| Show PRESIDENT ARTHURS ANTI antl MORMON moreon POLICY THE chief point of interest to the large majority of our readers in the president a message is the paragraph relating to utah and polygamy the executive says he is not satisfied with the workings of the edmunds law thinks that more stringent measures should be adopted for the extirpation of polygamy and favors the repeal of the organic act and the of 0 this i territory by an appointed commission these utterance utterances a of president arthur will occasion much surprise among those who have credited him with steady conservatism and a soul above the arts of the dema dems demagogue 9 ogue the purpose of the recommendations Is evident it Is to raise if possible a party issue to lo figure in the next presidential election The mon mormon question as it la Is called has been magnified so BO much in the eyes of the country and the cry of polygamy has been so persistently raised that the popular mind is persuaded of the urgent need of some extreme measure to save the nation astion from being overwhelmed by Ic mormonism J which is so little understood and so grotesquely misrepresented as aa to be regarded as a menace and a derror in the blind demand for the extirpation of that system constitutional restrictions will not be regarded by the unthinking any scheme to stamp out mormonism will be hailed with pleasure by the hireling clergy and receive a certain amount of popular support the republican party hard up for striking issues will take advantage of this benti senti ment and propose bach buch measures as no consistent democrat could sustain for a moment the refusal ol of a democratic house of JRe presenta bill embodying the r recommendation eco of the president donig dould bo be used against that party in the coming campa campato campaigns tp they could of sympathy the imor mormons cormons Mor cMor mons which would be an awful charge and fl affiliation with polygamy which would be still more startling hence the adoption by president arthur of a scheme which if the people of this great country were not deceived and bam by politicians and hireling preachers would be sufficient to condemn any candidate for popular suffrage in the eyes of republicans and democrats alike 4 w the right of local self seit government inheres in every organized com corm of citizens and this has ha s been formally confirmed upon the people of utah by act of congress the repeal of the organic act would not take a way away that right such buch repeal with t the he destruct destruction lo of gur pur local government and pend the establishment of afie theun amerl ameri can and antl anti republican domination by appointed Commissio commissioners neres to which the president has lent his support would be simply an act acl of op oppression presson and the authority of might over right it would be subversive of the very principles for which the founders of this nation struggled and risked their lives if any democrat should assist in the infamy it would be proof that he was not governed by the principles which are essential to his party and are fundamental to our national institutions but van waa led by lilter ulterior lor lon motives for unworthy ends the exigencies of a fight for place and power however olten lead po liticia ns into devious ways and principle frequently takes a back seat chwe policy steps to the front and in the strife for supremacy which is about to ensue the end to be achieved will no doubt cause either party to be somewhat heedless as aa to the character of the means employ that they give promise of B access success and yet we cannot believe that the democracy now coming up into a prospect of a return to the control of national affairs can be so regardless of the basic principles and vital force of their own organization as to trample on the rights right s of a populous commonwealth simply to appease a senseless outcry and peradventure gain a few votes we say sayd peradventure adv advisedly Isely for it is quite doubtful that in their sacrifice ot of principle principles they would make numerical ca gains no democrat who plant l ed himself firmly on constitutions ground in opposition to antl anti mon mor mon mea measures dures introduced in the forty forts bevente seventh congress failed in his canvass for election to the forty and in the long run xun it will be found that the right will win while expediency when hostile to it has no abiding strength pandering to antl anti mormon clamor will prove a very evanescent subterfuge and no man or party will find permanent success in such a the reasons given by president arthur for endorsing the extreme measure recommended for utah are extremely weak ali ail all of the members of the legislature are mor mons he says well Is it a crime to be a mormon Is isit it likely that the mormons cormons Mor mons would elect anti mormons cormons Mor mons to make laws jaws for them haye hare they thet not the he right to choose for their own officers men of their own views and ana is it not premature and to recommend harsh and unprecedented action on the supposition of what our legislature may or may not do at i the coming cession session again what can that body do in the direction sought more that has already been done the edmunds law excludes all polygamists ista from voting and from office and that would stand no matter what our local legislators might pass if the provisions of that law were reen re en acted by our assembly they would be no more effectual than now and it if any act were passed in opposition to them it would bold hold ber void vold the fallacy of the presidents argument is thus made palpable it is not shown either in what way the destruction of our local government would affect the question of polygamy the plural marriages of the mormons cormons Mor mons nrc are not sustained or recognized by the territorial rit orial laws and could not be dissolved by any number of commissions or edicts or armies or any other earthly powers they are ecclesiastical perpetual and eternal nn and until the mormons cormons Mor mons be come recreant to their faith and their covenants with high heaven those thosa unions will be recognized by that almighty being who established them for the banowit benefit of his people and the falness of his glory the tho presidents remarks on utah and polygamy do not add to the torce force orce of his hig message ples saze sage nor do credit to elis glis supposed sup bup posed sagacity and statesmanship they are in the nature of a sop bop to the bigots and breath to the flama fiame of unreasoning popular pular pulan passion it Is ia doubtful it if they they will have any practical bearing upon Con oon congress grees they certai certainly ly create no commotion among the peaceable fearing people of utah territory |
