The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-10-04

THE POLYGAMISTS
The Utah Commission Submits an
Annual Report on the
Subject.
As Usual 1t Recommends That the
Infamous Practice Be
Wiped Out.
But 1t Still Exists in Many Parts of
the Territory Immigration of
Converts Should be
Stopped.
The Utah COMMISSIONS Report

The Utah Commissions Report.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2s.--The annual
report of the Utah commission has been
received by Secretary Noble. The COM
mission has. says the report, followed
in the footsteps of the first Utah COM
mission, which recognized the fact that
congress in creating it desired it to Use
its best endeavors to wipe out and ex-
tinguish polygamy, and, as far as pos
sible, all polygamous influences and ten
denotes. With this purpose in view tie
commission in appointing registrars of
election selected, when possible, those
belonging to the nonMormon clement,
and by always appointing majority OF
the judges of election two out of three)
from the gentle class. In some places,
however, there were no gentiles to fill
the positions. This course, the report
states, has had the effect of decreasing
the Mormon vote. Touching the ques-
tlon OF polygamy the report says:
iPolygamy is not, at the present
time, openly practiced. except perhaps
in few remote and out of-the-way
Insists that plural marriages are solemn
lied clandestinely and practiced setretly
in the larger centers and throughout
the territory. This may or may not be
true. Doubtless many members of the
Mormon church never have practiced
and never intend to practice polygamy.
and perhaps many of them per Sc do not
believe in the practice, but from the
standpoint of their faith and creed they
accept it as a revelation from God. and
that whoever desires to do SO should have
the right to comply with this ordinance
of the church,
All laws forbidding the practice of
polygamy, the report continues, the Nor
mons pronounce unconstitutional. There
| are grounds for the belief, it is stated,
that polygamy is still taught by the
church as a saving ordinance and that
those who practice it are assured of a
higher eNaltation in heaven than those
who content themselves with one wife.
Extracts arc given freh Mormon papers
showing that they still advocate polyg-
! ai:'y: That the teachings and practice
of rfsygamy have not been discontinued,
as is claimed by some, is proven, the
report says, by the fact that since Sep
temhcr J., lsSs, thcre has been in the
territory 357 convictions for bigamy.
adultery. .fornication and unlawful cohab-
ltation, only two being for bigamy. II
plural marriages are how celebrated,
says the report, it is done in the secret
chambers of the temple; ''if polygamy
is practiced it is with the secrecy with
which a burglar guards his house break
ing and a thief liis larcenies.' Those
who are convicted of polygamy regard
| themselves and are regarded by their
| friends rs martyrs and think it no dis
| grace 10 be sent to the penitentiary.
The commission, in view of the pres
ent condition of the territory as regards
/ polygamy. does not think Utah should
/ be admitted rs q state. Should it be.
I the commission says, ''it would not be
/ long before the gentle element, with
its advanced civilization, its trade and
/ traffic. would be driven from the terri
| tory and the Mormon theotraty be made
supreme"
! The commission makes number of
recommendations, among them that the
/ jurisdiction of all polygamous and sen
ual otfenses, without regard to place.
committed within the tcr,i iory be con
| ferred on the district conrt-; that the
| term of Imprisonment for ur.,aWful co.
| hahitation be extended to at least two
| years for the frs. and three years for
| the second o'fense: that ii may be made
penal o'Innie for ans woman 10 enter
| into the marriage relation with any
! man knowin.e hiin to have a wife living
nndivorced: that peraun who refuses
| to take oath that he OF she is not cohab-
iting with more than one husband or
! wife in the marriage relation, as the case
| may be, shall be excluded from max
! i,tr n location Nd 4
upon public lands: that the laws
with reference to the immigra-
tion Of the Chinese and the ilnpor-
taticn of contract labor. panpers and
| criminals be SO amended as to prevent
the immigration of persons claiming
| that their religion justifies the crime of
| polygamy: that the constitution should
| be amended SO that a law be enacted
creating board. to consist of the gov
error, she Utah commission and the
secretary of the territory, to apportion
Salt Lake City into aldermanic and
councilmanic districts. 1t also recon-
nends that the commission he author
lied in its discretion to cause to he
made annually a new fegistratior in
! stead of ,avisions of the former Lists:
/ that congress pass laws for the govern
ment and conduct of public schools in
| the territory of Utah; that as soon as
| the result OF the eleventh census is
known the territory be redistricted for
| Legislative purposes.
! The commission believes that the linn
itation on prosecutions for polygamy and
| bigamy should be extended, and that
sentences to hard labor Shout; pc added,
so ''that their confinement MAJ not be
spent in idleness and glorification Of
their supposed martyrdom." The corr
mission has no doubt that tho punish
ment of woman for voluntarily entt ring
into n polygamous relation would do
much to lessen her zeal for that peculiar
! institution, and thus tend to remove one
of it's strongest balwarlss.
| In regard TO the prohibition of immi-
grafton the report says: saNhile we
| forbid the immig. alton of non-prosclyt-
! ing, peace-loving, docile Cinnamon, be-
cause we fear future danger from his
coming; while we forbid the landing on
our shores of contract laborers, because
they cheaper the wages of American
born citizens. and of paupers because
they become burdens, there is a far greater
reason for the. closing of our doors
as IA nation and ferhidding citizenship to
the hordes Who are Brought here to swell
the ranks OF an-6rgaliized body which
4eaches them N advance to hate our
governments, denoninates it's executive,
lawmakers, judges and prosecutors as
prosecutors, and instill into every mind
the constant teaching that their pre-
/ tended revelations are more binding
than the highest and hest laws of the
land. and that resistance to such laws is
virtue and a rendering of obedience to
God. How far short of treason these
teachings are we leave to those who can
answer.
i Insconcluding the report the commits
sion says congress should take no back
ward or even wayerfng step in the en-
lforcementofit the laws against poly samy.