The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1894-07-26
A FORTY.FIFTH STATE.
President Cleveland to Sign
With. a Special Pen.
GOLD SET IN A SILVER HOLDER.
The Conditions Under Which the Terri
tory of Utah Is to Admitted to the
Union PoIygamous or Plural Mar
riages Forever Prohibited.

|
Union Po1ygamous or Plural Mar
| riages Forever Prohibited.
! WASHINGTON, July 15.-Private Secre-
tary Thurber has in his custody at the
White House gold pen set in silver
holder. The implement is from an arti-
sans standpoint fine piece of work,
but if it fulfills its mission, it will never
be dipped in ink but once. That will
be Monday, July Is, 1894, and it will in
scribe the name of Grover Cleveland on
parchment headed:
can enactment to authorize the peo-
pie of Utah to form constitution and
State government and to be admitted to
the Union on an equal footing with the
original States"
Delegate Rawlins of the Territory of
Utah, whose efforts were largely instru-
mental in bringing about the enactment
of the act, secured the pen and holder
and entrusted them into the keeping of
Secretary Thurber until the time for
their use. Tomorrow Rawlins, having
secured the signature of Vice President
Stevenson and Acting Speaker Richard
son to the enabling act, will carry it to
the White House for the Presidential
autograph. The ceremony would have
taken place Saturday but for Richard
sons absence from the city, and it was
hoped to have Speaker Crisp's name on
the document; but the Speaker will not
return from Georgia in time. No one
but the President will sign the act, and
when he has done so Rawlins will take
charge of the pen which made it law.
At first it was intended to have a solid
gold pen and holder, but as Utah comes
in as bimetalism State, and Western
ers, who are making the silver fight in
politics attach some sentiment to the
fact, the white metal (silver) was al
lowed to share honors at the accepted
ratio. After the pen has done its work
Rawlins will take possession OF it. 1t
will be suitably engraved and enshrined
in the State capitol of the new State
with its other historical souvenirs.
The signing of the act does not make
| Utah State, but merely sets in motion
the machinery by which she becomes
one. December of 1895 will probably be
the time when Utah will be entitled to
the forty-fifth star in the flag. The
constitutional convention will meet next
| March to frame State constitution,
| which will be submitted to the people
| for ratification at an election in NOvem-
Der, 1895, when the Governor and other
State officers and a member of Congress
will be elected. If the constitution is
ratisfied, and if the President finds that
it provides for republican form of gov
eminent under the provisions of the act
of Congress, he will issue proclamation
announcing the fact and declaring Utah
State. The Legislature elected at the
November election will meet early In
December, and one of its first acts Will
be to choose two United States Senators.
| It may safely be said that the senior
Senator is likely to be the present Dele
gate from the Territory, whose hight Tor
statehood is expected to certainly re-
ceive recognition, if the views OF his
Congressional colleagues are shared by
| his constituents. The government pays
the expenses of the Territorial Conven-
| ton, as it does for the Territorial Legs
| lature.
There will be new registration OF the
voters, upon which the apportionment
| of III delegates to constitute the conven-
have at least one delegate and one adj
ditional for every 1000 of population
First the convention must declare on be-
half of the people of the State to adopt
the constitution of the United States.
Several important requirements for the
| State constitution are made by Congress:
That it shall be republican in form and
make no distinction in civil or political
rank on account of race or color, except
as to Indians, who are not entered; that
it hall not be repugnant to the constl-
tuition of the United States and the
principles of the Declaration OF lnde-
pendence. One of the most crucial re-
| quirements of the State constitution!
which was ever evoked by the power OF
the Mormon Church is that it shall pro.
vide by ordinance, irrevocable without
the consent of the United States ana
the people of the State, that perfect
liberation of religious sentiment shall be
secured, and that no inhabitant OF the
State shall ever be molested on account
of his mode of religious worship, pro-
vided that polygamous or plural mar
riages are forever prohibited.