| Show AT IT AGAIN the utah bonim commission assion make another report to alio federal government of what they hac haye done one 9 tried to io do and left 10 undone all of which Ani amounts toa to a hill of beans small ones str SiK sinthe the board of commissioners appointed under the act of congress ot of march 22 issa respectfully report that tho the legislative assembly of the territory of utah adjourned sine die on the ultimo without accomplishing comp lishing such legislation as is contemplated by isaid said act of congress wo we therefore consider it proper to present an account of the condition of affairs in tho the territory and the operation of the legislation of con cress concerning polygamy BO so far as appertains pertains to our duties al yince ince entering upon the dI discharge e of our duties in july 1882 we have diligently sought to inform ourselves as to the history of th the e the present condition of utah and its people eople thus far the legislation has been been directed against tho the crime of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation a full exposition of which was submitted sub in our last report which wo need not now repeat further than to 10 say that flat the present law provides fo for the pul punishment of polygamy and unlawful 11 cohabitation by fine and 1 imprisonment upon conviction in the courts of justice andallo and also for the disfranchisement of from voting and holding office to what extent has this law been executed and what are and what will bo be the probable results in the solution of the so called problem justice to the statesmen who enacted this law as well v ell as the board who are engaged in its execution demand aft a full illand and explicit answer to these questions though at the expense of consider considerable abW elaboration and some repetition of matters heretofore hereto fre fera reported prior to tho the time when lien this board took charge of the conduct of registrations and elections in utah in ail august 1882 nearly all the principal offices in the territory were held by polygamists tho the legislative arjemi bly of 1832 1882 consisting of thirty six members were all in polygamy with the exception or three other offices such as delegate to congress and territorial county and municipal offices were filled by in about tho the same proportion the doctrine of rotation in office was almost unknown in utah and ma many ly of tho the polygamists had been kept in the same offices from youth to old age all this is changed under this act since the commission entered upon its duties there have lave been elected in tho the territory 1351 1331 officers not one of whom is a polygamist in this number are arc included muni cipal officers we have estimated the num number berof of voters ina male leand and fe male who have been disfranchised franchised dis by reason of polygamy at and there is not now a boly polygamist adist in office in utah bo muc much i as to the execution of the law but what as to the present and future effects we wo repeat a statement contained idour in our report of october 30 1883 the theory of the act of march 29 1882 appears to be this that diacri discrimination m between those mormons cormons who practise polygamy 7 and those who do not placing a stigma upon the former and depriving them of suffrage as well as the right to hold office while on the other hand an inducement is held out to the latter class that by abstaining from t tho 0 oly relation they will benj chujoy a all I 1 the political rights of american citizens would in in time have the e effect act 0 of inducing great numbers of oatlie the mormon people to refrain from plural marriage ria while such considerations are arc not likely to have much weight with tho tile elderly men who already have a plurality of wives and several families of children they must have great weight with arith tho the young men of the territory many of whom are ambitious and aspirin and would not like ike voluntarily to embrace ca cal 1 ostracism before passing from this topic we nye deem it proper to observe that no person well informed in regard to utah affairs could reasonably have expected at tho the apa baago pa igo ago of the act that there would be bean ail immediate change in the political situation nor that it would have ah all immediate effect in destroying the practice of polygamy but the act must necessarily iian hav e a strong influence in that dis the very existence of tho the law dis franchising polygamists must tend to destroy their influence whenever it is understood that this is to be a pers manent discrimination those mor mons who have the ballot will after a time be conscious of a power which they will be unwilling to uso for ever at nt the bidding of those who hav have e it not tha the fact also that it will be necessary to the preservation of the political influence of the peoples party part as tho tile mormons cormons stylo style themselves to have a large body of their r members who are not must tend in time to weaken the practice of polygamy for every married mormon who takes but one plural wife loses three voica votes for his parly party his own on n and those of his two wives women suffrage being established by law in utah another consideration already adverted to the influence upon tho the young