Show THE UTAH BILL edmunds efforts to disfranchise the tile women voters of utah te r I av i proceeding ke edings in lit the U S senate on february uarT brew op r 42 11 mr edmunds Edmun dg As no appropriation bill is yet ready I move to take up the utah bill r if the presiding officer T the he sen seu ator from vermont moves motes that the senate proceed to the consideration of what is called the utah bill it will be reported by title and number by the secretary the elie acting secretary A bill S 2238 to amend an act ret entitled an act to amend section of oft the lie revised statutes of the united states in reference to bigamy ant and for other purposes ur poses approved march 22 a officer Is there ob objection to consider considering hig the bill mr call I object the presiding officer objection being made the question is on the motion of the senator from fron ve vermont amont to proceed to the considers tion of this bill mr call I hope very much that bill will abt be tak taken en up at this timo it involves very serious con questions and wo we have but a few days left of this session sess session ioD and there are a good many matters of very great importance to the current the country tha that bave not been able to be considered at all we shall be occupied long with questions in regard to the condition oft of things in the territory of utah if we go into it it occupied a great deal of time last ses session siou I think it is impossible to consider it at tho the moment the Presiding Officer the question is on the motion ot of the senator from vermont mr brown I ask for the yeas and nays the yeas and nays were ordered at and id the principal legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll M mcdill medill when his name was called I am paired with the senator from mississippi PT mr ir lamarj otherwise I should vote yea tho the roll call was concluded vw mr hill I am paired with the senator fromnes from new jersey mr me 1110 Pherson I do not know how bow he lie would vote on this question and I withhold my vote mr mitchell after having voted in the affirmative I withdraw my vote iam I am paired with the ecna tor from virg virginia ia mr johnston mr windom after having voted in in the af affirmative firmat ive I vote voted A forgetting that I am paired with the senator from west virginia mr davis I withdraw my vote I mr rollins the senator from maine mr fryc is paired wit with 11 the senator from tennessee ee mr r jackson was announced yeas 23 nays 17 as follows VE T aa 23 Vo Anthony loan loga n jB blair lair 12 mcmillan milian of IN ig batione Ma Mat hono ione conger maxey dawes miller of cal edmunds miller of K N Y garland rolling rollins hale sawyer harrisod Harri sou sewell hawley van wyck hoar voorhees ingalls NAYS 17 barrow harris ba bayard yard donaa ti Jo onas 11 beck ar r jo jones nes of F florida lorida brown call pugh puh camden ransom coke saulsbury Saul abury groome williams hampton Hai upton 01 adient A t aldrich kellogg Kel loRg allison lamar butler laptiam La cameron of pa mcdill cockrell lor krell mcpherson davis of ill t mitchell davis of IV vt va 31 morgan organ fair morrill parley farley platt ferry plumb frye saunders george sherman german gorman slater G C to rover e r tabor hill ifill vance jack jackson n vest ja johnston n to n walker jones of nevada windom so the motion was agreed to and the senate as in committee of the tile E proceeded roc ceded to consider the bill S 2238 to amend un an act an fn entitled an act to amend section i of the revised statutes of the united states in reference to bigamy and for other purposes yur purposes poses approved march 22 18 the bill was reported from ti alie ie committee on jurisdiction with an amendment to strike out all after clause clauso and anil insert that in any proceeding and elaml examination before a grand jury a judge or a united states commissioner in any prosecution for bigamy blamy polygamy myor or unlawful cohabitation under an any statute of the united states the lawful husband or wife of the person shall baa be a coin witness and anamay may bo be called and may IM compelled testify in such cli proceeding tion or prosecution without the oon on io husband hubba afi ori wire wife as the case may be SEC that in any prosecution for bigamy polygamy or unlawful ul cohabitation under any statute of tle th e united states whether before ft a united states coin commissioner missioner judge a grand jury or any court an attach issued by b y th i t judge or commissioner commis moner without a previous sub subpoena amna compel lini the tile immediate immediato attendance atten dane of such I ivi witness when it shall appear to tae coultas cour tas tile case roay be that there is reasonable ground to believe that euch such witness would unlawfully fall to obey a issued and berve bervid I in tile usual course of such cases SEC that any prosecution for bigamy polygamy poly pamy or unlawful cohabitation may be commenced at any time within five yeara years next after the tile commission of the offense offen sc but bat this provision shall hot bo be construed to app apply ly to any offense kofl ense already barred by any existing st statute acuto of limit limitation aaion sec that every ceremony of marriage or in the name of marriage I in n any of the territories of tho the united 48 