Show TRIPPED OF ALL OlSllPRtllhI181 SUPER LUITIE I The Recommendations of the Utah Commission TH COMING ELECTION They Asked That Congress Pass Upon I the Afuncsty Question She Work Done Durlns the Existence of the Commission in Utah They Think Has Resulted in a Great Amount of Good WASHINGTON Sept 29A synopsis of the annual report of the Utah Commission Commis-sion was telegraphed THE HERALD a few days since with the statement that the commissioners were unanimous in the recommendations made to the secretary of the interior There are some other points In the repcrt that perhapa should be given more fully than the outline 1 which has already appeared The report is daied Salt Lake September 19 and I 1 opens as follows I 4 The Utah Commission observing its practice of reporting annually its proceedings j pro-ceedings for your information hereby I respectfully submits its report for the year ending September 1 1893 In the interest of clearness and precision pre-cision its proceedings will be treated ask as-k nearly as may bo in the order of their occurrence oc-currence Concomitantly some reflections will bo made by way of elucidation ELECTIONS An important chance has transpired in respect to me time 01 tue bolding 01 me elections in the territory Formerly under the territorial act of 1553 as amended by subsequent acts the general elections for the territorial district dis-trict county aud precinct officers were held on the first Mondays of August annually an-nually and the municipal elections for city and precinct officers were held annually annu-ally or biennially at varying intervals of time ranging over most of the year 1ak Separate registration for these general and municipal elections were necessary and at least two separate pariods of registration regis-tration were required The diversity of the periods of election necessarily entailed en-tailed a considerable and needless expenditure ex-penditure of time and money and was burdensome both t the electors and to the people at large and devolved upon the commission the further and delicate duty of seeing that the electoral lists for the general municipal and special elections elec-tions were made out and kept separately that the ballots cast at each of said elections were kept separate and the count and return thereof made and kept separately This particularity was rendered ren-dered necessary in part by the fact that the qualifications of electors for municipal muni-cipal officers end also from the fact that the municipal precincts had in many in Stances uiuereui uuuuuunus uuui those designated for other officers To induce legislation corrective of this evil through its annual reports and also by individual effort the Utah commission commis-sion called public attention to this cled publc atenton condition con-dition of affairs and the hardens attending attend-ing so complex a system and with good results For the purpose of effecting a correction of the evils pointed out two acts of the territorial assembly were passed affecting the registration of voters and the other the time and manner of holding the elections elec-tions Both were approved March 10 1S92 The first mentioned fixed one period for I the house to house registration of electors i elec-tors and the second provides that all elections general or municipal including includ-ing elections for members of the territorial torial legislature and delegate to Congress Con-gress should be held on one and the same day namely on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November biennially The pending elections both gene al and municipal will be held answerably to to the requirement these acts on the 7th of November next Tll snraform i already initiated which is working a material saving in time and money to the electors and taxpayers tax-payers and which is already hailed with i public satisfaction THE INDUSTRIAL HOME Next in their report the commissioners devote ten or more pages in type written copy to the Industrial Christian Home V including the correspondence between 1 the commission and the secretary of the interior the secretary of the treasury and Mrs Jeannette H Ferry in reference to the transfer of the home to the commission commis-sion There are no facts in this correspondence corres-pondence which have not hitherto been I made public Speaking of the building the commissioners commis-sioners report When the building was vacated it was l found upon inspection to be considerably out of repair eo that some necessary improvements im-provements had t be made before the commission could occupy it so that the actual occupation did not taKe place unti about the 1st of August The commission is now occupying so much of it as is necessary for its use The present quarters are quite commodious and comfortable The building is a largo I and handsome one a indicated heretofore hereto-fore has room enough to accommodate I I the government officers in the city of Salt Lake except the postoffice and the courts and i thus used woul be the means of saving several thousatitf dollars annually in the way of rent I is the only building in the city that belongs to the government and since the purpose for