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Show For Governor OF UTAH TERRITOBY, Samuel A. Merritt. UTAH IN 1886. The advent of a. new j'car is always a time for revery and conjecture, for hope despair. "What will the future bring forth?1 Is there in the unknown future a day filled with hope and sunshine for Utah ? Or are the days which are to " come, dark and dreary, being laden with strife and turmoil, hatred and passion? pas-sion? The unfolding of the future alone " ' " can tell these things. The year which has just closed has " been an eventful one in Utah. The year I which has just closed has been a year of dullness and depression in business, but I the new year brings brighter prospects ' . - - for business and material prosperity ; and ithis is well. But what of the Utah question, the question which is ever present and ever foremost in the minds of the people of Utah? During the year which has just closed much has been done to vindicate the national laws ! against polygamy, and they have been " vindicated and enforced as they never ! were before. This vindication and cn- " . forcement 'will continue throughout the ensuing year, but when the year which is ; now beginning shall be counted among I the years which are passed never I - to return, will our Utah problem be nearer . its solution . than l now? In the settlement of &ny impor- tant question there will necessarily and I unavoidably be much ill-feeling and hat- I red engendered. The ill-feeling, and the J passion and the prejudice, which to-day J exists between Mormons and non-Mor- I . mons is most appalling and discouraging. . J It may almost be said that the. Mormon - and the non-Mormon look upon 1 each other - in the light of , open and avowed enemies. In J any criminal proceeding against either I a Mormon or a non-Mormon, where' the " , proceeding is connected ,in the slightest I . degree with the local question, an impar- I I tial jury cannot be found in Utah. This I may be putting the case in strong lan- 'J - guage, but we believe that this opinion ' ? is gaining ground with all classes each " day. Where is the remedy for such a deplorable state of things? We are j - forced to think that the remedy for this I state of things is hidden under the trees . . '4 which bear the golden apples which grow T;i in the Hesperides. But where is the " Hercules who shall bring it hence? I ' The prospects for the year 188G are J that the feeling between the two parties I in Utah will be more bitter than in 18S5, and this is so because the feeling which J now exists will be intensified, for the - ' prosecutions for unlawful cohabitation T"' will go on, unices the people of Utah I choose to come within the law. Whether - I they will or not no one predicts. Po- Ilygamy is the main issue in Utah, and the . . other issues which vex the peace and retard tlie prosperity of the Territory are but outgrowths of this main ! one. To suppress polygamy and unlawful unlaw-ful cohabitation will necessarily cause many handships and bring distress and sorrow upon. many families, but if the . Government shall desist in its enforce- Iment of the law it will be but a surrender ' of the sovereignty of the law to the vio- latorsbfit. This the Government cannot "' 't and will not do. The people of Utah I seem more disinclined than ever to vol- H untarily render obedience to the law, and v-j - the consequence of this disinclination can i only be to make the final settlement of if the Utah question harder for them. If i they would but throw themselves upon the mercy of the General Government they might be sure of receiving the con-7 con-7 sideration and clemency they would there- by ask. The people of Utah would do well I to remember that the Federal officials in , i ... Utah are not the Government, and that y( I if they doubt the desire of the local 1 Federal officials to see peace and happi- " , . - nesfl reign in Utah, they have no reason f'S - in the world to doubt the keen and ardent ' '. ( desire of the Government at Washington to see this Utah problem quickly, equit- -t ably and peacefully, settled. If they 1 ' would but act for themselves and follow I the dictates of their own hearts aud rea- I son, they would seek at Washington a t ' I . speedy and satisfactory solution of the I Utah question. "Seek, .and ye shall ! find. Knock, and it shall be opened .-VI unto you. Ask, and ye shall receive." |