| Show EXGOYERHOR WEST Official Text of his Argument for Homo Rue A CLEAR AND CANDID EXPOSITION He Gives I History of the Political Evolution In Utah Leadlne Up t the Existing Condition ExGovernor Vests speech delivered before the Congressional committee on territories ter-ritories in Washington in favor of Home Rule for Utah is the last of the series published if pub-lished in full in TUB HERALD and it can sot but commend itself to the favorable consideration of every candid mind I is a follows ExGovernor West addressed the committee com-mittee Ho said Mr Chairman and gentjemen of the committee com-mittee On behalf of myself and colea cornrit I thank you very much for the very patent and attentive hearing which you have given to this matter of such mater grave importance import-ance to us I shall call your attention in the first place to the condition which has obtained in Utah for the last five or six years as necessary to an understanding of the matter that is before you I shall not taue up your time in discussing the resolutions resolu-tions of the Mormon church or the declarations declar-ations which its leading men and priests have heretofore made That is all it seems to me ancient history because I think that I in ail mundane affairs change is writtenifil everywhere and that the Mormons are just as likely to change as others that in fact circumstances are at work that necessarily necessariy 4 change Now J have been what is known as a Liberal I there was uny more ear Jest and sincere believer in the Liberal party principles or any man who was more willing than I to go to the extreme limits of legislation to cure I the evils which 1 believe existed in Utah I have yet to find him I think that I had good reason for the faith which I held But while actuated by those motives mo-tives and those reasons I enfleavored during my stay in Utah to keep my mind I as free as possible from prejudice aud feelings feel-ings against that people It was my duty sent in the capacity in which I went there to bo fair and dispassionate I had I no right to imbibe any inferences or any nrejudicea and I have been careful never t allow my passions and my prejudices to control my judgment Now when I went to Utah no one of you gentlemen can conceive by any description that could be written or spoken of the actual feeling between the parties there The feeling was as intense and bitter as existed in the border states at the beginning begin-ning of the war and during the war This feeling seemed strange to a man who bad come as I had from a state where while politics existed they did not affect personal per-sonal social or business relations There was not that intensity of feeling which I found existing in Ulah I was like a great pall over the whole community People looked askance at each other While the amenities of life prevailed still there was a lack of that earnestness and good feeling which is absolutely necessary to the health and prosperity and happiness of any community com-munity The contention between the two parties was as to two propositions only Tho Lib oral party proclaimed to tho world that they were united together Democrats and Republicans the purpose of securing obedience to law by the Mormon people peo-ple obedience to the acts against polygamy polyg-amy They declared that the practice of polygamy should be and must be discontinued discon-tinued Now as I understand tho argument of my brother Allen he says that the principle prn ciple of polygamy still exists that it sleeps and he means by that that the people peo-ple still believe in polygamy Admitted And what gentleman here claims the right to interfere with the belief of any man on any subject and more especially when the belief i entertained as a religion Yon know that laws cannot change beliefs and you know that although when the faggots surround a man you may get him as a coward cow-ard to deny that he believes a thing still you cannot change his conviction A mans conviction is involuntary It is a thing which he cannot control and which will remain re-main with him until the causes bo changed or removed So the question as to whether tho Mormon Mor-mon people still believe in polygamy is entirely en-tirely immaterial and that never was the contention of the Liberal party as I understand un-derstand It On the contrary we had asked from the Mormons obedience to the law on that subject We said to them We ask of you no more than we are willIng Ing to grant ourselves obedience to the luw and this you must come to or this conflict will go on and never cease Now as to the second proposition and I I confess to you that as a Liberal I conceded all the time that it was the most dangerous danger-ous factor in the case That was the dom ination and control of the people by the priesthood of the church as such Now it is fair and just to say that while the Liberal Lib-eral party thus contended the Mormon people on their part took the position that they had the right to believe in polygamy that having established it they could not renounce in without renouncing the wives which they had taken under it that they would be discrediting themselves and that they could not do it Then they also contended con-tended on the other proposition as to the priesthood dominating that that was not true They said The only evidence that L Jon have of that is that we all belong to lone l-one church and all belong to one party 3 i but we have been forced to band ourselves together as a political party order to protect pro-tect ourselves from the persecutions and attacks which you gentlemen combined as Liberals are making upon us and upon our institutions The Liberate said When these two propositions aro accepted by you people then the war is over As I said in reference refer-ence to the condition of these parties tbo i very position which they entertained to each other brought about cact an intensity of feeling which is almost past comprehension comprehen-sion The intolerance begotten of that was not on tho one sido altogether because recently re-cently I have Known since the party divisions divi-sions how Intolerant a great many of our 1 Liberals are I know how they treat gentlemen gen-tlemen who differ with them and how they treat those who are in accordance with their sentiments When they called their convention at Salt Lake city on tho 4th of February of