which it was erected has been abandoned it should be utilized for some public purpose and none aopears to be more fitting than its occupation by those officials for whose official quarters the government has t provide and for which i has to pay rent By the removal ef some partitions thus throwing together larger areas abundant room could be made for the two houses of the territorial assembly in addition to the I rooms for the public offices The cost of the grouads and the erection of the building ba ben about 100000 and it would seem t be poor economy to 3 Jet a structure costing so much money and so well suited for the purpose stand unused and become the abode of bats and owis and at the same time pay high rents for rooms situated in a few squares of this unoccupied but elegant structure I is respectfully submitted that a email appropriation should be made to keep the building in repair The commission has employed a janitor t care for the building causing his family fam-ily to taketheir quarters therein who is being paid out of the appropriation made for the contigent expenses of the commission commis-sion but the limited amount Of that fund precludes the application of any portion ofit towards the repairs necessary about he building or necessary work about the grounds So elegant a building should be well taken care of and not permitted to I go to rain for the want of a small sum of a c money which will be the case in the absence ab-sence of an appropriation Suggestions have been made by some parties that it should be turned into a soldiers home and by others that it should be donated to the city of Salt Lake t be ubed for high school purposes While these uses are each to be commended com-mended the absence of any government building in the city and the large outlay necessarily paid annually In the way of rents for offices constrains this commission commis-sion t recommend that it be utilized as before herein suggested Since the last annual report of the commission com-mission elections have been held in all the counties in the territory and in thirteen towns and thirtythree cities At the general election held on the 8th of November 1892 the following officers have been chosen I Here follows a full list which it is useless use-less to give as the facts are well known in Utah The vote in each county is also given in detail for the information of the secretary REGISTRATION The registration prior to the election held on the 8th day of November 1892 was a full one representine as nearly the electoral strength of the qualified voters of the territory as in anyregistration that may take place in the future Political excitement was high the respective parties were represented in the canvas by very able men and each party was at very great pains to get out its full II strength Th TO n mnffor of mnni otoHflnotinn tn I I U U the commission to say that the registration registra-tion was made with great fairness and legal strictness and the election though party spirit ran high was free tur bulence and irregularities and was both in respect to the registration and the elec tion as free from fraud as those in any state or territory The revision of the registration lists for the November election is now completed so far as the house to house canvas is concerned the posting of the notices of the completion of the lists the filing and i hearing objections to qualifications of electors who may not be entitled to registration and the filing with the clerk of the probate court the oaths adminis tered and signed by those permitted to register being about all that remains to be done The judges who will hold the ensuing election are yet to be appointed which will be done during the month of Octobe There will be about 12000 of thpm I In regard to amnesty the commissioners commission-ers call attention to the fact that they so halted from the attorneygeneral an opin ion regarding the proclamation issued last year by President Harrison on the subject and failing to get one because the attorneygeneral thought to render thesame would be to advise the commissioners commis-sioners as to their offices they adopted resolutions covering the case and though divided in opinion they came to the conclusion con-clusion that a strict construction of the acts of Congresswould operate to the continued con-tinued disfranchisement of the classes of electors hitherto affected I The commissioners after sivine in full the proclamation of the president together to-gether with the correspondence with the attorneygeneral on the subject referred to as well as their various orders affect ing the important question at stake state that they issued a circular to the register ing officers that had been appointed advising ad-vising them that in the opinion of the commission it would be right to permit affected classes to register on taking the proper oath provided that they did not come within the exception made in the proclamation of the president on the subject They then add As a legal proposi tion itis yet unsettled judicially and the commission resDectfullyrecommends that Congress do legislatively pass upon this important question The report concludes