Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-12-02
CASSIDY AND THE MORnONs.

CASSIDY AND THE II
Representative Cassidy of this State,
n Of the most ardent supporters of the
Edmunds Anti Polygamy bill, intro
duced at the last Congress a bill to COM
pei Mormons to make public record of
their marriages, and to disfranchise
women in Utah. The bill was referred
to q committee and pigeonholed, and
nothing more was heard Of it during the
session of Congress. A dispatch from
Washington states that Mr.. Cassidy will
introduce his bill at this session Of Con-
gress, and as he is expected to have more
influence in . Democratic House than he
had in the Republican body Of last year
he may get it through.
While Mr.. Cassidy owes nothing to the
Mormons, who used money in the cleo
tion o year ago to defeat him, it is to be
hoped that he will not press the passage
of q bill to disfranchise the women OF
Utah. If the allegation that every
prominent Mormon has from two to ten
wives, and that these wives are disguised
with ~polygainy, be true, then the privi-
lege Of voting, of which Mr.. Cassidy's
bill would deprive them, may, when
properly exercised, be the means Of free
ing them from the slavery and degrade
tion in which they now exist. If the
women outnumbcr the men in Utah, as
we are told they do, and as they neces-
sarily must do if p~olygamy is practiced to
any great extent, though the census does
not bear out the assertion, then, so long
as they are permitted to vote, they can,
by concerted action, elect members Of
the Legislature, who are opposed to
polygamy and who will legislate for its
suppression and extinction in the Terri
tory. If the object of Mr.. Cassidy's
proposed bill is to give control OF the
local affairs Of Utah to the Gentiles,
whose hatred of Mormons is, to q great
extent, inspired by their love Of office.
by DISTINGUISHING the women Of Utah,
whether living in polygamy or not, then
he should include all Mormons, irrespec-
tive of sex, so that the bill could not
fail to accomplish it's intended purpose.
If, however, he does not wish to be sus.
pected Of entertaining prejudices against
woman suffrage as we'll as Mormonism,
he ought not to advocate a measure that
will deprive intelligent women, whether
Mormons or not, OF q privilege that is
accorded the most ignorant Of the male
sex.-Silver State.
Our contemporary seems to labor un-
der two very serious misapprehensions.
The lesser one of these is that the Gen.
tile women in Utah are sufficiently nu-
merous to have any power in elections.
The fact is that Utah is absolutely and
altogether under the heel of the
Church" for the entire Gentle popula-
ton in the Territory we believe does not
exceed 5000 persons.
In the second place, it is a matter Of
universal notoriety that the Mormon
women Of Utah are completely under the
spell of "Latter Day. superstition.
They belong body and soul to the ''head
of the family" called husband, without
regard to the law of the land. There is
not one of these women in q Thousand
who will dare to vote for, or possibly
' think of casting her ballot with the
Gentiles; for while their minds are kept
clouded by the Apostles, they are also
held under such a system of surveillance
that it is almost . physical impossibility
for them to do anything that will offend
the Church." whatever their DISPOSE
ton may be.
Mild remedies do not reach the source
of the evil. Better disfranchise a few
Gentle women in order to disfranchise a
multitude of Mormon ''wives, than hes
itate to lay the axe at the root of the
tree. Heroic treatment, as the physi.
clans say. is indispensable. TriAing
with the disease only makes it worse.