Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-12-07

SALT LAKE CITY CORPORATION,
REooRDERs OFFICE,
SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 9th. 1886.
- ESQ.
SIR AT a special meeting of the Git
Council of Salt Lake City, held Saturda,
9Th inst, it was decided that an official il
vestigation of the rumors in circulation 6
the present time affecting the peace an
welfare of the city and its inhabitants b
had, commencing Monday, Dec. 7th, a
10 N.
am directed to respectfully invite yo
to attend said investigation and to furnis
the Council any information concerning tn
matter that you may be in possession of.
Very respectfully,
HEBER M. WELLS,
City Recorder.
We are glad to see that the City Coun
Gil have awakened to sense OF the stu
alton here, for we were beginning tC
think that nothing would ever awaken
them save Gabriel's trumpet. So there
ia to be an investigation of the rumors il
circulation at the present time affecting
the peace and welfare of the city and its
inhabitants. And this, too, when the
News assures the world that our city is
"as quiet as any New England village
The City Council may be acting on their
own volition, but we doubt it. 1t may be
doing the Council an injustice to say that
they are acting under orders, but still the
impression is quite general that the City
Council is more or less under the inf1u-
ence of the church dominant OF Utah. So
strong is this impression, that only this
very morning prominent Mormon said
to us, ~ tlfink Mr.. Cannon has become
alarmed on account of the sending in of
troops, and thinks something had better
be done to allay the excitement"
Now, why is there any excitement in
Utah and why does it increase instead of
decrease? The position of Utah has
been anomalous for many years, and is
anomalous to-day. Utah Territory has
been political organization ruled by and
in the interest Of an ecclesiastical organi-
cation. In early years this was not so
strange thing as it has been of late
years. In early years almost the entire
population of Utah belonged to this
ecclesiastical organization, and such
being the case. there were few
TO object to such arrangement. But
times have changed, and the arrange
ments of years ago are incompatible with
the condition OF the Territory to-day;
but the ecclesiastical. organization still
makes its claim to right to rule. Along
with the assertion OF this right, this Or
ganlZation assumes to found the family
on basis other than that upon which it
has been founded in every other part OF
the Union, and different from the basis
upon which it has been founded in every
Christian country. In 1862 the Congress
Of the United States made the formation
Of the family on this basis q crime, and
lid the same thing again in 1882. But the |
Mormon people persisted in violating these !
avs. The Government, to enforce its !
avs and vindicate its authority. began q !
Tlgorous prosecution OF offenders against .
he Edmunds law, and though the number /
and punished under this Act
lave not been great, still the effect of
hese prosecutions has been to spread |
onsternation throughout the Territory,
md to cause great many to absent
themselves temporarily, or perhaps per-.
nanently, because they were suspected
+ violating the Edmunds law, either bv
themselves or by others. Those who are
able to prosecution for polygamy and
nlawful cohabitation are very consider
bic in number, amounting to manv
thousands, and these have the deep
of their co-religionists who are
OF liable to prosecution. Those who are !
sympathy with those who are being
rosecuted, or who may be prosecuted, {
re almost as much excited as those who I
re in danger. Here, then, is the first '
reat cause for the rumors referred to in {
he letter of Recorder Wells, and which |
he City Council have determined to I
lvestigate. Let us enumerate the other
IMMEDIATE causes: (
On the Fourth of July last the national c
ig was placed at half-mast on manv Q
'ominent buildings, including the CITY t
all and the County Court House. The h
acing of it so upon these two buildings n
used just indignation on the v
rt of those citizens who do p
It deem it cause for mourning o
len the laws OF the country are being II
forced. The City Marshal when asked tt
~ he had placed the flag at hall mast Ii
the flagstaff at the City Hall, replied 81
ut it was "mere whim." The Deputy
eritf who placed ii at half mast on the
nnty Court House never gave any ex-
anation. The matter assumed such a in
ape that the City Council deemed it pl
yisable to appoint committee to in fr
stigate the matter, and this committee W
ported favorably. Their report justified a
, act in this language: til
n the same spirit, and with the same feel m
!, the Marshal of this city, who had taken ~
S into consideration, felt that in no better -,
y could the prevailing sentiment be ex- VI VI
'ssed on this occasion than by displaying IA
country's flag at half mast, thereby sip bo
yang that, as when people rejoice they re- sc
De under the fag, so also when they mourn be
y mourn under the flag Some of the in
lzens have expressed their indignation at pr
action of the Marshal. r
The whim ofthe City Marshal was there nc
erected into the dignity of patriotism. WI
roughout the Territory the act of the m ,',i
rshal was lauded from the pulpits of pu
people, and from the indulger in IS
inns the Marshal became the standard la
Irer of the Mormon church. The sIl iI
yor of the city knew nothing OF the an