men and the rising generation era tion is entitled to great weight seeing all the offices of honor trust and profit such as delegate to cons grass i members of the legislative assembly ably probate judges clerks of the county courts sheriffs and others many of them quite lucra lucrative e are held by monogamists while mists are wholly excluded the arpir ing young men of the T territory errit ory would present arsent an anon anomaly ialy in human nature if they should fail to be strongly influenced fluen ced ed against going into a relation which thus subjects them to political ostracism and fixes to them the stig ma of moral turpitude tho the views above set forth are stron strongly gly forti fortified fled by the evidence of the right reverend bishop tuttle of v diali N the protestant episcopal church a gentleman etleman distinguished for his piety fe learning rn ing and sagacity thohas who has resided for fifteen or twenty years in salt lake city in a sermon at the capital of minnesota lately delivered he lie said the true policy is to encourage the building up of an opposition in the ranks of the mormons cormons Mor mons such a course would result in wholesome reforma reforms the edmunds bill has not been a failure in inU utah tali aa as has been charged on the contrary itis it is doing much good the mormons cormons obey this law polygamists ts do not offer to vote neither do they hold office and they feel the sting keenly too the affixing of such a stigma upon them acts in a very tery wholesome wholes man ner but the young mormons cormons are wak waking ingup up they have been asleep on their rights accustomed to see the polygamous lyga chiefs fill all the offices ader under the edmunds edmund bill a young mormon has been elected mayor of salt lake city and a number are in the legislature though they are still under the influence of the old men they are beginning to realize their own importance which may result eventually in the formation of a new party in this way the eds ed munds bill is doing good that tho the leading leading polygamists among the mormons cormons feel eel the effects of tho the edmunds act as a heavy blow against their dominating influence has been proved to our satisfaction in many ways ws among others their newspaper diatribes ia tribes and pulpit harangues against the law and their ex to the non polygamous mormons cormons to stand by their leaders and elders in these discourses dia courses the leading men of the mormon church still advocate the doctrine of poly polygamy gainy as an essential part of their cred creed as openly and vehemently as at any former period recently a number of discourses have been d c in salt lake city and other parts of the territory Terri territory tor ally on this subject by their their most noted men all were invited by public notices in the newspapers and the meetings were largely attended evidently these meetings were gotten up bv by concerted action among the leaders and our interpretation of their motives is that the discrimination of the act of or congress in favor of non polygamist mormons cormons is producing such results upon the masses as to alarm their leading men inen that they feel keenly the effects of this act is further shown by their instituting a large number of suits at law against the members of this hoard board grounded on their exclusion from the polls aron among the orthodox mormons cormons of utah polygamy is a part of their reli bious faith and while but a small percentage of the whole adult mormon hormon population have actually entered into the relation yet all the faithful believe in it aa as a divine revelation the mormons cormons believe in tho the old testament the new now testament and a great deal besides namely the book of mormon and diverse so called revelations claimed to have been received by the prophet joseph va smith i and his bis successors brigham youns u n and john taylor which are mostly printed in their book of doctrine and covenants among these so called revelations is one in favor of plurality of wives doubtless there are many persons among the mor mons who would be glad to find a way out of poly polygamy camy devout and sincere in iii their religious faith as we believe the generality of he the people to be yet there are degrees of faith among them is well as other sects and the vast number of apos tanies that have taken place from time to time is convincing evidence that the leaven of unbelief and skepticism is at work in many minds whether the actual practice of polygamy is is on the decrease or not is a disputed question since our last report we have made additional invests gatio nand wo we are of the opinion that in the more rural districts chiefly in tho the southern portion of the territory thero there haa has not been much dc decrease crease while in salt lake county and other counties where there are considerable consider abla cities and towns there haa has been a decided decrease the Tho physical geography and other conditions of the territory present presen tan an obstacle to the speedy solution of the difficulty tho tide of emigration from the states which in a fio few years settled the status of the fertile stale state of tho tile great west will not be bares re pealed in this territory there is little to attract american carmera