The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1881-10-21
WEEKLY CORVALIlS GAZETTE.
Corvallis, Oct. 81, 1881.
A PASSIVE REBELLION.

leaders in their Salt Lake City tab
ernacle are usually characterized by
q considerable degree of prudence
when questions of political and ma
tional import are touched upon.
Occasionally, however. "the spirit of
the Lord or of Brigham, gets the
better of some prominent apostles
tongue, and the real animus of the
Mormon montrosity becomes appa-
rent. This was the case few days
ago: and, surprising TO state, the
judicious apostle was the usually
diplomatic and plausible Mr.. Cannon,
Utai,'s Congressional delegate. III
one of his ordinary Sunday har.
rangues he took occasion to refer TO
a subject dear to the heart OF the
utah Turk-the safety of the instl-
tuition of Polygamy. When the fact
is considered that he is component
part of the United States Govern
ment, as we'll. as member of the
''inspired priesthood" Of Zion, the
weight his declarations will have
with an ignorant and fanatical people
may be justly estimated. He said:
"The Government of the United
States will be powerless in the future
as it has been in the past TO enforce
the aHti-polygamy or any other law
detrimental to the interest or progress
Of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Nineteen years ago on the I'd of last
July the congress of the United
States passed a law to prelibi. and
pnnish the practice Of peaygamy III
the Territories. How much prohibi
tion has that law effected? How
many of us have been punished for
the practice of polygamy? But one
man, and he furnished the evidence
himself for his own conviction"
When Mr.. Cannon is a. Washing
ton city, blandly hobnobbing with
the senator's AID representatives of
patton that abhors polygamy. he is
not accustomed to refer TO himself as
one of the violators of the anti-po-
lypamic law, On the contrary he
sends his very numerous collection OF
wives to a secluded Utah ranch before
starting for Washington, and upon
reaching the national capitol devotcs
himself to proving that polygamy is
gradually dying out from the sheer
lack Of vitality; that no excitement
on the subject is necessary, aud that
all that Congress needs to do is to
keep perfectly quiet and let the evil
cure itself.
.Ifa Congressional Delegate from
New Mexico should return to Santa
Fe, fresh from the presence Of the
chief officials of the nation, and should
publicly address his constituents on
tho subject of stealing horses, and
should cite history to prove that only
. one horse thief bad ever been con-
victed in that territory, and should
indirectly admit that he was a horse
thief himself, and should, IN the most
efectual manner possible. extol and
encourage the practice of stealing
horses, would the congress of the
United States consider him a fit per-
son to occupy the chair of Con-
gressional delegate? In every state
in the Union the horse thief and the
bigsmist stand on the same level, and
receive similar punishment when
convicted of their crimes.
1t is proper that man who openly
advocates the violation of the natioD-
al laws; who insolently defies the
power of the Government to prevent
the incessant and widespread COM
mission of an odious crime; who is
not citizen of this country and has
no intention of becoming natnralized;
who is polygamist Himself, and en-
coarages multitu.les of iIliterate men
TO become such; who deyotes his en-
tire time to plotting and scheming
in the interest ola theocraiic form Of
government, which meditaies ulti
mate treason against the General
Government-is it proper that such
man, year after year, should rep
resent Utah in tie United States
Congress?
Why is it that he is suffered to do
90? His sentiments. his purposes, his
alien birth, his affiliations and his
crimes are known from one end of
the country to the other. The Cen
tiles of Utah assert that the Mormon
Church has for years regularly ex-
pended large corruption fund al
Washington to prevent any interfer-
ence with polygamy, and further as
sert that laws to oppose it are pnr-
posely framed in such manner as to
la roaIaeo opd ipaff.c,iyo The non.