tates whether cither or both or mo more parties diesto tiesto to such i marriage narrise ceremony or not shall bo be certified in writing by ft a certificate stating the fact and nature of such ceremony the full katinis names of ech each tf bathe the parties concerned and the full name of every officer and olevery of every person in anyway taking part i in the performance of such cere monya on Y which certificate shall be dr drawn wn lip tip and signed by the parties to such ceremony and by every officer or person taking part in the performance of such ceremony and shall be by the tile officer priest or other person such marriage or ceremony mor ay iy filed in the office of the probate court or if there bo be none in the office of the court having havin probate powers in the tile county or estrict district in which such ceremony shall take place for record and shall bo be immediately recorded such certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the facts required by this act to bo be stated therein in tiny any proceeding civil or criminal in which the matter shall be drawn in question u e st ion an any person who shall vl violate t e any of the tile provisions of this section snail bo be deemed cuilty ofa shallon conviction be punished by bya a fine of not more than thin 1000 or by imprisonment not longer ion ier than two years or by both in the discretion of the court SEC ftc that every record and entry of any kind concerning any ceremony of In marriage arriage or in the nature of marriage made or kept by any officer clergyman Fler gyman priest or person performing civil or ecclesiastical functions whether ther lawful or not in any terri united states shall be subject to inspection at all reasonable times by any officer of justice appointed ted under the authority of the united states and shall on request be produced and shown to such officer by any person in whose possession or control the saine ame may be every person who shall violate the tile provisions of this section will be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall on conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than 1000 or by lin imprisonment not ion longer than two years or r by both saad said punishments in the discretion of the court and it shall be lawful for any united states commissioner judge or court before whom any proceedings shall be pending in which such buell record or entry may be material by proper warrant to cause such record or entry and the book document or paper containing the same to be taken and brought before him or it for the purposes of such proceeding SEC that nc nothing thing in this act shall be held to prevent the proof of marriages arri ages whether lawful or unlawful by any evidence now legally admissible ble for aba pu purpose f f SEC that not be lawful for ibi ariyA any female niale to vote at au elec election tinn hereafter held in the territory of utah for any purpose whatever and no such yote vote abair be received or counted or given effect in any manner whatever and any and every act of the governor and legislative As odthe of the territory of utah providing for or al allowing lowin the registration or voting by females is hereby in an SEC that the tile existing election districts and apportionments of rep rel resen tation concerning the members odthe of the legislative assembly of the territory of utah are hereby abolished dished and it shall bo be the duty of the governor territorial secretary and the united states judges I in said d territory fi tr forthwith t to redistrict said territory e gryto ry and apportion representation t i on in in the tile same in euch such manner as to provide as nearly as may bo be for an equal representation of the people excepting indiana indians not taxed being citizens of the united states accord according to o numbers in Uela said tivo assembly aal to the number of members of the council and house of tives now established by law and of the establishment lish ment of such new districts and the apportionment of representation thereto shall be made in the office of the secretary of said territory and burh such establishment and representation shall continue until congress shall otherwise provide and no person other than citizens of tho the united states other otherwise rise qualified shall be entitled to vote at an election in said territory mr hoar I move to strike out the seventh section the presiding officer mr harris in the chair chairs the question is I on the motion of the senator from massachusetts mr hoar mr edmunds I will state the reasons on which the committee inserted the seventh section which deprives for the time being fl females in the tile territory of utah from voting according to the information that we received from the commission era ers appointed under the pi previous evious act of congress and from other sources it appeared that female suffrage frage in that territory was so far C as 11 it relates to the mormons cormons Mor mons a sul suffrage frage of servitude Ith that fit the females vote exactly a asli dij reir beir lords and masters require them thern to jo do be they many or few and that counas to keep up in this hierarchy and polygamous really governed territory as it lias has been the power of those guilty of the crimes wish to repress accordingly we felt