say and declare that Cas marriage in law is a civil contract no particular ceremony is required when the same shall be solemnized by a justice and so on but when solemnized by a minister the ceremony shall be according to the forms prescribed by the church Having provided for marriages Mr Lapham next empowers the marshal mar-shal and his deputies when they shall be forcibly resisted in execut ng their duties or serving process to summon the bystanders to their aid and when these latter are insufficient insuffi-cient to call any organized militia or Unitea States troops If the legislature legis-lature at any time neglect or refuse to levy and appropriate sufficient money to defray the necessary expenses ex-penses of the courts and thereby cause a failure of justice the Governor Gov-ernor must dismiss and dissolve that body stop their pay and order a new election of members All the present federal officials of the Territory Ter-ritory of Utah are continued for the Territory of Altamont until the President shall remove them One can scarcely believe it possible pos-sible that any sane man could in all seriousness and earnestness string together such a lot of slush and present it to dignified and intelligent intel-ligent Senators for their approval In reading the bill one is impressed that its author has intended it for a legislative joke or burlesque or that the man is a rank fool The measure I mea-sure itself can excite not the slightest slight-est apprehension for there couldnt be drummed together a corporals guard of Congressmen who would for a moment seriously think of putting such a cranky production in the statute books but it does excite ex-cite sorrow that the grand old State of New York with its thousands of able and brilliant statesmen should be represented in the United States Senate by a crackbrained old idiot who is playing the last act on the stage of the world that of Second childishness and mere oblivion |