Show SPEECH OF HON W H HOOPER OF UTAH in the of january y 2 1873 the house having resumed consee consideration ratina rati na ithe bill for the admission of Co colorado orado nto the unla union mr nir HOOPER of utah sald said mr SPEAKER in the remarks which I 1 had the tile honor bonor to submit to the house yesterday I 1 said th that at those who denoun denounced cea the mormons cormons are compelled to go back from six sl x to sixteen years and grope in the twilight of fable for causes matises of complaint pla pia int I 1 could ask no better illus lilu cation of this than the last speech of the gentleman from montana when I 1 point to the utah of today with her liar light taxation her lier growing industries her small farms her liar clean handed officials her f free ree roads iier lier progressive people and lier tier mighty growth the gentleman from montana replies by a reference to laws which have been repealed to franchises which have llave expired to grunts grants which have been rescinded to slanders which have llave been rebutted arid and to conditions which have passed away the past sometimes instructs us by its example and it is well to glance behind us occasionally to ascertain our exact course and rate of progress but lie will prove a poor statesman a poor legislator and arid a poorer politician who is N perpetually gazing out of the mar icar of the car and who never sees either cither a beauty or a defect until it has gone forever since however the gentleman from montana seems determined that no view of utah shall be taken capt except a retrospective one since the element he represents insists that legislation with respect to utah shall be based not upon her pm present sent conditions and needs but upon her past history lii ili story I 1 am compelled hed red to refer to that past there E la T but ut little in it of which I 1 am ashamed or afraid there is bi much to which I 1 can refer with pride I 1 deny that the local legislation of utah has ever been oppressive monopolizing or po peculiar pecullar cullar eullar I 1 deny that emigration has been prevented that enterprise has lias been discouraged that arif any rights of any citizen or sojourner llave I 1 lave been invaded or that there thero is today to day any social or political conditions existing there thero which call for federal interference ter ference and I 1 propose to make my statements state ments menta good not with figures of rhetoric but by a reference to authorities and facts it has lias been asserted in substance by the gentleman from montana that the tile utah legislature had passed laws in violation of the organic act and in hostility hosti hostility lit to t the a united states and nota notably ly the utah law conferring or attempting to confer chancery and common law jurisdiction upon probate courts has been held hold up arid and denounced as wicked and rebellious let lot us examine tho the laws of other territories and see if as the tile gentleman from montana asserts utah is the only territory which has endeavored deavo red to amplify the j jurisdiction uris diction of the probate courts the organic acts of utah nevada idaho and montana are in respect to the tile organization of courts and the definition of jurisdiction precisely similar not only in spirit but in text all ali use tile the bame same language the judicial power lower of gaid said territory shail shall lovested bo vested la in a supreme court district courts probate courts and in justices of thil thiv the th the jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for sor both appellate and 0 and nd that of tho the probate courts and of f justices of the peace shall be as limited by bylaw etc tec fcc and with respect to the power of the territorial legislative assemblies the organic acts acta of these four tem TeW territories tories am aro again precisely the tile same for in each it is said that the legislative power of the tile territory torr shall extend to all the rightful subjects at e consistent with lion ot of the united and the provi alons of at this ehla act I 1 starting with organic acts will examine the L laws iwo ws of the different rent territories and see seo if utah Is alone alono in the tile monstrous usurpation the tile unheard of iniquity charged against her of clothing probate courts with original common law jaw and chancery jurisdiction I 1 refer rorer to the tile laws of nevada territory for 1861 section six hundred and eight elgh t page and to sections one and rind two pages 82 and 88 of the laws of 1862 and I 1 find that the tile probate courts court i were given original civil chit jurisdiction of actions to enforce mechanics liens ilens ot of proceedings ra in cases of insolvency ot of proceedings in divorce ce oases cases a of 0 all civil civil caseb casee in which the amount t in in controversy does not exceed W SOU or which involves the title am and possession 0 of real property ty 1 situated in the county county not exceeding Z W at 0 and their jurisdiction shallie shall ahall be coextensive ath with the jurisdiction of the district court courtl tc c section six hundred and twenty three page of the laws of idaho territory for 1864 provides that is the th tho e probate court shall have concurrent civil ch 11 jurisdiction with tho the district court of ac this