Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-09-16
NO CESSATION.
A recent issue of the Detroit Free Press
contained the following special dispatch:

Judge U. w. Powers, formerly OF hdlaInei-
zoo, at present United States Judgein in Utah,
had a two hours talk with President Cleve-
land to-day. The President requested Judge
Powers to give him full statement OF the
condition of MOrmonism and the workings
of the Edmunds and other laws against
polygamy. Powers talked for about two
hours and thinks be made the condition of
things pretty plain. He says the President
Is very much interested in the matter and
will bring all the power he can muster into
play to wipe out the twin relic. President
Cleveland was pleased and surprised when
Powers told him of the great number of in
dictments now hanging over the leading
Mormons. George Q. Cannon and John
Taylor, the head men, are both fugltlves
from justice, and all polygamy is carried on
strictly on the quiet. Powers says the law
is being enforced much more rigidly than Is
generally surmised Mr.. Cleveland will
make a strong recommendation on the sub
ject in his annual message, and has in
structed Powers and other officials to carry
out the law TO the fullest extent and spare
nobody"
That telegram should be read by every
person in Utah, whether Mormon or
Gentle The people OF Utah have been
indulging in false hopes in regard to the
Utah question, believing that because
they have ever protested that they were
Democrats, but ever unquestioningly
obeying the commands OF their ecclesias-
tical leaders, that such a hollow sound
would strike honest ears as truthful, and
that on account OF their professed politi-
cal afiliation with the Democrats they
would receive q special indulgence and
sympathy from a Democratic Admins
tration. Disappointment has come where
relief was looked for. But why should
the people of Utah expect any political
party to sanction a violation of law that
is not only valid and so declared by the
Supreme Court, but one that was enacted
in accordance with thesentiment ofthe age
on the question OF the martial relation,
and one that was deemed essential to the
preservation of the family as the unit
upon which all civilized nations have
erected the superstructure Of the State?
Mr.. Cleveland was placed in nomination
and elected by the Democratic party be-
cause of his known fidelity to the law, and
not because he would enforce some laws
and neglect others. Ii laws are upon the
statute book, they should be enforced; if
they are improper and unjust, they should
be repealed. These are the only alterna-.
tives as TO any law. The people of Utah
who are claiming a divine and Constitu-
tional right to violate Constitutional law
would do we'll to heed one part Of the above
telegram-it is that part which states
that Mr.. Cleveland will make a strong
Recommendation on the subject OF polyg-
amy in his annual message to Congress.
What that recommendation will be no
one can tell, but that it will be strong,
direct, unevasivo, and to the point no one
will doubt Perhaps the strongest char
acteristic OF the Presidents mind is the
power to see the real point in any issue
and to be ready TO meet it unhesitatingly.
The issue in Utah is this: To whom be-
longs the right to define the status Of the
family and to say upon what basis it shall
be founded, the United States or the
Mormon church? The same issue may
be presented in another form by saving
that in Utah there exists conflict of
authority between the civil power OF the
United States and the ecclesiastical power
of the Mormon church Both claim it
under the Constitution, but one adds to it
the claim of divine sanction. If in all the
controversies which have been between
the State and the Church in the past, or
that maybe in the future, the talismanic
cry of divine authority is to outweigh
human rights, then liberty is gone and
anarchy and the rack will reign. Shall
an undue Difference be paid 10 claim of
right because those who make it assert
they have a higher authority for their
claim than the State ITSELF 1t certainly
should not.
But TO return TO the recommendation
that the President will make. Any attempt
TO say what it will be is at best but an
idle conjecture, although it must be patent
TO all that the Edmunds law is inadequate
TO accomplish the object for which it was
enacted Ii the construction OF the
cohabitation clause OF that law which
Chief Justice Zane placed upon it,
and which was concurr9d in by the AS
sociate Justices, is correct, and We pre-
sumo it is, then that law was enacted to
extirpate polygamy, no matter what form
or name it might assume. 1t is desired
to extirpate polygamy because that form
of the marriage relation is inconsistent
with the best interests of the family, and
upon the excellence and interest OF the
family must be based the excellence and
interest of the State. If given condition
produces a certain result, wherever that
condition arises will be seen its results.
The polygamic system of family in ORR
entail countries where it has obtained
has always resulted in destroying the
unity OF the family and causing rivalry
between the brothers OF the half-blood,
and from this has come an interminable
series of feuds and internecine plots.
Polygamy in Utah has destroyed the
unity OF the family and has engendered
undue jealousy among children of the
half-blood, and often hostility. Such
a condition of things can have no
other effect than to destroy the peace
and material and moral welfare of the
State. Now, the law Furnishes the iorm-
alton of the polygamous relation with
heavy fine and imprisonment that it may
cease. If the same relation continues
after the statute has run against the
original crime, why should not the con-