Show ADMISSION OF IDAHO speech of hou john T caine of utah in the house of representatives thursday april 3rd ard 1890 on the bill H R to provide for the ad admission miss Joia of the state of idaho into theUn the union lon mt mr caine said mr speaker I 1 am in favor of the ad mission to statehood of all the territories as soon as they have the requisite qualifications and adopt constitutions as the fundamental law of the future states which are at least republican in form although the territory which I 1 have the honor to represent has for many years possessed all the requisite qualifications for statehood she one has been denied that precious boon because the majority of her people were members of a numerically wear weak and unpopular church not lecause of polygamy for the great majority of them never practiced it but because they were mormons cormons Mor mons the same spirit which has denied statehood to utah proposes now to disfranchise the members of the mormon church in the future state of idaho because they are mists not at all for it was shown in evidence before the committees on the territories riess both of the seu ben 4 1 ate and the house that not more than oue one hundred and twenty five men out of the twenty or thousand mormons cormons living in idaho had ever been in any polygamous relation at the present time those men while supporting their famil families leti are not living with them in violation of law what then axe are the reasons for this wholesale there are two one religious they are members of the mormon blo church the other political it is supposed d that they will vote tile the democratic Domo cratic ticket the mormon citizens of idaho are counted to obtain the necessary population for statehood and they will be heavily taxed to support the state government taxation without representation is just as odious now as it was in the days before the revolution its enforcement by an alleged free and sovereign state will w 11 be no less detestable than it was by king george the third I 1 fear we are og from those great principles of free government founded by the fathers which gave birth to the declaration of independence the speaker here hee quoted from the report of governor stevenson of idaho in which the I 1 mormons cormons Mor mons are spoken of in high terms for foi their thrift industry and temperance this testimony to 10 the character of the mormon people of idaho and libe work they have performed in redeeming that once bleak and sterile region speaks loudly in their praise fratoe Is it for these labors that they are to be franchised disfranchised dis Is it because they have rendered their country abundantly fruitful in grain hay bay and vegetables of almost every kind that they are to be franchised disfranchised dis la Is it because they have erected substantial public buildings and the finest church edifice lu in idaho that they are to be franchised disfranchised dis Is it because in paris with a population of about 1500 all mor mons there is not a saloon or gambling house or any other place where intoxicating liquor is sold and this is the caw case in all towns in idaho where these people have exclusive el usi ve control that they are am to be franchised disfranchised dis Is it because their towns and villages are thrifty and their farms well cultivated their buildings generally substantial and many of them stylish with all the modern improvements prove ments mento that make a country look progressive ro and prosperous 22 that atey they are to be franchised disfranchised dis Is it because these people are an as a rule frugal industrious and honest 11 that they are to be dis franchised if call all the best beat citi citizens of idaho have no wish or desire to persecute wrong or oppress the mormon people nor do they wish to deprive them rf of any of their rights as american citizens then I 1 ask why are they to be dis franchised I 1 pause for a reply it will be said it is because they practice polygamy but governor stevenson says that he was informed by mm men high in authority in the mormon church and in whose word he had the highest confidence that they are willing to live jive up to the laws which they claim are now being fairly and more humanely administered and that the doctrine of gormerly plural ural marriages is not praet practiced teed as formerly merly or taught either publicly or privately and that they do not teach advise counsel or encourage the labus practice aenice of polygamy or bigamy 17 1 7 thus governor Gover Dor Steven sons statement pent which agrees with the testimony given before the committees of congress during the past two years f ally ily disposes of the charge of polygamy the gentleman from idaho mr dubois has with much seeming pa pathos os told you of the wretched appalling a misery and degradation of polygamist apo women and children he lad had in idaho why gentlemen there are thousands of oases cams of misery siad and aaion existing asti ng among women and children who are not polygamists ista in in every state in this union but that is no DO reason why whole communities should be franchised disfranchised dis he has cited an incident which hasou he sought to make very dramatic he huseen had seen flan ao alleged second wife on the wit ness stand aud and heard her swear that she was