The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-10-14
M0RMONS IN IDAHO.

The San Francisco Examiner thinks the
abandonment of polygamy by the Mormon
church will have immediate and weighty
political consequences, for the reason that
the action INSTANTLY enfranchises all Nor
mons who are not actual polygamists, or at
least enables them to take the oath which is
the test of citizenship in Idaho and Utah"
The editor goes on to explain that ''when a
citizen of Idaho is challenged for Mormon
ism he must swear that he is not member
Of any organization that teaches any prac-
tice contrary to the laws of the land, and
that he does not contribute to the support
OF any such organization. Heretofore
those Mormons who have wished to take
the risk Of voting have withdrawn tempo
rarily from membership in the church, but
this has been held to be an illegal subter-
fuge and has subjected them to punish
ment. Hereafter they can boldly take the
oath while remaining in full fellowship
with their organization. The Mormon
church no longer teaches polygamy. No
body can prove that it comes under the
ban. Its sacred books will testify in its
favor. The Book of Mormon condemns
plural marriages"
Our esteemed contemporary does not
understand the situation in Idaho 1t is
not to the Mormon as a religionist nor to
his polygamy that the Idahoars object. 1t
is to the way in which he votes. If the
Mormons had been given to voting the Re-
publican ticket nobody would have sug-
gested their disfranchisement, and the test
oath clause would never have appeared in
! the constitution. Two years ago number
of men who had not been members of the
church for years and were not in sympathy
with the church, subscribed to the test
oath as they had a perfect right to do, but
they were nevertheless indicted and
punished. They were Democrats in poll
tics while the election machinery and the
courts were controlled by Republicans and
anti Mormons. Of course the manifesto
forbidding polygamy should remove the
last barrier which stands between the
Idaho Mormon and full citizenship, and we
sincerely hope it will, for it is an awful
thing for men to live as the Mormons in
Idaho are living, without voice or
influence in the government which they
/
persons and property to their enemies, and
permitted fewer political rights than the
tramps who count railroad ties and ride on
brake-beams enjoy. But we have little
confidence in an Improvement in the I'M
American condition of things so long as
the control of the state shall be retained by
those now in power. The men who took
advantage of the test oath to deny the
right to vote to men who had not been
Mormons for years, who had contributed
nothing to the support of the church and
who did not recognize in the least degree
the authority of the church, will not, we
fear, hesitate to exercise the arbitrary
power with which they are clothed to deny
the privilege of the ballot to Mormons,
notwithstanding the fact that polygamy
has been forbidden in the most solemn ani
effective manner possible.
However, the effect of the church's &C
ton upon those who interpret and those
who administer the law will naturally b.
watched for with some interest both in ant
out of the new state.