| Show THE UTAH commission DEBATE thic THE result of the contention between the two houses housea of congress Cong reea over the utah commission has hag resulted reaul ted as aa all anticipated the conferees conferee have agreed to the proposition to retain the commission but out cut the salaries down irona irom to 2000 each per annum and to reduce the contingent fund from to this was wai adopted by the H house 0 use by a vote of 10 to ob 66 and no doubt the senate will agree BO Ao that matter may be considered an ag settled bottled fur for the present hon john T caine made a gallant gallan fc fight for the abolition of the commie sion ion and was waa ably supported by mr washington and ana both made speeches epe echea against the adoption of the conference report we defer producing either until we can obtain the full text when the subject was debated after the senate amendments were presented to the hause he use mr henderson Hen derBon ot of iowa spoke in favor of retaining the commission with red need aced salaries and mr washington of tennessee replied we take the foll following Dwing report of their remarks remark from the congressional record ot of july 10 mr henderson Hend ereon of iowa said now as aa to the utah commission this matter was discussed here yest yesterday erds y to some extent but bull I 1 want to bring brine up especially the financial situation the provi provision sien for the utah Cem commission mission was aruck out entirely by the house our proposition being to abolish the commission and select another body consisting of 0 the governor chief justice and the secretary of the territory to do the work which had been done by ahe commission the conduct of elections etc there was a contingent fund of given agn en by the current law for expenses of conducting elections by the utah Commis commission pion the estimate tor for the next year was the house cut that down to tho the senate proposes to increase it atho tar the amount appropriated in the current law so that thai there iu its a difference of between us in regard to this matter with reference to these contingent ex benses I 1 wish to say that the whole ex pense of printing tickets notices commissions inis and everything pertaining to ah U the elections in utah comes out of this contingent fund and no matter what body may do the work it will be impossible to do it for to insist upon no bo small an appropriation would be simply knifing the election officers whoever they may be that shall take charge of the elections in utah the delegate from thatTer that territory rilo were he here to express himself would woul say flay I 1 think though I 1 have not consulted him that would be too little even for the board recognized under the house bill the senate has restored the utah commission Commissio nv but reduced the salary from lor for each member of the commission to 2000 the question between the two houses stands elands then in this position the benale senale contends for continuing the utah commission with all is powers as div n by the edmunds law providing it with a sufficient cont igent fund to do the work the same amount given under the current law but reducing the salaries of the commissioners to 2000 each and requiring ving that the commissioners hereafter appointed shall be citizens odthe territory then followed some question ques tiona ts and from mr forney and mr washington mr henderson let me state that if you want economy in the administration of its affairs the senate have given it to you with a vengeance reducing the salaries of the judges from to 2000 and if this is 18 what you are alter after you have it right here and you should adopt it at the double doub lequick quick if you want to nullify the system laid down in th eEdmunds munds act then of course the amendment of the senate will be objectionable to the house bouise now that is all there is of this matter of course you might go on and explain the he political features ot of of it atlen at length gib but t that I 1 do not care to go into now I 1 will say thi however while on the that talking with those persons who favor the mormon daib as well as those who azle are opposed to it I 1 am satisfied that there to is radical progress being made in that territory I 1 believe the i lime ime will come in the near future lulu re when I 1 will be swift to vote for admitting utah to the pr privileges i i of otate statehood hood but I 1 do say that that time has not yet come and until it does doer come I 1 believe it is ia better to observe the caution and the system wholly non bartic an free from local influences which bich was recognized and established by the Ec edmands munds act until we are ready to take utah into the sisterhood bister hood of states 11 mr washburne Wash burne turne endeavored to get mr hendele on t to admit that the abed jn uton of the E bunds act was to 4 continue the con coit mission fur for but of oe at yar arthen when the legislature was to provide fur elections elect ions mr henderson of iowa I 1 understand the purpose of the edmunds act was to keep federal control over that territory in the elections by providing that they should be conducted by partisans nonpartisans non mr washington not got through this commission the gentleman has not examined the edmunds act I 1 presume mr henderson