| Show RESULTS OF disfranchisement THERE are about registered voters of the peoples party in utah territory and about registered liberals these figures are believed to be approximately correct if the proposition to disfranchise all believers in certain doctrines of theology and alid all adherents of a certain religious organization residing in the territory of utah shall prevail with congress the direct result will be the placing of all the towns cities and counties and the territory as a whole under the complete control of eight thousand voters a mere handful when the wealth population and heavy financial and industrial interests of this great commonwealth are considered the liberal voters are confined almost exclusively to certain portions of the territory they are principally massed in this city ogden and a few mining districts and are found in very sparse numbers in the agricultural and stock raising sections to such an extent is this true that the utah commission have experienced difficulty in thy the owes cages of many election precincts in the territory iu in finding liberal voters to act as registration officers and election judges and in some precincts all such officers have been members of the peoples peopled party because liberals did not exist there or members of that party qualified to perform official functions could not lie found take the beautiful and prosperous city of logan for example it is 18 the fourth city in wealth and population in the territory it has important commercial and manufacturing interests te rests and is the metropolis of a valley which contains a population of from to and from fifteen to twenty flourishing settle merits ments and towns including six incorporated corp orated cities lu logan there are less lees than half a hundred liberal voters only a few more than enough to fill all the offices elective and appointive connected with the city government every liberal in the town able to read and write the english language and at all or in any degree capable of performing the duties of a public office would ot of necessity become an officeholder office holder the rulers of that city would be wholly woolly irresponsible chere re would be no voters of their own party to call them in question and their reelection would be be a foregone necessity regardless of any incompetency dereliction or corruption of which they might be guilty they would have it in their power to organize and execute corrupt schemes ad and so long as they divided the spoils among themselves in such a manner as to prevent any disaffection arising among their number they could have things all their own way and the inhabitants of the city would he be at their mercy anti and practically without redress r protection when it is remembered that the liberal 21 voters in such places as logan are in a great many instances men who have been excommunicated from the church of which they were formerly members on account of dishonesty immorality or un conduct of some sort the he objections against vesting in a handful of them such control as they would have in the town named become greatly intensified nearly every town in cache county of which logan is the seat and metropolis would woud be in as bad a condition as logan and some of them would be in a worse state in a number of them it would be impossible poa cible to fill the municipal offices at all were only liberals eligible as aa not enough of these exist in them to occupy the official positions provided for in their charters and ordinances logan legan and cache are here mentioned only by way of illustration in other counties in the territory there are flourishing towns in which could nut not be found a sufficient number af men entitled to exercise the franchise under the struble bill were it a law to serve the public in official capacities if illiterates ignoramuses ignoramus es and men utterly and totally incapable of performing official functions were not forced into office this would be the case were every voter exclusive of the referred to made an officeholder office holder this statement is no exaggeration and its literal truthfulness is capable of being amply demonstrated by means of the official records and reports of the utah commission as well as the testimony of thousands of people having personal knowledge of the facts Oitt Oi nitting ing all constitutional and political considerations and contemplating only what is necessary to preserve good order carry on the functions of government and maii maintain a semblance not merely of republican but of civilized forms and rule the tb e condition of many towns and a number of counties in the territory will be deplorable if congress shall pass the disfranchisement measure now pending think of ciaci placing rig such a state as iowa for example under the operations of a law that would disfranchise from ninety to ninety nine per cent of the preset present it voters in her flourishing agricultural towns think of being compelled to canvass a town tow n in that state of 2090 2000 or inhabitants and of meeting with difficulty in finding a sufficient number of human bipeds of the masculine gender to nil 1111 the municipal offices even though illicit liquor dealers and men regarded by the whole community as incompetent and corrupt be included think of being compelled to put men mein in official positions who are destitute of education of property of reputation of intelligence and ability for no other reason than that there exists a law jaw under which none but such as they could vote or hold office imagine a law operating in such a state as the one named which franchises disfranchises dis the bankers ba akers merchants manufacturers farmers professional fess ional men honest and industrious mechanics and almost all the sober intelligent and solid men of a city and gives all the offices to au insignificant minority class clam having barely enough members to fill them in which would be included the loafers objectionable characters and non religionists of the community the imagination 0 n which suggest such a condition in any state ia fia this union would be unanimously regarded by its inhabitants as wildly insane portraying that which no legislative body on earth would ever consent to and which would be worse than anarchy yet all this and much more in the way of wrong injustice absurdity tyranny and disaster will inevitably happen in utah under the struble bill if it should become a law as a joke at the alleged expense of the honorable delegate from brorn utah dubois of idaho who was championing the bill was asked whether he would favor the disfranchisement dia of the mormons cormons Mor mons of utah the overwhelming majority of that people who had never broken any law for instance would he disfranchise mr caine who had never been a polygamist and had no intention of becoming one the answer was in substance yes I 1 would disfranchise every man who believes in polygamy and I 1 ehalT challenge enge mr caine to state that he does not believe in it this is as stated treated by the antl anti cormons mormons Mor mons and some of the narrow guage journals as getting mr caine in a corner and perpetrating a joke on him the belief of mr caine or that of any other man is his own individual bust business and he who seeks to interfere with it to is a tyrant or a fool or both aoth the person who to is found advocating the passage of laws to govern belief perpetrates pe a grim political and philosophical joke on himself as that mental condition is outside the do main of legislation yet that is what is attempted by the measure referred to and which the reward 7 ifon imagined could not possibly be favorably reported by a committee tf there was waa any joke in the incident said to have occurred in the discussion before the committee on territories its weight did not fall upon mr caine but upon mr dubois who when he was TT 8 marshal for idaho and pursuing the mormons cormons Mor mons with all the bitterness of which he is capable waa credited with saying after completing a packing proc process ebs now I 1 have got a jury that would convict jesus christ if he be were placed on trial |
