The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-14
THE NEW STATE OF UTAH.

The announcement that Utah will en-
ter the Union prepared to send two Re-
publican Senators to Washington was
not unexpected by many and is not at
all calculated to surprise Mr.. Joseph
Manley, of Maine; Mr.. Clarkson, of
iowa, or any other of those members Of
the Republican National committee who
during the past six months have been
credited with being in close communities
ton with the Mormon hierarchy. In 1880
the Mormon candidate carried the terri
tory by nearly 10000 majority. In 1892 the
Democratic candidate for Congress had
plurality of nearly 1900, and the adj
mission OF the territory was long de-
layed by the Republicans because of the
Democratic majority. Last year the Re-
publicans carried the territory, and they
have now confirmed their triumph.
Under the theory of the state constitu-
ton and of the enabling act signed july
II, 1894, by President Cleveland, any &C
ton taken by the people of the new state
to restore polygamy or to establish G
state religion will be void without the
consent of Congress. Utah is thus ad-
mitted to statehood under limitation
which applies TO no other state, and to
this extent it is not one of the equal
states" of the union.
This is a matter for publicists rather
than politicians, as practically Utah has
all the rights possessed by any other
state. The long struggle over polygany
is certainly at an end, and there will
never be any formal establishment OF
the Mormon church. Informally and eff
fectually. however it is now in full con-
troll as it has been ever since the ter
ritory was settled in 1885, The new ele-
ment which has entered Utah since the
Union Pacific road opened it up over
thirty years ago is growing minority,
but it is still unable to control the state
against the influence of Mormon solid
arity.
The fight against polygamy as a moral
offense and an anachronism dates back
to its establishment in Utah. The Nor
mons under Brigham Young were for
years in state of ''inchoate rebellion,
istration federal troops were sent there
under General Johnston to enforce the
federal authority. The first effective leg
islation was framed in 1882 in the Ed
polygamists were disfranchised and
prominent Mormons were convicted and
imprisoned. This broke the spirit of
open resistance to federal law. The ap-
parent acquiescence of the leaders was
followed by the amnesty proclamation of
President Harrison in 1892 result, 1t
was said of a secret understanding be-
tween the Mormon leaders and the Re
Cleveland followed this with still
broader proclamation last year, under
which Mr. Cannon's disabilities. result
ing from federal indictments, will not
States Senator should he decide to be-
stow that Office on himself rather than
on some one else selected by the Mormon
church he is supposed to control.
The influence of the Mormon church
as the dominant factor in the politics of
the state appeared during the campaign
just closed, when at a secret meeting Of
the priesthood President Cannon de-
nounced Messrs. Thatcher and Roberts,
Mormon candidates of the Democratic
party, for acting without consulting the
church-a course which he is said to
have described as contrary to the rules
of the church and subversive OF good
discipline" AS "a result of this the
Democratic convention was reconvened
and resolutions were passed denouncing
Mormon interference. The returns show
the result
The new state, which now requires
only the proclamation of the president
to invest it with the full dignities and
powers of the forty-ffth member Of the
Union, has a population now estimated
at 252. 1874. about equal to that of the
city of Buffalo in this state. Its assessed
property, real and personal, amounted
year 41,00O ounces OF gold, 7,196.G00 of sill
yer. and among other things 4,010,0
pounds of sugar in which the Sugar
trust of the Atlantic coast is said TO be
senatorial votes Perhaps these stats
tics make it unnecessary to attempt any
further forecast of the probable action
of the Utah Senators on leading national
issues.
But the entrance Of the state to the
Union under Republican auspices, with
both Senators subservient to the Nor
mon hierarchy and to the national Re-
publican bosses, is paradoX1cal climax
to thirty-five years of Republican de-
barism." We are afraid it must be adj
mitted that the national Republicans
have much the cleverer poHticians.-NeW
York World.