of lowa iowa 1 1 cannot say that I 1 have made a study of the act except in so ao far an aa I 1 have had occasion to examine it casually but this is the understanding ding of those who undertake to interpret n e r ret it on both ides now the commissioners under that act have only charge of the elect elections ionE they are non residents of utah belonging toa to both political par tie sAnd they are applin ed for the purpose hf at securing fair elections in the ter mr washington but what I 1 am suggesting is 18 that that commission was created to last one year or until the legislature gi slature of utah had bad created the neo essary machinery for itself not fiot as a permanent institution i mr henderson of lowa iowa well I 1 do not know about that but the government has not yet seen the hour when it was willing to trust that territory to have entire control of its own elections mr washington what does the gentleman mean dinean by the government iowa I 1 believe that should not be done until it is admitted as a state stale mr washington I 1 do not want to interrupt the gentleman mr henderson of iowa this is m my y judgment and that is the judgment of the senate I 1 am not a member of your committee on territories but I 1 think I 1 understand the purpose and spirit of the edmunds act and I 1 I 1 have fairly stated it I 1 think that boh bo h sides bides of this house will find that the country is not yet ripe for the change which was here inaugurated yesterday or which was in auga rated before that on the legislative bill but I 1 believe this country is not inspired by any feeling against any citizen or any part of the citizenship of f utah and as soon as the country becomes satisfied that they intend in good faith to live up to existing law and to recognize the civilization of this country I 1 think there will be no trouble I 1 in securing their admission into the union now that is all I 1 desire to say on that s subject me t mr washington mr speaker I 1 send to the clerks desk deek and ask to have read the ninth section of what is known as the edmunds act I 1 invite the attention of the house to the reading of that section because it is the section which created the utah commission whose salaries are now under consideration the clerk read the section mr washington now mr speaker that is the section of the edmunds law which created what is known as the utah commission by express terms that Com commission was created to 0 o hold office only until i he legislature elected under that act could meet and pass a law creating similar machinery to perform the duties of that commission to perform these duties that commission was given under tb this is act a salary of per annum those gentlemen who have composed thim commission during the last ten years have found their duties so congenial have found a junketing trip to salt lake city once a year so pleasant that they have held on with deathlike death like tenacity year after year and an an appropriation pria tion bill some years since succeeded in having their salaries increased from to per annum and their contingent expenses have more than iban equaled the sum paid them in salary when the edmunds edmunda act was passed every office in the territory was vacated and it was the intention of congress that a new anew election be held that every office abound be filled from constable up that thai no one should vote and noone no one a should uld hold office except those only who could id take that ironclad iron clad test oath proscribed prescribed in the act that they were not engaged in the practice of polygamy or any of its kindred crimes the commission carried out its first duty it appointed the election officers supervised the election counted the returns and declared the result thereupon its duties ended and according to the law that commission should have expired the legislature whose election they supervised the legislature which was elected under the registration officer cerp under the judges and clerks of elections appointed by this very commission me met at the appointed time and did pass a law creating in utah a new commission to perform these services and which would have cost the taxpayers of this country a trifle in comparison with the more than half a million dollars that has been expended by this commission I 1 in the last baat ten years but the Gover governor noir 1 I of utah who has an absolute veto power a power possessed nowhere else in 1 america and under no constitutional constitution la I 1 1 government in the world so far as I 1 it know vetoed that bill and thus con conia tija aed the utah commission in office and existence J I 1 every legislature from that day to tc this except one has passed a statute creating a commission or some kind ofaf of vj board in the territory of utah to do t the work of the utah dom commission mission but at each succeeding term terin the governor has i b by putting the bill in his pocket or bv ba r molete absolute veto defeated the will of t the people and perpetuating the exta existence tence of this iliah commission such briefly given is the history of this body of all alien supervisors of elections which has de such amazing vitality iu in the ter of utah I 1 when we recall the fact that this com ora mission and its appointees have in le hewl than