Show commission REPORT washington DC april sir the board of commissioners appointed under t the he act att of cono copp congress ress of march 22 ISS 2 respectfully report that the legislative assembly af the territory of utah adjourned sine die on the lath ultimo without accomplishing shing such legislation as Is contemplated by said act of congress we therefore consider it proper to pr present e sent an account of the condition of affairs in the territory and the operation of the legislation of congress concerning polygamy loly Soly gamy so far as appertains to our aties es since entering upon the discharge of our duties in july 1882 we have diligently sought to inform ourselves as to io the history of the mormons cormons Mor mons and the present condition of utah and its people ie thus far the legislation has been directed ir acted against the crime of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation I 1 a fu fuu exposition of which was submitted in our last report which we need not now repeat aurther further than thau to say that the present law provides for the punishment of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation by fine and anz any imprisonment upon conviction in the courts of jus justice and also for the disfranchisement ment of fists from voting and holding office to what at extent has this law been executed and what are and what will be the probable results in the solution of the so called problem justice to the statesmen who enacted this law a as well as the board who are engaged in its execution demands a fill lull ud and explicit answer to these though at the expense of elaboration and some repetition hottat heretofore report reported CU vi ari 1 prior brior to the time when this giai toa tok took charge of the conduct of re tm eions and elections la in UW in august 1882 nearly all the principal offices in the territory held by the Legi hegl Leisla tB i assembly y of 1882 consisting of thirty six members were all in with the exception of two or tim tin other offices such as delegate to 6 cok coi 1 gress and territorial county M municipal onil ofil offices ces were filled by poll amista in about the same ghe the the doctrine of rotation in office was almost unknown in utah aa 4 many of the poly polygamists amista had het bea ke keet kept in the same offices f from rom youth b out old oid a age e all AH this is changed w unk this act since the commiss coment entered upon its duties jhc thc tit erf have been elected in the territory lt i officers not one of whom Is isaioh a oll oli gadist in this number are inc ud municipal officers we have adit 4 mated the number of voters ulal ulai maie male etaf j female who have been by reason of polygamy at 12 11 there is not now a polygamist in in 0 5 in utah so much as to the execute of the law bu but bul what as to the pria prid and future effects j we repeat a statement contain eili etli etl ell our report of october 30 1883 j T the he theory of the act of marck I 1 1882 appears to be this that disc between those mormons cormons ft practice polygamy and those witt wiit not placing a upon the fond and depriving them of suffrage basit as I 1 as ithe the right to hold office whily tho other hand band an aa inducement is V k out to the latter class that by abatt in ing f from rom the poly gamie relation tt will enjoy all the political righta american citizens would in ti mels meis the effect of Indr inducing icing great numa of the mormon people to refrain is plural marriage while such co coni codi orations erat ions are not likely to have im weight with the elderly men who ready have a plurality of TI I 1 and severa several I 1 families of hey ney must have great weight w the young men luen of the territory IB oi of whom are ambitious and aspri and would not like volun voluntarily taril toi tot brace political ostracism be belore before orey sing from f rom this topic we deem it any to observe that no person well info anlon ed in regard to utah affairs ed col reasonably have expected at the it sage of the act that there would ati bei immediate change in the political iss ids atlon nor that it would have an animal leu ien diate effect in destroying the pw prate of polygamy 4 but the act must rufi refi 1 sani hani harily nave a strong influence hu direction the very existence ct law disfranchising franchising dis beta bets m tend to destroy their influence kin kie eyer ever it Is understood that this isto Is ua a permanent discrimination tk till mormons cormons who rho have the ballot wiil ter a time be conscious of a poi which they will be unwilling to use ij ever at the bidding of those who k it not the fact also oso that it vm oil necessary to the preservation of political influence of the yeo peo I 1 party I 1 as the mormons cormons style tk selves helves to have a large body oft off members who are not poul must tend in time to wea keli ieli e practice oy of rca wua polygamy for every ried mormon w who 0 ta takes w s but dur on one wife loses three votes for his f V his own and those of his two woman suffrage being establish establish law in utah another already adverted to the on tue young the thet generation Is entitled to gr great i seeing all the offices of honor and profit such as delegate to gress members mem bers of the Legisla legislate tl probate judges clerks ji