Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-03-15
lanrastc; tlrteIliqe1lcer.
EvE'a, MARCH Is, 1854.
The Problem in Utah.

WEDNESDAY EvE'a. MARCH IS. 1882.
The Problem in Utah.
The proposition of Congress to estab.
iish government by commission for the
territory of Utah is made for very differ
ent reasons and under very different
circumstances from those which pre-
vailed to secure such a government for
the District of Columbia, which consists
mainly of the capital Of the country and
in which the chief interests are directly
those of the federal government. Gov
ernment by commission depends very
largely upon the character OF the com.
missiOners. If a few honest, upright
and intelligent men were always ap-
pointed commissioners they would prob
ably supply a better government than
that furnished by. numerous popular rep
resentatives and the presidential ap-
pointees to territorial positions. Utah
is to be made exceptional from the other
territories in the plan of governing it for
the same reason that it has not been ad
mitted as state, because a very large
majority of it's people espouse relig-
ious faith which has for one
of its tenets the encouragement
of polygamy, practice that is
repugnant to the moral sentiment of the
country and in violation of the common
law Of the land. The right of the Nor
mons to cherish and teach such reli-
gious belief as they choose is inviolable
under the constitution but when their
practices conflict with a sound morality
and are in violation Of the statutes,
the enforcement of those statutes be-
comes necessary even to the extent of
punislling people for what they do in
pursuance Of their religious belief. 1t
seems that laws of ample severity already
exist for the punishment of polygamy
in Utah. The complaint Of those who
demand the overthrow Of the present
government is, partly, that juries, CON-
posed altogether or mainly of Mormons,
will not convict people of their own faith
of polygamy and, partly, that for the
purposes of such trial and conviction the
necessary evidence cannot be secured of
the po!ygamous marriages, as they
take place in the endowment houses
which are sealed against out
siders. The Presbyterian missionary,
who was recently in this city preaching
against Mormonism, admitted that these
were the only two points in which the
operation of the present laws was INSULT
cient to prevent or punish such abuses
rs could be reached by legislation. While
he inveighed strongly against the theo-
cratic tendencies of the Mormon faith
he deprecated any interference with the
religious beliefs of the people of Utah ;
and he was not able to point out wherein
a government by commission would
secure the evidence that is necessary to
convict of polygamy or secure fairer
trials by jury than are now had. 1t will
not do to enact that Mormons, per se shall
be excluded from juries TO try Mormons,
since it has been decided that jury to
try il negro is illegal if negroes have
been excluded from the panel. The
whole Mormon problem seems to be a
very troublesome one, and to have be-
come such mainly by the impunity with
which the crime Of polygamy has
been tolerated, although in it's in
cipient development it was even re-
pugnant to the original Mormon faith.
That it should be suppressed aud pun
ished there is no question among the
overwhelming majority of decent.
minded people. But there seems to he a
gross defect somewhere when, to extir
pate this one class Of offending, GOV
ernment by commission, with danger
Gus powers, has to lie established over so
populous territory, and nearly 15O, 900
people are to be divested Of their polti
cal rights. In a dispatch to the Times
from Washington, Col. Mcclure, who
has been there watching the drift of
this legislation says:
While there can be no divided sentiment
among all good citizens as to the necessity
of arrcsting the power and growth of
polygamy, regard the bill just passed as
a very dangerous and needlessly severe
measure. To deprive the territory of Utah
Of responsible government and place it
under commission with the most pienary
and arbitrary powers, is to place the
wealth and property of the Mormon peo
pie at the mercy of men who arc
not likely to be scrupulous in pro-
fitting by their authority. Under the
direction of the class of men
who most seek and obtain territorial ap-
pointments the commissioners under the
law passed to-day, dealing with tho fanati.
cism that SO largely rules in tho Mormon
church, can execute its letter and plunder
the Mormons of half of their great wealth,
and it is no unreasonable apprehension
that they will do SO. A plain, just and
lawful remedy for polygamy could have
been enforced by simply providing that
polygamists shall be ineligible to vote at
territorial elections, ineligible to Office and
ineligible as jurors. The executive,
judicial and all general territorial
offices are now federal appoint
mepts and the simple remedy of
making the polygamists voiceless in the
government, with severe penal code for
those guilty. Of marrying plural wives in
the future, would accomplish all the good
that can be accomplished by tho bill passed
to-day without affecting any vested rights
of families or forcing . revolutionary policy
that is more than likely to result in the
persecution of tho Mormons under color of
law, not to suppress the crime of polygamy,
but to perpetrate official crime for Mormon
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