thib territory of an action to enforce the lleno ileno lien llen of f mechanics and others and in all ali civil actions when the amount in cont controversy controvert rovers shall not exceed t the probate court and the judge thereof hereof shall have power at chambers to try and determine awer suits its of and quo yua imp warrants and to issue all writs ne cEk ceary sary sart or proper to the complete exercise of the powers conferred upon it by this thia and other it statutes atutes and in the absence of the district judge from the county to issue writs of habdas habeas corpus and injunction section six hundred and twenty nine of the same act provides that in all civil cases within their jurisdiction the probate courts and the judges thereof shall have the same power to grant all orders order 99 write and process prod which the district courts or the judges thereof have haw power to grant within their ju jurisdiction f and to boar bear and do determine termine all questions arising within their jurisdiction as fully and completely as the district courts or the ludger thereof have power to do under tinder t the he laws of this territory sections four hundred and eighty two and eighty th three roe roo pa page pago a of the tilo laws of montana territory ry 1864 1804 65 0 provide that the probate court shall have concurrent J jurisdiction with the district court in la all ch it 11 actions where the tho amount in contaoi cletro versy shall not exceed amo the probate court and the judge thereof shall have power at chambers to try and determine suits of mandamus manda tlora ri and QUO war loar and to 11 zil hii all ail writs noe noo essary or proper to the complete exercise of the powers conferred upon it by bythia this thid and other statutes u tes teb and in the absence of the district J judge from the county to issue writs otha ofha of habeas comptis and injunctions thus it will be observed that the tho probate courts of three territories nevada ovada rl idaho and montana were given fiven common law and chancery jurisdiction limited to some extent it is true but none the less comit complete completo te within within its limits the common law jurisdiction was limited in nevada to in idaho to soo in montana to 2500 but it the tile territorial legislative assemblies of these territories had the tile power ower under the tile organic act to grant gnant rant concurrent or extensive coextensive co jurisdiction ur diction to the tile probate courts at all they might have enlarged that jurisdiction to or made it unlimited aa as readily as to place limits to its exercise the power once conceded to pass the lawand law and the remainder is but a matter of legislative discretion so with r respect ct to chancery jurisdiction N erada nerada limited the chancery jurisdiction of othor other ilar liar probate judges to divorce cases proceedings in cases of insolvency and the enforcement of mechanics liens idaho and montana fontana li go further and permit their probate jud judges as to grant rant writs of injunction nhen when tie tic the tho district judge is absent from the county montana has three district jud judges and nine counties unless fles fies her r di strict district judges are ubiquitous it follows that in montana there must constantly be at least six probate judges who are clothed br by her territorial legislature with a all nil I 1 the great powers of chancellors who are clothed with the very highest function of all chancery jurisdiction the power to issue a w whit writ rit of injunction and yet the gentleman from montana stands up in the face of this house and forgetting the laws of nevada which he helped to frame smine and ignoring tho the laws of his own territory with which he lie is supposed to be familiar denies that in nevada and montana the power lias has been given to tiie the probate courts to exercise chancery jurisdiction and deliberately asserts that chancery jurisdiction has never been given to the probate courts by any territory whatever r except utah I 1 I 1 can find no words of censure for the tile territorial legislatures which thus endeavored to provide the dople cople people with local courts of competent nt jurisdiction I 1 can see no defiance of the united states in this character of legislation nor any harm hatm to any person on earth in lit all these territories utah as well as the tiie rest the tile right of appeal from the probate to the tile district court is accorded and the tile aggrieved party can always avail himself of the distinguished legal abilities of the tiie district judges if lie is not satisfied with the probate court decision the gentleman from montana says bayh that the book of utah statute statutes 4 hs bs is 13 literally filled with charters for toll roads 11 the statement is not creditable to his accuracy if lie had taken the trouble to look over the utah statutes and compare them carefully with those of other territories he be would have ascertained that I 1 was right yesterday yest yesterday erta erda in my statement that there had ia MF been I 1 less s of this character of legislation in utah than in any of the other territories why mr air speaker in the entire utah statutes covering a period of twenty years and binet nineteen years of her legislative egis tivo assembly ably including also the