county courts sheriffs many of thein thern guite quite lucrative al ani by polygamy poly gaum gamM ig wholly holly excluded the aspirin gig gil men of the territory would prem anomaly in human nature olf off cifa should fall fail to be strongly against going into a rel rei relation it hid subjects them to nellt political leai ical OR ostaf and fixes to them the stigma af of off turpitude SU the views above se set t forth 0 arg are PI iv fortified by the evidence of tk tag Rever ened bishop tuttle of ap episco episcopal I 1 church a ay ged geo distinguish distinguished eq nor or his piety 0 y and sagacity who has resided dt ws teen or twenty years in salt asb in a 4 sermon 4 at the capital of nse vve late lately y delivered deliver coi cil he said i 1 9 10 the rhe true policy Is s to en conY 1 0 building ua TO of an 1 ranks 01 of me the mormons cormons Mor mons such I 1 cc would result in the edmunds bill has not been I 1 a ure in utah as has been charred charged ch arrea argea the contrary it Is doing much FT mormons cormons obey this law W do not offer to vote neither do oa hold office and they feell the tle s sj keenly too the algid of su stigma upon them acts in si some soma manner but the thell theli ayoung 11 mons are waking u ap thell theli have asle asie asleep e on their ril rights ats ace ra see t the e polygamous chien chie liu tili av ini int 19 of offices flees under tile the edmunds W young mormon has been elec tedA of satt salt lake city and a numbers the legislature the thy still unar under the luence influence of of the oj they are beginning to realize eve j Import importance anc which may ress rego rest regi A 1 dually in the formation of a D ay di IS in this way the edmunds wa bill good A that the leading po I 1 a the mormons cormons feel the e effects i acts 0 oti ra I 1 munds act as a hesty besty bio blo hsi hai their dominating ar proved to our satisfaction in many ways among others their newspaper diatribes and pulpit harangues against tile the law and their exhortations to the rion ulon non tion polygamous mormons cormons to stand by their leaders and elders in these discourses the leading men of the mormon church still advocate the doo doctrine trine of polygamy las an essential part of their creed as openly and vehemently as at any former period recently a number of discourses have been delivered in salt lake city and other parts party of the territory especially on this subject by their most noted men all were invited by public notices in the newspapers ana and and the meetings were largely ir g attended evidently these meetings ll 11 lt were gotten up by concerted action among the we leaders and our interpretation terp of their motives is that the of the act of congress in favor of non poly polygamist aigist mor mons is producing such resul results ts u upon on the masses as to alarm their ae leadin T I 1 in men that they tiley feel keenly the effects of this act is further shown by their instituting a large number of suits at law a against adust the members of this board grounded rou on their exclusion from the palls swa samong ai an the orthodox INform mormons cormons ons of utah polygamy is a part of their religious faith laith and while but a small percentage cent centa a of the whole adult mormon population have actually entered into the relation yet all the faith falth faithful ul believe belleve e elleve in it as a divine revelation the mormons cormons believe in the old testament Te the new tes tamen tand a great deal besides namely the book of mormon and divers so revelations claimed to have been received by the prophet joseph smith and his successors brigham young oung and john taylor which are mostly printed in their book of doctrine and aud covenants among these so called revelations Is one in ili favor of plurality of wives doubtless there are many persons among the mormons cormons who would be glad to find tind a way out of polygamy devout and sincere in their religious rel rei alous E faith as we believe the I 1 generality of the people to bedet there are degrees of faith amon among r them as well as other sects and the vast num iber luen of apostasies apost asies that have taken place from irom time to time is convincing evidence that the leaven of unbelief and skepticism T is at work in many minds whether hether the actual practice oi of polygamy is on the decrease or not is a question since our lastre last report we have made additional investigation and we are of the opinion that in an the more rural districts chiefly in ic the southern portion of the territory territory there has not been bein much decrease while in salt lake county and other counties where there are considerable cities and towns there has been a de dc bided decrease the physical geography and other conditions of the territory present an obstacle to the speedy solution of the difficulty the tide of emigration from the states which in so few years settled the status of the fertile state of the great west will not be repeated in this territory there Is little to attract american Amerlean farmers to utah its area is large about square miles but the reater greater portion consists of barren rocky y mountains and deserts so that perhaps not more than one acre in fifty will ever be susceptible of cultivation but there are many valleys that by