justified without n illious any rel reference brence to the question of the general propriety of f female em ale suir suffrage rage in in pro proposing osing that for the time being fonalo e suffrage 71 exercised as ft it is is in that territory should wo do not by this clause undertake to c express resi any opinion as a to the general question of female suffrage but in or order der to accomplish tile end and to put tile political power in that territory in the hands of the people eople who are in accord with the laws aws and sentiments of the united states this was one of if the things that was thought to be necessary to that end mr van vat wyck allow me inc to pk aik one ques question t ion for information I did not hear near all the statement of the tile senator from vermont I lost the authority he lie had bad for fur saying that the females in the territory voted as their lords and masters asters ro directed I suppose suppo e lie stated on what authority ho be paid said so but I did not hear it mr edmunds we saw all or all but one of the gentlemen who were commissioners under the former act who spent some sonic months in that territory this observation that I have havo made does daes not a apply to tho the gentilo gentile women as is they arc are called there very few of whom I understand der stand really exercise this right of sul suffrage frage but it refers to tho the other class C I as s of females under the domination of the 1131 mormon ormon church for there is no disguising tho bo fact that the mormon governa government butof of that territory is ia a government of tho the most exclusive and powerful hierarchy that exists on this continent contine nL mr 11 morrill lorrill if the gentilo gentile women did vote one wife would not counterbalance six mr tir edmunds that la is true enouf enough b but our information drawn from these gentlemen who spent months there and from all other sources that we can get by letters and so on convince us that the political power of this territory ia is now largely influenced in respect of its b being cing kept in the hands of the people le w who defy the laws of the united state by force of their casting the solid votes of their females in the direction that I have named we therefore thought that the greater good of breaking up this great crime crime would justify the suspension for the time being of female voting in the territory without any reference I repeat to the general question of female suffrage mr hoar mr fr president it seems to me that the senator from vermont to any legislator accustomed to be governed by general constitutional principles has stated vei very ry strongly the tile objection to the section which he proposes in liis his bill here is a criminal law a law aimed at the offense of po polygamy lo gamy and prescribing the method metho of proving with a view to the punishing a certain crime in III that law he be incle includes des a general provision in in regard to the right of SO suffrage arage and he undertakes to make inake a general provision in in regard to the right of suffrage prohibiting all women from c exercising x a right they now DOW enjoy and taking from the people of a particular territory the right to determine the qualifications of electors in that territory accorded to all other people and accorded to them in all other respects by saying that a certain class of women whom the senator thinks thinka aie in a majority will biot not vote as lie thinks they ought to va voter that is the whole of this proposition as he be states it himself translated into plainer and clearer language lane e so far as dis disclosing clusin the tile purpose goes I do not mean to compare my general capacity for making a clear proposition with nith that of the learned chairman of the judiciary committee lie ile says that the e gentile women the unmarried ilar women tho the women who are the sole sa lawful wives of lawful bus lius bands shall all be prohibited from the e of a right which they now enjoy enjoy and which fur for the purposes of ins present argument lie does not deny they ought to fo continue to enjoy because certain other WOM women n have voted or are likely to vote in in a way that we do not n ot want they should for the wron wrong candidate or because they are aro constrained by domestic or other in influences into voting a particular way now suppose wo may take it io for r i granted though the senator Bei lator cites no except that of certain commissioners who have not been out of salt lake city that the women who have so far become adherents or disc disciples ples of mormonism aim is as tu to live in polygamous connection with cormons mormons Mor mons would bo be likely to cast their votes in the interest of that church and that in institution ution should like to inquire of the senator from vermont why if he be excludes all the women of that territory aiom rom tho the right to vote because of the action of the bajari ty of women he does not exe exclude me all tho tile men of that territory from the right to vote because of the way in in which the mafoi majority ity of the men vote in that community if he excludes the mormon formon A wife because of casting her vote in accordance with the will of her husband why ifould ho lie not exclude the husband who casts hia his vote under flig |