Show THE UTAH commission AGAIN WE publish today the m bority and minority reports of the utah commission ion dated september ast 1st 1891 gen mcclarnand ernand alone dissents from the majority report he sets forth his v views of the chief questions involved in his own style and independent manner no elique or combination controls rols him the majority of the commission COMMiSS IOD pursue the course on which that body entered in the beginning and assume that its functions are and 0 more varied than are warranted by the law which gave it existence reference nce to the ninth section of the edmunds M undo act will show what are its legal powers they are simply to appoint proper persons to io fill all the registration and election offices before occupied by officers elected by the people and to give certificates of election to persons duly elected to the utah legislature the various reports of this body ex babit the impression that it was waa specially charged with the duty of fostering a political faction which is la in the minority of putting down the ma ins bority and of suppressing polygamy in utah the present report forms no ex caption to this rule the boa boastful strul manner in which the commission speaks of its placing two liberals against one of the peopled party on the boards of election judges thus giving one fourth of the voting P population 0 pu lation double the represents tion ion accorded to the other three fourths its exultation over the of the liberal faction in ogden salt bait lake and summit and the spreading on its report of the whole liberal platform and are positive evidences of this no mo wonder that blunt people bave described the commission as an 41 adjunct of the Libe liberal ralY faction the chief purpose of the present majority report Is to impress the government ern ment with the untruth that the people are not sincere in their rebo resolution lution to cease contracting further plural marriages and to divide on national party lines thib Thi biRthe in the position assumed by the liberal illiberal ringleaders ring leaders and their charges are thus adopted and given official voice the report in this respect to is but an echo of well known I liberal perversions abe report charges that the mormon church has invariably in the past dictated the political movements of its adhe adherents rente this is nothing more nor less than a liberal falsehood without any basis for its cups sups ort the only attempt at proof of the statement is given futher further on in the report and is simply the publication of correspond euce ence between an apostate and the bishop of the ward where he resided and a note of the action of the high council of the stake in his case frum this it appears that the man joined an anti mormon league und his bishop did not think this compatible with his standing as a mormon his exaum muni cation does not appear to solely have resulted from that one fact but supposing it did the ejection of a member for uniting with an antagonistic body was an act that any church or association would beJu be justified stifled in taking It affords not the slightest particle of proof that the mormon church has invariably dictated the political movements of its adherents the production of this correspondence as the 0 ly thing the commission could offer in evidence affords striking proof that the assertion which it was designed to support is utterly without foundation the report states that the I 1 mormon church has denounced the commission through all the years it has been administering the laws against polygamy 11 in ID this instance the commission cunningly refrains from offering anything to substantiate the assertion the church never said gny anything grything thing against again atthe the commission until the october conference of 1890 when it voted to sustain the manifesto in that there was no denunciation of the commis sion aion but only a flat dental denial ol 01 0 the statement to which the commission gave publicity that forty one male persons persona had bad recently contracted marriages this utterly groundless untruth is in repeated in the present report and the equally false statement is made that during the past year eighteen male persons with the same number of female persons have entered into polygamous marriage if it is ie denuncio denu noia tion to deny these base baseless leps rumors the 16 mormon church has denounced the commission on two occasions namely at the october conferences of 1890 and 1891 on no other occasion has the church taken issue with the com omm MiSS lesion mission IOD the DESERET NEWS has occasionally sv pointed out the parti zin course of the majority of the commission and has also defended it when it acted impartially and was assailed by the liberals als who now seem to own the greater part of it but we challenge the therom COM or any of its members to point out one thing we have said about it that was not true since when was the commis sion aion charged with the administration of the laws against polygamy there is nothing of this thia in the law we have e its powers as defined by statute I 1 has baa no others and when the corn mission takes to itself the credit of what has haa been done towards the sup J of polygamy and the action of the church in relation to it as aa and absurdity bear