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Show ! i ;thehiecommexdations. - j Some of the recommendations made in the report of the Utah Commission are very good and some are not. The recom-I recom-I ' mendations to which we except are the I second, the fifth, sixth and seventh. To . the second one we except because of the great impolicy of permitting a legal wife . ! to testify against her husband. If such i wife is made a competent witness, she I can be compelled to testify against her I husband, and this would open a wide f ! door to perjury. The sanctity in which I the common law has always held the re- j ! lationship of husband and wife should be j 1 preserved, and the experience of this Ter- !;: ritory has already demonstrated that first I I wives will not avail themselves of the di- vorce laws where their husbands have I entered into polygamous marriages. If : they will not . avail themselves of the divorce laws, they certainly . will I i not avail themselves of . -a ' criminal I law"; and this . fact should be considered. To make a first wife a com- I petent witness against her husband would be to destroy ah initio that confidence I which should exist between husband and wife. The same reasons exist in this par- I ticular case which have always existed against making a wife a witness against t her husband. If she chooses to become I : a witness against her husband, well and ; good, but she should not be compelled to testify against him . ! 7 The fifth recommendation asks that the i jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace be I conferred upon United States Commis- I sioners. We can see no necessity in the i , i world for this, and to confer this jurisdic- : tion would be, to that, extent, to abolish , '' local self-government, for eventually the j ; t Commissioners' courts would supplant ! the J ustices' court. It is much the same I thing as it would be to put upon the Gov- ernor the duties of a constable. If the (duties of the constable were put upon the Governor, lie would certainly have to ex- i ecute all orders of the Justices of the j Peace. The objection to the sixth recommendation recommen-dation is that it does away with local self- government in a much greater degree than does the fifth recommendation. . The seventh recommendation asks for a ' , open venire in all cases prosecuted under : United States laws. The objection to this . , , is that it gives every opportunity to pack a jury,and experience long since proved that where the chance to pack a jury exists, the chance is usually availed of. And i then no man's integrity is so good a guar- 1 anty that a jury shall be impartial as the j I , cnecits and saleguards of a statutory law. f Then again, the Poland law provides for the selection of jurors, and it was decided ; in the Clawson case that when the panel had been exhausted in accordance with that law, an open venire may issue. There can be no objection to drawing a jury according to the provisions of that law, and if its provisions prove inadequate j there is the resource of an open venire. f ? I The recommendation of a Supreme I ! Court separate aud distinct from the Dis- I' i trict Courts would have been preferable I' to a mere increase of Judges. The Dis- ! tnct Courts in Utah should be increased I in number, but still no trial judge should J be allowed to sit in the Supreme Court. I The recommendation for the abolishment of the statute of limitations in polygamy ; . cases is among the best recommendations all. We can see no reason for intro- i ducing the Chinese question .into the ; l ( recommendations. There is a good deal of demagogy in this recommendation about the Chinese, and the importation of contract laborers and paupers, and is de- I , i cidedly far fetched. j f As a '"hole the report is very good, but j : iij we notice that the Commission do not fail ji t to recommend the Commission more j !: highly than anything else. In their sixth II I recommendation they suggest that the I i J territorial Auditor and Treasurer, Com- , missioners to locate university lands, j Probate Judges, County Clerks' ! County Selectmen, Count- Assessors and f : ; Collectors and County Superintendents of i ; Schools" )Q appointed by the Governor, ! 1 hut the appointments to be subject to eon- I 4 fnnation hi the Commission. At the j ; close of their report the Commission sug- 1 ' ; ! Se1 three plans for the settlement of the IJtah question. The one is a Legislative I j ;i Commission, anotlier the Idaho plan of j : disfranchisement, and the other is the I I - appointment of all officers by the Gov- I ' i f ernor. As the Commission say "all these I . I I apjxintments could be properly filled by j ' ' the Governor of the Territory, subject to I , confirmation by the Commission.'? There is nothing like a proper sell respect, and ! ; j lhi" the Utah Commission seem to have. |