| Show UTAH POLYGAMY AND THE TELLER BILL the philadelphia bulletin has the following editorial on the utah quer tion the whole population ol of utah is esit mated at upwards of and on this basis the people of ahli that territory territory are again claiming the right of admission to the union they algne that they are not only stronger numerically than were montana idaho washington and other recently formed states slates at the time of their admission but that they have in a lar large degree the resources and social con conditions of an established and well ordered commonwealth this is ib probably true as an the mormons cormons Mor mons who comprise one half of the population have always been distinguished as a rule for their thrift and prosperity there can be no doubt that the territory to is fully equal in all the ordinary qualifications re required aired for entrance into the union to any state tate that has been admitted in the past forty years attempts have been made in recent years to admit utah to the union and the democrats in congress have generally been disposed to sustain them without regard to the effect w which ch sue such act action on refard in might have on the perpetuation of polygamy gain this like slavery in the old days the democratic leaders apparently regarded whick as a local institution which the people there should be permitted to regulate in their own way the republicans on the other hand nave have uniformly opposed the admission of utah except on the renunciation of polygamy but within the past t few years there has been a marked change 90 in the situation the severity of the enforcement of the federal laws has made the practice of plural marriages dangerous it h has led the mormon church to disavow polygamy and to put on record a solemn promise to obey the federal law in this matter as well as aa in all other how far this disavowal and promise have been observed cannot yet be clearly ascertained certa ined the general drift of opinion however among well informed observers in utah is that the mormons cormons its as a body are sincere and that polygamy generally is on the point of ultimate extinction governor thomas who represents the federal authority and who we believe has no prepossessions possessions pre in their favor has haa reported that he can thus for far see no reason for believing that they are not sincere nevertheless there are some suspicious niclous gentiles who do not hesitate to declare that the apparent attitude of having abandoned polygamy is only a trick and that if utah were to become a tile the mormons cormons Mor mons who being a majority would rule the state stale as they pleased would be at liberty to revive their marital practices and manage the new commonwealth in the interest of their church and polity this view is probably not shared by senator teller of the adjacent state stale of colorado who ha has introduced a bill into the senate providing for the admission of utah as a state without restriction it to is not to be conceived that senator teller who is a good and intelligent republican n all things except the question of free silver would make himself responsible for this measure if he were not satisfied that polygamy cannot be revived with that hat odious feature of his character removed there is nothing in the average mormon which makes him objectionable or indeed different from other enterprising and industrious WeRt westerners erners unless it be that his hia enterprise and industry are even more effective in the accumulation of wealth and material comforts with the complete renunciation of polygamy with the gradual decline of the tremendous influence which the great personality erson of brigham young left tehina behind him over bis followers with the appearance of a now new generation that sees polygamy under the ban of the law and a thing of danger to the man who touches it and with the steady infusion of gentile immigration it is not difficult to foresee the day when the mormon churchwill church will become powerless for mischief and when it will be compelled to accept the new order of things if it has not already done so or as aa in 1848 when young led it from nauvoo in order to escape the en croach ments of the growing population of illinois to abandon salt lake city and seek a new haven of refuge senator teller in speaking of his bill says t there to ia no danger of mormon rule in utah even if she be admitted as a state i do not see why she is not fully qualified to enter the union she has more than the entire population of wyoming and idaho together and more then than three times that of wyoming alone polygamy is dead the young men do not practice it and do not believe in it and t the tie people are dividing on party lines instead of the old lines of mormon and gentile if it can be shown by senator teller and others who want to bring utah into the union without franchising disfranchising dis the cormons mormons that the mormons cormons have actually and in good faith given up polygamy as a practice the one vital objection to clothing the territory with statehood will be removed there is nothing else in the mormon creed we believe which to is offensive to the moral instincts of the american people in all other respects it may be tolerated without danger to our social and political institutions as freely as we tolerate the great variety of religions eccentric or grotesque that flourish among us indeed we are not certain whether the admission of utah into the union with the wonderfully quickening effect which that brivil privilege always exercises on the industry and I 1 population on of the territories which receive it would not start a steadier current against Morn that would finally sweep it to the rear |
