Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-17
SURPRISING poLYGANv

IOAAGAMY.
Report of the Members of the 40,
mission to Secretary TeSiA- ~ Com
munds' Law Pronounced . INC Ed,
Some Recommendation. " SUCCESS
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31.-Tha 1r.o
mission has submitted their second Com
report to the Secretary of the In sanua
After making a statement of former 'of
latlon by Congress in relation to bicansss
polygamy, they say the duties Of tho o1
mission appertain only to matters of WIN
%tration, election and eligibility to ~ s
while the punishment for the crime ase
polygamy is left, as under the former
to the courts of justice. Under ~
Anti-P olygamy act the commission had ~
success at the general election in A,,nnv
1883, in excluding %polygamists from ~,
polls, and as far as advised very few if VI ""
illegal votes have been cast in Utah sinas
the commission took charge of registratios
and elections. The enforcement Of w.
present law against twelve thousand nolra,
mists who have been excluded from ~.
polls shows that the act has been fully w.,
successfully executed. 1t is thought , w..
discrimination between those MormonS VI" va9
practice polygamy and those who do MV
while not likely to have much afos
upon elderly men who have ALREADY
plurality of wives, must have go.1
weight, as the young men of the Terriior
many of whom are ambitious and asDirns
would not be likely to voluntarily emhrana
political ostracism. The very existence Of tS,
law DISTINGUISHING polygamists must tend tn
destroy their influence whenever it is ,ndor
stood that it is to be a permanent discern.
ination. The fact, also, that it will a
necessary to the preservation of the port'
cal influence of the peoples party "a,
the Mormons style themselves) to have ]
large body of their members who are mi
polygamists must tend in time to weaken
the practice of polygamy. for every Nor.
MOI who takes but one plural wife LOSE,
three votes for his party--his W and those
of his two wives (woman suffrage being a..
tablished by law in Utah).
Concerning plurality of wives, the renort
says that the fact that a doctrine and nrae
tice so odious throughout Christendon
should have been upheld for so many wears
against the laws of Congress and the sent'
ments of the civilized world, is one of tha
marvels OF the nineteenth century, and can
scarcely be appreciated, even by those fa]
miliar with the worlds history in relation
to the difficulties Of Governments
in the control or suppression @a
religious fanaticism. Certainly no
Government can permit the viola
ton OF its laws under the guise of religious
freedom, and while Congress may not legis.
late as to mere matters of opinion, vet id
may denounce and punish as crimes those
actions which are in violation of social d.
ties or subversive to good order. The RIGHT
Of Congress to suppress this great evil is In.
doubted. 1t is equally plain that the dig.
nifty and good name of this great Govern.
mand such Congressional action as shall eli.
f~ectually eliminate this national disgrace.
The Commission renew the recommend.
lions contained in the report of November
II, 1882, notably the one regarding the ell
actment of a marriage law by Congress de-
claring all future marriages in the Territory
null and void unless contracted and evil
denced in the manner provided by the act. III
the e Legislature shall fail to adopt meas
ures in conformity with the provisions of the
act of 1882 for the suppression of polygamy
the Commission will be prepared to recon-
mend and Congress certainly will not delay
in the adoption Of most stringent measures
compatible with the limitations of the Con-
stitution, that may be considered necessay
for the suppression of this great evil"
The report refers to the various municinl
elections, and says the most important eke
ton was that of August 6, 1855. The total
number of votes cast in the contest was
21,9G0, against 81, 923 at the last Novembg
election. The principal falling off was on
the part of the Gentiles, OF "Libeal
party" In November the total vote Of
the people for the Mormon party was %, 0S99;;
Liberal, 1854. In August, 1883, the vote Of
the Peoples party was 20, sos: Liberal, 1,45S.
From this it will appear that large numbers
OF Liberals lefrained from voting-a fact
much to be regretted for the reason that
it is believed that by proper effort and
good management one or more non-MO-
mons might have been elected to the LegiS.
lative Assembly, who would have an oppor.
tunity Of putting the minority Oh record.
In conclusion the commission say that re-
Gently some ten suits were instituted in the
Third District Court Of Utah by Mormons
against the members of this commission.
complaining that they have been %unjustly
deprived of the right to register and vote.
These are understood to be test cases, de-
signed to contest the constitutionality Of the
"Edmunds act" as well as the legal con-
struction which we put upon its provisions,
The suits are still undecided, and are likely
to be appealed to the Supreme Court Of the
United States.
sit has been asserted says the Commits
sion, that polygamic marriages have III
creased since the passage Of the Edmunds
act. On the contrary, we have the opinion
OF many Mormons and non-Mormons tlat
they have comparatively decreased since
the passage of said act. After diligent III
quiry, VIZ believe the latter conclusion
is correct. But the Utah Legislature Will
have an opportunity of satisfying the couli
try on this particular subject by passing an
act for such public marriage as that when
we have suggested to Congress. BY tins
and such other legislation as we have 1nal
Gated they will give the Government assul,
ance of their loyalty and patriotism anu
avoid a contest that can not but result III
their discontinue. We consider it proper
to commend the zeal of the Governor u
Utah in his efforts to enforce the laws.
Commissioner Paddock expresses tne Ut.
lief that Congress could undoubtedly 1ralhs
laws that would put an end to polysahs,
but the thing could not be accomplished q
once. He thought Congress would pelset
we're in the policy it had adopted, ana ei .ns
the bill introduced last year embodylns ; ;nH
Commissioners recommendations, "n@A
| woo nro1,In1 o,,% ~, %lo rro mi hill