Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-02-04
REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS.

The local Legislature won't deal with
the Utah problem, but the National Leg
islature will. The fault with most laws
proposed in Congress for the cure of po
lygamy in Utah is that they often under
take to settle the local question without
for one moment, 50 far as can be judged,
considering the actual situation in Utah.
The new Edmunds bill is surely most
drastic measure, but it is sort OF lock-
ing the stable without looking to sec
whether or not the horse is in the stable.
That bill undertakes to make fourteen
men happy for life, and may succeed in
doing it, but that bill, with all its pro-
visions, neglects one most essential thing
1t makes no provision for the registration
OF births, the almost head and front of
the offense Of polygamy. Families are
founded for the purpose of raising child
rem, and these children become citizens
the State. The State undertakes to
80 regulate the family that those who
shall be born into the world and become
citizens shall be the issue of lawful we'd
lock. 1t is needless to show why the
State is SO soicitous in this matter, but
the reasons for this solicitude are most
powerful and are very patent. Children
born in polygamy are not born in this
wedlock, and in those SO born the law
recognizes no rights Of family and in
heritance. Why does not the Govern
ment undertake to ascertain the number
OF children born in polygamy by compelI-
ing the registration of all births? Every
child born in Utah should have its birth
registered, giving the date OF birth, the
names of the parents, ETC., and every at
tendant physician or nurse at childbed
should be compelled by law to announce
all births at which they were present to
a registrar OF births designated by law.
Ii a mother refused to divulge the name
OF the father OF her child, such child's
birth should be registered the same as
all other births, but it should be regis
tered as nulltts tfUius, and when it ar
rived Mt a certain age it should be made
educated by the State. The father of
such child, when discovered, should be
made liable for the expense to the State
on account OF maintenance OF such nullus
.fllius, but over it he should have no
authority. The mothers OF such children
should also have their names entered in a
special register. These are but sug-
gestions and do not pretend to be COM
plete in dealing with this matter. 1t is
all nonsense to try to suppress polygamy
and never once take note OF the issue
of polygamous marriages. Polygamists
themselves recognize that the enactment
OF such n law as we suggest would do
more than anything else to suppress
polygamy. Ii in the solution OF the Utah
question it is important to have regis
tration of marriages how much more i'm
portant it is to have registration of
births. We heard OF case yesterday
that serves well to illustrate the need OF
a registration OF births law. In a certain
settlement south of this city young
woman OF about twenty years of age
married into polygamy within less than
two years. She is now living
in the same house with her
husband and his first family.
This young woman will become
mother in very few months, but it is
safe to say that if her husband were
arrested for polygamy or unlawful cobab-
itation, not one OF his neighbors would
know anything about his family, and no
one in the settlement would have heard
that his young wife is shortly to become
u mother, although it is the common talk
there now. A registration OF births law
would make it certain in the case to
which We refer that crime had been
committed by some one, and such law
would make young woman shrink from
marriage that brands her as creature
of the street and her offspring as the
child OF no one. A cessation OF the prac-
tice OF polygamy is what the Government
desires in Utah, and no one law which
the Government could enact would do
more to bring about this cessation than
the enactment and enforcement of a
stringent registration of births law.