The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-12-24

exclusive OF mines not taxed. was s121. :
145, O4e.37. The incorporated cities and
towns having an assessable valuation OF
$50, 1854, SS1.27 We have more than one
thousand miles OF railroad, three thous-
and miles of irrigating canals and from
ten to fifteen thousand miles of wagon
road The prescribed limits to this arti-
Gle precludes the statistics in detail which
snow that all the various and diversified
occupations that furnish employment and
means OF livelihood to the citizens of our
common country thrive and flourish in
Utah, viz: Agricultural and stock rails
ing, mining and smelling, manufactur-
ing, merchandising, banking, etc., and
that any energetic and industrious pop
ulatlOn following their chosen av0coca-
ions secure rich return for their en-
terpfiSe and labor.
Certain Of cur citizens, while conceding
that we have the necessary number of in
| habitants OF stable habits and character,
ample wealth and development, and every
material resource to assume the RESPONSE
bilities of statehood, yet contend it would
be unsafe to admit Utah into the union
1 because a majority of its citizens are mem
! bers of and communicates of the church
OF Jesus Christ Of Latter day Saints. They
urge that in times past the church taught
and practiced polYgamy in defiance of
4 law. That IT ruled its mem bership with
m absolute sway; claimed and exercised
the right to dictate to and control their
action in all temporal matters as well as
in spiritual affairs. In a word, they
claim that the causes OF contention which
divided the Mormon and non Mormon
! people for so many years still exist. In
support of their claim. they continually
recur to the past. They ignore the
brightness and promise of the presentand
with gloomy fcrebodings darken the
I fr,+,
of the truth.
The authorities of the Mormon church
in the most solemn manner have authori-
tatlvely forbid the practice of polygamy
and have been sustained by the Mormon
4 people In their action. 1t IS now an Of
tense against the church which subjects
the offender to communication to enter
into or practice polygamy. The chief
authorities OF the church from the ros-
trum and by publication over their sigma
lures have disclaimed all right or desire
to interfere or control in any manner the
political action of the people. The Peo-
pies or church party, under the Old con-
( tention, composed almost entirely of the
Mormon people, has been formally dis
solved by its authorities. The Mormon
people, including many holding high
church positions, have allied themselves
with and are active participants in the
Democratic and Republican parties. Ii is
here as elsewhere in the country that
those of the same religious conviction
find themselves opposed to each other in
political belief and action.
Is Utah ready for statehood? was
answered affirmatively by the unanimous
vote of the Democratic members of the
committee on territories of the present
House of representatives. After full
and fair hearing upon the home rule bill,
the Democratic and Republican parties in
convention have declared for statehood.
The struggles and triumphs of the past
in retaining the desert, opening the
mines, building cities and towns, and the
establishment of permanent and prosper
GUS communities proclaim the readiness
of the territory for admission to the
union of states.
Utah with her great population and
vast interests is not only ready for, but
needs two United States senators and rep
resentation in the lower house of Con-
gress. With past animosities forever
buried, more than two hundred thousand
souls with common interest and destiny
gnite dly await the deserved boon of state
hood, CALEB w. WEST
Utah is ready for statehood. She pos
seses all the essential qualifications. This
is a fact recognized nationally. 1t was
declared in a report by the House COM
mittee on territories OF the Fifty-second
Congress in the following terms: ''Your
committee is thoroughly satisfied of
Utah's entire qualification for admission
to the Union with all the powers of full
statehood. -
She has population of nearly quarter
of a million; her wealth is equal to $780,
COO, COO; but 5 per cent. of her people are
illiterate; her citizens are renowned Tor
their industry, frugality and honesty;
they are not only familiar with the con-
stitution of our country and the laws en-
acted under it. but they acknowledge the
supremacy of the law and yield obedience
to it.
Our territory is conceded to be the home
of ''a typical American people, endowed
with the energy and possessing the enter
prise which have made her beautiful
mountainous country the habitation of
industry, refinement and wealth.
In my Judgment there has been for
years no constitutional reason for with
holding statehood from Utah. But there
have been objections which have proved
more potent than all the constitutional
requirements, and these have received
such ready belief that all appeals have
hitherto been Intellectual. Will it be con-
tended that these objections still remain -?
Not even the hardest opponent of self