Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-10-31
SURPRISING POLYGAMY.
THE EDMUNDS COMMISSION
MAKE THEIR REPORT.

MAKE THEIR REPORT.
Review of the Great Disgrace-The
| Commissions Duties Again Defined
as Purely POliticaI-The Law a Sue
/ cess as Far as it Goes-The Law as an
ExterminatOr.
| WASHINGTON, Oct. 30.-The board of
five Utah Commissioners appointed by
| President Arthur under the antl-polygamy
1 law Of last year have to-day submitted
! their second annual report to the Secre-
| tary of the Interior. They go into the his
tory of MOrmOnism from the time of the
| first emigration to Salt Lake valley in
| 1S4I, the laws passed for the suppression
Of polygamy, and the events which led to
the formation of the present commission,
and call attention to the fact that the
public mind seems imbued with the idea
that it has something to do with the en-
! fOrcement of anti-polygamy laws. This
the report says is a mistake, and it also
says that the duties of the commits
sion appertain only to matters
of registration and election and eligibility
to office, while the punishment of the
crime OF pOlygamy is left as under the
former law t0athe courts of Justice: nor
are we invested with legislative authori-
ty. Our powers are of quasi judicial
and administrative character, but from
the general terms Of many parts of the
act under which the commission was
created, we have been obliged to exercise
considerable latitude of discretion to
make the act etfectual, cOnfining our
selves within the limits of the law ac-
cOrding to our best judgment.
Wehave heretofore communicated to the
Department OF the Interior the difficulties
we encountered on entering upon our
duties last year, and also the measures we
adopted for excluding pOlygamists from
registration and from the polls, and that
we had excluded some $4,000 men and
women from registration and voting by
reason of their disqualification under this
| act. Pursuing the same policy,
we have had equal success at
the general election held in Au-
gust, 1888, in excluding pOlygamists
from the polls. The theory of the act of
March %, 1882, appears to be that dis
elimination between those MOrmOns who
practice polygamy and those who do not,
placing a stigma upon the former and de-
priVing them of the right of suffrage as
well as the right to hold office, while on
the other hand an inducement is held out
to the latter class that by abstaining
from polygamOus relations they will enjoy
all the political rights of American citi-
Zens, would in time have the effect Of
inducing great numbers of the Mormon
people to refrain from a plurality of
wives. While such considerations are
not likely to have much effect upon the
elderly men who already have plurality
of wives, and several a family of chill
dren, it must have great weight with
many of the men Ofthe territory, many of
whom are ambitious and would not like
voluntarily to embrace political ostra-
al 10,
generally polygamSts, evidently perceive
this tendency, and therefore ever since the
passage of the act they have assiduOusly
taught their people that this measure is
transient, that it will soon be set aside
by the Federal courts or by the action or
nOn-actiOn of Congress. So far as we are
advised, very few, if any, illegal votes
have been cast in Utah since the COM
mission took charge of the registrations
end elections in August, 1882. As to the
declared objects of the act of Congress as
therein set forth or as far as appertains
to our duties, it is not denied that the
operation of the act has been emf
nently succeSSful; that is to saw.
poly ygamists have all been excluded from
the polls and from eligibility to office.
Considering that during the twenty years
since the antl-pOlygamy act of 1862 was
passed the penalties of that law have
been enforced against not exceeding
three persons, it would seem that in the
enforcement of the present law against
some 10000 pOlygamists who have been
excluded from the polls, it must Justly
be regarded that the act has
been fully and successfully executed.
Before passing from this topic we deem it
proper to observe that no person we'll
informed with regard to Utah affairs
could reasonably have expected at the
passage of the act that there would be an
immediate change in the political situa-
tiOn, nor thatit would have an immediate
effect in destroying the practice of poly
gamy, but the act must necessarily have
a strong influence in that direction. The
very existence of a law disfranchisIng
pOlygamists must tend to destroy
their influence. Whenever il is under
stood that this is to be permanent dis
elimination, those MOrmonS who have the
ballot will, after a time, be conscious of
their power, which they will be unwilling
to lose forever at the bidding of those who
have it not. The fact, also, that it will
be necessary to the preservation of the
political influence Of the Peoples party''
as the MOrmOns style themselves
to have large body of their
members who are not pOlygamists,
must tend in time to weaken
the practice of pOlygamy, for every mar
ried Mormon who takes but one plural
own and those of his two wives woman
suffrage being established by law in Utah.
Another consideration, already adVerted
to, is its influence upon the young men
and rising generation, and is entitled to
great weight. Seeing all the offices of
honor, trust and profit, such as Delegate to
Congress, members of the Legislative As
of the County Courts, sheriffs,
and others, many of them quite lucrative,
held by mOnOgamists, While polygamists
are wholly excluded, the aspiring young
men of the Territory would present an
anomaly in human nature if they should
fail to be strongly influenced against
going into relations which thus subjects
to political Ostracism and fixes on them
the stigma of moral turpitude. The diff
Guilty of the situation can be better under
stood from the fact that among the orthO-
dOX MOrmOns of Utah pOlygamy
is a part of their religious faith, and
while but a small per cent. of the whole
adult Mormon population have actually
entered into pOlygamy, yet all the faith
full believe in it as divine revelation.
That a doctrine and practice so odious
throughout ChristendOm should have been
upheld so many years against the laws of
Congress and the sentiments of the civil
liZed world is one of the marYels of
the nineteenth century, and can be
scarcely appreciated even by those
who were familiar with the worlds his
tory. In relation to the difficulties of
governmental control or suppression of
religious fanaticism, certainly no
government can permit a violation of its
laws under the guise of religious freedom,
and while Congress may not legislate as
to mere matters of opinion, yet it may de-
nOunce andpunish as crimes those actions
which are in violation of the social duties
or subversIve of good order 1t
was upon this principle that the
Supreme Court of the United States
held the anti-polygamy law of 1862 to be
valid and constitutional. B. r. Rey-
nOlds V. United States. The right of
Congress to suppress this great evil is
undOubted. 1t is equally plain that the
dignity and good name of This great gov
ernment among the nations of the earth
demand such Congressional action as
shall efectually eliminate this national
disgrace. The commission repeats its
recommendations of the last wear
in regard to additional legislation
for the eXtirpatiOn of polygamy,
and adds that the present Legislature
chosen at the August term is composed
wholly of MOrmOns, none of whom, how
ever, live in pOlygamy. This Legislature
will convene in January next. 1t will be
their duty, under the act af 1892, to adopt
measures in conformity with The provis-
ioes of that law. for the suppression of
pOlygamy. Whether the Legislature will
take such action may not properly be dis
cussed by us in advance of the oppor-