HORMOMS Alter a troubled experience in Ohio Missouri and Illinois the Mormons or Latterday Saints emigrated from the United States and settled in the valley of the Great Salt Lake which was then apart a-part of the territory of the Mexican Republic Re-public This was in 1847 In 1848 an extensive ex-tensive region including that valley was ceded by the Mexican government under the treaty of Gandeloupe Hidalgo to the United States This migration was doubtless prompted by different motives one escape from civil restraint in the United States another the opportunities afforded the I emigrants In a new country to improve their material welfare Salt lake is a remarkable geographical feature It is the largest inland body of salt water know It covers an area of 3600 square miles is bisected by a broken mountain range is surrounded by lofty mountains cleft at intervals by canyons and is fed by numerous rivers which are in turn fed by winters accumulated accu-mulated snows dissolved and descending the mountains in summer The snowfall IR ominous and Alnrmincr tn thn cfrnnrro r but is welcomed by husbandman and herdsman whose homes are among c mountains I means to them foliage esculent roots fruits cereals and green pasture Salt Lake is without any defined outlet Its chief waste is due to solar evapora tion which also mainly regulates its is rises and falls Its waters are strongly impregnated with common salt and in lesser degree with alkali which renders them uninhabitable to all kinds of fish Probably their saline properties proper-ties are derived from an under lying salt bed as formations of rock salt are found to be unfrequent in the territory The number of Mormons who settled in Utah in 1847 according to accredited accounts ac-counts scarcely exceeded 150 whereas the present inhabitants of the territory exclusive ex-clusive of Indians Chinese and Hawaiians Ha-waiians number quite 225000 POLYGAMY The early and continned disfavor incurred in-curred by the Mormons in Utah arose from the profession defense of plural marriage as a cherished tenet of their religions re-ligions and social system From 1847 to July 1 1862 such marriages were contracted con-tracted in increasing numbers and with impunity The act of 1862 denounced polygamy as a crime punishable with fine and imprisonment I imprison-ment but for fouiteen years after the date of that act no conviction was had under it The failure of criminal justice was attributable to several causes altercations respecting the boundaries bound-aries of the spiritual and secular juris dictions to the unwillingness of the Mormons to convict or indict polygamists and to the hesitation of the courts to reject re-ject jurors as triers of an issue regarding which their minds were affected by religious re-ligious bias I is enough to say in this connection that in 1778 the connecton 178 Supreme Court of the United States swept away alL of these hindrances t the course of ius tice and that Congress in 18S2 and 18S7 added another motive for obedience to the laws by providing that sexual offenders offend-ers should be disqualified to vote hold office or perform jury service This perorm serice provision pro-vision seems t have been intended to operate as an electrical regulation and not as as a criminal penalty REFORM Important consequences followed this action of Congress and of the court of last resort Tho spirit of reform was awakened the laws were promptly and strictly enforced and the test oath as a precedent condition to the exercise ot the elective franchise was taken and subscribed sub-scribed by Mormons as well a non Mormons Later in 18S7 the Mormon electors in the territory framed adopted and proposed pro-posed constitution for Utah as a state containing provisions irrevocable without the of consent Congress penaly pro Continued on pages JmOFlERFmTE8 ContlnUfca from page LI hibiting sexual offenses and negativirig the pardon of sexual offenders without the approval of the president In 1890 the MormOn church through its president Wilford Woodruff declared its opposition to further plural marriages and advised obedience to the laws forbidding them In 1891 the Peoples or Mormon party of Utah dissolved its political 6rga nization in contemplation of a reconstruction reconstruc-tion of political parties in the territory upon a wider and more liberal basis and in 1892 the legislative assembly passed an act adopting the provisions of the Ed munds law and the EdmundaTucker respectively denouncing and punishing polygamy as a crime and re ognizng the original exclusive jurisdiction of the district dis-trict courts in the territory created by Congress to hear and determine all such cases under that act THE UTAH COMMISSION The Utah Commission was organized under the Edmunds law of 1892 the commissioners mean 1882 evidently as Due of the agents to be employed for the suppression of an obstinate socisl evil The members of the commission were in the first instance appointed by President Arthur from different political parties conformably to that law and at the same time from as many as five states for the reason as assigned that such persona would be unlikely to be biased by the