The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-04-13
THE SITUATION.

AS yet the features of the recent
congressional legislation against
Utah have received no practical ap-
plication and all that can be con-
jectured as to what will be the eff.
feet of actual enforcement is merely
speculation, so far as the people
against whom the enactment was
aimed are concerned. If this were
the only issue to be considered, we
might profitably enact the role of
Micawber and wait for whatever is
going to turn up to do so before mis-
giYings were permitted to have an
existence; but such is not the case.
1t would be an outrage upon reason
to suppose for an instant that a
measure which aims at such violent
and revolutionary results as those
contemplated in the Edmunds law
could produce no effect upon the
body polite even while in its quies-
cent state. AS the dark and lower
ing clouds which precede a
storm depress the mind and
cause us to seek refuge
from the elements, so does the pro-
posed and partly consummated vim
dictiveness Of lawmakers toward a
portion of the people augur a social
tempest, and thus a feeling of ap-
prehension is engendered which in
Stinctively causes the threatened
parties to seek shelter.
It should be remembered in this
connection that Utah is no longer
an isolated fraction of the public
domain; that it is not even an ex-
tremity Of the national body. It is
a portion of the system through
which the great aorta of commerce
and traffic conveys the life-giving
current which imparts health and
strength to the whole fabric, every
beat of the commercial heart mark
ing its pulsatiOns here as elsewhere.
Therefore, to breed impurity or IT.
regularity here is, to some extent at
least, ;he begetting of unhealthful-
ness in every nerve and fibre
Violent and unneeded legislation
may be directed at one or another
point to correct real or fancifuI
evils; but it should be considered
that while. the enactment is special.
the effects are bound to be general !:
the source being befouled, the
stream will be impure to its termi-
nation. 1t is not enough to say
that the evils proposed to be rene
died exist only here, and that, there
fore, the effects of inimical legisla-
ton will be confined to this portion
of the country; as we'll say that the
improper or painful treatment of a
wounded hand produces no pain or
injury to any other part of the
body.
The unseemly h ste with which
the Edmunds bill WITS propelled
through both branches of Congress
betrayed an anxiety on the part Of
majority of the members to get
the subject Off their hands. right or
wrong. They were wholly influ-
enced by the clamor5 Of demagogues
and fanatics. and were willing to
OBEY what they conceived TO be q
popular mandate, biindfolded and
minimizing. Thy must do some
think. and one bill was as good (or
bad as another so long as it was
anti-MOrmon. The measure pre-
pared by EdmundS came to them
first, and it was rushed through I'M
der the whip and spur of the pre-
vious question. Such work is al
ways faulty. President Arthur sees
that this is the case; so, we Opine,
do many If not most ofsthose who
voted for its passage. 1t is lament
ably weak everywhere; and while
it is capable of much mischief,
the damage done will reach
beyond the peaks which mark
the boundaries of Utah, so that if
not soon repealed it is likely to be so
amended that its most Objectionable