The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-16

| between one-nfth- and one-Sixth of our
| populatlonr-a very large proportion
Mr. Hale-Are they interspersed
throughout the different counties or
| are they very largely together
Mr.. .Dubois-Tney are mostly togeth-
er on the borders of Utah, extending
| north. live in the heart of the Nor
mon country. There are six counties
out OF the tWenty-one counties in the
! southeastern part of the state, and 1
4 should say that in three OF those coun-
/ ties the Mormons are majority of the
| population, and in the other shlSe they
are about equal IN numbers to the
/ Gentiles. In addition to that, there are
some of them scattered among the otn-
er counties
Mr.. Hale-Do they take no part in
the legislation or in the elections of
the state?
Mr.. Dubois-They took no part in the
framing of our constitution. They were
| disfranchised under our territorial
law they were not allowed to vote or
to sit on 1uries, and there was not a
/ Mormon in our constitutional conven-
/ ton. Our constitutional convention, re-
CARELESS of politics, put the provision in
| our constitution that no member of the
! Mormon church should vote.
Mr. Hale-Now direct the senator
| attention 10 what is the present condi<
ton in that state.
Mr.. Dubois intended to lead up to
| that. My remarks were leading up to
| that directly.
Mr.. Hale- did not want to interrupt
Mr.. DuboisI was paving the way
for that
Mr.. Hale-what the senator is saying
IS very interesting, and some of it is
quite new to me.
! Mr.. Dubois-At the time when this
/ drastic legislation was passed IN Ida
no, which startled the country and at
| tracted attention everywhere to this
Mormon problem, the Mormon people
believed and said that under the con-
stitution OF the United States we could
not interfere with polygamy, putting
the contention on the ground that we
could not interfere with the religious
beliefs and practices of any people. Po-
lygamy, they claimed, was a religious
tenet, and that therefore under the
constitution of the United States we
could not disturb it. That made our
tight very simple, but very bitter. They
took that position, and we, of course,
combated it..
| Mr.. Spooner-What was the nature of
the test oath to which the senator from
| Idaho has referred?
Mr.. Dubois-I will explain it. They
| were required TO swear that they did
not belong to an organization which
taught or preached the practice of po-
lygamy, and that they did not subscribe
i to the support of any Institution which
| teaches, counsels or advices the prac-
tice of polygamy. etc We had a very
able Democratic lawyer from the state
of Kentucky who framed this law,
which has passed the scrutiny Of all the
courts.
AS I say, when such legislation as
that was necessary the Mormons con-
tended openly that the United States
was powerless 10 interfere with polyg-
!
and that the constitution of the United
States gave them freedom in religion
After Idaho was admitted under this
state constitution proposition was
made in congress to apply the Idaho
law to Utah. That may have had some
thing to do with subsequent events.
! Mr.. Hale-Utah was then a territory :?
| Mr.. Dubois-Utah was then a terri
tory, but the Mormons being in the
large majority in Utah, of course the
Utah legislature could not pass any
such provision as was passed by the
Idaho legislature, where the Gentiles
were in the majority.
/ Various causes operated to cause the
Mormons to abandon polygamy. There
was feeling among the younger mem
bers of the Mormon church, and a very
! strong feeling, that polygamy should
be done away with So here was this
pressure within the church against po-
lygamy and the pressure by the gov
eminent from outside the church
against polygamy. In 1917 think it
was, the president of the Mormon
| church issued a manifesto declaring
that hereafter there should be no po-
Iygamous marriages anywhere in the
Mormon church. The Mormons were
then called together in one of their
great conferences. where they meet by
the thousands. This manifesto was is
sued to them by the first presidency,
which is their authority, was submit
ted to them and all the Mormon people
ratified and agreed to this manifesto,
| doing away with polygamy thereafter
| The senator from Maine (Mr. Hale)
will recall that I came here as a SEN
ator from Idaho shortly after that, and
the senator from Connecticut Ont.
Platt) will recall how bitter and al
most Incorporate I was in my language
before his committee and on the floor
of the other house in the denunciation
of these practices of the Mormon
church. But after that manifesto was
issued, in common with all of the Gen.
tiles of that section who had made this
fight, we said, ''They have admitted the
right of our contention and say now,
like children who have been unruly, we
will obey our parents and those who
have a right to guide us: we will do
those things no MORE" Therefore we
could not maintain our position and
commune punlSnlng them unless II was
afterwards demonstrated that they
would not comply with their promise.
After a few years in idaho. where the
fight was the hottest and the thickest.
we wiped all of those laws from our
statute books. which aimed directly at
the Mormon people: and today the laws
on the statute books of Idaho against
polygamy and kindred crimes are less
stringent than in almost any other
state in the Union. / live among those
| people; and, so far as 1 know, in Idaho
there has not been polygamous mar
riage celebrated since that manifesto
was issued. and 1 have yet to find a
man in Idaho or anywhere else who
will say that a polygamous marriage
has been celebrated anywhere since the
issuance of that manifesto.
Mr.. Hale-Then it must follow from
that, as the years go by and as the
older people disappear, polygamy as a
practice will be practically removed.
! Mr.. Dubois-There is no question
about il: and I will say to the senator,
owing to the active part which we took
in that fierce contest in Idaho, I, with
others who had made the fight thought
we were justified in making this prom
Use to the Mormon people. We had no
authority of law. but we took it upon
ourselves to assure them that those
older men who were living in polyg-
amous relation, who had growing fam
lies which they had reared and were
rearing before the manifesto was is
sued, and at a time when they thought
rio