Show = 0 WHAT THEY JV ANr 1 Rep rt of < Utah C om1 iiS noME n-oME OF THE IDEAS t WhICh Cost bui ncle a1fillt of Money EXTREXE MkSIIiS4 XEEDEL To protect ilie 1Jlt Jets of the Eguided Peopl of Utah Territory The Utah Commission Uth fjusnfOTOK October 31The Ut lommL ion through its chairman ieiander Ramsey has submitted to Secretary of the Interior their an UJ1 report upon the transactions and jfoceedmgs of 1he commission since November > 18th 18S1 the date of their Jut report Thciuaport begins with the state sent that the usual annuul revisions of je Utah registration lists for the preset and thoroughly et year were duly udeby the officers of the board aud aegeneral election was held August dlast t No person living in the prac ce of poly gamy was allowed to register TOte nor was any such person elected commissioned to any office This Mint c t therefore has been surely rescued says the commission that the jjjoeola polygamist cannot be found on the registration lists and none of as ChaS arc holding office Never jjglej it is true that nearly all MA officers t chosen atthe last anI in oir preceding elections are Mormons wovhrle they do not actually live m subscribe to the doctrine i potgmy po1y3n1u marriages as a Divine of wlranictts revelationS unto allhIgher an moreifocfing upon conscience than any hunun law A notable exception how em occurred inSummit County where neenare nonMormon ticket includ TieimMaber of the House of Repre sntrtra of the Assembly was elected representative was the first non Jfcaon elected for many yeara The < rausaion refer to the recent decision tithe Supreme Court in the polygamy wee as a timely and valuable interpre Uon ot the law It is believed there have been very ew polygamous marriages during the preset year but it is not regarded as prudent to look upon this fact as indicating indi-cating anything more than a suspension i the practice resulting from the vig oous enforcement of the law and not ii actual surrender occasioned by a enei and decided change of senti aatrejankng the doctrine itself In tieed 113 believed that if all the opera Liona by the Commissioners and courts Mould at once cease or even if a halt ng hesitating policy should take the tact ot the vigorous one now in force it it altogether probable that plural I aarriages would again become very general in Utah A firm ttitude of government and the faithful execution I execu-tion of law sustained by public senti nent have exerted in the past year a Hpresjire influence upon the Mormon psople never before experienced by th om aace heir establishment in Utah The wne of certain polygamists who have tfedared their intention of obeying the a w in the future thereby incurring tit wuth of the church is cited as an 4Twenc of internal dissension which though feeble is an encouraging leatare of the situation Every step forward by government says the Com I aussion will give more strength and wiage < to the men whose desire ia top I to-p ct and obey the law A single sin-gle step backward in the legislation ° r administration will help the Church lOenrh out this growing spirit of op POSition and perhaps loe to the move ben against polygamy all that has be been earned by the passage of the Ed rounds act I I The report pays a high tribute to the ial the and success ofthe resent officers of Fede Court Within two years j eightytb ree indictments have been foon d for polygamy and unlawful co b JU3non There have been twenty three convictions andfortythree cases 22 Baiting trial The great in rese of VaSltie33 before the Federal he ourt 8tSaltLae City resulting from II1d VRation Y of polygamy cases has l11ent ll necessary that the appoint ° an additional judge bOUld o1ld I I 1 be authorized by Congress lttc regretted that the Prosecuting jllOtfley and his assistant have found CTiaet CeSarv the to tender their resignations remuneration fort u inadequate thej1 el Jteir services The Commission re tiiat y at have 8one length to the allegations o poSe n made by the defenders der PolYgamy ue that the prosecutions un Uftincf S nnds act are directed solely relations sewho maintain polygamous tiODs b and that alleged sexual dire tlgatM y oth r persons note inves 18 that th TJ i not-e burden of their rejoinder I1diTidusl aw was not directed against tainst lascivious practices but Church th 0 asawjt by thee Mormon the-e hrm n pon the monogamic system Le 13 entertained ia VIew of Past 6lnM t5taCUOn 6L of the Leclalative As r fi1Ii J Ln8t 1t will this witoyidc lling 1g the the Edmuntb offices declared vacant I cIein the act Notthelenstob nd in enforcement of the law is gb oVer is the fact that ae Legislative tength arrayed iu all its force and ple and against the desires of the 6ls1a government and nohelp e Leg n Slature can be expected although NM abonl11 13 Supported by they tIehw all the-y The Com iishion J toe Sen recoInIncndatlonf contained biU l283 Br which ftIUt acsage in the Rouse of Ropresenia 9 tivesP during the last session and in their report of last year and submit the following additional recommendations That the term of imprisonment for unlawful cohabitation be extended to at least itwo years for the first and three years for the second offense that all persons be excluded bv law from making mak-ing location orsettlement upon any part of the land of the United States who shall xefuse on demand to take an oath before the proper officer of the land office that he if a man does not cohabit with more than one woman in the marriage mar-riage relation and will support the laws of the United States or if a woman that she does not cohabit with a man having more than one living or un divorced wife that the laws with reference refer-ence to the immigration of the Chinese and the importation of contract laborers labor-ers paupers and riminals be so amended as to prevent the immigration of persons claiming that their religion teaches and iustfie the crime of polygamy polyg-amy as this would cut off the chief source of supply to the Mormon Church The Comnvssioners say they have felt it to be their duty to resist the general demand of the nonMormons in the Territory that they should recommend recom-mend legislation that would place the exercise of all civil power in the hands of a jegislative Commission appointed by the President until the Edmunds act had been fairly tested The hope had been indulged that the Mormon people would nually see their line of duty in yielding a willing acquiescence to the law but the result has been a disappointment so far as the leaders of the church and the principal part of their following are concerned The declaration de-claration oftenrepeated during t e past year by the chief officers ofthe church tha tIt t-it is their settled determination to refuse obedience to the law their persistent use of their great power and influence Ito I-to defeat all efforts frpm within as well as from without the church to put an end to polygamy and their persecution of those persons who desire to obey the laws have convinced the Commission that some more decisive plan to reduce the powers of the polygamous element and to correspondingly increase that of the Federal authority in the civil government of Utah should be presented pre-sented to Congress at this time for its action In addition to the Legislative Legis-lative Commission the plan above referred to two others have been suggested sug-gested the appointment plan making appointable all the offices now hilled bye by-e ectors and the Idaho plan disfranchising disfran-chising all the contributors to the support sup-port of a polygamic church There are objections to all of these plans and to anjkthat could be devised It may be said for the Legislative Commission plan that it is simple and direct of the appointment plan that all the offices including those of the Legislative Assembly embly remain undisturbed that they Rre all to be filled from the body of people as now by agencies under the control of the Federal government and hat the influence of the same would be otential of the Idaho plan although a more extreme and more severe emedy than either of the others hat it reaches to the very root of the system In conclusion ays the Commission whatever may bethought be-thought of these suggestions Congress would certainly render a service of in alculable benefit to Utah and indeed to the whole country if it would devise ome measure whereby this misguided eople could be brought out from un < ler the thraldrom which has so warped heir minds and their conscience that a crime committed in the name of religion igion is considered by them a duty and a biasing equally to those who commit com-mit and those who aid or abet its com uusion |