The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-11-04


ing and making ridiculous its provisions.
And all the time they shield themselves !
under a general accusation against the |
MormonS. Even the most salutary |
statute would thus fail of good results. /
WHY does not Congress by direct in
vestigation learn the true state of the
case? What benefit can result from |!
striking down at one blow a whole COM !
mOnWealth = innocent and accused |
alike? Is that a proper reward for
those who are not even accused of hay
ing violated any law?
This Legislative Commission scheme
means simply to give all the offices In
the Territory and the control of the en-
tire machinery oflocal government, with
all the vast and vital interests subject
thereto to men who represent an in
finitesimal part of the people of Utah.
/ l say infinitesimal part, deliberately.
/ The men who are making the cutlery
against Mormon domination in Utah
are very small, but exceeding active
and malignant portion of the cOmmun-
/ ity. They are ring organized for plum
( der. Their sole object Is TO rob the
Mormon people of their liberties, If not
! their property. They are mendaciouS,
malignant, INSCRIPTIONS, uncOnsclon-
able They control a mercenary news
kpaper, and one of their number acts as
4 the agent of the Associated Press. Their
daily business is to Willy SANDER, mis-
represent and lie about the Mormon
people at home and abroad. The very
fact that these miScreantS are suffered
to live in our midst and ply unpublished
their nefarious trade IS the highest
proof of Mormon forbearance and pru-
dence Day after day, week after
week, year in and year out, these men
H. n Itch
provoke Il conflict by which they might
profit, having everything to gain and
nothing to lose.
We have been afflicted by Cover
; nor who is mere creature and tool OF
the men who inspire the Wanton at
tacks upon the character Of whole
people and malign men and women the
fatchets of whose shoes they are not
[ worthy to unloose. For personal ends
| to crafty an inOrdinate craving for
notoriety, in the hope of reaping pol
1tical reward, probably to repay in some
: measure pecuniary services rendered
: him, this man has traverSed the coun-
: try, posing everywhere as the great
moral champion of anti-MormOnism.
= His messages to the Legislative Assem-
! bly, have been filed with deliberate mis-
: statements and Misrepresentation. He
: has filled columns in Eastern
newspapers and pages Of magazines with
r libels on the Mormon people and their
: church. This man has unscrupulouSly
3 used his official position to fOment eX-
| citement, to stir UP strife, to embarrass
the administration of justice, and to IN
: suit and Willy, the people he was sent to
govern. And to such men as this. the
/ minority party OF marlborough a
Legislative CommisSiOn-wouldc commit
l4H of
There is not to-day, and there never
l has been a decent, self-respecting man
= of property in Utah who has com
: planned of any act of oppression and III
= Justice on the part of the Mormon
: rulers. The men who control and
+ manage the great railroads which run
e into Utah; the men who own sano
| manage the great mines and smelters Of
: Utah are not asking for protection
) against the Mormons. They know tina
4 we are unfriendly to none and just tx
s all, who come among US to help develop
q the material resources of the Territory
i Even Senator Edmunds. who woulC
exert to the utmost every constitutions
= power against pOlygamy, does not a:p
/ prove the Legislative CommissloI
o scheme. In an article published LII tn
f New York Independent upon the propo
n sition to place Utah in the hands OF
4 commission he saws: 81 believe it TO b
= entirely unconstitutional if the commits
II sion is to be given any law-makln
Ie power. 1t is revolutionary and &c
= Drives the innocent as well as the guilt
r of all voice in public affairs. 1t Is quit
n clear to my mind that the suppressio
of of DoIvgamy will be just as far OF wit
e the government OF the Ierrltofy III u
in hands of a commission as II IS now,
n not further; for it will solidify and II
re- tensifv class-feeling of the Mormon
n and tend to draw to the support OF tn
It. hierarchy, and polygamists the whoi
body of the Mormon people.
te And why, l ask in all Sobernes
m should not the enactment OF such legi
his Iation solidify and itensify a class fee
m ing of the Mormons? / do not belieV
m that the Mormon people are fanatic
'oI But there is no surer way OF maxim
he fanatics than to visit unmerited pun
RI. ishment upon even the guilty, TO Sa
ey nothing of the innocent. Has not Il
ms human experience proved the truth
IF the apothegm "The blood of the marty
M is the seed of the church,? How NJ
X. inflicting punishment on those who
10 not practice polygamy affect those wi
do do pa LegiSlatiyeC Commission is lntendt
to punish men and women who do III
nm violate the law against polygamy. Why
Is Because other men and women are q
aw cused of having violated it2 Such
1Ic mode Of procedure would be worthy II
ult dark ages.
NJ Fellow citizens, In conclusion perm
az me to say that / have endeaVored
Ter show YOU that the right of local Sc
lie. government is one of the inalienat
Re- rights of man. 1.-THE just powers of so
nd eminent are derived from the conSei
we of the governed" The constitution
,n- founded upon this great principle.
nd is the corner stone four political Supt
in structure.
or That the Constitution does not gra
ma Congress the right to legislate as it mi
Mt. please for the Territories. Its right
de- provide for the government of terrific
IN obtained by purchase or conquest
rri- derived solely from the treaty-rnallil
put power Whatever power it exercis
nv. must be in accordance with the spirit
aid the Constitution. A law which depriv
ing 16o, 900 people Of the right OF local sc
nd government would be violative OF {
me spirit of the Constitution and subvt
M sive of the fundamental principle
psi free institutions.
lis That the Mormon people arc t
der great majority OF the inhabitants
the Utah Territory. They have BIZ tn,
i've labor, their skill, their thrift, reclaim
the desert places and made them gard
ich lands. They are intelligent, moral, ju