| Show WHAT THE SPOILERS WANT A MELANGE OF MOCK philanthropy AND unmitigated VILLAINY the following is understood to have been secretly adopted by the loyal league pf af utah as the base of the demands to be made of congress by baskin and bendett Bena Benia ett to the senate and souse house of representatives ta tives in congress assembled with profound respect we represent Is the mormon problem understood we think not what isit is it tremor the mormon church is made up of people who firmly believe that joseph smith was a prophet that brigham young was his successor and that the priesthood of the church for the time being hold the keys of tile the kingdom are divinely commissioned receive direct from the almighty his will and teach it to them hem under divine inspiration this griest priesthood hoodis is a thoroughly organized body ody of men as a rule of at great tact and shrewdness not liberally educated unpaid moving in ordinary walks ol 01 of life in fact of the people like the carpenters and fishermen of galilee e the people are simple minded impressionable able ignorant and in rude form deeply religious there are in utah and neighboring territories say one hundred and fifty thousand old and young probably one hundred and thirty y thousand of them in utah of these priests and people it is no doubt safe to say that eight tenths of the adults are foreign norn aney have come mainly from norway sweden denmark england and wales the scandinavians are mostly of the class the lish lisa and welsh are mostly from manufacturing towns the poorest classes of the great clues cities the mining sections and obscure farming regions with few exceptions they are uneducated unintelligent common people they are just such people as religious fanaticism has lodged with throughout all the ages having received this new religion they cherish cherise it as the very will of god they as religiously believe that smith was a prophet and that what he ard and the priesthood promulgate rom as revelations are true and must be obeyed as does the good crristian Cn On ristian that jesus is the savior of mankind and that the teachings of the christian 1 hristian priesthood are aids to salvation asa As a rule the priests firel i believe the same thing it need hardly be said that with these ignorant people these beliefs engender fanatical zeal in their view all the world is wrong they alone are right according to their creed and polity the priesthood largely controls the temporal as well as the spiritual affairs of th e members of tile the church it is IP a sort of pa ial affair reach reaching i cg from the cradle to the grave a aad nad into the hereafter starting now with the proposition that the priests and people are conscientious ious believers in these things that very lew few of them know anything of the principles of our government except that thai the greatest religions liberty is guaranteed by the constitution and the question what shall we do with or tor them is a problem problem indeed of course they must ge be made to obey the lassor if will t be e punished pun ishem according t to 1 0 law but this does the problem they believe polygamy ordained aye commanded by the almighty the person charged with and convicted of polygamy in their view therefore suffers for their religion if he is steadfast in iii tile the faith he hd glories in his punishment and the body of the faithful glorify him the stigma usually attaching to persons convicted of and punished for crime does not attach to hiru him either in his own consciousness or in the minds of his fellow churchmen thus the principal object of punishment fails in these cases true imprisonment is and to be avoided if by concealment ceal ment of facts or stealthy indulgence in the crime it is possible the enforcement of ane law against polygamy therefore tends in some degree to repress the open practice of that crime but does not reform the people or eradicate the s spirit irit which leads to the commission 0 of the crime it is like the medicating the symptoms instead of striving to remove the cause of disease if while the government is properly legislating against polygamy gamy and punishing offenders it could coald devise some wise and effective measures for the education and enlightenment of the mormon people so that they would respect the jaws laws the problem would be solved the mormons cormons for the most part are small farmers with the usual number of merchants mechanics etc in the towns they are industrious and frugal but not thrifty or enterprising looking to their bone and sinew and habits of industry they are good stock for producing american Ameri caa citizens as the years roll on many perhaps most of the adults who have been here long enough have been naturalized most of them therefore and certainly their their children are ours are fellow citizens with us while therefore the government should exact from them obedience to the laws it owes to them corresponding duties of protection education and all fostering care which may tend to attach them to itself and aad make good citizens of them now they are almost without exception un american worse they are hostile to the government and wrapped up in their fanaticism lot let us see what has been done aud and what is proposed looking to the solution of tuis pr