| Show THE MORMON MOEMON QUESTION r washington march 1 the contradictions of fact and the tile variety of opinion expressed in ardd arid out of congress an on the legislation which lias has passed the senate senatte relative to the real condition of a affairs in utah haye induced your correspondent to so solicit heit heft the views of the tho representatives of utah here in the person of her delegate elect and her present delegate with the following result correspondent I 1 have desired tj tilis tills ils lis interview mr delegate hooper that I 1 might be able to lay before the readers of rao tae world some harma information tion concerning the condition of affairs in utah from your standpoint there are all kinds kin ds of reports through patches dispatches des and correspondence rl spon dence denee from there and the public are led to believe that a state of th things ings but little short of anarchy prevails there mr hooper I 1 shall be pleased to give you any information in my power about utah and her affairs for there is a side to this question of which the public rael baiely T get ail nil any K knowledge 1 the peo people P I 1 of f uta utah are grossly misrepresented by y the reports which have been put i in I 1 circulation cu about them the aiesi dent of the united states has been persuaded to believe them and has issued a message to congress on the tile subject he intimates that the administration of the law in utah lias has been taken out of the hands of the judges which lie lle hellas has hns appointed and that their action has been interfered t with these are grave charges to make against a community if they were true congress would be justi justl justified ded hed in taking the matter in hand liand but the president has been misinformed and an investigation vesti gation into the affairs of the territory will prove that facts have been strangely perverted cor the widespread impression concerning utah is is that brigham young and the local legislature have llave constituted themselves a power higher than the tand the cono congress ress of the united states they hoa hor haye ye enacted laws it is said which place the selection of juries iri in the hands of men who take good care that no jury is empanelled empanel led that will convict a mormon and tho flioy virtually say to the federal ju judges es an and officers you cannot enforce your laws ws and we set you at defiance ef lance 11 mr H I 1 know these statements are made but they ibey are untrue un true the mode of selecting juries in utah is the same as that pursued in many parts of the country the county court of each county at it its first flint session in each year selects from the tile assessment rolls fifty names of persons eligible as juro jurors rs these names are written on slips of paper and iund deposited in a box tle tile tie rox box is shaken up and the J jury ry panel drawn promiscuously these rhese luries juries have indicted and convicted mormons cormons and abri non mor mons alike of crimes whenever t lie tiie evidence has been sufficient and andi until now they have been with fairness in deciding cases 1 in I which mormons cormons and non mormons cormons have been parties to the suit sult A case in point occurs to menow me now A young man mah a mormon Ni ormon assailed a llon non mormon for some of fence real or imaginary and killed him he was arrested tried and executed his being a mormon did not ave hive him from j ustice C do not your author authorities aties contrive to exclude the gentile element nl nt from the juries mr if they do not if the jury list of the past few years be examined it will be found that non mormons cormons have been selected as i jurors arom they have not been as numerous as the tile mormons cormons Mor mons for the latter outnumber the others nine to one but they have had a larger proportionate Te representation presentation i on juries many of the tiie non mo mormons cormons amons do not pay taxes being transients and the selection for jurors is from the tile taxpayers tax payers C it is argued however t that h at while the selection of juries is left eft to your local authorities it is use useless ess to make any effort to enforce such laws of the united states as do not accord with public sentiment there polygamy for instance is practiced practised there beneral general grant in in his liia message refers particularly to that system how can it be reached when the tiie men who largely compose the juries maybe may be polygamists ests or believers that polygamy is not a arii crime n e 2 mr H you may not know I 1 know it is not generally understood that the there re I 1 lias ilas las never been an attempt made to t prosecute for poly gamy under the law of 1862 f in n tile C attempt to convict brigham young and others in the fall fali 1871 a territorial statute against lascivious cohabitation was used by the jud jude judge e this became law through brighams Brig liams hams own signature when lie was federal gove anor of utah and was no morein more in to n ded to apply to plural marriage than to single marriage it is said sald mormon juries will not convict but ut is it 1 fair to say so and to ask fol foi a different mode of selecting junies juries when they have never been tried C do you gearilo mean to say pay that they would I 1 