not married to the defendant 22 well now if she was an alleged second wife 21 could she in law be married to the defendant may not her lawyer have advised her to make such an answer holding that in law she was not a wife but technicalities aside if any such case existed and I 1 can not say it did not the woman was doubtless a plural plum wife and to save her husband the father of her children from merciless prosecution to save him upon whom she and her unborn babe were dependent for support she denied that she was married to him while I 1 do not justify any person in testifying falsely I 1 will say that it is not the f first rat time in the worlds world Is history that women have sworn falsely to save their husbands hua from punishment on the mimic stage such women are heroines slid and their acts are applauded to the echo the gentleman had bad no word of condemnation oo 00 adem nation for the cruel law the brutal and the inexorable judge ahu compelled the woman to testify under such circumstances if he had told you how helpless delicate women and children were hunted down like wild beasts beaste dragged into court badgered bad gerel bl by lawyers and who failing to testify t y to suit the prosecution were thrust into filth prisons among thieves and murderers and kept there till forced to answer questions which would convict their and fathers be could have drawn a picture much more realistic than any afforded by the horrors of polygamy he failed to tell you how in idaho and utah junes were packed to on vict mormons cormons of polygamous practices bow the territories were ransacked to find material for juries that would bring in the right kind of verdicts he forgot to recite how a high court official in his territory after an herculean effort to secure a i jury ury warranted to convict sacrilegiously ly declared that he be had secured a jury who would convict jesus christ himself thee the gentleman has not told you a fractional fraction al part of the appalling misery and degradation to which polygamist women and children have been subjected in the territory of idaho had haal I 1 his learning and eloquence I 1 could draw a picture that would make the angels weep but I 1 rather hang my head in shame anti and blush for humanity than speak of the outrages coin committed pitted in the name of law jaw in utah and idaho for the alleged suppression of polygamy the gentleman from idaho and others on the republican side of the house have either by direct allegation or artful innuendo inu endo charged the mormon people with disloyalty to the government I 1 deny the charge and I 1 assert that few people of any age or country have been more patient peaceable and submissive than the cormons mormons often under such circumstances aces of palpable wrong and oppression as have incited resistance si udd and insurrection in other communities reference has been made to certain expressions express ious of individuals among the mormons cormons Mor mons buik r circumstances of excitement and ration as evidence of disloyalty of the whole mormon people weare ilso arraigned for disloyalty beer bec use we 4 e have sometimes protested against lasand laa a and decisions w which mich we deem d to be oppressive and mi unjustly justly discriminative criminative crimin ve against again stour our people our belief in god as the supreme ruler of the universe and his overruling providence and authority au thorit has lieen been distorted by our enemies into kreuson against the government how would gentlemen who are citizens of tbt states like to have their loyalty tried by such standards as ae these the constituents of the gentleman from new york mr baker may freely denounce the governor and the legislature criticise criticism critic ise the decision a of the judiciary or denounce alen sheriffs and even send them to the penitentiary the constituents of the gentleman from iowa mr struble may meet in state convention anti and denounce denoun ct the prohibition laws and demand their repeal the farmers of kansas the constituents of the gentleman from that state mr Per perkins kiDs may meet in convention arraign united states senators and protest against laws which they deem wrongful and oppressive agam again good and loyal christians all over this country may demand such a change as would recognize god in the constitution as the supreme ruler ot of the universe iverse 11 1 1 all th se things way may be done by non mor mons MODS with impunity but if mor mons criticise criticism critic ise and protest against cruel laws and wicked officials their acts are brought forward here aud and elsewhere as evidence of disloyalty and treason in this free country there can be no criterion of loyalty except obedience to tho the constitution and laws jaws the medes medea and persians were the only people within my knowledge of history with whom the laws were thought to be so sacred perfect and infallible that they were held to be perpetual pe and the protest te st against these laws jaws was treason punishable p unis bable in the fiery furnace and the lions den the right of the people of a republican government to protest against a law or demand its repeal or agitate for reform is not to be limited to cases awes where the people are clearly in the right that is begging the question but it