problem the M cormons mormons in then a handful settled in utah in 1846 should be 1847 they practiced polygamy from the first no law maring making polygamy a crime was passed till 1862 that law was never enforced except spasmodically in a few cases never till 1882 did the government undertake in earnest to punish poleg amista it may therefore be truthfully said that the system was permitted to 10 grow strong by the laches of the government ern ment this fact should now induce firm but at the same humane measures for the correction of the evils and for the greatest of the mormon people while the crime of polygamy is most offensive perhaps the fact that the priesthood absolutely dictates the political action of thi th mormon masses ts is according accord ing i to our ideas 0 of f free government the most serious and threatening therefore the severance of church fi from om state is most important the law of 1882 edmunds law jaw provided punishment for the crimes of polygamy yand and cohabitation with more than one woman these provisions are ample and are being enforced as well as the resources at the command of the government officials in utah will permit ermit by that law provision is made for for the appointment of commissioners for registration of voters and of election officers officer and that no polygamist may vote or hold office these provisions were designed to strike at the political power ot of the church but the blow was a very weak one and ane mode was puerile for instance the law provides lor for live five commissioners appointed by the president by an and a with the advice and consent of the senate whose duty it is to appoint registration Kon officers and judges ot elec HOD and ana canvass votes voces cast for members of the territorial legislature each commissioner receives a salary of per a adum aum ium and all expenses numerous clerks are employed and altogether the expense of this commission amounts to nearly if not quite per annum all simply to prevent a few polygamists from vot jug such only are prevented as the registration officers know to be poleg amista as the law does not even empower the commissioners or the reg registration is i officers to administer any test oath or adopt any effective measures to ascertain the status of parties offering themselves for registration at present the commissioners are all non residents of the territory and consequently know few of the people and cannot be very conversant with wita the mormon system it is right to disfranchise poleg amista and to register the voters but why this expensive and impotent commission why not give the registration commission ample power and then instead of sending strangers as commissioners at great salaries and expense empower say the secretary ot of the territory the clerk of the supreme court ana and the prosecuting attorney as commissioners sio ners giving each say 1000 per annum in in addition to his present salary and clerk hire and expenses expense snot not more than say per annum or let the complete expense of such a commission be not to exceed per annum thus you save say which could be more profitably expended in aiding the officers of the law in n the foregoing embraces substantially ly all that has been done by congress tor for the solution of our problem the total results may be summed up thus ihus polygamists have been convicted mostly 41 of the crime of unlawfully cohabiting ha with their polygamous wives two to lo three thousand polygamists have been refused registration and the mormon people have concluded in their blind fanaticism that the government is despotic and have renewed their allegiance to the church undoubtedly these prosecutions have a tendency toward ultimate good as they demonstrate the power of the government senator edmunds has introduced a bill at this session of congress which has been reported favorably to the senate from the judiciary committee providing first that tb at the lawful wife of a man ma n charged with the crime of polygamy may be compelled to testify against her husband as to all matters except confidential communications made by him to her second that witnesses witness ea may be attached with or without subpoena cOna and required to recognize with sureties for attendance as witnesses ia any prosecution for polygamy or unlawful cohabitation third that such prosecutions ma may y be comme Beed at any time within alv five years after the commission of the of tense fourth that all marriages shall be certified by the person solemnizing solemn izing the same whether lawful or polygamous which certificate shall be recorded and certified copies thereof shall be evidence with penalties against officiating officers for failure to comply with the law as to certifying or recording fifth taking the elective franchise away from women sixth prohibiting the numbering of baj ballots lots cast at any election seventh restricting the jurisdiction of the probate courts to probate and guardianship matters eighth that illegitimate children child r en shall not inherit any portion of the fathers estate ninth Ke Ile pealing the law of the territory which provides that no prosecution for adultery shall be b brought except on complaint of the husband or wife aggrieved tenth authorizing fourteen trustees to be appointed by the president