this year that call was simply an order by Judge Powers for the clans to assemble not to consider what they should do but to defeat runinous legislation proposed pro-posed for Utah I have the call here The first paragraph reads There will be held a territorial convention of the Liberalparty to take stops to defeat the ruinous legisla tion proposed for Utah Now I will read to the committee one sentence from the ad dress of the gentleman who presided over that convention There are some things to bo aaid frankly plainly and honestly These things must be said so that there will be no misunderstanding In my judg ment this convention should not Petition but it must demand That is from the chairman who presided over this conven tion Mr Witbock got up to speak to tho resolutions I quote from the report in the Salt Lake city Tribune of February 51S9J The speaker said that ho believed that the priesthood had lost its power over tho people of the Mormon church Somebodv in toe gallery sang out Hats and those outside the delegates began to hiss I am here a a free American exclaimed Wit beck and claim the right of free speech Wit I also object to the portion of the clause which recommends that we renew our affil iations to the Liberal party cries of Put him out and Take away his badge greeted this sentiment Lot mo display my igno rance continued the speaker i 1 am so silly One other clause to which I object is the ono which says that we have no bosses I say that in the Liberal party we have bad rulers The audience and the delegates began to show signs of impatience and the chairman calling the speaker to order asked Are you in favor of division on party lines Mr Witbock am aoL The Chairman Then take your seat Now this is a Liberal convention seat The Chairman Did Mr Wltbeck there upon take his seat Mr West Of course he did otherwise he would have been hustled out out Mr Van Home speaking on this ques tion said l j i d dhWC I think it safe to say that every delegate from Salt Lake county will stand as a unit for the resolutions Applause The whole set ol resolutions meet my approbatIon approba-tIon except in one instance where they re fer to the changing conditions The Mormon Mor-mon people used to throw pots of filth into houses of the Liberals They aro afraid to do that now but they tore loose Three Ps Schroeder which is a great deal worse Laughter and applause When the gentleman gen-tleman from Beaver Mr Witbeck comes here objecting to renewing our affiliations affiliationswer to the Liberal party isnt he doing the dirty work of the Mormons Applause I deny that there Is any boss over me There may be one over him and i there is it is because he is a fit subject to have a boss Ho should sneak back to the Mormon Mor-mon church where he belongs Great ap plauseJ Now following this is a resolution intro duced by D C Eichnor as follows Resolved That the remarks of John Wit beck who holds a proxy from Beaver county are hereby expunged from the pro ceedlngs of this convention I give you that as an instance of the way things aro done by our Liberal party friends In connection with that it has been stated I believe on this side of the question that that convention represented nearly tho wbole of the territory I find that there are about ten counties in the territory countes ritory which were not represented in that convention at all but that fifteen out of the twentyfive had a representation in the convention Getting down to the question at issue here and the one in which we are deeply interested tone outside of this old history which has gone before tho two proposi tons are Have the Mormon people in good faith renounced the practice of polygamy and has the church taken its hands oil poll tics Secondly have the conditions and propositions which the Liberals and all the people of this nation so far as I know promised to the Mormon people been ful led 1 As to the first proposition the first presidency of the Mormon church the authorized au-thorized head of that church the one who speaks with the power which our Liberal friends contend he has has in the most solemn manner proclaimed that fact They have not only proclaimed it but they have in the usual way submitted it to the peo plo and to the conference The conference and the people have indorsed and approved It Their leaders have been interviewed by members of the public press and they have declared In the most solemn and earnest earn-est manner that this has been done Moro I than that we know and you have the testimony testi-mony of these gentlemen here Mr Caine i has given you that testimony i also Judge I Judd and others that so far as the practice of polygamy is concerned it is obsolete so far as they know and believe Now our Liberal friends turn around and say that tho Mormons are not sincere iv their profession pro-fession that i is mere form that there is no substance in it and that they do not mean it In making that argument are they not discrediting the work of all the years which the country has been doing to impress its principles on these Mormon people and to attract them to the adoption of a better system than had heretofore governed gov-erned them J Is it possible that every effort of the Lit eral party has met with no success there Is it true that there is so little merit in what we have been asking for that we have made no impression upon these hayI think not Everybody knows that this work has been going on for forty years I know that it has been going on with great rapidity in the past six years since I have been in Utah After we got the passage 5 lof this EdmundsTucker bill which I favored and which I think has done good I work we turned our attention to thinking of something else Instead of speaking of f polygamy and unlawful cohabitation and 1 all those old issues we turned our atten I aten ton to the material development of the territory We began to talk about build ing up cities improving streets planting trees making canals and what is the result I re-sult of i1 The legislature that met frat when I was governor there made a liberal appropriation for the Deseret University made an appropriation for a lunatic asy him and an appropriation for the establishment p estab-lishment of an agricultural cole e and ono for the establishment of a reform school And today for tho first time in its history I I his-tory the territory is