Show press oil THE UTAH commissions alie nullity of that body raised by editors there have been more press corn ments on aba report made by the present utah commission than upon any similar document previously formulated by that body and the extraordinary lengths to which it has gono in making recommendations ions as to the treatment of mormon citizens of tho united states have raised the aneston as to the utility of a body which costs the country so much and does BO little the new york a communication containing the following sharp paragraphs quito easily be performed by the secretary of the territory as by the congressional committee at a saving of and their traveling expenses for going to and coming from utah twice in a year the only excuse for retain ing them in office is like that of the appointment of corporal tanner it not only creates an asylum for old political hacks but it ends in getting rid of the surplus and in creating a necessity for the continuance of high protective duties but these champions of patriotism and virtue do not take that view of the case they have just issued their annual report and while they are forced to admit that from causes with which they have nothing to do there have been scarcely any new cases of polygamy and tatt the continuance in the practice is rapidly diminishing they spread them helves over six or seven newspaper columns in their attempt to demonstrate that their retention is a necessity they have constructed a theory that they are sent there not only to see the edmunds law enforced in a general way to supervise the morald of the cormons mormons Mor mons and to counteract the influence of the priesthood the hierarchy and the theocracy theocia cy it is not enough for them that poly have been dis franchised that the property of the church and of the emigration fund contributed by the people have been confiscated but they now desire to be commissioned as missionaries to convert the mor mons from their belief which is so wicked in their eyes that they propose to put them on a judicial rack with some new and sharp spikes in it if they do not renounce their faith the advertiser commenting editorially tori ally on this matter says the government has nothing to do with mormonism as a religions creed its duties aro to the suppression of polygamy the idaho law that a mormon believer cannot vote oven though he takes oath that he never has practiced and never will practice polygamy la contrary to the bpi our institutions and to the interpretation which the supreme court of the united states has placed upon the guarantee of religious liberty in our federal constitution the proposal of the utah commission that law to the effect should be enacted is eminently preeminently pre a foolish one the only effect oi such an enactment would be to strengthen mormonism by making martyrs and em the mormon population y the measures already employed for ts suppression are drastic enough they remind P indeed of the attitude of lish missionaries in tl oa st who refuse to baptized egg they acl tho of former wives Stif cude which in one case at least couched vouched vou ched for by bishop bolwyn resulted in a new zealand chiefs fitting himself for this sacrament by eating eight of his wives out of the nine we cannot expect or indeed desire that all polygamists should be so zealous as this to conform with the requirements of our civilization the sensible thing for the united states to do is to let mormonism die a natural death instead of attempting I 1 to strangle it outright the ban francisco alto comments on the report of the commission in this wise there is no demonstrable evidence of an increase in polygamy the majority of the commission insinuates that it still flourishes but confesses its inability to prove it A mormon polygamist is not discharged from responsibility for the support of his plural wives and their children and it is hardly possible that this obligation should leave the officers of the law without evidence of the existence of such families the whole issue is tho most delicate that our government has ever been called upon to handle outsiders have refused to treat polygamy as a religious ordinance made j to sincere believers in a future life to appear as a means of grace and to warrant a hope of glory if those aho vho tico it were a lot of lustful hypocrites a colony of satyrs the treatment of the case would be different and much easier but the institution ution has been allowed to exist for more than forty years it has lon fortified behind imposing ritual ceremonies it has been divested of the flesh and clad in the spirit for more than a generation therefore it requires philosophic study and treatment the new laws asked for contemplate the infliction of what will bo regarded as ignominy upon those who are convicted of this offense to imprisonment is to be added hard labor and as imprisonment now overtakes more old men than young there will be presented to the mormon community the spectacle of its patriarchs imprisoned and driven to labor under the guns of keepers the more sincere the cormons mormons are the more revolting will the appear to them and they will point to it aa persecution for the sake 0 religion it is surprising that under the circum the whole matter has not been brought to a conference between the mormon leaders and representatives of the government so far they have appeared as two hostile campa with no exchange except the appearance of officers with federal writs to take members of one sh party to prison we seem to have forgotten that the cormons mormons are perhaps as incapable of subjection by force as were the huguenots Huguen and puritans they use the same arguments and make the same appeals to conscience and religions duty and it is tho history of man that such appeals have always profoundly moved him it is byell to think of this before we add to the volume of legislation upon the subject statutes to the sword as the final agent of ridding the country of a religious custom by the extirpation of a people tho subjoined sub joined extracts are taken from an editorial in the auburn new york dispatch it is truly to bo hoped that if there is a spirit of intolerance towards mor coniam merely as a religion in this country that spirit may be sternly discouraged this country has the greatest diversity of the greatest diversity of religions under the ann the surest pledge of the perpetuity of american republican institutions must lie in thedoro corn assimilation of the different races institutions habits of thought etc which are exhibited in the face of our society ai mormonism is undoubtedly in a certain sense it is aggressive it is beyond all doubt daguer ous in its tendencies emeji if polygamy be abolished but the policy of the government in dealing with it ought to bo shaped very carefully so that the cry of religions discrimination cannot be justly raised it was the conflict of sects which overthrew En glands dream of a republic in the days of cromwell and paved the way for the restoration of a monarchy which under a modified form still survives our closing quotation is from an editorial in the sacramento recoil union which has always been amstrong anti mormon paper the utah commission reports to the federal government that in its i opinion congress should pass laws severely punishing women who enter into the polygamous relation as such infliction would lessen their zeal this is gross error the history of all time proves that the most faithful fanatics of superstition the most devoting and belf sacrificing of religionists are women if it is true as the commission recites many cormons mormons accept polygamy not from choice but because they are taught and so believe that it is an essential of their faith and we believe it to be true then tho punishment of mormon wo benfor abhorrence to this tenet of their faith would simply strengthen them in it they would burn at the stake before they would decant and suffer in dungeon cells rather than disobey the command to be sealed to the brethren of the church of jesus christ of lutter day saints it has been our fortune to know many of these people aad to live for a time in their midst and wo do not hesitate to aver there aro no devotees or aarah moro courageous faithful and ready to suffer martyrdom for their belief than the sincere mormon women the few insincere do not enter into tho state at least very rarely to attach penalties to these misguided women and attaint them of crime would not serve to check tho ovil but rather to aggravate it |