the voters who ratified it, had previously taken the following oath, as provided in the act of Congress of March 3, 1887:

You and each of you do solemnly swear that you are a citizen of the United States and of the Territory of Utah; that you will support the Constitution of the United States, and will faithfully obey the laws thereof, and especially will obey the act of Congress approved March 22, 1882, entitled "An act to amend section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," and will also obey the act of Congress of March 3, 1887, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to amend section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes,"" approved March 22, 1882, in respect of the crimes in said act defined and forbidden, and that you will not directly or indirectly aid, abet, counsel, or advise any other person to commit any of said crimes defined by acts of Congress as polygamy, bigamy, unlawful cohabitation, incest, adultery, and fornication, and that you will observe the laws of the Territory of Utah. So help you God.

These voters represented the great body of the people of Utah. They were not polygamists. They had no intention of becoming polygamists. The polygamists, forming less than 1 per cent of the population, have been disfranchised since March 22, 1882. They take no part in practical politics. It is the monogamic people of the Territory, the vast majority, who ask for their political rights and have proposed to prohibit and punish polygamy if Utah is clothed with the powers of statehood. There is nothing in their religious belief which forbids or would in any way hinder them from carrying into effect this prohibition. And they protest against the injustice of a denial of their political liberties because of the past acts of a few individuals not of their class.

As evidence of their good faith and intentions in this regard, I point to the act of the Utah legislature of March 8, 1888, copies of which, with resolutions adopted by the same body, are presented to this committee. This act is a stringent marriage law, and supplements the legislation of Congress with heavy penalties against any person who solemnizes a polygamous or other unlawful marriage. The resolutions indorse the acts of Congress against polygamy, and recommend their proper enforcement. If it be said that the constitutional provision against polygamy is in futuro and may not be executed, we reply that this Territorial statute is proof of good faith, for it is now in force.

President Cleveland has informed the Congress and the country, in his recent message, that polygamy is practically a thing of the past in Utah. All the evidences go to establish this as a fact. There have been no convictions for polygamy for a long time. The Federal judges and other officials admit this to be a fact. The cases that are being prosecuted and have been heralded to the country for two or three years past are not for newly contracted polygamous marriages, but for "unlawful cohabitation;" that is, the association of men with plural wives whom they married many years ago. Under the peculiar construction of the statute by the Utah courts, association that would be perfectly innocent, if the parties did not claim the marriage relationship, is deemed a violation of the law, although there may be no actual cohabitation or living together. That is to say, if a man claims a woman as bis plural wife, and supports her, any kind of association between them has been deemed unlawful. It is this species of prosecutions which keeps up the appearance of a perpetuation of polygamy in Utah. The relation between a Mormon and his wife, or wives, is viewed by the parties as eternal. Even if the man does not live with his plural wife he is in duty bound to support her and her children, as the bond between them is of a religious character. What can these men do with the women whom they conscientiously regard before Heaven as their wives for time and eternity? They can not eat them, like the New Zealand

convert to Christianity. Nor are they willing to promise to obey the law under its present remarkable construction. Yet it is these cases, in which the parties are chiefly elderly persons, and have in many instances contracted their polygamous relations before there was a law of the land forbidding polygamy, that are being cited by the opponents of statehood for Utah as proofs that polygamy is still a living issue.

Recently there has been a more rational and humane policy in the punishment of this offense than prevailed formerly in the courts of Utah. The unprecedented construction of the law remains, however, having been established by the supreme court of the Territory. The surrender of defendants, who voluntarily come into court and plead guilty, is taken as evidence of submission to the law in two of the judicial districts, and a comparatively light fine and term of imprisonment are imposed for the first offense. This is having a very salutary effect, and a rational and ordinary construction of the law would soon regulate the prosecutions for polygamous cohabitation to the inconspicuous category of uncommon offenses. For, as a matter of fact, even this lesser offense against the law, "cohabitation with more than one woman," is now very rare. So that virtually the polygamous status is all that remains. Men who hold that status do not live with their plural wives for obvious reasons, and in many cases the death of either the husband or one of the wives is reducing the number of persons in that relation almost every week.

Polygamy, then-that is, the marrying of more wives-can not be shown to have a present existence in Utah, nor to be now even as frequent as bigamous cases in other parts of the country. There is positively no proof whatever of newly contracted polygamous marriages. This statement is confirmed by the testimony of Judge Carlton and General McClernand, of the Utah Commission, and has recently been indorsed by Judge Judd.

