Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-05
THE ~P0LYGAMISTS
The Utah Commission Submits an
Annual Report on the
Subject.
AS Usual 1t Recommends That the
Infamous Practice Be
Wiped Out.
Dut 1t Still Exists In Many Parts OF
The ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF
Converts Should DO
stopped.
The Utah Commissions Report.

report Of the Utah commission has been
received by Secretary Noble. The com
mission has, 4 y tho 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 ~endeayors TO wipe out and ex-
tinguish polygamy, and, as far as pos
sible, all polygamousinfluence and ten
denotes. With this purpose in view the
commission in appointing registrars of
election selected, when possible, those
belonging TO the non-Mormon element,
and by always appointing a 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-
tion OF polygamy the report says:
~"polygamy IS not, at the present
time, openly practiced, except perhaps
in a few remote and out-of-the-way
places, but the non-Mormon element
insists that plural marriages are solemn
lied clandestinely and practiced secretly
in the larger centcrs and throughout
the territory. This may or may not be
true. Doubtless many members of the
Mormon church never have practiced
and never intend - 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 20 do SO should have
the right to comply with this ordinance
of the church"
All laws foFbidding the practice Of
polygamy, the report continues, the Nor
mons pronounce unconstitutional. There
are grounds for the belief, il is stated,
that polygamy is still taught by the
church as a saving ordinance and that
those who practice it are assured of q
higher exaltation in heaven than those
who content themselves with one wife.
Extracts are given from Mormon papers
showing that they still advocate polyg-
amy. That the teachings and practice
of polygamy have not been discontinued,
as is claimed by some, is proven, the
report says, by the fact that since Sep
TENDER l, lsSs, there has been in the
territory 357 convictions for bigamy,
adultery. f~ornication and unlawful cohab-
i~tation, only two being for bigamy. II
plural marriages are now celebrated,
says the report, it is lone in the secret
chambers of the temple; ssif polygamy
is practiced il is with the secrecy with
which a burglar guards his house-break-
ing and a thief his larcenies." Those
who are convicted of polygamy regard
themselves and are regarded by their
friends as martyrs and think it no dis
grace to 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 as a state. Should il be,
the commission says, lit 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 theocracy be made
supreme"
The commission makes a number of
recommendations, among them that the
jurisdiction of all p~olygamous and sex
ual o~ffenses, without regard to place,
committed within the territory be con-
ferred on the district courts; that the
term of Imprisonment for unlawful co.
habitation be extended to at least two
years for the first and three years for
the second o~ffense; that it may be made
aPCaai oAttioC ~ Oily Otld W tHttT
into the marriage relation with N
man knowing him to have a wife living
undivorced; that a person who refuses
to take oath that he or 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
ing a location and settlement
upon public lands; that the laws
with reference TO tho immigra-
ton of the Chinese and the impor-
tation OF contract labor. paupers 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 a board, to consist of the gov
ernor the Utah commission ard the
secretary Of the To -cttory, to aprortion
Salt Lake City into aldermanic and
councilmanic districts. 1t also recon-
mends that the commission be author
lied in its discretion To cause to be
made annually a new registration in
stead Of revisions 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 Ia
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 should be added,
so that their confinement may not be
aspent In idlcnoss and Qualification Of
their supposed martyrdom." The COM
mission has no doubt that the punish
ment Of woman for voluntarily entering
into a poiygamous relation would do
much to lessen her zeal for that peculiar
institution, and thus tend to remove one
of it's strongest buiwarks.
in regard to the prohibition OF immi-
grafton the report says: Wilde we
forbid the Immigration Of non-prosclyt-
ing, pc~ace-loying. docile Cinnamon. be-
cause We fear future danger from his
coming; while wo forbid the landing on
our shores OF contract laborcrs, because
they cheaper the wages Of American
born citizens. ard OF panpcrs because
they become burdens. there lisa q rgreater
reason for the closing Of our doors
"a q nation and ~forbidding citizenship to
the hordes who arc brought here 20 swell
the ranks Of m organized body which