bonded to the extent 150000 This leaven has been working for years andthere is what did it Then tve organized chambers of commerce and when we cot the chambers of commerce what followed Then the feeling began to 1 be ameliorated Men were brought together to-gether and they benefited by these results Judge Powers spoke to you about electric worus and gas works and street railroads I am glad to tell you that at the head of our electric and gas works is our friond 11 Dyer who addressed you the other day and at the head of our street railroad company com-pany are Mr Cham bora and Mr McOuno both good divisionists aud both anxious to have good legislation here Mr TerryDo the Mormons blend with wih tho Gentiles in their business enterprises Mr West Yes When I went there these things did not occur but the old con dition is changing and changing as rapidly as we can hope for under tho circumstances circum-stances The Chairman This proposed legisla I ton instead of retarding that change will accelerate it Mr WestYes This is what we need All that we need is an opportunity to go I forward and supplement what we have already al-ready done in this matter Now as to this occurring in a single day or in a single night Why gentlemen you know that change is written on everything I and you know that progress is absolutely essential to life itself You know that stagnation is death and therefore people must move forward Now the natural and logical sequence of this situation seems to to be that these o me people should be encouraged en-couraged They should be told that the promises which we have made them in all al these years i they would but conform to the law of tho land or would put themselves them-selves in harmony and unity with our system sys-tem of government will be kept There was no reason as there Is none why they should have any different law from any other people in this land Ihero wo stand today a community with more wealth and people than three of the states that surround sur-round us and we are now subjected to a government which no territory ever had in these United States Not that I object to the government not that I am criticising or thwarting it In tho past I have believed be-lieved it necessary but belifvo that it has accomplished its mission entirely and now should go I know that none of you will contend that a territorial system of government t is the proper thing or that it brings the best results and gives the greatest happiness i to the people You know that in its organiza tion it is intended simply to encourage and aid the work to build up a community until it becomes strong enough to take care of Itself and that as soon as that is the I case there is no longer any occasion for the territorial system Wo say that case exists here But our Liberal friends turn to us and say You people are not sincere you will not keep your promise Gentlemen Gentle-men how do you know their sincerity How can you ascertain the fact as to whether they are in good faith in this thing or not unless you givo them an opportunity to prove their good faith7 How can you give them that opportunity Can you give it them by turning them away from here and saying to them as the Liberal party would say Go back and show your faith I by your works They have told yon We have renounced polygamy we have done everything that was required of us must wo wait five years or ten years or one ore hundred years until you aro satisfied What have they done in the political line They not only sam that they would divide on party lines but they have actually divided di-vided on party lines No ono can dispute that Tho fact Is there and is patent Wo held an election there last August and I have never seen in the councils of any party more earnestness and zeal than was manifested by those gentlemen who aro now identified with the different diferent par ties to which they belong They were just as earnest and just a zealous canvassing their communities and making their speeches and working to overcome their adversaries as any Democrats or any Republicans Re-publicans were in Indiana Ohio or Now York And they are in earnest about it Furthermore why shouldnt wo believe in belevo their sincerity 1 Have you any reason for iM The very argument that is urged on the other side is the most convincing proof that you can trust these people Have they yielded before Not once For forty years they have in the conflicts which they have waged stood firmly to frmly what they proclaimed pro-claimed They would not yield and they said they would not yield Tho time was not rips and they were not ripe Under j t < what circumstances were they then They were suffering in life and property and authority au-thority They have suffered all the privations priva-tions and all tho deprivations of poverty and of liberty and of life itself just as any other sincere religious people would do animated by a conviction But there is the proof that you can trust them I they were as sincere as you claim in doing wrong can you not believe in their sincerity sin-cerity when you think they are doing rIght Seven days after I went to Utah there were about fifty Mormons in the penitentiary peniten-tiary convicted of having offended against the < polygamy laws I advising with Judge Zane and Mr Dickson went to the penitentiary peni-tentiary and promised these men Individually Individ-ually and collectively that we would unite and procure an amnesty for them from President Cleveland I they would promise in good faith to give up polygamy In the number was Lorenzo Snow Not one of them would accept the proposition There never was atime when any of these men could not have gone out of the penitentiary penitenti-ary by simply promising to obey the law in the future NoW if they were insincere and tricky why did they not begin their tricks at that time and get something for ill Apostle Lorenzo Snow is the very one who made in the conference the motion to indorse this manifesto of the church renouncing re-nouncing polygamy Now as to their political division the Peoples party organization has been nbso lui ely dissolved In the only way that it could bo dissolved by the action of its leaders lead-ers formally This you havo before you in the record by the acquiesence and acceptance accept-ance of the people and by the actual fact that they are now aligned with the two political