Show UTAH ANI > STATEHOOD Judge J tV Judd Makes Some Emphatic Statements on the subject The following pithy reply to THE HERALDS inquiry on this subject was received re-ceived too late to insert in the symposium sym-posium on that question but we find a place for it on this page that the readers of THE COLUMBIAN HERALD may not fail to see the views of Judge JUDD To the Editor of Tun HEUALD You was kind enough to request me to express my views in THE COLUMBIAN HERALD upon the question Is Utah Entitled to Statehood The reply involuntarily comes to me Why not Let any fair minded citizen undertake to answer my question and see if he does not find mere trouble than he will in answering yours Let me here indicate three ideas which inherit the very spirit and genius of the American system of government First The territorial government is intended in-tended to be and always has been temporary tempo-rary because local selfgovernment is the great underlying bed rock of our system SecondThe federal government is not nly the creature of but the founded upon states ThirdNo government can he permanent perma-nent that is not just to its people and it cannot be just to its people unless equal j I privileges and equal enjoyment of the rights of government be extended to all alike These three propositions not being in dispute my question recurs Why is Utah not entitled to statehood We are citizens of the United States I We have the requisite population and I attached to and wealth we are certainly I desire the benefits of local selfgovern j ment we are clearly entitled to justice I at the hands of the national Government and this justice as certainly entitles us to I I the possession and enjoyment of all the privileges extended to our fellow citizens I I of our common countrv Are not the people of Utah equal in intelligence in-telligence witu the same number of people peo-ple taken promiscuously from any locality local-ity in the Union Educational statistics answer this question in the affirmative by placing Utah alongside of those in the front rank But there is an absolutely conslusive answer to the question I affirm what no man who has any knowledge of the people of Utah will deny I care not how strongly prejudiced he may be by reason of local differences heretofore existing and that is That for economy good order regard for law both in spirit and practice the county and municipal governments of Utah are not excelled in a single state or territory of the Union So far as I am concerned have no more doubt of the capacity of the peopleof Utah for statehood nor of our right to it than I have of the people of Tennessee or New York The ideathat there will or possibly can be under any circumstances a return to the system of polygamy here is the merest mer-est nonsense not believed by those who assert it Indeed for a man to assert such a thing manifests a stupid ignorance of the plainest principles of sociology or discounts his sincerity Equally unfounded un-founded is the assertion that the mass of the Mormon people are subject sub-ject to dictation and controlled in their political action That there are men members of the Mormon church who can be and are controlled by the priesthood of the church in politics no man in Utah pretends to deny Of what locality or church in the United States is this not true to a greater or less extent That the priesthood of the Mormon Mor-mon church would like to control the people in their politics no one pretends to deny Of what church is this not equally true That the priesthood in Utah can control con-trol the people in their political actions i I them I contrary to their convictions they selves would hardly dare assert in the o light of the result of the last election I i Utah is entitled to statehood and I I Grover Cleveland and a Democratic Congress will most certainly give it to her JOHU W JUDD I I I f4 d 4 JhJ I |