The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-06-27
A sENSELEsS BILL.

Inc more is ne convinced Lnat Iu
measure was devised and presente'
for dress parade rather than effect
i've operation. It ia true, the pos
sibiIities TO which the bill woul'
open the door are great; they ar
wonderful when We come to con
template them In the light of the
past administration of law in Utah;
but In the line Of solving the Nor
mon problem they are as nothing
unless it be the purpose to find t;
solution by petty annoyances an6
infections outside direct prOsecu.
tions for ofense, and hence outside
the law. The more we consider
the bill the firmer fxe d is the con.
viction that its trainers understand
little or nothir G of the situation
here, and less Of the matter upon
which they proposed to legislate;
and also that those who voted for
the measure had remarkably vague
ideas Of what they were doing
beyond posing as moralists before
thoughtless constituents. Now, the
Edmunds law had an object in
view; there was purpose in it, and
while the blow that it aim d was
cowardly, it was nevertheless SIS a blow
which for the time at least has had
telling effect. It is true, it has not
"cured the evil" and in no sense
has it injured the Mormon cause or
lessened the faith of anybody in his
religion; the punishment inflicted
upon Mormons by it has been ir-
regular, and it is believed will yet
be so declared; yet this was what
Mr.. Edmunds intended, hence his
law has not proven q disappoint-
ment to him, however far short it
has come of putting an end to
Mormon practices.
But the Hoar bill ia po'ntIess, ex-
cept in the sense of vi lOusness.
The 6rst sc ction displays the gross
est ignorance on the part or Mr..
Hoar, In that it makes the husband
or wife competent witness sgainst
the other in 8 prosecution for bigs
amy, polygamy or unla a ful cokab
itation. Does the gentleman suppose
this change of rule OF evidence
would help him in the last degree? If |
he does he doesn't know the Nor
mons, men or women. Two rather
vigorous attempts have been mace
by the courts to Co pel Mormon
plural wives to testify against their
husbands, and the results were such
as to teach courts and Congress men
the futility Of trying to get eei>
dence by coercion. The women In |
question refused with emphasis to |
tell anything; one Of them spent q |
few months in Jail rather than be>
tray her husband, and the other is |
passing the summer in the peniten-
tiary as a punishment for holding
her tongue. A simils1 result would |
follow the attempt TO compel the
first wife to testify; she simply
would refuse, and defy the court
and the law to make her speak; if
the prison were prescribed, as +
it has been, she would accept
it, and still be silent. And then
what would Mr.. Hosr's bill amount
to? The facts are, if Mormon wo-
men wanted to punish the Mormon
men for polygamy they could find
plenty of law for gratifying thei1
wishes IL that respect, and they
wouldn't require any urging; and II
they didn't want to infiict punish q
is the tue case-all ;
the laws and all the coercion that :
could be broughtto bear in the mat.
ter, would not make them a party
10 the prosecution of their husbands.
Mr.. Hosr provides in the second 7
section of his bill that in prosecu.
tions for polygamy the witness
may be attached and compelled to s
attend without previous subpoena. q
Like the first section, this would {
amount to nothing, for the witness t
could be silent and go to Jail for ?
on short notice quite as q
easily as on long.
And go We mightrun through the d
entire bill, only TO find the ignor.I
ance cf the trainers. The bill, were
t to become law, could and un-
ioubtedIy would be made means
u doing much injury to the Nor.
non PEOPLE. The jails could bel c