The special report of the Attorney-General to Congress shows that there have been only ten convictions for polygamy since the passage of the Edmunds act of March 22, 1882, and for unlawful cohabitation five hundred convictions. When it is remembered that in addition to the ordinary facilities for criminal prosecution the Government possesses the extraordinary powers conferred by acts of Congress, to exclude from the jury every person shown to have any belief in polygamy or sympathy with the defendant; to attach witnesses without a previous subpoena and compel their immediate attendance; to permit the legal wife to testify against her husband; to compel the attendance and testimony of the alleged plural wife, the children, and neighbors of the defendant; to employ a horde of marshals, possessing all the powers of peace officers, to detect, obtain evidence against, and arrest violators of the anti-polygamy laws, and who are spurred on to extra diligence by liberal fees and backed by a strong but uninformed public sentiment which justifies any extremes against a polygamous subject; is it not conclusively evident that these statistics are a full showing of the proportions of the polygamous conditions now existing in Utah? Is it not almost impossible under these extraordinary provisions and powers that an of fender should escape? And with these figures, as the result of six years' diligent and relentless prosecutions, how can the reckless statements of our opponents that are made concerning the prevalence of polygamy in Utah be considered anything less than monstrous exaggerations or willful perversions of the truth?

The other objection is, that in Utah the church and the state are united or that a “hierarch,” dominates civil affairs. No evidence is

offered in support of this objection, except that the Mormon people usually vote the same ticket, and that the efforts of the opposition to break this political unity are practically futile. The weakness of the inference that this union is the result of priestly coercion is exhibited in the fact that the minority, who make the complaint, are also compactly united against the majority. They sink the common differences of party politics to join in a concerted attack on a majority they wish to divide. But failing to break the ranks of the enemy, they resort to misrepresentation, and strive to destroy the very liberty of which they are the pretended champions. They would have Utah governed by a legislative commission and strike the ballot from the hands which will not support their measures and their candidates.

The governor joins in this false and foolish cry of a union of church and state, and officially makes a number of assertions, but offers not a particle of proof. The only fact he cites to show that the church exercises ecclesiastical influence in secular affairs is no evidence of the church absolutism in politics which he charges, and is itself so palpably incorrect that its utterance is almost unpardonable in a public officer. He states that the articles of incorporation of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution "provide, as a condition to become a stockholder, membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There is no such provision, the articles themselves being the witness, and it is well known that prominent Gentiles residing in Salt Lake City were, at the time the governor made this report to the Secretary of the Interior, stockholders in that institution. In proof of this fact I submit the following affidavit of Thomas G. Webber, its superintendent, secretary, and treasurer:

TERRITORY OF UTAH,

Salt Lake County, 88:

Thomas G. Webber, of the city of Salt Lake, in the said county, being duly sworn, on his oath says that he is the secretary and treasurer of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution, a corporation organized under the laws of Utah Territory and having its principal place of business in the city and county aforesaid; that he has been associated with the institution above named as the secretary and treasurer thereof for eighteen years, and as such has had, and continues to have, charge of its records, books, and papers, and is thoroughly conversant with its affairs; that the assertion, which is found on page 22 of the "Report of the Governor of Utah to the Secretary of the Interior, 1888," printed at the Government Printing Office, and hereunto appended, marked Exhibit A, and made a part hereof, and which assertion is as follows: "Its articles of incorporation (referring to Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution) provide, as a condition to become a stockholder, membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," is wholly untrue; that there is no provision in the articles of incorporation or in the by-laws of the aforesaid institution in any manner, either directly or indirectly, limiting the right to hold the stock certificates thereof to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or prescribing membership in said church as a prerequisite to the holding of office in said corporation. A certified copy of the articles of incorporation and of the by-laws of said corporation are hereunto appended, marked Exhibit B. and made a part hereof. And affiaut further alleges that the stock ledger of the aforesaid institution shows the following-named persons to be stockholders therein, in the amounts respectively set opposite their names, to wit:

And affiant further alleges that the stock ledger of said institution shows that the said W. S. McCormick has been a stockholder therein to the amount of $16,600, and that one Boliver Roberts, the nominee of Governor West for Territorial auditor

Governor WEST. Roberts is treasurer.

Mr. RICHARDS. Thank you for the correction.

was in 1886 a stockholder therein to the amount of $5,000. And affiant further alleges, upon information and belief, that none of the individuals named are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

And affiant further alleges, upon information and belief, that there are other stockholders of said corporation who are not members of the aforesaid church; and further saith not.

THOMAS G. WEBBER.

Sworn to and subscribed before me this second day of January, 1889.
[NOTARIAL SEAL.]
MELVIN E. CUMMINGS,

Notary Public.