dissensions which had so 16ng disturbed the territory This precedent sec by President Arthur has hitherto been substantially sub-stantially followed by his successors For more than twentyfive yeara Mormon Mor-mon polygamy evinced neither disposition disposi-tion nor ability to redeem itself Indeed for more than half that period it was defiant de-fiant of the law It had confounded the temporal with the spiritual authority and had become arbitrary and dogmatic withal it was defended and attacked by implacable local factions whose intoler ance seemed alike to inflame passion and warp discretion I was between these factions this Scylla and Charybidis that the Edmunds law projected the commission commis-sion somewhat as a forlorn hope to sink orswim a it might happen Early after the organization of the commission its members were met by leading local journals with scant and frigid courtesy They were welcomed asa as-a sojourners for a term of rest and recreation re-creation of wonderment at the charms of Salt Lake city and its surroundings But the welcome sensibly implied that the commissioners as intruders and supernumeraries should early renounce their mission ana return to their distant homes in the states In the meantime a few Mormons pro fessing extreme unction and intermitting intermiting feebly their resentment towards Congress Con-gress discharged a volley of law sUIts at the commissioners charging themwith unlawfully obstructing the right of regis tration and of voting Upon the final hearing the Supreme Court of the United States adjudged the suits to be ground less and the plaintiffs t pay the costs attending them Next an effort was made by a few Gentiles to procure a law substituting a legislative commission invested with procarsular powers and ap pointive by the president and Senate for the Utah commission but the scheme being despotic and unAmerican unAmercn failed as also did the kindred scheme to disfranchise the Mormons en masse for membership in the Mormon church So it transpired that the local factions when not wholly engrossed in fighting each other turned their attacks alter aler nately or simultaneously against the Utah commission Thus the commission was made representatively responsible for laws in the enactment or judicial construction con-struction of which it had no pert Under changing conditions however these obstacles ob-stacles are passing away Early in 1891 the Mormon or Peoples party formally and absolutely dissolved its organization Soon after the Gentile faction informally and partially followed this example The event was a triumph trumph of progress It furnished the material out of which the new parties in the terri tory Democratic and Republican were formed and which must in the early future absorb the remains of the Gentile faction The new parties leaving the dead past tq bury its dead are now competing with one another for the palm of local political ascendancy Each is asking Congress for radical legis Iationi e on territorial home rule or statehood notably neither is asking by either of those measures during thepen dency of either the discontinuance of the Utah commission Note Queer sentence but It Is written as given above The ninth section of the Edmunds law creates the office occupied by the Utah commission and provides as has been seen that the commission shall consist of five members nOt more than consist of whom shall be of one political party and a majority of whom shall be a quorum The same section adopting portions of the territorial law terriorial1w devolves on the commission com-mission the task of considering in jai materia the germane I provisions of each of those laws and of r deducing from them a consistent and effective system Such a system is now in operation It contemplates a multifarious multifari-ous service annually a house to house inquiry with a view to an annul revision of the electoral registry by adding to or striking names from itthe enforcement of the conditions of registration as affect ing votersthe act of registration afect bearing of objections to the right of any person to have his name retained on the registry the certiflcallon carhfcaton of the names adjudged to wrongfully on the registry to the proper election the judges transmission trans-mission of the revised registry with tho attending affidavits of electoral qualifica tion to the county clerk for presprvation subject however to proper public and private inspection the transmission of copies of registries to the presidingjudges of election the publication of other copies with lists of the offices to be filled by elec tion j the canvass of election returns the iisuing of certificates of elections to per sonselect and the appointment of numerous omciai agents by the commission commis-sion as provided by law to carry into effect this varied delicate and responsible service Geographically this service measures the rugged mountainous length and breadth of Utah 320 miles north and south by 300 miles east and west The number of officers appointed by the comission since the date of its annual report re-port including those remainingsto be appointed with reference to theapproaoh Inc November