about t equal proportions proportion in the claim it should be understood that these charges of recent polygamous mar biages are not made in any ally definite manner unsupported rumors rumor of no more legal value than street at corner scandals are cunningly repeated by the commission in such a way as to give them official support without assuming responsibility for their official publication if we wished to denounce the members of the Commie eion who have made tb is cowardly and ineat ineffably ably mean and paltry attack on the mor 1 mon church this would be the time I 1 and place for such denunciation wa W t will not denounce them we me merely rely state the facts the public can do the rest they the give no do names of informants inform ante they give no names of persons a acoba acoua ed ad they are too cunning for that the statements are totally false names attached to them would make them li bellous and they would afford a means of proving their falsity but leaving the sneaking charges in this vague and manner ackom klishes the purpose of prejudicing the government and the public and affords no means of demonstrating the villi villainy iny X that prompted the slander the pre presidency I 1 ency 0 of tb the chur church e h pub icly and officially deny the charges the church in conference endorsee endors the denial the DESERET nawa repeats repents it and defies the utah commis slon sion to prove what it itha has published it if it can offer proof in sup port of its statements surely we will not be required to prove a n negative neither need we say what men are who publish falsehoods official officially i and decline either to add any evidence eviden ft in support of their statements or give i us the names of their alleged in they intimate that chat it is fear of persecution se of the informers inform cro that 17 1 1 1 a 64 4 the withholding of their names could anything be more ridiculous sneaking insinuation another lt it is the commissioners know an all that I 1 is very well that tha t utah has been swarmed with deputy marshals who have made it a business to apty pty into family affairs an drag S offenders and often 1 innocent persons before cou courts As and juried juries and make fees out ot of the disruption of homes none of official or otherwise those persons molested some of the officers have been have been gentlemen particularly of late others were but burly brutes unfit for even the work of informers they were never ever persecuted the commission vo abbl bbl ono excuse for withholding names was made for use at washing ton here it provokes mingled laughter and contempt co latemPt B their attempt to misrepresent the manifesto is consistent with the thereat rest il ef their report A president woodruff W explained to the october bonfe conference rence of 1800 that he be was moved upon by the to forbid further plural spirit of oft these commissioners in a marriages marri ge u worthy the cheapest police manner niner twist his remarks so court pettifogger i as to make them apply to his denial of falsehood in the same way they r the their ir endeavor by zed remarks to conc his prediction that such part of the gospel prom promises revealed to joseph J smith amith as had bad not been fulfilled would that polygamy will be into a P prophecy al boere be reestablish ed A Z prudent president woodruff rs narration of y interviews with the prophet joseph and others otherl in dreamt dreams is also quibbled perverted and rl ridicule la is out cast af over ever and upon his testimony of experiences in of which must strike the chur church h all the u unbiased a biased roa reader der as strange kind of matter to introduce into a government evidence of the bigoted and pa leport rt and Irro irreligious ligi ous animus ot the writer this is further exposed in their publication li of purported remarks of elders in the provo tabernacle which they obtained secondhand second hand omitting again to 0 give the names of their alleged informants 5 torm auts how badly they were off tor for material on which to build an anti Is mormon harangue is evident from this lame attempt to win palm off garbled accounts which rumor had brought to them of speeches that may never have been delivered laut but the drift and tenor and purpose of the whole report appear toward the close these commissioners are in fear that the polygamy obstacle being removed utah may be accorded her political right sand and that would be th the e end of their occupation and their sala bala ages A more useless and oyer overpaid paid office to not to be found in the united states kistel than that of utah commis stoner take the duties required by law and compare them with I 1 its to emoluments and the truth of our statement is I 1 irrefutably bably tably established to continue these gentlemen in sine cures worth a year each and expenses utah must be kept in territorial vassalage and its people be denied the political rights and privileges enjoyed by citizens in every state of the union no more need be said concerning conce ruing the majority report of the utah commission for 1891 of the minority report we may have something to add meanwhile it can very well stand on its own merits we comin commend end its conclusions to the consideration of all reflecting and fair minded people in the united states |