parties and are taking deep interest in-terest in all political affairs and have quit discussing these old buried issues I there is anything else that these people can do in order to prove their sincerity further than they have done I would like very well < to know I Because believing as I firmly do in their sincerity of purpose and in their desire to relieve themselves from the bonds they have labored under so long I am bound to say that they will in good faith do it Mr PerkinsHow is it possible for the Liberal party to continue their battle alone How can they keep up this contest without being met by any opposition Mr West They are now in opposition They have assumed exactly the position which when I was a Liberal wo claimed the Mormons were in that they wanted no progress and would make no progress but were adhering to old issues which had no merit or pith In them Now as I contend con-tend and as I be ieve the fact ia and history his-tory shows that the Liberals have no platform on which to stand Polygamy is abandoned as we required it to be The church party dissolved and is longer in existence and time out of mind these are the two things which the Liberal party proclaimed would be followed when accomplished ac-complished by a division upon party lines They said that when the Mormons aliened themselves with the different political parties then things could be kept straight because association with and following the I principles of both parties would bring about all the results which could be desired the Mormons leaving outside this polygamy mater and no longer listening to the priesthood priest-hood but acting for themselves Mr Perkins cannot understand how the Liberals have been able to keep their party tcgolber Mr West You must recollect that this I is a very recent occurrence I have had I some Liberals come to see me and say Well wo do not expect another election We know that this thing is bound to come but we do not think that they are quite ready for it yet I have asked them When will be your time They could not give any certain or definite time But 1 have had others tell mo frankly that they believed that there would never ba another election with the Liberal party ia the field and I am very confident that if you peso this bill the Liberal party will be out of politics Tho ChairmanAs I understand It the contention of the Liberal party here is that this profession of dissolution on the part of the church party is not to be relied upon I and that i a homerule act is passed there will he a new setting up of the Peoples party and that then the Mormon church or the Mormon people will break away from the Peoples party aud take control of things again Mr WestYes that it will put the Mormon Mor-mon people again in power and I suppose II it will but believing in that people as I do and in their sincerity I havo no fear Suppose I I Sup-pose that it does put them in power I puts them in power under principles which will I guide and control them as they do other people Mr BranchAs I understand you the Liberals have control now f Mr West Thoy have in Salt Lake city but tho others have control of the territory a large Mr Smith of UtahThe Liberals have control because tho officers are all appointed ap-pointed Mr BranchThe Liberals are in power now for the simple reason that they at ender e-nder an appointing power Mr West That would not be exactly it i Mr BranchThat gives them strength and consideration I was about to ask the same question which Mr Perkins has asked you How can they maintain their Liberal organization 1 Mr WcstI was going to get at that I do not believe that our Liberal friends are any more influenced by tho cohesive power 1 of public plunder and offices than other people are but they have got tho power They have got the offices and that of course necessarily gives them strength hero is always a floating population ma city of the size of Salt Lake which can be 1 controlled and is controlled in elections That floating population within the power and control of the Liberal party has given that party the offices in Salt Lake city and in Salt Lake county Now I think from the expressions which I have heard from gentlemen that there are none of the In who believe that this Liberal party has anymore any-more life in i They believe that its mission mis-sion is over that it has done just as it claims and that it is hound to go out of business and that very shortly I had one prominent Republican gentleman tell ine just j before the last city election that ho thought that that would be the last election with the Liberal party in the field Ho said that he was going to vote the Liberal ticket and that ho thought it would be elected t t ause the party had some work to round t but after that election he never expected p see another election under the same conditions In conclusion I was going to say this No mattter it seems to me what the conditions condi-tions are now 1 mean as to the sincerity of the Mormon people the only lay that that fact can be demonstrated is to give them an opportunity and tho safe way to give them that opporiunityis to give us tie Home Rulo bill If bil I any gentleman has any doubt or distrust ot tho Mormon people that bill provides that Congress shall have actual control of matters in tho territory Congress can at any time repeal alter or amend tho law aud thus Congress keepf the whole question in its own bauds Then mark my words give us that bill und bIl you will not find uny cause for extreme legislation legisla-tion because our friends I bec1use venture to say will bo the bestbehaved set of people in tho country They have had au experience that will incline them I know wi inclno to bo exceedingly ex-ceedingly careful to conform In confcrm every respect re-spect to the requirements of tho law aId to tho pledges which they have made You can rest perfectly satisfied with that But unless you give us the HOle Rule or some legislation in tho line of relief you turn your back upon this people when they have come candidly and frankly and accepted the terms prescribed for them and von tnnd in an attitude which is reproachful It seems to me that they could claim with all the force that is necessary that they have been betrayed that they have been badly used and wrongly treated and that the country has not kept the promises that ave been made to to them |
