Show UTAH commission DETAILS ov OF WHAT THEY mm HAVE dose doms mab MAD guat guam Y the tho following which is nearly the full text of the second annual report of the commission is from the balmore american the commissioners appointed by president arthur under the a rill kiy gamy act of last year have today ay submitted their second annual report to the secretary ot of thelnia thel the inte nta ilor before proceeding with an account ot of their transactions once the date of their previous report they deem it advisable to make a brief statement ol at the former legis lation of congress in relation to bigamy or polygamy they lano iano is no doubt that plural marriage was practiced practised to a considerable extent among the mormons cormons from the time of their first immigration to great bait sait lake valley in 1847 it was in 1852 that it was first publicly proclaimed as a tenet of the church boy by toy vatne vavel Teve laUon by brigham young youngs Pr eident of the church and governor of utah territory under the appointment of president fillmore Fill mole moie atten alten tha lapse of ten yearb years namely on july lat an aei acl was passed by congress which provides that every person having a husband or wife living who marries another an others whether married or single in a territory or other place over which the united states have exclusive jurisdiction is guilty of bigamy and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five y yearb years ears earb 1 under this law there have been very few convictions not more than three as aa we are advised for a period of over twenty years which Is ia due largely to the fact that a great majority of the community are in the accused in this connection we deem it proper to say that no reflection is intended to be cast upon the I 1 ludes judes or other officers of justice in utah appointed by the government doubtless Doubt fess fesa they have done the best beat they could with such means and legal measures as were furnished by the government passing then to a de description of the statute from which the board derived their power the report proceeds as aa foi fol follows lowb lowa the law of march is much more comprehend compre hen sive in addition to repeating the same penalty for entering into ithe I 1 the ix relation elation it amends ithe former law by providing a penalty against ga any man who simultaneously or on the same day marries more than one comans womans woman such cases have occurred in utah the former law not providing for such sim aim nuptials also the pre sont law provides a penalty for gun unlawful cohabitation 2 which was intended to meet the case of a continuance of the relation for it was held by the courts under the former law that a man living in a relation could not be convicted after the three years statute of limitations had expired from the time of entering into the plural marriage besides Ba bides eides new now sections sec bec tiona are introduced trod into the present act relating to the qualification of i jurors brors amnesty to offenders and the of children born before jan uary aary 1 1883 I 1 I 1 with the execution of those provisions of the act thus far adverted to this commission have nothing to do and there Is a general misapprehension in the public mind as to the extent of our authority which though important and difficult of execution is much more circumscribed and limited than many suppose our whole authority to is set orth forth in the ninth or last section of the law which is to be construed in connection with the prec preceding edin 9 section and perhaps some other sections section s of the act 31 3 1 the eighth and ninth sections are then quoted and the report goes on to say ray it will thus be seen that the duties of this commission appertain only to matters of registration and election and eligibility to office while the punishment of the crime of polygamy is left as under the former law to the courts of justice nor are we invested with legislative isla tive aut sut authority hority bority our powers are of a quasi quast judicial and administrative character but from the general terms of many parts of the act we have been obliged to exercise a considerable latitude of discretion to make the act emm efm effectual confining ourselves within the limits of the laws law according to our best judgment we have heretofore communicated to the department of the interior the tho difficulties we encountered on entering upon our duties last year I 1 also the measures we adopted for excluding polygamists ista iata from registration and from the polle polio and that we I 1 had excluded some men and women from registration and voting by reason of their disqualification under this act pursuing the bame policy we have had equal success at the general election held on the gih of august f 1883 in excluding polygamists ts from the polls the theory of the act not of march appears to be thus that a discrimination between those mormons cormons who practise polygamy and those who do not placing a stigma upon the former and dep depriving iv them of the right of suffrage as aa well as the right light to hold office while on the other handa hand and inducement du is held out to the iatter latte class that by the abstaining from the poly gamio relation they