Show THE NORM ON QUESTION win lockwood it a romance in real life conception OF lothine compared Oom pared to it the part the government his played in mormonism what the edmunds bill has done copyrighted rochester Roch esfer herald just at thid tim e ter of utah now comprising more than two hundred thousand IS knocking at the doors of tito united states for ad as a state the mormon question becomes a very important one not only to the people of that territory but to the government itself the history t mormon peo ale is a romance in real life interesting than the often far fetched conceit of the novelist an d in some bas been more tragic than the d distorted concep eions of the theatrical staga foreign nations as lookers on must be amused end puzz ledat our treatment of a question within the last few years become of so much leg and in which the federal govern ment boa appeared not only as tha conservator ot the morals of stat territory but as the ex powder of what its religious creed ought to be MCA finally as trusted or committee of all the availably avail abl e r 0 arty of the mormon 0 hareb h e v has the typical guardian in this 1 instance anti the proceeds of the trust have been virtually confiscated so that the abor mon people are to day paying into the hands of government trustees two hundred and seventy six dol lars per month for the privilege of worshipping shipping wor in their own tabernacle and occupying thor own parsonage and other church buildings built by their own money and by their own work if the government can do this with the mormon church it will not take any greater stretch of authority to in the same way the property of the catholic church the joss house of the chinaman or the magnificent edi flees of the methodists utah was organized as a terri tory more than t hirty sevan years 8 go and for more than of century the federal government tolerated polygamy in her midst lit b e came P fixed fact an in ution received and swore in as delegates to the territory avoided and then with aladden spasm of virtue commenced an attack upon the system a war of extermination which for and bitterness Jor mis representation and oppression ex ceedee the horrors of coercion and eviction in ireland about which our sympathies hive been so greatly excited it not onia forbade plural marriages and dis franchised all but punished men for I 1 iving with plural wives to whom they bad been married for scores of years and who wilh their infant children were dependent upon them for support the ex of the law went beyond the letter and made the casual of the former wife appear as the ance of the marri marriage ae relation and punished the parties accor dingi Y one judge dee laring from the bench during my sojourn in Territory thA that the object of the edmunds law was not for the inculcation of morality but for the suppression of a religion the government under the ed munds tucker act then not only all polygamous cormons mormons of the male pers but all women of whatever creed or condition whether believing in the mormon or christian religion or believers although these women bad been peaceably and order y casting their ballots for twelve years bad not been charged with or convicted of crime and no anti inti mation had ever been made that any one of these women had or de sired to have more than 8 baud no absolute could have abre fully infringed upon the rights tf american citizens than did the government apon these mormon women but they bore it all idaly took up their own burden of work banded themselves together for protection sang and prayed to gether believing that out of trials would come blessings even as bless ings had come in the barly days if their until their places of ere seized and a por tion of the burden of rent came upon them by a vigorous execution of the edmunds law polygamy w suppressed but not more than two per cent of the whole number of the morman people were ever polygamists but this amali number sufficed to throw the territory into hsuch disrepute die repute that the whole christian world threw up its hands in holy horror until as a rule no christian man or wow AD believed that he or bile were wholly absolved from sin until he had pub liely denounced these horrid mor moos it was also a noticeable fact that those members of congress Co ogress most urgent for the enactment of stringent laws against were those whose moral character was fair from being bove reproach but the law was fao abbing in its application and ex s tended to all of the territories it included the dietric t of columbian Columbi at a territory exclusively und erthe control of the united states con gress where no law bad been enacted to pun ih the most flagrant benebe charged these rebellious the district attorney was not slow to discover dise over the application of the law and 3 of casba it have been up before aur police coul judge but perhaps the most thing il va the or cement of ta lawin tb district of colunio Col unit ia is the of tucker of virginia a p 0 in I 1 n e t member of the house d u r t t ts a passage why be ex claimed recently in talking about the crawford case a test case ap cal e lo 10 the district supreme ou r t I 1 never dreamed of that law being applicable to the district of columbia if I 1 had I 1 would not have voted for it that law was ii tended for the hormonal Mor monal then came kate field with Ilor to thrill excited audiences and angie newman with a which she was paid for publishing and distributing among the members of tho united stated coutress Cou gress with storie sas wilband unreliable as that of gladdins Alad dins lamp in the arabian nights tho people did not investigate but accepted on eight the wildest vit garies and most harrowing tales about the cormons mormons Mor mons the facts that these people are andi have been frugal industrious mom that they had no alm a h enaes saloons or brothels in midst until instituted by the so called amilea by the fed eral courts that they bad their cd milli manu factories that gave to the unema loyed that they bad their pub i c dyste in into which their children 0 cn to all alike that eira 11 dren were well born well bred and and the women as well informed and cultured as t he masses of american women that t the men do not swear drink int cants or smoke were all swallowed up in due cry polygamous alor ill now I 1 do not believe in poleg amy and am not a convert to the mormon faita but I 1 do believe in humanity and justice in the invina of personal and property rights in the sanctity and freedom of the religious convictions of every human being under the sun I 1 an their protection from coercion intrusion or undue influence now that polygamy hasteen sup the non polygamous male P it on comprising four filp h f her present voters hiving called a convention in duo form formulated and adopted a tiong have presented it to tha united states congress aad fifth time are asking admission as a state and in this constitution ha va incorporated as follows art xvi sec 12 p 11 bigamy and poleg being considered incompatible al wit a republican form of government each of themis hereby ford bidden and declared a misae any person who ashal I 1 violate this section shall on conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more one thousand dollars and imprisonment for a term not less t ban six months nor more than three years in the discretion of the chiat 1 aided that section 12 of art XV shall not be amended revised or in any way changed until any amendment revision or change as proposed shall in addition to the requirements of the provisions of this article be reported to the congress of the united states and shall be by proved and ratified and such approval and ratification be proclaim ed by the president Pr of the united states and if not so ratified ana proclaimed said section shall re main perpetual it would seem as dhouge sufficient concessions had been made in this instrument not only to satisfy the united states congress but popular clamor but now the cry is raised by the newspaper press these cormons mormons are insincere and t et insincerity I 1 n the pot eon a feature of the mormon character either as to their religion iod or their E business relations in latte r especially there has ever be en manifested a marked probity and reliability in m opinion P if there is an al la 11 reason why the fiftieth congress should not admit utah as a state it is the fact that they tame ly submitted to the disfranchisement of their women and have en left them out of their new state constitution balva A loc kw |