Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-10-09
THE UTAH COMMISSION.
A Synopsis of Its REPORT and How to
Deal with the

IA Synopsis of Its REPORT and How t,
Deal with the Mormons.
WASHINGTON, October 6.-The Utah Com
mission, by it's chairman, A. B. Charleston
has filed with the Secretary Of the interior
is annual report, OF which the following ii
a synopsis: During the year the laws re
garding the disfranchisement Of polyga
mists and those living in unlawful cohabit
alton have been fully and successfully en-
forced. All such persons-with very few, il
any, exceptions-have been excluded from
holding Offices. A large number have been
fined and imprisoned in the penitentiary
for polygamy and unlawful cohabitation,
chiefly for the latter o~ffanse.
1t is reported and believed by many resi-.
dent and non-Mormons that during the
year q large number OF marriages have
taken place in the temples at Logan and
St. George. We have not the means OF
verifying such reports yet. We have nc
doubt that a considerable number of such
marriages have been celebrated with the
knowledge, approval and active co-opera-
ton of the leading men of the Mormon
Church. Upon the whole that polygamous
marriages are on the decrease in Utah is a
matter on which different opinions are ex-
pressed, but undoubtedly many have been
restrained by fear of Acknowledgement and
the penitentiary, and we think it is safe to
say that in the more enlightened portions
of the Territory, as for instance Salt Lake
and it's vicinity, very few polygamous
marriages a occurred within the past
year.
Referring to the joint resolution now
pending in both Houses OF Congress pro-
80 -, - L. -
of the United States prohibiting and pun
fishing polygamy in all the States and Ter
r~itories, and extending the judicial power
of the Federal Government to the prosecu-
ton OF such offenses, the report says:
while we are of the opinion that this
should not supercede the present meas
ures, we are satisfied that it would be an
efficient factor in e~ffecting the desired re-
suit. In addition to the reasons presented
by the Judiciary Committee we suggest the
incorporation of this provision in the Con
%stitution would serve as an advertisement
to the people of all the civilized nations
that in the United States polygamy has
been put under a ban in a most authorita-
tive and emphatic manner.
The report calls attention to the magni-
tude of the evil by saying that there are
than 100000 Mormons in the world,
a large majority of whom live in Utah,
and that while only a portion of them
practice polygamy they all believe in it as
q divine revelation, and have been taught
it in schools and churches for a third OF q
are led by men of great skill and
ability and are fanatical to the last degree.
only an immediate and effective
would be Of use to the military,
but that the sense of modern civilization
not permit the employment OF bayo-
nets against women and children. Yet the
American people regard polygamy as
D crime, aad it cannot be ignored by the
"Here we may say that
while we recognize the obligation OF the
to protect the persons and
property and the rights of the Mormon
people, and to deal with them as equals
before the law. yet it is the full duty Of the
to punish crimes within its
Jurisdiction, and religious liberty can not
be pleaded as a bar to the punishment for
criminal acts in violation OF the law OF the
land aid of social order. II the present
laws and proposed constitutional amend
.ents are not sufficient to suppress the
evil, more stringent enactments must be
adopted, and the result will be that at no
day this relic of Asiatic barbarism,
this blot on the fair fame OF America, will
be swept from the land"