Show FORCIBLE ARGUMENTS BELVA A LOCKWOOD AND GEORGE r TICKNOR have a good word to say la vindication of the people the following article appeared in the louisville courier journal on feb 13 it having been written for that paper by belva A lockwood just at this time when tho territory of utah now comprising more than two hundred thousand souls is knocking at the doors of tho united states congress for admission as a state the mormon question becomes a very important one not only to the people of that territory but to tho government itself the history of tho mormon people is a romance in real life more interesting than the often far f etched conceit of the novelist and in some instances has been more tragic than the distorted conceptions of the theatrical stage foreign nations as lookers on must be amused and puzzled at our treatment of a question that has within the last few years become of BO much legislative consideration and in which tho federal government has appeared not only as the conservator of tho morals of that territory adt as the expounder of what its religious creed ought to be and finally as the trustee or committee of all of the available property of the mormon church the government has imi the typical guardian in this instance and the proceeds of the trust have been virtu aDy confiscated so that the mormon people are today to day paying into the hands of government trustees per month for the privilege of worshipping shipping wor in their own tabernacle and occupying their own parsonage and other church buildings built by their own money and by their own work if the government can do this with the mormon church it will not take any greater stretch of authority to confiscate in the same way the property of the catholic church the joss house of the china anan or the magnificent edifices of the methodists utah was organized as a territory snore than thirty seven years ago and lor more than a quarter of a century the federal government tolerated polygamy in her midst until it become ft fixed fact an institution received and sworn in as delegate to represent tho territory avowed poleg amista and then with a sudden spasm of virtue commenced an attack apon the system a war of extermination which for virulence and bitterness for misrepresentation and oppression exceed the horrors of coercion and eviction in ireland about which our sympathies have been so greatly excited it not only forbade plural marriages and dis franchised aill but punished men for living with plural wives to whom they had been married for scores of years and who with their infant children wore dependent upon them for support the ex of the law went beyond the letter and made the casual recognition of the former wife appear as the continuance of the marriage relation and punished the parties acci ono judge declaring from the bench during my sojourn in the territory that tho object of the edmunds law was not for the inculcation of morality but for the sion of religion the government under the ed munds then dis franchised not only all polygamous cormons mormons of the male persuasion but all women ot whatever creed or condition whether believing in the mormon or christian religion or non believers although these women had been peaceably and orderly casting their ballots for twenty years had not been charged with or convicted of crime and no intimation had ever been made that any one of these women had or desired to ohavo more than one husband no absolute despotism could have more fully infringed upon the rights of american citizens than did the gov ernett upon these mormon women but they bore it all uncomplainingly took up their own burden of work banded themselves together for protection tec tion sang and prayed together believing that out of trials would come blessings even as blessings had come in the early days af pf their tribulations until their places of worship were seized and a portio noi the burden of rent came upon them by a vigorous execution of the edmunds law polygamy was suppressed but not more than two per cent of the whole number of the mormon people wore ever practical abts but this small number sufficed to throw the territory into such disrepute that the whole christian world threw up its hands in holy horror until as a rule no christian man or woman believed that ho or she were wholly absolved from sin until he biad publicly denounced those horrid cormons mormons Mor mons it was also a noticeable fact that those members of congress most urgent for the enactment of stringent laws against the cormons mormons were choso choso whoso moral character was afar from being above reproach but the edmunds faw was far teaching in its application and expended to all tho territories it included the district of columbia a territory exclusively under tho control of the united states congress chero no law had previously been enacted to punish the most flagrant charged against those rebellious cormons mormons Mor mons the district attorney was not slow to discover tho application of the law and already 0 score of cases under it have been up before our police court judge but per leaps the most amusing thing in connection with the the law la the district of columbia is tho of J randolph tucker of virginia a prominent member of the house during its passage why he exclaimed recently in talking about the crawford case a test case appealed to the district supreme court 1 I never dreamed of that law being applicable to the district of columbia if I 1 had I 1 would not have voted for it that law was intended for the cormons mormons P then kate field with her mormon horror to thrill excited audiences and angle nedam with a pamphlet which she was paid for publishing and distributing among the members of the united states congress with stories as wild and unreliable ss that of gladdins Alad dins lamp in the arabian nights the people did not investigate but accepted on sight the wildest vagaries and most harrowing tales about the cormons mormons Mor mons the facts that the people are and have been frugal industrious moral that they had no almshouses saloons or brothels in their midst until instituted by the so called gentiles and sustained by the federal courts that they had their co operative stores mills and manufactures that gave employment to the unemployed that they had their public school system into which their children wore gathered open to all alike that their children were well bom well bred and well educated and the women as well informed and cultivated as the masses of american women that the men do not swear drink intoxicants or smoke were all swallowed up in ono cry polygamous cormons mormons Mor mons now I 1 do not believe in polygamy and am not a convert to the mormon faith but I 1 do believe in humanity and justice in tho inviolability of personal and