to utah its ita area is large about square miles but the greater portion consists of barren rocky mountains and deserts BO so that perhaps not more than one acre in fifty will ever bo be susceptible cep tible of cultivation but there are many valleys that by means of irrigation from froin the mountain astrea streams m s arc are very fertile and productive ne near ar ly all tho the agricultural land ia is already occupied and it is very evident that utah can never support a large lation the present population is estimated at about four fifths being cormons mormons Mor mons the people are generally engaged in agricultural pursuits elli chiefly efly in a small way relying mainly on irrigation prior to the completion of tho the transcontinental railroad through utah in 1869 there were very few non cormons mormons in tho the territory since flint hat time the business of mining has become an ail important interest several of the tile most valuable mines of silver and lead in the west being located there besides there are some gold mines and valuable deposits of coal iron copper and other minerals the mines mines give good employment to a great many persons and have been tho the means of attracting considerable non marmon population many of the non gentiles are do ing a prosperous business in banking mining and mercantile pursuits candor requires us also to say that perso personal nal security and property roper ri rights lit 8 appear to be as inviolate inviolate in utah Z as in any of the states or territories however business men of small capital among gentiles complain of dull times unies by reason of the tile clannishness of tho the mormons cormons in trading with each other rather than the gentiles in the endeavor to present a fair and impartial account of utah and its people it would be disingenuous in ua us kiwo if we failed to put on record oui our conviction after much reading reading obi and reflection th that at grinj the last fifteen years there has been a great improvement in tho the condition of affairs in the territory for over twenty years prior to 1809 1869 the mor mons were to a great extent isolated from all the world before tho the building of the railroad across the cant continent 1 they were for many years nearly y a thousand miles from an any v civilized community gathered into the great salt lake valley and other valleys of utah under the leadership of the great but uncultivated born bom leader of men who was i imperious and fanatical tho the mormons cormons were but little influenced vr tj the outside world that there have been great chanes es for the better is admitted by every candid observer last year yeara a graceful and able writer in an editorial arti article clein in one of the non mormon newspapers of salt lake city used the following language expressive of tho the improved condit condition Tion of affairs in utah salt lake ia is so changed from the utah of ten years ago that could the old style of affairs be restored for a week the old slavery tho the old tyranny and the restrictions the mormon people themselves would rise up in rebellion there are forces at work which are all powerful and which no article or restrictions no falsehoods and no superstition can resist in considering this question the public should not expect an any considerable change as the immediate imme immediate liate result of the present laws of congress nor her of any legislation that is likely t to 0 be devised such legislation will not speedily induce the mormon people ale to renounce their religious creed concerning the marriage marri aee relation and other so called revelations tho the most that can be predicted of such le legislation i is that it will in connection with other influences place the obnoxious features of mormonism in a position of gradual declension and final extinction in presenting this view of the condition of utah honorable mention is due to the many christian denominations that have established colleges school sand churches in salt lake Cit yand many wany other parts of the teri territory tory amo among aig these are churches or schools maintained I 1 by the presbyterians rians methodists congregationalists Congregationalist 3 apiscopa lians hans baptists baptista catholics and perhaps others all or nearly all of which lias has been accomplished within the last fifteen years some one or more of these churches and scho schoola may be found in nearly all the prin cipal cities in the territory and aro chiefly supported by the tile benevolence of the people and churches of the states there are in addition to those common schools established by the mormons cormons by legislative authority the denominational schools now number 79 with an average daily attendance of nearly pupils many of whom are the children of mormon parents these schools are distributed as follows Episco palo 5 methodist 1 01 Con 27 07 presbyterian teri 35 baptist 2 catholic 1 the noble and self sacrificing men and women of these various parlous religious denominations who as ministers and teachers have consecrated themselves to this good work are deserving of the thanks and gratitude of every christian and philanthropist and it may way be that their labors under kivine providence may accomplish more than the wisdom of lawgivers nevertheless the vigorous |
