The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-01

thus superseded fade away into
shadows of the past. But the social
consciousness, the fountain of sove-
reignty, is ever renewed with the vigor
of eternal youth.
With this exposition of sovereignty as
the social consciousness and will of the
people, we are prepared to appreciate
the solemn, and / may say lamentable
significance of a doctrine laid down by
Mr.. Cooley in his Constitutional Linn
itations," page 40. He says: when
we say the sovereignty of the state is
vested in the people, the question very
naturally presents itself, what are we
to understand by the people as used in
this connection? What should be the
correct rule upon this subject, it does
not fall within our province to con-
sider." Think of it, Here is the fore
most constitutional authority in the
world perhaps, who declares that II
does not fall within his province TO
state the Correct rule. Presumably,
what he does give as the general rule
of the states is not the correct one.
The rule that he gives is as follows, on
the same page: LAS a practical fact
the sovereignty is vested in those per-
sons who are permitted by the consti-
tuition of the state to exercise the cleo
tive franchise Certain classes have
been almost universally eXcluded-the
woman from mixed motives, but
mainly, perhaps, because, in the
natural relation of marriage, she was
supposed to be under the influence Of
her husband, and, where the common
law prevailed, actually was in con-
dition of dependence upon and subjec-
ton to him" Here you have, gentle
men of the convention, in language
true and clear, a statement of the rule
actually obtaining in the framing OF
our state constitutions in general, with
respect to the greatest of all facts en-
tering into the structure of govern
ment-that of sovereignty-the social
consciousness and will-the voice of
God in the human soul. 1t is noble of
this great author to say that he does
not propose to state the correct" rule,
that it is no part Of his work to say
what Should be-" The truth is, the
rule that he gives, is the rule that we
have followed hitherto in most Of the
states, and that rule is a lie and
fraud on the Declaration of Indepen-
dence and Oh the original constitution
of human nature by the Creator; and
it is usurpation and tyranny over one
half our population, many thousands
of whom are Independent wealth ere
ators and taxpayers in Utah, and in all
other states of our union. Shall we
perpetuate this injustice? Shall we
give further sanction to perverSion so
vital to the fundamental principles of
our free government? I have shown
that on the score of principle, we have
no warrant for such an unjust and in
humane discrimination. I have shown
that our best and truest precedents are
now pointing the other way. 1 now
wish to conclude this head
by showing that the highest
eXpediency confirms the logic of prin-
ciples and precedents.
Woman the Conservative Power.
The sovereignty of human aggre-
gates, gathered together as they are
into nationalities over the earth, is
the region in which the infinite life
manifests itself, and in which the
purpose of the Creator and the des-
tiny of nations are wrought out.
Whatever happens to a nation is the
result of the nature and conduct of
its sovereignty, its mind and will as
an organic whole. We know that the
nations of the past have all faded into
sepulchral gloom. They live only in
the annals and ruins that mark their
oblivion. We can now see how frag-
mentary and partial their national
life was. And, if we are Fastening on
" d Sliulldl ldlt, bl1S central CAUSE Oh
our danger is that our real, underly-
ing, sovereign life is not truly repre-
scented in our government. Permit me
to illustrate: The forces of the uni
verse are all correlated. There is no
element of force or atom of matter that
is lost or wasted. All are renewed in
some correlated form. 1t is in this
view that universal nature becomes
perpetual. Were forces or substances
lost, the world would run down and
become extinct. In way somewhat
similar the two halves of human na-
ture are correlated; and to restrict the
sovereign functions of nation to the
will of one half it's inhabitants, is to
insure such a partial representation
and correlation of the social conscious
ness, that imperfection and failure
must result. The testimony of scien-
tific investigation is that with the
establishment of the family, even in
its rudest form, came the idea of pro-
perty. There could otherwise be no
conception of the need for property
and consequently the value of it.
With the family property originated,
and with the family government took
its rise All through the ages, women
have been the conservative power that
has prevented nations from being
wrecked into fragments. The home
and the family have always been the