indict and find ve verdicts edicts against polygamists mr jhn hof H of course I 1 cannot what they would do rhe the rho prevalent opinion is th atthe law of bf 1862 is unconstitutional the mor mons claim that they were com corn carided of god to practice plural marriage not to gratify licentiousness but to save women and to raise a righteous offspring it was a part of their religion in 1862 and had been for many years they claim therefore that the passage of a law makin making it criminal was in violation of agit the first amendment ei Ament of the constitution which says that congress shall make mak inq law lav prohibiting the free exercise of religion C well P but suppose supposed that a colony of thugs were to practice their system of murder in the united states should we not janish them because they would claim that it was their religion and that under I 1 the co constitution they had a right to its free exercise that diat the burning of widows weme were tobe tobe iobe attempted here as dormi formerly erly rave eave facts ed in hindostan hindustan Hind would we have to permit it because it should be called religion mr ff M my people claim that there is a wide distl distinction luction between these practices and that of polygamy the one destroys life t the e other perpetuates it one is malum m in beor se or an act which is in and of itself a crime ardd arid the other is malum maium prohibitum prohibit um ali all an act which is made crime by law faw law the bible which christendom receives receive sas as au authority thorit Y and on the moral teachings of which its laws are based ased declares murder to be a crime it declares adultery to be a crime but it nowhere p prohibits ro the marriage of more than one woman weman to one man this er is trench trenching tren ehing ching inc on theology with which which I 1 do not profess to have much familiarity C the dispatches from utah report great excitement and alarm among the people there I 1 see gee it stated also aiso that the mormon leaders are trying to obtain some foothold it in mexico or the sandwich elf cir islands to which to flee in case the law lav is enforced against them do you think if congressional action were had llad they would ouid desert utah mr H no into sir to what place could they go and be less exposed than in utah if they were togo to go to mexico with their industry temperance and thrift they would soon a accumulate wealth in suell a country they would make their homes a paradise and the cry would be raised against them then as it now is to excite prejudice I 1 under cover of which they could be robbed As to the sandwich islands though there is a plantation on oahu baliu owned by some of my constituents statue ts at which the native mor mons are gathered and taught habits of industry at yet the removal of the people to t that at quarter has never been contemplated C the scheme of settling an island or group of islands in the pacific it has been thought would suit brigham young by such a move he would escape collision with the government or its laws y would secure a place where he could erect a government to suit himself and to which he could gather I 1 ther converts with ease and with r his is administrative talents and the peoples union and industry lay the foundation afan of an important anid arid wealthy power in view of the complications and difficulties that are likely to arise at any time I 1 should think that such a plan might have fascinations ci for him with the mines and other advantages which utah now possesses brigham and his liis people might be able to sell to advantage mr H apart from obstacles in ln the tho way ot of a wholesale emigration of a people 0 ph le as numerous as the mormons cormons in utah t a there is an insuperable able abie objection to such h a pian plan plan pian the mormon belief forbids the ilea hea 0 of their leaving the continent they love america as the ancient jews did gid canaan they have come tome from all qu quarters u arters artera of the earth to be hero here it is to t them tein lein the promised land the landof land of zion they are attached to republican institutions and value the constitution of the united states as a a sacred instrument which its ita framers were inspired tomito to write and the th colonies to accept th they ey have been persecuted in counties and states but that was under the government they have enjoyed their liber ilber liberty and while properly administered they always will have all the rights and f freedom they desire no nov or br utah they think Is the best spot on earth fon tor them at present I and there they intend to remain betth let the 1 mormons Mormon leave utah and she ehe would soon resume her an dent sterility and be valueless their removal is not the end those who are making the present outcry desire they want to get et the government of the territory rys nys 0 the counties antles and cities into their hands bands by suitable ble blo legislation 03 on a the part of congress they ey hope to do this with it they have an idea they could hang imprison or scare off brigham young and other leading mor mons they never saw such opportunities p 0 ran e for making money as there are 1 in n utah h it they could only have their way the cities counties and territory are sree tree f from rom debt the