is hard and cruel as was the case with the mormons cormons in utah to be charged with disloyalty for gann g an I 1 criticizing criticising critic ising laing acts and decisions of federal officers ceis that were clearly wrongful and oppressive recent instances of this kind were related by an ex utah commissioner hon A B carlton before the committee op territories of this house though personally cognizant of the facts related by him I 1 prefer to give his statement as he being a non mor mon is not an interested party I 1 therefore condense cond enbe from his testimony as follows the federal judges in utah a few years ago made an extraordinary decision in the application of what was called segregation called a 11 the third section of the so called edmunds ant act of 1882 makes it an indictable offense for any male pers n to more than one woman and fixes the maximum kanii ament at a flue of and imprisonment lor for six months but the judges in invented anted it a new doctrine and called it seg r gatlon the gist of which was that it if a man had been living with two or more wives tor for three years the period of the statute of limitations the grand jury might franu segregate that is divi divide 6 up the three years into nto periods of a 11 year a mouth month a week or a d day a eab each h and bring in a separate indictment fy for or each one of the segregated periods so three years being segregated into periods of one day each the offenders of three years continuous cohabitation might be indicted one thousand and ninety live five times with commutative flues fines and imprisonments amounting to 1 lines fines and five hundred and forty seven years and six months imprisonment this doctrine w a applied in many cases the mormons cormons criticised criticized it as contrary to law and against the whole course of judicial decisions in similar cases both in engrand and amei tea lea and that by a sort of judicial legislation the judges sought to punish a man an indefinite number of times tor for one offense fenee of in violation of the constitution but the judges gave no heed beed to these dis loyel complaints compra ints and went on segregating until the supreme court of the united states reversed the cases and decided th it t the mormons cormons were ight and the utah judges were wrong in re snow united states supreme t ourt reports another case of mormon disloyalty occurred in the autumn of lbs A majority of the utah commission decided that a man was not entitled to be registered as aa a voter w who ho had married a plural wife subsequent t to 0 july 1 1862 the date of the passage of the first act concerning polygamy poly gamy although all his wives or all but one had died from ton ten to twenty years before the mormons cormons were so disloyal that they criticised criticized the ruling as absurd unreasonable and contrary to law how how they asked can a man be a polygamist who has no wife at all this dec sion however continued tobe to be enforced by the commission for over two years and many of the leading citizens were denied the right to vote or hold bold office among them william jennings the mayor of salt lake city although they had had no more than one wife tor for many years finally after tile the customary laws delay the supreme court of the united states decided that this ruling of the commission was erroneous murphy vu vs ramsey hamsey et al supreme court reports Ue ports page 15 the facts staled by judge carltun are undeniable for they are matters of record JD in the supreme court of the united states that the position of the mormon church relative to laws and go governments vern may be fully understood I 1 quote from the book of doctrine and covenants a standard book of the church in matters of faith and doctrine ne my time will not noi permit me to read the whole article but I 1 will print it with my remarks I 1 will content myself by rea reading dirig two or three extracts the speaker here read from the section of the book of doctrine and covenants relating to governments and laap in general now mr speaker that is the accepted doctrine of the church and the utterances of no man in tile the church be he be elder apostle or prophet if in conflict w with iab these precepts can le set up as superior to tad thi standard the advocates of this bill divert attention from the real issue by crying I 1 ng out I 1 I 1 polygamy 11 polygamy 1111 11 1 1 thus seeking to make it appear that those who are opposing the chasing clause in this constitution are opposed to the suppression of polygamy I 1 contend that it is not a question of polygamy ar all no one asks that polygamists shall vote hold office or serve on juries the question is shall mormons cormons who have never entered into any polygamous relations who have never violated any law either of idaho or the united st bt tes tea many of whom probably do da not believe in the doctrine of plurality of wives ahll these men possessing evry other qualification to entitle them to the franchise be deprived of it because became they belong to a church or organization which holds that under certain circumstances cum stances it is not sinful for a man to marry more than one wife the clause nale rew Is no person is permitted to vote tote serve as juror or hold any civil office 0 who is a member of or |