The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-08
MISTAKES OF THOMAS
The Governors False Prophecy
Repeated.
Once He Claimed that Polygamy Would Never
be Abolished and Now He Insists that
Statehood Is q Peril

This document is a very respectable and
statesmanly paper, credit to the ability
and candor of our chief executive, as also
TO the territory whose educational and
material progress aud manifold resources
are LUMINOSITY exhibited IN this report.
With this recognition of the merits of the
governors annual review, it is due the
people and the subjects discussed to say
that the report exhibits in certain of it's
phases degree OF incompetency or lack of
discernment that is remarkable The mis-
apprehension is SO evident and 80 import
ant in relation to Utah policy that it is
worthy of careful attention. Speaking of
his report for the year previous. the gov
ernor says:
In my report Of September 9, l83s discussed
at some length the statements which had been
put forth TO the effect mat Inc mormon church
had refused some t.m3 previous thereto to
sanction pclygamous marriages, ami referring
to the unsatisfactory character of t. e evidence
furnished. SAID:
Under its system Of government the church
has but one way OF ueunlng its position and
that IS by public declaration ther from the
head Oh the church. addressed TO tle people or
by The action OF the people in conference as
sembled. no such peclaration has been mace
nor octlon taken, and probably never VIII Ue
il,
power can extort from the church any such
declaration.
= 1t may be truthfully said that the church
has determined that If poygamy is 10 be up-
rooted the government must perform the task
as IL viii never do on its part any act that vii
indicate an abandonment o. poygany
My opinion was based upon the course Of the
Mormon people III the past 1 do not think
there was anyth nG 10 their history liz to the
date of the r; port winch would nav III Hsd
any en- In saying they had abandoned a prsc
tee which thew had declared to ae 4 v.toi ma ri
OF their religion.
Herein Tue governor predicts that such
declaration never will Ce nude This
was September O. 1890. How strange it is
that the governor, having almost unlimited
opportunity and sources of information.
should be surprised by events ia the way
indicated in the following declaration:
On September p. 1884, sixteen days after I
filed my report, the president Of Iue church
ISSUED the following Proclamation or manifesto:
After recitiGg the mari1 este the governor
proceeds as follows:
And on October g. 1890, twenty-scven DAYS
after the general conference Of he clurcn, on
Lorenzo SNOW. an apostle o, the cnurcu, The
acton OF The president Wis endol Sed and Tn.
manifesto was adopted ny the people II the
following language:
Quoting the motion IN full the governor
says:
The unexpected had happened and the pyesi-
dent and tue people had taken acllun N the
most AUTHORITATIVE way. YA,s Nas an went
which cannot tan 10 vitatly OBJECT The future OF
tle territory.
l have 10 doubt that, as they have cen lei IN
believe it was put forth by divine saactiou. il
Will ne received by the members OF the Mullu N
church as an authoritative rule of c nduct and
that, in effect, the practive OF Folygdmy j. Tor
mally renowned by the people. al the general
conference on Octo Der Il, 1891, :.c.ion was takcn
reatfirm ne the action Of October o. leyv with
! respect TO polygamy.
Here the governor seems to have been
profoundly mistaken ii the matter of an
tlcipating, even as probability, the most
solemn, important and unanimous action
taken by the large majority Of the people
of his gubernatorial bailiwick.
Now, there are two points worthy Of no.
tice in
THIS MISTAKEN SOCIOLOGICAL FORECAST
! of Governor Thomas. The first is that no
public man in Utah needed to have so
misread the signs OF the times. What is
the use OF marching SO far behlud the Nor
mons If one desires TO know what they are
doing: Governor Thomas Quotes from
1885 what LIZ considers @ tinality:
ana he might just as well have
quoted from 1870 or 1857. The
Mormons did not go into camp in 1855. Thew
were on the move, They bad a definite OBJ.
lect III their declaration OF 'S5; and when
circumstances required further action they
moved forward. In 1888 they framed a
constitution, under which they sought al
mission into the union. In this draft OF a
constitution they completely sac,ificed
! polygamy, branded it as a serious crime.
and subordinated their stats sovereignty to
federal administration in case they should
prove uuiaithful in the exJirpation of po!yg-
amy.
Of course Governor Thomas is estoppe6
from saying that the church han no
hand in this proposed sacrifice OF
polyGamy, for the war Cry of the
| opposition was that the proDosaJ
constitution was mere. creature OF CHURCH
! policy. IL this were True, tGeu the church
had Tor several years meditated the aban
Comment of polygamy, and there can be no
reasonable DOUBT that the organic draft ex-
pressed precisely The wishes of the Church
leaders in regard 10 poiyssmy. 1t nad be-
come "A matter of serious aud dangerous
moment, and the churca leaders doubtless
preferred ID free them selves from the plo-
caimation of direct aad authoritative pro.
hibition Of poly gamg, trusting rather to the
ordinary penal operation of the proposed
laws for its suppression. But this draft of
a constitution proving futile expedient.
they were
READY TO SACRIFICE PoLYGAMY
in any way that would put them on fair
footing with the government of the United
States, and SO the manifesto was issued
Just sixteen days and ratified within
twenty seven days after Governor Thomas
had made solemn official record of his
conviction that such action would never be
taken.
The second point is thst the governor.