Show I I THE II ESSAG1f i j 1 President Arthurs farewell annua message to Congress was presented on Monday and ppciars in full in this issue of THE HEBATLD It is not a great statepqper likesome outs predecessors and it will not gothundering down the ages Jf There is nothing gnat aboa Mr Author unless it be the eimiitt fit of his pantaloons or the artistic cut of his beard again there is nothing in I 6 the present condition of the country to i call forth a great message Circumstances = Circum-stances make men as opportunities furnish material for brilliant and able Presidential messages The country is fortunate in its tranquil condition but f Mr Arthur seems to be deplorably de-plorably unfortunate in wanting the chance to make farewell annual t i communication to Congress a paper that will excite attention above commonplace 1 common-place and live longer than the hour i in which it was being read However considering the circumstances and the r opportunities presented this last message mes-sage of President Arthur must be re gaMed fair1g cod Je has made as much of the Situation as possibleas l f much in fact as anyone could have fi i done and has given us a paper that conk con-k tains many really wise suggestions and commendable recommendations As a matte or course there is a reference refer-ence to ttJiii The message of a Republican = Re-publican President that did not contain I an attack upon poor Utah would be an anomaly Happily we will be afflicted > by no more Republican Presidents and perhaps Congress will hereafter escape the annual prod which means little or nothing and hch is merely inserted to comport with the party platform and tickle the meddlesome people who are so deeply interested in the affairs of others whether or I1 they pay much attention to their own Last year Mr Arthur said in his message The Utah Commission has submitted to the Secretary of the Interior its second I sec-ond annual report As a result of its t labors in supervising the recent election in that Territory pursuant to the act of March 22 1882 it appears that persons per-sons by that act disqualified to the number of abort t 12000 were expluded y from the polls This fact however affords af-fords little cause for congratulation and I fear fhat it is far from indicating any real and substantial progress toward the extirpation of polygamy All the mem berselect of the Legislature are Mormons Mor-mons There is grave reason to believe that they are in sympathy with the practices that this government is seeking seek-ing to suppress and that its efforts in that regard will be more likely to encounter en-counter their opposition than receive their encouragement and support Even if this view should happily he er Toneous the law under which the Commissioners Com-missioners have been acting should be made more effective by the incorporation incorpora-tion of some such stringent amendments amend-ments as they recommend and as were included in bill No 2238 on the calendar I of the Senate at its last session I am convinced however that polygamy polyg-amy has become so strongly intrenched in the Territory of Utah that it is profitless L profit-less to attack it with any but the stouts stout-s est weapons which constitutional legislation legis-lation can fashion I favor therefore the repeal of the act upon which the existing exist-ing government depends the assumption assump-tion oy the national legislature of the entire political control of the Territory and the establishment t of a commision a with such powers and duties as shall be delegated to it by law This time he says < t The report of the Utah Commission will be read with interest It discloses the results of recent legislation looking to the prevention and punishment of j polygamy in that Territory I still oL1 j sieve that if that abominable practice can be suppressed by law it can only j be by the most radical legislation I consistent i con-sistent with the Constitution I again recommend therefore that Congress j assume absolute political control of the Territory Utah and provide for > the appointment of a Commission with such governmental power as in its judgment judg-ment may justly and wisely be put into their hands It will thus be seen that the President has held to the idea and almost to the language furnished him in 1883 as correctly = cor-rectly rumored by Governor Murray This time the Utah reference is shorter indicating that Arthur rather than Murray wrote it on the present occasion For the present brevity we thank the President The recommendation itself is unimportant unimport-ant and immaterial in view of its viciousness vicious-ness and also in view of the fact that the present Congress has only three months of life all of which must be devoted de-voted to weightier matters than the regulation of the morals of a Territory which is peaceful prosperous quiet and contented Altogether President Arthur has concluded con-cluded his series of messages with one that is neither brilliant nor dim it is mediocre and therefore like its author The next message to Congress will bread b-read with a good deal more interest than this one M |