elecion is 2667 This agency founded on brief words of the Edmunds law and being n growth of less than twelve years in tho hands of the Utah commission has in the meantime withstood the shifting storms of passion and prejudice In the meantime factions have been disbanded laws enforced progress pro-gress accelerated and the morality of monogamy vindicated In truth the office of the commissioners has not been a sinecure They have had much to think of often difficult legal questions to solve many advisory opinions opin-ions and administrative forms to prepare and circulate multitudinous inquiries to answer occasional journeys to make to different places in the territory to observe the manner and course of official procedure pro-cedure and withal other offices and functions unattended with any pecuniary recompense have been added to their trust Briefly the commissioners have spent in coming and going in office work and in preparing their reports to the government gov-ernment nearly six months In every year unco the date of the commissions organization organ-ization CQNSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT In contemplation of the turmoil and trouble born of polygamy of the uncertainty un-certainty and inconvenience arising from differing state laws regulating marriage and divorce and in contemplation of the importance of securing the future against the return of those evils the commission respectfully recommends that an amendment amend-ment of the federal constitution be adopted inhibiting polygamy and empowering em-powering Congress to prescribe the con litlons of marriage and divorce and the manner of effect of authenticating each The value of such an amendment as con l earning thelfiaramount feature of domestic 1 domes-tic and social life would be inestimable I would draw under the exclusive cognizance of one legislature legisla-ture and one judiciary all questions affecting af-fecting the conditions of marriage and divorce di-vorce with the manner and effectof proving prov-ing sach More would draw under the tattle cognizance in a general sense the distinction between monogamous and polygamous institutions n imparting either individual and national progress or individual and national apathy The amendment would inure as an authoritative notice to immigrants from every land that the United States ate self dedicated forever to the virtues of monogamy mon-ogamy and not least the amendment becoming a lesson in the common and higher schools of the states would form and train the minds and morals of future generations In harmony with its spirit and reason MINING Mining is one of the most important industries in-dustries of Utah nay of the whole intermountain inter-mountain region Until recently It was admittedly the principal factor of progress pro-gress and improvement in the territory Certainly has been the chief incentive to nonMormon immigration to the territory terri-tory I has served to stimulate the building of cities towns railroads factories fac-tories and agricultural production I gave remunerative employment to thousands ands of laborers but all this is now changed The mines are closed their output of gold and silver of copper of lead and iron arrested while as a consequence con-sequence multitudes of laborers are left stranded in Idleness and desperation The condition of the mining region is indeed deplorable The commission speaks of the fact bat does not undertake under-take to trace its controverted source IRRIGATION An urgent need of Utah is a scientific and comprehensive scheme of irrigation Every waste of water needs to be avoided As far as may be found practicable and advantageous the waters of the rivers lakes and mountain torrents should be made tributary to capacious and durable reservoirs for regulated distribution oral or-al useful purposes PUBLIO LANDS Such a scheme appeals to the favor of Congress upon economic grounds Upon such grounds the commission ventures I respectfully to recommend the cession of I the unappropriated and unreserved public lands in Utah under compact guaranteeing guaran-teeing the faithful application of the proceeds pro-ceeds of their sale of the interest thereon in aid of irrigation Such a scheme applied to the intermountain inter-mountain region would render a greater area of it profitably productive than now exists in the six New England states Moreover followed by an influx of emigrants I emi-grants in predominating numbers from the old states the Mormon imbroglio im-broglio would soon be finally resolved In fact the shortest and surest way to put an end to that evil lies in such a scheme The advantage of irrigation has been conclusively demonstrated Rainless Egypt is a striking example There a narrow strip of territory bisected by the Nile containing less than 5000000 acres and annually irrigated by the overflow of that river even now in Egypts decay and despair affords the sustenance of Its 4000000 occupants and cultivators and an annual tax tribute of millions to Egypts reign creditors Thus the portion of land occupied is as one acre and a fraction of an acre to each occupant II occu-pant well attested The fact seems incredible yet i is I |