by and with the advice and consent of the senate to take possession and control of the property and affairs of the corporation po ration of the mormon church and wind up its affairs I 1 eleventh authorizing the attorney general to sue for and escheat to the government all property of tile the mormon church corporation in excess of in value of of real property except buildings used exclusively for purposes of religious worship and devoting devoti na the funds realized to common scho school ol 01 purposes twelfth incorporating Dis the mormon perpetual society winding up its affairs and devoting its funds to common school purposes thirteenth redistricting Redistrict in and re apportioning representation in the territory fourteenth continuing the registration tr a ti commission of the law of 1882 Fiffe fifteenth eath defining the crim crimes ea oi of adultery and fornication and providing for their punishment sixteenth defining powers of court commissioners and marshals and authorizing thor izing the supreme court of the Tei Terri rito torry to appoint ia a superintendent of schools with certain powers Sev seventeenth eDtee nth giving widows dower T this hs I 1 I 1 is 8 the latest proposition looking to the solution of our problem it item em braces some good and some bad provisions but no beneficent features the first provision is both unwise and cruel in prosecuting polygamists our aim should be to conserve the sacredness of wedlock between one man and one woman to protect monogamous households the lawful marriage of a polygamist establishes such a house hold bold his lawful wife is the queen of that household the common the sacred law of that household is that neither either n somber ember shall be compelled to testify against the other and thus introduce discord into that sacred precinct but by this provision it is proposed to remove this protection to invade that lawful home which is the very thiap thing we so much wish to protect it t is cruel because deny it as they may lawful wives of golga mists are wronged heartbroken women 1 will tell you with all the religious enthusiasm that they believe in polygamy that I 1 it t is their cross which they must bear as tae price of eternal exaltation could a womans comans heart more emphatically proclaim that her woman s 1 I n were violated yet under this provision she must come I 1 into 1 a P public bublic place and tell of her own misery I Y and help convict the man to whom she plighted ted her troth the second and third provisions are well enough the fourth provision is we but will be ineffectual as to polygamous marriages as they are always secret the fifth provi provision Is IB good asiong as we refuse the elective franchise to the cultivated women of the country there is no reason why we should accord it to the ignorant foreigners of utah who cannot exercise it intelligently and do and will exercise it who ly at the bidding of the priesthood the sixth provision is good as it tends to secure secrecy in balloting balloting the seventh provision is well and usual I 1 the eighth pr provision propion ovIon is unwise for that it arrays the young of polygamous households against causes them to despise the government which wrongs them and punishes the offspring of polygamous marriages who have done no wrong the ninth provision is wella the tenth provision seems absurd why should the government run a religious lia ious corporation if the corporation is illegal or has performed acts for which its charter should be forfeited let the law officers proceed to wind up its affairs it is oppressive and savors of interference with the exercise of religious freedom it will be expensive and will have no tendency to solve the problem the eleventh provision if necessary is well enough tte tle a act t of 1862 provides that the church hall all not hold real property y exceeding in value if it has more it may be es cheated to the government land it I 1 is proper that ithac the law officers ceis of the government overn ment should institute legal in airy touching the matter bu it is of doubtful policy the twelfth provision will be simply no effect the aim is to discourage the i immigration aaion of mormons cormons from foreign lands it is supposed the mor mons will tail to find means to immigrate their converts t even though the per perpetual emual immigration Immis ration fund society t 1 I should be blotted out it is worse t than I 1 inefficacious every morin mormon on no doubt has contributed to this fund even as the fae widow contributed her mite and quite as religiously and if the government confiscates this fund it only intensifies the peoples ill will against it it this immigration should be stopped it should be by international negotiation and agreement or government prohibition the thirteenth provision is well elou enough h the th fourteenth is subject to the criticism hereinbefore made as to the registration commission the fifteenth sixteenth and j seventeenth provisions are well N now ow what have we in all this nothing ing looking to the education of th the mormon people either morally intellectually ly lor politically except fi a provisions for enc endowing towing schools by con ns bs cation of we will say church property and funds nothing looking to the tee matter of maug making thom them good cit |