will enjoy ail all the political rights of american citizens would in time have the effect of inducing great numbers n a in b ers erg of 0 f the mormon people to refrain e frait from ho m plural marriage while buch such considerations are not 11 likely to ha has haxe hav v a much effect upon the elderry elderly men who have already a plurality of wives wires and several ami adf ile lle of children they must have great weight with the young man of the territory many of whom are ambitious and aspiring and would not like ilke voluntarily to embrace political ostracism the leading mormons cormons Mor mons who are generally in polygamy evidently eviden aly perceive this ten dency and therefore ever since the passage of the act they have j assiduously taught their people that this measure Is tran alent and that it will soon be set aside by the federal courts or by the action or of congress so bo far as aa we are advised very few fews if any illegal votes have been cast in utah since the commission took charge of registrations rist gist rations and elections in august 1882 As to the declared objects of the act not of congress as therein bet ant forth so far as appertains apper taina to our duties it is not denied that the operation of the act has been eminently successful that it Is to 8 say bay by the polygamists ts have all been excluded from the polls and from eligibility to office considering that during the twenty years since the antii amii polygamy act of 1862 was passed the penalties of that law have been enforced against not exceeding ahr three e pers persons ons one it would seem that in th the a enforcement of the present law against some polygamists who have been excluded from the polls it must justly be regarded that the act has been fully and successfully cess fully executed before passing from this topic we deem it proper to observe that no person well informed with regard to utah clairs flairs could reasonably have expected at the passage of the act that there would be nn en immediate change in the political situation nor that it would have an immediate effect in des troyL g the practice of polygamy but the act must necessarily have a strong in that direction the very existence of the law dis dia franchising the polygamist 9 must tend to destroy their influence wherever it is understood that this is to be a permanent criminatIon discrimination dle die I 1 those mormons cormons who have the ballot I 1 will after a time hs bi conscious of a power which they will be unwilling to use forever for ever at the bidding of those who have it not the fact also that it will be necessary to the preservation of the political influence of the peoples party Rs as the cormons mormons style themselves to have a large body of their members who are not polygamists ts must tend in time to weaken the tha practice of polygamy for every married mormon who takes but one plural wife lobes loses three votes for his party hia hit own and those of bis hid two wives woman suffrage being established by law in utah another consideration already adverted to the influence upon the young men and the rising generation is entitled to great weight seeing all the offices of honor trust and profit such as delegate to congress mem bers of the legislative assembly probate judges clerks of the county courts sheriffs and others many of them quite lucrative held by mon oga mists late while polygamists ts are wholly excluded the aspiring y young men of the territory would present an anomaly in human nature if they should fall to be strongly influenced fluen ced into a relation chith thus subjects them to political ostracism and fixes upon them the stigma of moral turpitude the difficulty of the situation can be ba better understood from the fact that that among the orthodox mor mons of utah polygamy polygamy is a part of their religious faith and while but a small per cent of the whole adult mormon population have actually entered into the polygamous relation yet all the faithful believe in it as a divine revelation the mor mons believe in the ahe old testament the new testament and a great deal besides namely the book of mormon and divers divere so called revelations claimed to have boen been received by the prophet joseph smith and kis kib successors brigham young and john taylor which are mostly printed in their book of doctrine and covenants among these soca boca ao called hed bed 61 revelations is ia one in favor of a plurality of wives that a doctrine and practice so odious throughout christendom should have been upheld so many years against the laws lawa of congress and the senti sentiments monta menta of the civilized world Is one of the marvels of the nineteenth century and can be scarcely appreciated even by those who are familiar with the worlds world lis history in relation to the difficulties of governmental government 11 control or suppression of religious fanaticism certainly no government can permit a violation ot of the laws under the guise of religious freedom and while congress may not legislate as to m mera mero ere era ma matters t of opinion ye yet yei t 1 it t may denounce and punish as crimes those actions which are in violation of social duties or subversive of good order etwas it was upon this principle that the supreme court