The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-19

THE MORMON QUESTION
Religious liberty is the right of every citizen
of the Republic Congress is forbidden by the
Constitution to make any law respecting the
establishment of religion, prohibiting the free
exercise thereof" For century, under this
guarantee, Protestant and Catholic, jew and
GENTLE, have worshiped God according to the
dictates of conscience But religious liberty
must not be perverted to the justification of
offenses against the law. A religious sect,
strongly intrenched in one of the Territories of
the Union, and spreading rapidly into four other
Territories claims the right to destroy the great
! safeguard and imminent of social order, and to
practice as religious privilege that which is
crime punished with severe penalty in every
State in the Union. The sacredness and unity
of the family must be preserved as the founda
ton of all civil government, as the source OF
orderly administration, as the surest guarantee
of moral purity.
/ The claim Of the Mormons that they are di-
vinely authorized to practice polygamy should
no more be admitted than the claim of certain
heather tribes, if they should come among us
i to continue the right of human sacrifice,
The law does not interfere with what man be-
ieves; it takes cognizance only of what he does
/ SAuAHOAof SAANANAN~
same civil rights as others and to these they
must be confined. Polygamy can never receive
national sanction or federation by admitting the
community that upholds it as State in the
Union Like others, the Mormons must learn
that the liberty of the individual ceases where
the rights of society begin.
OUR cuRRENcY-PUBLIo LANDs-sHIPPNG.
The people of the United States; though
often urged and tempted have never seriously
i contemplated the recognition of any other
money than gold and silver-and currency di-
rectly convertible into them. They have not
i done SO, they will not do So under any necessity
less pressing than that Of desperate war. The
one special requisite for the completion of our
monetary system is the fixing Of the relative
values of silver and gold. The large
use of silver as the money of &C
count among Asiatic nations, taken in
connection with the increasing commerce of the
world, gives the weightiest reasons for an inter
national agreement in the premises Our gov
4 eminent should not cease to urge this measure
until common standard of value shall be
reached and established standard that shall
enable the United States to use the silver from
its mines as an auxiliary to gold in settling the
balances of commercial exchange.
i The strength of the Republic is increased by
the multiplication of land-holders. Our laws
should look to the iudicious encouragement Of
/ actual settlers on the public domain, which
i should henceforth be held as a sacred trust for
/ the benefit of those seeking homes. The ten
dency to consolidate large tracts of land in the
ownership Of individuals or corporations should
/ with proper regard to vested rights be discour-
| aged. One hundred thousand acres of land in
the hands of one man is far less profitable to the
| Nation in every way than when its ownership is
/ divided among one thousand men. The evil of
permitting large tracts of the national domain to
be consolidated and controlled by the few
against the many is enhanced when the persons
controlling it are aliens 1t is but fair that the
public land should be disposed of only to actual
settlers and to those who are citizens Of the re-
public, or willing to become so.
Among our national interests one languishes
the foreign carrying trade 1t was very seri
ously crippled in our civil war, and another blow
was given to it in the general substitution of
steam for sail in ocean traffic. With frontage
on the two great oceans, with a freightage larger
than that Of any other nation, we have every
inducement to restore our navigation. Yet the
4
small share of the encouragement given by the
government to railways and to manufactures,
and small share of the capital and the zeal
given by our citizens to those enterprises would
have carried our ships to every sea and to every
/ port. A law just enacted removes some Of the
burdens upon our navigation and inspires hope
that this great interest may at last receive its
due share of attention. All efforts in this direc
ton should receive encouragement.
sAoREDNEss OF THE BALLOT.
This survey of our condition as a Nation re-
minds us that material prosperity is but mock
cry if it does not tend to preserve the liberty of
the people. A free ballot is the safeguard of
republican institutions, without which no
national welfare is assured. A popular election.
honestly conducted, embodies the very majesty
of true government. Ten millions of voters de-
sire to take part in the pending contest. The
safety of the republic rests upon the integrity
of the ballot-upon the security of suffrage to
the citizen. To deposit a fraudulent vote is no
worse crime against constitutional liberty
than to obstruct the deposit of an honest vote.
He who corrupts suffrage strikes at thevery root
of free government He is the archenemy of
the republic. He forgets that in trampling upon
the rights of others he fatally imperils his own
rights ut is good land which the Lord our
God doth give u.s. but we can maintain our
source of popular power.
I am, with great respect Le4a
Your obedient servant,
JAMES G. BLAINE.
AUGUSTA, Me-, July Is, 1884.