The San Francisco call., 1895-05-22
THE UTAH CONSTITUTION.

The Constitutional Convention of Utah
has prepared and submitted to it's people a
form of State constitution to be ratified or
rejected by their votes. 1t is in many
respects an admirable document, and
in some respects remarkable one.
Among its commendable features the
one to be first noted is the brevity
of the document as compared with
other constitutions which the various
States have during recent years adopted.
1t is much shorter than the constitution of
California, for example, and in this re-
spect at least is superior to it. In its
essential articles, however, it follows
closely the arrangement and language of
the constitution of this State, and to that
extent its trainers have acknowledged the
influence which California exerts upon the
laws and institutions of the States which
are being formed west of the Rocky Noun
tains
In some particulars the Utah constitu-
ton departs radically from the provisions
of earlier organic laws. For example, it
abolishes the office of Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor, and provides that the Secretary of
State shall perform his functions, and in
shall occupy the chair of the chief execu-
tive until the next general election. An
important inroad is also made upon the
jury system by the provision that in all
save capital cases the jury shall consist of
eight persons, three-fourths OF which, in
civil cases, may find verdict. The result
of this experiment in reducing the number
of jurors will doubtless be watched with
interest by those holding both sides of the
contention that the jury system is out
worn.
The remarkable features of the Utah
constitution are those in which it boldly
challenges the claim that its people are
not ready for statehood because of the
dominance in Utah of particular reli-
gious sect. The declaration of rights in the
proposed constitution expressly provides
that the rights of conscience shall never be
infringed; that the State shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
that no religious test shall be required as
qualification for any Office of public trust;
that there shall be no union of church and
state, nor shall any church dominate the
state or Interfere with its functions and
that no public money or property shall be
appropriated for or applied to any re-
hglous worship, exercises or instructions, or
for the support OF any ecclesiastical estab-
ishment. These are bold words 10 be uttered
in Utah, and the fact that a constitution
which contains them is to be submitted to
its people for adoption indicates the conf
dence of its makers that the day of reli-
gious prejudice and discord is past in Utah.
and that there, as well as elsewhere, the
principles of American liberty of thought,
speech and action and worship shall hence
forth prevail.
There is another section of this constitu-
ton which challenges admiration in a
peculiar sense. 1t is that which gives equal
suffrage to women. 1t has been claimed
by those who argue that Utah is unfit for
statehood that domestic condition ex-
lists there which degrades its women and
against which their spirit revolts, though
their concurrence is compelled by the laws
which deny women the right of suffrage.
The makers of the Utah constitution have
been brave enough to offer the ballot to
the women of Utah and at the same time
to inhibit forever polygamy or plural mar
riages within the State.
This privilege and this prohibition show
that the people of Utah have an honest
belief in their ability to solve every social
problem which is presented to the new
State through the ballots of its best citi-
zens of both sexes, and this confidence the
country at large can well afford to share.
1t is safe to predict that the Utah consti-
tuition will be adopted with an immense
majority by the votes of its people, and
that under its banner of broad and liberal
privileges, of express and specific guaran-
tees, and of no less explicit prohibitions,
the new State of Utah will enter the Ma
tional sisterhood with every hope and
prospect of becoming one of the most i'm
portant of the growing cluster of common
wealths which control the destinies of the
Western slope.