taxes are light one af pf pr p r cent bent Is tz the combined county and territorial tax outside of salt lake there is scarcely any city eity tax a and 4 there it Js trifling the ring of f persons who are crying for legislation would if they could handle the funds test the capacity of the various branches of the government to carry one or two millions of bonds athis may be so but it is difficult to make the country believe that the accusations against the people of utah of being disloyal of disregarding the laws of in strangers of embarrassing the action of the united states officials who have been sent there there a are entirely without foundation utah g is a attracting tt ung attention the Th evalue value of her mines gindher and her command ing position are being recognized the rights of citizens must be aspect ed therland there and how can congress avoid legislation upon the subject mr II 11 from whom do these accusations come do you hear of men of capital who ha ve invested in the territory urging legislation isla isia tion are not the ther prime movers in this matter men who expect to derive advantages from it the united states supreme court early last summer checked the asur lations of a federal judge in utah then it was determined by him dimand and his set that there ther mastbe must be congressional legislation n to enable him to do with willi law what he had tried to 0 d do 1 0 without it he Ife refused last september to 1 geue e an order for the of a 1 grand jury though asked to do so by the united states attorney the object of this was vw plain it a grand jury was summoned and they should indict persons accused of crime as they always did when evidence was P presented r e s anted to them it could not be said that t t the h e enforcement of the law Is impeded and the federal courts are powerless ow erless in utah where then ithen would be the necessity tor for legislation 0 you then are arc opposed to legislation by congress mr ir IL yes sir I 1 deem it unnecessary the legislators of utah have shown an honest desire to sha shape and enlarge the laws to accommodate tte shenew new mew conditions at thelast the last session but one of the legislature le i lature seeing I 1 the tho necessity for a ch civil ia code they passed one of sections section st framed orr orf on the basis of the new york codeal code at the last session they partly prepared a criminal code codel which only failed to become a law because there was not time to pass in the forty davs days dass days provided by the organic act of the territory C you vou ou deem legislation unnecessary un abut but will the country be satisfied without something being done mr H it if not then let a commission of reliable rb liable wise and impartial men bo be sent to utah to thoroughly examine both sides of the que quo tion there then it if legislation must be enacted be based upon a knowledge of what Is required crould CW such a commis commission mori moil be satisfactory to to all classes mr H it is what the great majority of people there of sect want it if there must be action of some kind members of both houses are receiving dispatches from influential constituents urging the 0 appointment of a commission I 1 T C your probate courts are greatly greata yeo complained ini p ned of it Is said they interfere with th the administration of justice by the federal courts that they take the administration of the law out of their hands when the federal er I 1 courts ha have haxe e committed persons accused e d of of crime it Is charged that they are released on habeas corpus by the probate courts that in fact the latte latter rare caro are judiciary independent of bf the federal courts mr H that this charge is not correct is plain iro ire from the fact tact that the right of appeal f from porn forn the probate to the district court is is accorded c 0 crded and freely exercised under the ia laws ws of utah the pow power rot of the tho federal court over interior courts is almost absolute it Is true that the probate courts of utah have enlarged po powers vers there has been a good reason why yby they should hav ethem ethein until quite recently all the federal judges have res resided ded in one district at salt lake e city iz in the other district districts 3 years have comet sometimes lm elapsed without courts being held men even now they are held but rarely the legislature had bad the tile choice between giving the probate blurts courts criminal jurLs jurisdiction diction or leaving the people to foro form their own courts or go without any there is 13 but one instance in the history of utah of a probate court issuing a writ of habeas corpus to release a prisoner from the custody of a federal officer it was in the case of brigham young he lie had been in confinement lor for several months the action of tot the court which imprisoned him was by the decision of the united states supreme court declared in effect illegal for or days after that decision was rendered and when its tenor was notorious to mothe motho the tho entire count country rys nys ho he was still kept in custody and his release was refused ho he then applied to the probate court for a writ of habeas corpus I 1 us and rot got one and his freedom I 1 related t the ph circumstance at the time to a high functionary here |