means of irrigation from the mountain streams auevery are very veny fert fertile he and productive nearly all of the agricultural land is already occupied ani and it is very evident that utah can never support a large population the present population is estimated at about four fifths beina being mormons cormons Mor mons the people are generally engaged in agricultural pur pursuits suits chiefly in a small way relying mainly on irrigation prior to the tte completion of the transcontinental railroad through utah in 1869 there were very few non nou mor vior mons in the territory since that time the business of mining has become an important interest several of the most valuable mines minus of silver and lead in the west being located there besides there are some gold mines and valuable deposits of coal iron copper and other minerals the mines give good employment to a great many persons and hae have been the means of attracting tr considerable non mormon population many of the non mor mons or gentiles are doing a prosperous business in baking mining and mercantile pursuits candor requires us also to say that personal security and property rights appear to be as inviolate in utah as in any of the states or territories however business men of small capital among the gentiles gent iles lles complain of dull times by reason ot of the clannishness odthe of the mor mons in trading with each other rather h an the gentiles in the endeavor to present a fair and impartial account of utah and its people it would be disingenuous in us if we failed to put on record our conviction e I 1 after much reading observation and reflection that during the last fifteen years there has been a great improvement pro in the condition of affairs in the territory for over twenty years year prior to 1869 the mormons cormons were to a great extent isolated frona frova all the world before th the e building of the railroad across the continent they were for many years nearly a thousand th 0 usand miles from any civilized comm community unity gathered into the great salt lake valley and other valleys of utah under the leadership of a great but un uncultivated culli born bom leader of men who was imperious and fanatical the he mormons cormons were but little influenced by the outside world that there have been great changes forthe or the better Is 19 by every can call did observer last year a graceful and able writer in an editorial article in one of the non mormon newspapers of salt lake city used the following lan ian guage aage expressive of the of affairs in utah SaIt salt lake Is so changed chanted from the utah of ten years ago lat that could the old style of affairs be restored for a week the old slavery the old tyra tyranny liny and the restrictions the mormon people thes le would ra nise rise e up in rebellion ilon dion there are forces at work which are all powerful and which no article or restrictions no falsehoods and no s superstitions e can resist dpn in considering this question the public should not expect any considerable change as the immediate result of the present laws of congress nor of any legislation that la Is likely to be devised such legislation will not hot speedily induce the people to renounce their religious rell reil lous ious creed concerning the marriage r 1 relation and other so called 61 revelations the most that can be predicted of such legislation is that it will in connection with other influences place the tile obnoxious features of mormonism in a condition of gradual declension and final extinct extinction ibn in presenting this view of the condition cf utah honorable mention is due to the many christian denominations that have established colleges schools and churches in salt lake city and many other parts of the Terri territory among these are churches or territory schools tori torf s maintained by the odiste congregationalists apiscopa lians nans baptists catholics and perhaps others all or nearly all of which has been accomplished within the last fifteen years some one or more of these churches and schools may be found in nearly near lyall all ali the principal cities in the territory and are chiefly supported by the benevolence of the people and the churches churche sot of the states there aarein are in addition to those common schools established by the mormons cormons by legislative authority the denominational schools school snow now number 79 with an average daily attendance of nearly oooo pupils many of whom are the children of mormon parents these schools are distributed as follows episco episcopal pal pai 5 methodist 10 congregational 27 presbyterian 35 1 baptist 2 catholic I 1 we the noble and self seif sacrificing men and women of these various religious refigio us denominations who as mini ministers s and teachers have consecrated themselves to this good work are deserving of the thanks and gratitude of every christian and philanthropist and it may be that their labors under divine providence may accomplish moretha more than uthe the wisdom of lawgivers nevertheless the vigorous execution of efficient laws jaws of congress should go along with other instrumentalities and influences and it will be the marvel and mystery of the al ages wes if a mere inere handful liandi ul of people in the heart of the continent can long withstand |