Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-01-13
CANNON BLANK CARTRIDGE.

The contested election case of Dele
gate CANNON, of Utah, which was con-
sidered by the House on Tuesday, and
| referred TO committee, was expected
/ to bring up the whole Mormon question,
/ about which there is Just now SO much
talk of something being done, but it
! failed.
There is no question but that CANNON
! was elected to the seat he claims and
has heretofore occupied through several
| Congresses. He received nearly all the
| votes that were cast, but his competitor
| has the Governors certificate that he,
and not CANNON, is the lawful delegate.
1t was supposed as we have said, that
this contest would bring up the whole
question of pOlygamy in Utah, and that
was evidently the purpose of contesting
CANNON'S election.
Mr.. CANNON, in his declaration
now on file, says: 81 admit that
am q member of the Church
of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day
Saints, commonly called MOrmons;
that i'm accordance with the tenetS OF
said church, / have taken several plural
wives, who now live with me and have
lived with me for o number of years
and borne me children" The consider
alton of this case will disclose the tend
encies of the House, but the problem in
its entirety will not come up until bill
is reported that has for its object the
eradication of the evil.
There is a feeling in parts of the cOun-
try that pOlygamy should either be put
down without further delay, or left TO it
self. Utah already contains Ia, OO0peO-
pie, and the Mormons will soon control
Idaho and Arizona. Nevada on the
west is a State almost without popula-
ton. If Utah becomes State, the en-
tire problem passes out of the hands of
the Government; if the territory is di-
vided up among the adjoining States
and territories, the MOrmonS would
control all of them; and Congress Is
therefore expected to choose between
the do-nothing policy and an earnest
attempt to crush polygamy in the ter
ritories.
The only bill at present before Con-
gress was Offered by Senator EDMUNDS.
1t makes bigamy, in any of the Terri
tories under the jurisdiction OF the Fed
eral Government, a crime punishable
with fine and imprisonment, and in
order to assure a conviction, makes IL
sufficient cause for the challenge OF a
Juror in a case of this kind that he has,
at any time, practiced bigamy or polyg-
amy, or that ne believes it morally, re-
ligiously or legally right for man to
have more than one living or undivore-
ed wife az the same time. To induce
the MormOns TO give up polygamy, q
section legitimiZes all the children OF
plural Mormon marriages born previous
To November, 1879.
The bill simply meets one of the great
difficulties of the case by authorizing
the selection of Gentle juries, but 1t
leaves untouched the difficulty of pro-
curing evidence to insure conviction. 1t
is well known that the Mormon church
has long enforced the policy of secret
marriages. No one is permitted to be
present at q ceremony except the hus-
band,and wife. The husband will not
testify against himself, and the wife
cannot, and there is therefore no way
to prove polygamous practices The
Supreme Court in the MILES case anu
President ARTHUR intimate that 1t
would be we'll to make wife coupe
tent to testify against her husband. and
also to require in all the territories the
filing of certificate of marriage in every
case under stringent penalties for neg
lect or refusal, The EDMUNDS bull Is
silent on the subject of evidence, and on
that account Is lame.
The country will endorse any feasible
measure, no matter how stringent or
difficult of execution it may be; for
there is a universal desire that the back
bone of the foul institution be broken.