Show J > jjjl j j JUDGE CARMTONS LETTER Jt I f I f In another part of this issce of tIIIE f I HERALD will be found a communication I 1 by Judge Carlton chairman of the Utah Commission ilessrs JR IT Bas I I J kin and J E Dooley acting probably ior the Loyal League submitted to the Commission the form of an oath which I I ij they desired Abe Commission to require J I citizens to subscribe before they would i be permittedsio reeister or YO3 This 1 proposed oath was cunningly devised J fit f t and drawn to exclude all Hormone i from the rights and privileges of the 1 f k franchise Having failed in the nefarious nefar-ious scheme to have Congress deprive the people of the right to vote and hold office the entlemen named above nd 1 those with whom they ere leagued 1 would bulldoze or inveigle the Commission Commis-sion into perpetrating thfroutragewMch the national legislature refused to commit com-mit Itis evident fronnJudgeCarltons letter that the latest League infamy will fail as its other schemes have done The Jndge asserts that ie speaks only for himself but it is pretty genersHy understood that his Views ° are the views of the majority of the f Commission and this being true the oath fdready formulated = and set out in i the chcular issued some time cgo for t the information of registration officers I Trill not be changed THE HERALD heartily congratulates the chairman of the Commission on his clear comprehensive and forcible r presentation of the matter He makes it so plain t11atthe Commission has gone IBS far as the law will permit it togo + j to-go in the exclusion of unqualified and t disqualified persons tfrom the polls that to ask the board to do more is an insult to the intelligence and judgment l of the members and arequest that they will assume the responsibility of an open and impudentviolation of the i I statute Judge Cartoon covers the grotnd completely and makes an unanswerable I un-answerable presentment when he sets I < out the disabilities to which voters are j l 1 i subject He says t l No > porgaml6t bigamist orny person cohabiting i co-habiting with more than one woman shall be entitled to register or vote at any election r in this Territory nor soy person who hug been convicted ut the Crimes of incest unlawful eohxbitntion adultery foraicttion bigamy or po jgamy no auvperson who associates I or cohabits polygamously ith persons of I the other sea nor can soy person register or r vote who has not taken and subscribed the oath prescribed by the Twentyfourth Section t Sec-tion til the act of Congress of March 3d 1SS7 nor can any woman register vote i All other persons possessing the local iy statutory qualifications as to age resi r dence etc have the right to register and vote The rules and regulatIons issuedtfay the Commission deprive no man of the right to vote that Congress 1 press intended should vote nor will the e faithful carrying out of these rules permit any man to register or 0 vote from whom it was the purpose of Congress to withdraw the franchise What more could be asked i The law being faithfully t executed the disqualified being prevented pre-vented from voting and the way kept open by which the qualified can exercise ex-ercise their tights the commission has performed its whole duty If Congress I I had intended that Mormons who f have not violated certain laws and w ho I were wining to swear that they would r I j not violate those laws should not vote y it would have said so in so many f 0 p i words If Congress had intended that I belief in the doctrines of the Mormon i Church should act as a disqualification t 1 I it would not have enacted that no person per-son shall be excluded from the polls f on account of anyopinion such person j t may entertain on the subjectof bigamy i or polygamy If Congress had intended ff in-tended there should be done in the Territory i Ter-ritory what the Loyal League asks the Commission to do it would have J enacted laws for the doing of it And i finally if Congress had intended that the Commission should possess and ext ex-t ercise legislative powers and functions I 1 it would have conferred them explicit I terms instead of enacting that each and every duty relating tothe registration 1 registra-tion of voters the conJuct of elections etc shall If be performed under the existing laws of the United States r and of said Territory by proper persons fw t who shall be appointed to execs icb l office and perform such duti k aboard f E o a-board of five persons to be appMRed < i by the President by and with the advice I j ad-vice and consent of the Senate E Judge CarlLoVs letter is tie frank l I t and intelligent expression of an official II I f t who understands his dutes undpr the I law and who proposes to perform those J i i duties and not assume powers and authority f au-thority dearly outside the law We i CTJIJJ n 1 it ta our readers and especial c i especi-al f w registration i officers and judges t 11 t J A jO j 5 I 1 J k trs J J J 9 I J I of election The Commission being with the chairman id this mater we may accept it as settled that no change Will be made in the oath or instructions as set out in the circular issued last l inontfi |