| Show TIIE THE I 1 I 1 mineral LIBERAL PLATFORM the liberals of utah in convention assembled announce as their principles pl e 8 opposition to ecclesiastical rule in lil secular affairs as it exists I 1 in utah and to the continued practice and ana I 1 spread of polygamy both of these practices and the theories ou oll which they are based are alien hostile and menacing to american institutions one of chein them has ion lon lons long been prescribed by law but the law Is successfully cess fully tully nullified in view of this fact we four years ago called upon congress to take the government of this territory into its own hands hand through a legislative commission to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate of the united states the ianswer answer was the edmunds law excluding actual polygamists from voting or holding office the mormon propaganda met this by renewed pressure to extend the practice of polygamy and it Is idour our conviction that it is F now being extended more rapidly than at any former period A session of tile the utah legislature has been held under the operation of the edmunds law without any response whatever to its requirements that le legislature I slature was composed of mono monog amista in practice but who were at tre the same time polygamists in theory as their work shows the treasonable attitude of the mormon leaders was declared by george Q cannon cannan to a reat great assemblage in the mormon tabernacle on sunday oct ath 1884 in these words namely today we are confronted by the fact that the united states have pitted themselves in their governmental capacity against us exactly as we have been taught to expect shall we now falter or give way or become beak in the knees or tremble in the it heart e art when we see this attitude so clearly defined god forbid I 1 we now call upon the government to accept this challenge by substituting the legislative commission before asked farlor for for the existing polygamous church government in this territory the issue irwill it will be seen is understood and accepted by the polygamous pro propaganda acanda and for the government to sow row allow the further denial of its authority and defiance of its power ower with impunity will throw open the e door to the direct evils in the future I 1 we have published the declaration of principles of the peoples party and now present to our readers the so called platform of the so called liberal party of utah ilow how much claim the thin thing has I 1 to the title of a platform and how much its framers deserve the title of liberals a perusal of the document will settle at once instead of being a platform of principles it is a mere bundle of denunciations and I 1 guesses esse sand and its framers stand self exposed as the most illiberal and un american of schemers combining and conspiring against the rig rights lits privileges and liberties of the great body of th the e citizens of utah polygamy that hackneyed and silly cry of a dwindling and nearly extinct clique is once more sounded abroad they guess at atan an alleged condition ot of affairs in utah about which they have adle adie information they express their conviction that it I 1 is being more at uny tiny previous period this is ant ank autre re opinion unsupported by anything to give it weight weight but it is inserted iu in the T platform for the purpose ot prejudicing ju the public mind at a distance the statement that the legislature elected under the edmunds law was held without any response whatever to its requirement is so gross a misstatement of the fact that it cannot be designated by mild language it is simply and squarely a wilful MUM LIE the only thing required of the late legislature by the edmunds law was the passage of a re registration and election act th the law was complied with 1 fully and completely thal that the enact which manipulates manipulated the tho executive of this territory and that the bill was not signed by the governor is iio llo proof unav that the legislature ild iid lid did not respond to the requirements of the laiq liw but only shows tuat the clique alque nim atu liu lle executive conspired to prevent the legislature le from accomplishing what its members mer abers in good falth faila attempted if those legislators were ih monogamists ip in practice that was all that the law required on that matter their theories were beyond the purview purview of the law and may not be legally called in question and the effort of the liberals to cast obloquy upon them for lor their theory or belief apart from overt acts I 1 proves that these liberals are really as we have said the most illiberal of political oli oll schemers the ite lie ecclesiastical ruie ruic rule in secular affairs in utah mention mentioned dd in the platform is so undistinguishable and indefinable that these liberals do not and cannot say what it is I 1 hey chey admit however that it is not unlawful and vet denounce it as alien hostile and menacing to amerlean american institutions the truth Is isthan that the majority of the people ot utah are as free as any people on the earth and that it if they follow advice from others they do so because they have confidence in the wisdom and experience of their advisers and act upon such advice of their 0 own wn free will and choice and when they go go to the polls they are protected in that thit choice by an absolutely secret ballot but these liberals desire to deprive the people of the right to follow any ones advice but theirs and because the people will not vote as they dictate these liberal prevaricators call call upon the government to deprive the people of all voting power whatever that Is the substance of their platform it Is all there Is af of it take that away and there is nothing iett leit of any consequence or value we will whisper in their ears a truth fon for consideration you cannot legislate against an influence thu tho attempt to construe into treason remarks reported to have been made by a prominent mormon is very puerile and nonsensical Is there any one in utah who is engaged in dking taking up arms against the united states tat or in and countenance to theli their em enemies if not there iss is no knoo treason here that offense offence is defined in the constitution and the most liberal construction of that definition will not answer the purpose of the framers framer of the thing called a 4 liberal platform As we have shown the nub of the whole tiling ething is in the last paragraph like a venomous wasp it carries its sting in its tall tail it calls for a legislative commission that is these fellows who are such pretended champions of american institutions want something established in utah that is the very antipodes of american institutions tut ions every shred and thread of republican government the they wish removed from utah and a oie whole ole cloth cioth oligarchy oligarch set up in the place thereof Is not this extremely liberal libera no vote of the people no popular voice in local affairs local self seif govern ment annihilated tile the citizens reduced to serfdom the great majority robbed of every political right and privilege because they will not become subservient to the dicta of a small insignificant and p plotting totting minority I 1 ohl what a platform orm oh I 1 what a set of addle heads beads must have framed it I 1 who in the world fixed it up why it seems that one 0 J Hol hoi If ollister llster presented it at the so called liberal liberally convention that accounts for it f ully fully no f urther further ex explanation J la nation is needed lay it away in its its little grave with its defunct predecessors decess ors |