nine years drawn more than half balfa halfa W million dollars from the federal ury we no longer wonder that jt it cling with a deathlike death like tenacity to its term rr office I 1 am not surprised that thia house is assured that maralit morality y and do de bency good order and republican gov S alike demand that the cammi commission should not be abolished tg Is lt A patriotism is it philanthropy or is ft some baser bond which holds this hoi band of brothers together if you aboa ish the salary entirely do you suppose a single member of the commission w would 0 JU ld ask to be retained and insist that if he were not continued in office for another year that polygamy would again rear ity its horrid front in utah try it and sea who is here from utah asking for abla ss commission Is anyone irom from anywhere 1 asking the commission be retained save the beneficiaries themA themselves elves sir the members of the Com commission commissio are paid per annum and trave lintt expenses for going once a year to uta and spending there a few weeke on a tour of recreation and pleasure the remainder of the time they are at libert libei to remain at their homes in the seve state i where they reside attending their private affairs but I 1 am told t th with a truly commendable punctual i they draw their stipe stipends nils I 1 have harsh word or criticism for the ot of this commission individually understand that they are all hono honorah ra men but despite that fact being composed co of three republicans and democrats I 1 am informed that in ap an 1 pointing ull uil election officers they unac stand to perfect ion bow to workout work out rita the most approved partisan style th political puzzle of three to two 1 that sir is not ny iny objection to to the commission I 1 naturally expect thre three republicans to outvote two Demo oratA my reason for insisting that this co corn mission be abol shed now and on t toila appropriation bill is that it has long 0 aup lived the he period for which it was ore created it nas has passed the day of its usefull usefulness it is now an expensive lux luxury iry tiry it ay iy board of pro consuls alien alike to TJ and to our republican institutions ona A sir I 1 assert that this Coni mias which which has bas been in existence for ten y years H and which has cost the people over haj a million ot dollars has never yet beail the means of convicting a single voter ili the territory of utah of any violani violation of the edmunds tucker act there hi h been made only one presentment for la dio imen I 1 am told as the result of att their work and as the outcome of th the en armous salaries and perquisites whisk they have received it is unnecessary for gentlemen to try to arouse a pr prejudice udice against the people of utah id on this thi floor I 1 do not condone the brae arao cices tices of the mormon church which have been condemned by all good men which have been rooted out by congressional legislation but I 1 am here to say may that from the testimony of republicans and democrats of gentiles gentilee Gen tilea and mor mons alike it has beer been clearly established before the comm committee attee on territories that today there are no polygamous marriages being entered into in the territory of utah and that there is fa no record of for several contracted any having been years past of this assertion proof there is further on record in the office of tho the attorney general of the unit united ed states ha m the form sent to the amnesty of a petition for Preside president ent which was signed by every ge republican publican official in the territory 0 utah including every I 1 republican publican te federal the mormons cormons judge declaring that have abandoned the teaching ng and practice alone has for which of that doctrine them out of touch so 0 o nun many years earn kept with aly the civilization alvill ti of the american out this stigma that letus wipe people the shape of an alien ion in rents reals them I 1 upon anti and for th the 0 next carpet baar dat commissiong commission by way of experiment two or t three ree years its duties if nothing more composed of citizens of to a commission the territory from the the bill which was r reported committee on the territories rieP and which was passed here yesterday provided for which in my judgment a commissiong commission was wa better than the one pro proposed posea bill but in the appropriation it did not that only in this the judiciary with the in any way conflict conduct of elections however speaking cittee on territories for the coar committee what batI I 1 have said before I 1 now repeat that we are willing to 10 accept this com ta teston temporarily because we believe the regi legislature slature of the territory of utah at its next session will again pass page a mil bill and that the governor will sign it or creating esting nonpartisan commission a which will conduct the elec elections tiodos in the law and at a edmunds roll fall spirit of the trifling cost to the people the provision of the appropriation lation bill now under consideration arc proposes poses to commission mission to consist of actea a local com the governor the secretary 0 of f the territory ond the chiet chief justice these men arb aft all gentiles as they are called out there they hav have 0 |
