The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-02-19

with any such right of interference.
Delegate Game sait the people O.
Utah, on tuur Saparate occasions
asked admission. One objection wa
polygamy. 1t was not question O
religious belief, but the Constitution
permitted no breach of the laws which
are deemed necessary for the protec-
ton OF society. While a State could
not prescribe religious beliefs. it coulo
forbid practices which, though sane
toned by revelation, were held to be
detrimental to good morals. There was
no pretense that religious beliefs of the
people were to be inquired into.
Game defended his co-religionists OF
Utah against the charges brought by
various writers; he declared that they
were Upright, worthy people: that,
though revelation permitted plural
the,' church might have married re-
peatedly, the large majority of the
people of Utah had sought to put
themselves into conformity with
the requirements of the coun-
Try. The constitution adopted
by the convention was not the work of
conspiracy. There was but one point
| in 1t about which there could be any
question, and that was, whether the
twelfth section embodieS the honest
views OF the 13, 1875 men who voted to
ratlfy it. This. section makes polyg-
amy and bigamy misdemeanor, pun
| lshable by fine and Imprisonment. He
declared, upon his honor, that the
people of Utah did deliberately and uu-
reseryedly adopt that section in good
faith, as the law of the land, and iu-
tended to enforce it in the new State
In reply to questions, he said the last
plural marriage OF which he had
knowledge, was that of Rudger Claw
son, several years ago. This man had
been tried, and had suffered imprison-
ment for his offense. The present Legis-
lature of Utah, now 10 session,
has before it bill for marriage laws
ohibitiug polygamy and bigamous
marriages. This has been reported
tavorably from the committee on ju-
dietary. Those who oppose Statehood
for Utah, he continued, care nothing
for the religion or morals of the Nor
mons; it is their politics which they OPP
pose. If you would satisfy them, you
must disfranchise every Mormon on
account Of religious belief
Judge jeremiah Wilson also ad-
dressed the committee. He eulogized
the people of Utah as among the
thriftiest, most honest and temperate
of the world, and challenged COM
carlson with any community, as to
the progress they have made n all thai
GOES to constitute an enlightened and
civilized people. The whole opposition
as to the admission of Utah, he said,
might be summed up in two
propositions: Assault upon religious
belief and attempt 10 govern
the majority by the minority. The
Mormons were the objects of abuse, be-
cause they held Young power which
could not be legitimately overcome at
the polls. He said they mad broken no
p :omise or betrayed trust, and there
lore their sincerity IN this matter ought
n to be questioned. He commended in
a legal argument that if the State broke
the compact made with all the other
States represented by Congress, the lat
ter had inherent power. aud all that
vas necessary to enforce the provisions
of the contract. II asked whether, in
his opinion, the people CT Utah could be
trusted to make this compact and exe-
Iswer most solemnly and emphati-
cally, Yes"
Delegate Dubois. of Idaho, addressed
the committee in opposition to the petit
uon for admission. He admitted the
population of Utah to be 10000,
ind sufficient, so far as NUMBERS go, to
enutle the Territory to Statehood; but
declared that this population was
mainly imported directly from Europe
by the Mormon churcl. Even with an
Insufficient police force, he said, the
number of arrests was enormously
disproportionate to the population, and
the vast majority of prisoners arrested
were convicted. Utah had been blesse d
with superlo" Climate and soil; she
lay on the direct line between the east
and California, yet. with such advant-
ages. her taxable wealth only aggIe-
gated 100000 GOO $5,000,0C0 of which
was railroad property not owned in
Utah, and $40 ,000,0 900 of Which belonged |
o the 10000 Gentle inhabitants of |
that Territory. Her taxable wealth |
averaged only $I75 per capita, while |
the neighboring Territories ranged |
from $500 to $500. He asked |
to be informed by any advocate of ad-
why the practice of Brigham |
Young and John Taylor was now ad-
United to be wrong; and argued that |
the cause of the Mormons IN future |
could be best judged D their past. !
| hey had be- n driven out OF Missouri |
by reason OF their polygamous prac-
tees, and had established themselves
in Illinois. where they founded the City
pt Nauvoo, and undertook TO do some
thing they are now trying to accom-
dish. They secured a city charter.
which made them also Independent of
State control. and then enacted reguIa-
lions OF such a character Cbat the
outraged people of the Sta rose in their
might aud drove them away. Crime
Vas rife in Utah, and Grim uals
lad the sympathy of the entire
Mormon people. If any reform was
provided, any ahstination from the
he practices pronounced by law to be
the man who promised it wa
,stracized. The L gi,lature refused to
make provisions for the arrest and pun
shment of criminals. and the United
states government was compelled to
pear the burden of TIE local govern
neat of the Territory. The new coz
was half trick. bali lie, and
hose who presented it did not come as