of the united states held the anti antl polygamy law of 1862 to be valid and constitutional the night right of congress to suppress this great evil Is undoubted it is equally plain thet the dignity and good name of this great government in e nt a mong among tho the nations of the earth demand such congressional action as shall effectually eliminate this national disgrace in our report of november 18 we made several recommendations which were substantially incorporated into senate bill no 2238 of last session of congress reported by the judiciary committee december 13 1882 this bill however contains some other provisions besides those mentioned and wo we hope that the proposed measure as a whole will receive the favorable consideration of congress at its next session the becom above referred to submitted as a part of this report are as aa follows in our judgment a marriage law enacted by congress would bo be an efficient auxiliary in the suppression of polygamy it is asserted and generally believed b non mormons cormons in this territory that plural marriage Is ia still practiced here hore in secret we would recommend that congress enact a law declaring all future marriages in this derri kerri territory tory null and void unless thoy they are contracted and evidenced in the manner provided by the act for example that all mariJ marriages ages shall be ba solemn iced in certain designated public places and witnessed by euch such persons and registered in such public offices as to make the proof of marriage morally cen can certain tain taID provided provid edy eds also that the person officiating in the marriage ceremony together with the parties and wit nesse shall make their affidavits against polygamy and bet bot forth the time end and place and other particulars relating to the marriage niage or allow marriages geb to be solemnized in private but with the like guarantee guarantees of reg latra tion llon affidavits witnesses etc and in either case providing penalties for violation of the net nel by any of the persons concerned therein in ia this suggestion we omit the details which can readily be supplied by reference to the marriage acts of most moat of the staten in oua ous former report we ive adverted to the law of this territory conferring an women the right of suffrage this law was enacted by the territorial legislature some twelve years yeara ago of course it Is incompetent for congress to repeal or annul this law without offering any opinion on the question of woman suffrage in general we are satisfied that owing to the peculiar pecullar state of affairs in utah this thia law is an obstacle to the speedy solution of the vexed question in the prosecution of polygamy cases here it Is ia difficult to prove the first or legal marriage we would suggest as a remedy that the first or legal wife be declared by act of congress a competent witness in such prosecution under the act of congress by virtue of whose provisions this commission was wab ap pointed the people of utah appear to be put upon probation until a legislative abe Ase assembly embly elected under the provisions of this act shall meet and pass the requisite laws concerning registration and election if however the next session of the legislative Afi assembly elected under we act of congress shall shail fril fali to respond to the will of the nation congress should have no hesitation in using extraordinary measures to compel the people of thia this territory to obey the laws of the land the present legislature chosen at the august election is ia composed wholly of none of whom however live in polygamy thia this legislature will convene in january next it will be their duty under the act of 1882 to adopt measures in conf cont conformity 0 amity with the provisions of that law for the suppression of polygamy whether the legislature will take such action may not pro perly bo be discussed by us ua in advance of the opportunity given by the law to do so if they should fail in this thia respect when the time lime shall come for them to act this thia commission will be prepared to recommend and congress certainly will not delay the adoption of the most stringent measures compatible with the limitations ot of the constitution that may be considered necessary for the suppression pres ples slon sion of this great evil egli in view odthe of the fact that thia this contingency might comey comes come we havo bavo already given the subject of such buch further legislation much study and reflection and will be bereacy ready at the proper time if the case requires to promptly present our views for the consideration of the president and congress recently some bome ten suits were instituted in the third district court of utah by mormons cormons against the members of this commission complaining that they bad been unjustly deprived of the right to re register wlater and vote these aro nrc understood to be test cases designed to the constitutionality of the edmunds act as well as the legal construction which we put upon ita 10 provisions these suits are still undecided and are likely to be appealed to the supreme court of the united tates states i it ha has been asserted that poly gamio lo marriages have increased inca eased bince since the passage of the rd edmunds munds |