property rights in the sanctity and freedom of religious convictions vict ions of every human being under the sun and their protection from coercion undue influence now that polygamy has been suppressed the non polygamous male population of utah comprising four fifths of her present voters having called a convention in due form formulated and adopted a constitution have presented to the united states congress and for the fifth time are asking admission as a state and in this constitution have incorporated as follows art XV sec 11 all bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with a kepul i lican form of government each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor any person who shall violate this section shall on conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than 1000 and imprisoned for a term not less than six months nor more than three years in the discretion of the court provided that section 12 of article XV shall not be amended revised or in any way changed until any amendment revision ar change as reported therein shall in any addition to the requirements to the provisions of this article be reported to the congress of the states and shall be by con gross approved and ratified and such approval and ratification be proclaimed by the president of the united states and if not so ratified and proclaimed said section shall remain perpetual it would seem as though sufficient concessions had been made in this instrument not only to satisfy the united states congress but popular clamor but now the cry is raised by the newspaper press these cormons mormons are insincere and yet insincerity in the has not been a feature in the mormon character either as pertains to their religion or their business relations in the latter especially there has ever been manifested a marked probity and reliability in my opinion if there is any substantial reason why the fiftieth congress should not admit utah as a state is the fact that they tamely submitted to the disfranchisement disfranchise mont of their women and have entirely left them out of their new bbate constitution in a recent issue of the new york sun the following able letter by george ticknor curtis in reply to senator dawes appears it is with great reluctance that 1 comment as it deserves upon the following assertion made by senator dawes in his recent article in the forum considerations like these which he had previously urged arising solely out of the defiant persistency of a large majority of her people in degrading and vicious social relations wholly unfitting them to appreciate preci ate and maintain the higher and purer life in which statehood can exist alone delay the admission of utah into thu union on an equal footing with all the other states it is amazing how any man in the position of senator should have had the temerity to write and print this sentence gross ignorance is the only excuse that can bo made for it will mr dawes vote for tho admission of utah if I 1 show him this assertion is without the slightest foundation of truth probably not the whole po population of utah is about of this number are non cormons mormons or as they are called in the territory gentiles of whatever other degrading and vicious social relations the gentiles may be guilty they do not practice polygamy and never did of mor mons there are not so many as men in the whole territory who now have or over havo had more than ono wife living at the same time and tho only relation that these men continue to austain with their plural wives who are living consists in the ac that they are their wives according to their religion and in supporting and providing for them and in such association as akyi man might have with the territorial judges construe this to be unlawful of the edmunda which they send tho husbands to aho penitentiary without the slightest evidence of any emual relations the residue of the mor mori i roon male population of adult years all who have married abc allare monog amista they and not the of those who have over been poi po i lyga mists constitute tho body of mons who framed the proposed state constitution and are asking to have the territory admitted under it as a stale what then becomes of mr dagess large majority maio rity of the people of utah who defiantly persist in degrading and vicious social reli eions and thereby prevent the admission of the territory as a state in reference to marriage there is no arithmetic that can make a majority of the people without adding the gentiles to the monogamous mor mons the aggregate made up of these two classes are of one purpose and one practice in respect to marriage it will be a happy day for the of that territory when the antiles and the monogamous mor mons can act together in all internal and domestic concerns BO that a line of division very much worse than the color line in the south has ever been can be obliterated if there is any consistency at all among the gentiles I 1 believe there is nothing a ring hostile in every way to their mormon fellow citizens they should do all they can to promote the efforts of the monogamous cormons mormons Mor mons if utah becomes a state there is no conceivable reasons why gentiles of suitable qualifications should not hav ojust as good a chance of filling any of tho offices of the state as the cormons mormons can have the fear that it will be committed to abaid of poleg amista to execute the laws against polygamy and the bugbear of struck juries and conniving sheriffs are wholly bom of mr dagess excited imagination I 1 will here take notice of only one other of the insinuations made in the following short paragraph at the end it is no part of this argument but one is strongly tempted to make the inquiry why this loud and anxious voice is raised in the behalf of utah while absolute silence is maintained over the postponement of dakota with three times the number of inhabitants there are in utah homogeneous gene ous intelligent law abiding citizens living the life and practicing the virtues upon which alone a christian people can build republican institutions why are washington and montana entirely ignored in this zeal to erect a new state in utah this implies that I 1 have some political motive in my efforts to aid iho admission of utah perhaps mr dawes will not understand me but other people will I 1 care nothing whatever about the future political character of the state of utah if it becomes a state As to dakota washington and montana the people of neither of these territories have ever asked me to assist their admission into the union I 1 hope they will be admitted speedily for if there is anything in our system that I 1 dislike it is territorial government although I 1 am perfectly aware that it is constitutional and may for a time be necessary very respectfully yours GEO |