The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-21
SMOOT CASE


church. issued the famous manifesto
denying that his church stu counte-
nanced poiygamy, denying that plural
marriages" were still celebrated under
It's auspices, and calling on his followers
to obey the law OF the land. This mani
festo was accepted at a general confer
ence or the church on Oct s. 1880. Never
theless' within few months the United
states commissioners for Utah reported
that this action was not taken in good
ialth, and was not followed out in prac
tee These statements angered the
Democratic convention of the territory.
held i'm 1891. and that convention de
nounced as false and designed to
hinder the progress of the territory 10
the grand position Of statehood" what X
called the covert charge" of the COM
misstoners that large number of peo-
pie are living IN polygamous cOhabita-
ton" The following year the petition
or the church had pledged the member
ship thereof to a faithful obedience to
the laws against plural marriage and
unlawful eohabitation.' And the sue
cesSive amnesties of Presidents Harrison
and Cleveland offered immunity TO all
Mormons who had not broken the law
since Nov !. 1880. or since the Mormon
church had formally abjured polygamy.
These procedures We're successful, and
Utah became state in 1896. The present
president of the Mormon church, the Jo-
seph Smith whose testimony shows such
an astonishing combination OF the HARM
OF the dove. now explains at Washington
that the object Of them all was TO get
Utah into the Union as a state, after
which the unrefOrmed pOlyg2mistS. under
the aegis of a sovereign Mormon state.
could do as they pleased He personally
has been doing as he pleased ever since.
He has not contracted any more mar
riageS, though he by no means denies
that such marriages have been contracted
by his followers in defiance Of law. But
he cheerfully admits continued ''polygam-
Gus cOhabitatiOn'' in equally plain defiance
of the law. OF all his fOrty-tWO children,
evenly divided as to sex. he Is proud
Rather curiously he at first declined
though he afterward consented, to give
the names of the children by his first
wife, though these are unquestiOnably le-
Ultimate. Possibly his fear was that a
specification Of these might be invidious
as 20 the others.
But the point is that the Mormon
church has been deceiving the United
states government. and that the legis-
latOrS OF Utah who come 10 represent IL
in congress- are representatives OF an as
ISOLATION Of lawbreakers. We can con-
ceive of no better reason for each house
TO exercise its power Of judgment as 10
It's own membership. If representatives Of
diaries or of murderers came to Washing
ton to represent a sovereign state, the
case would be the same as that OF the rep
resentattVeS of the malefaCtOTs who vio-
late the law against 'polygamOus cohab-
itation-" The situation will not last long.
The rising tide OF American civilization
Will IN due course reach Utah and sub
merge the church of which pOiygamy is
one OF the tenets. When that time comes.
representatives OF American civilization
viii appear at Washington as represent
sitiVeS OF L tab. Until il comes. no harm
viii be done If each house continues to
exert its constitutional prerogative Of
judging Of the election, returns, and quail
iflCatlOnS of its own members