anae enactments menta of the tile provisional ro state of deseret the government ov which was organized by the people previous to the tile terr territorial to government being granted un unto to them r there thero cannot be found by my careful examination eighty franchises covering all grants for herd grounds toll roads bridges canals kenyons kan and ferries not averaging four to a session the tile greatest number of these passed at it any one session did not reach forty how is it with the tile other othen territory ieh lej on examination of the acts of tilo the nevada territorial legislature dortho year 1862 1882 alone I 1 find that of one hundred and thirty seven laws fifty lifty three were fm franchises tuchi ses sos covering almost every conceivable case w where jere iero legislative ft power may bo be exercised for private benefit berue berie nit fit there were twenty six aix toll road franc frane franchises francel hL five railroad franchises four bridge ft franchisee franchised franch luchi richi isee seb ses two gas franchises two wo water franchises one canal franchise one ferry franchise and two franchises granting exclusive rights to float wood anh ana and timber down the principal rivers in the territory one franchise gives to its recipients tilo the exclusive ri hight right I 1 t to run a ferryboat across the humbolt river within certain limits and thebe these tiie tile second cond law of the tile session was a franchise giving the exclusive right for ten years to maintain a bridge across the carson river at the foot of main street in the town of dayton forbidding the construction of any other otiler bridge within three quarters of a mile on either side thus practically cutting off all approach to the tile city except over the proposed bridge permitting the tile moderate charge of fifty cents for toll for a wagon and two animals and inflicting a fine of loo to be paid to the grantee of the franchise on any persan person who should attempt to build another bridge the tile town of ayton dayton D was then as I 1 understand a flourishing burg of several thousand people the carson river is a stream perhaps fifty feet wide and the cost of the bridge might in those flush times have reached readied a thousand dollars am I 1 mistaken in giving the gentleman from montana the credit of being a member of the tile legislature which made these those grants the mont montana ana territorial legislature during one session that of 1861 65 granted fiat nifty fifty one private franchises of whick which forty seven were toll road bridge arld and ferry franchises es covering elg eighty lity five pages of the session laws an and permitting a charge of four dollars toll for crossing a bridge with a wagon and two animals the legislative grants of land and timber rights in utah of which the gentleman speaks were neither so extensive nor so exclusive as is assorted asserted no attempt was ever made to maintain ejectment upon them in any court probate or district they were never teemed esteemed as ws of any particular value no settler mormon or non rion mormon was ever excluded from land by warrant of their authority there is not a foot of land held in utah under them they tiley belong to the past and there was wag never an hour in that past when any person on earth was in lured by them the tile gentleman from montana says that these grants existed sufficiently long to enable the mor mons to prevent outsiders from settling in utah of all the army of treasure seekers who wended bended their way across the plains from 1849 1949 until the completion of the railroad in 1869 1 I challenge the gentleman I 1 challenge the tile world to present one single authenticated case of a would be settler being prevented from settling bottling by mormon grants or mormon Nf ormon interference that there are non mor nor mon farmers in utah is probably true the arid treel treeless plains of utah redeemed to gardens only by the tile construction of costly ditches and the tile ceaseless toil toll of irn irrigation ga presented few attractions to those farmers who were free to choose either cither the genial climate of california or tilo the broad and fertile acres neres of iowa lowa and nebraska nothing but a desire to reach a spot where eliere they could enjoy their rello reilo religious ious lous faith unmolested could luve have induced any considerable number of persons to come comet to utah at all nothing but the system of operative cooperative co Industry made possible hya by a unity of social and religious interests could have caused the tile construction of irrigating canals and i the harmonious and equal distribution of water from tile thesbe theise e canals the gentl gentleman emarl emalL says that there la Is a hitter bitter irony in the claim that i the mormons cormons have made the desert to mos hos somas som eom as the rose vi ichen hen ben we reflect that for twenty years by means of every judicial and legislative usurpation they could devise they have absolutely prohibited anybody else from engaging in the same banle work sir is this true go westward to nevada and northward to idalio idaho for hundreds of miles you sli sit shall shail all ail find a country whose physical conditions dit ions climate and so soil are entirely similar to those of utah you will |