This affidavit effectually disposes of the governor's assertion on that matter, and this is the only scrap of evidence he offers in proof of the fallacy that the church rules in civil affairs. But the governor was just as incorrect in his statement that the church "constructed and operated gas-works," as witness the annexed statement of Thomas W. Ellerbeck, superintendent of the only gas-works in the Territory:

To the editor of the Herald:

OFFICE OF THE SALT LAKE CITY GAS COMPANY,

32 East First South Street, City.

Governor West, in this year's annual report to his superior officer at Washington, states in effect that the Mormon Church "built and operated the Salt Lake City Gasworks." Please oblige me by publishing this denial.

This company was duly incorporated May 25, 1872, under the laws of this Territory, by myself, Thomas J. Almy (a gentleman well and favorably known to business men of Salt Lake), and some others, but the church never subscribed for and never furnished a single dollar towards building the gas-works, and never interfered or attempted to interfere or to direct the company during their construction or since.

Long after the works had been in successful operation the church received by donation and otherwise acquired in all nearly one-third of the gas-company's stock, but never interfered or attempted to direct the management. The church never owned but a minority representation; ergo, the church, never having held a controlling interest, never operated the gas-works."

Yours, truly,

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T. W. ELLERBECK,

Secretary and Superintendent Salt Lake City Gas Company.

Mr. WARNER. Just one question. I am informed by this that the church received nearly one-third of the stock of the gas works?

Mr. RICHARDS. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAKER. In its corporate capacity?

Mr. RICHARDS. The corporation received it.

Mr. WARNER. I understood your statement to be that it was by donation.

Mr. RICHARDS. "By donation and otherwise," is the language of the statement I have just read.

Mr. WARNER. How much by donation? I could not hear as to that. Mr. RICHARDS. I have no means of knowing.

Mr. WARNER. Was that a donation from the people?

Mr. RICHARDS. A donation from private individuals, I suppose.

Mr. BAKER. What proportion of the remainer of the stock was owned by members and officers of the church?

Mr. RICHARDS. I have no means of knowing that.

Mr. WARNER. Just one question further. I hold a copy of the bylaws here, and I presume you are familiar with the names. On page 7, containing the names of the original incorporators, are they all members of the Mormon Church? I do not know, however, if that is material.

Mr. RICHARDS. I do not know them all. Some of them are not now living.

Governor WEST. Allow me a question; this is not the original organization of the Z. C. M. I.?

Mr. RICHARDS. Yes, sir; these are the original articles of incorporation printed.

Governor WEST. I do not mean the articles, I mean the institution of the Z. C. M. I. Do you mean it is simply the original paper of the incorporation filed in the probate court?

Mr. RICHARDS. These are the original articles of incorporation of Z. C. M. I.

Governor WEST. Was not the Z. C. M. I. in operation previous to that time as a business institution?

Mr. RICHARDS. I think not, although it may have been. A number of individuals named in the articles had mercantile establishments in Salt Lake City, but my impression now is that the institution was incorporated before it commenced business. At any rate, in your report you speak of the "articles of incorporation," and this is a certified copy of the original and only articles of incorporation Z. C. M. I. ever had. The amendments are marked in red ink.

The governor further states, concerning the so-called hierarchy : "Every trade, business, industrial pursuit, and profession has and must contribute to it. It has exacted from the Mormon people by way of tithing millions of money." The truth is that no person who is not a member of the church has been requested to contribute in any way to its support, even public collections being conspicuously absent in Mormon services. Men of all trades and professions ply their vocations freely and make money rapidly in Utah, without being interfered with in any way by the Mormon Church, or being expected, required, or even solicited, to bestow a cent to sustain it. And it is equally untrue that the church "exacts" from the Mormon people anything by way of tithing.

Mr. BAKER. Is it one of the obligations of membership that they pay tithes?

Mr. RICHARDS. No, sir; it is not made an obligation of membership. There are thousands of men in the Mormon Church to-day who never pay a dollar of tithes.

It is a voluntary donation, the amount of which is determined by the giver. Some pay the tenth of their annual income, others much less, some but a trifle, and others nothing at all. The governor, like many persons who believe what they are told, without inquiring of those who know, speaks of things he does not understand, and therefore falls into egregious errors. He says:

This priesthood not only rules the church but governs the State.

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The truth is that most of the male members are a part of the priesthood of which he speaks, and that the church is ruled by common consent," which is one of its fundamental principles. Every member, male and female, has a vote in all general church matters and no church officer is qualified to act without the vote of the people among whom he is to officiate. So much for this absolutism in the church, which is really the most democratic ecclesiastical organization in the world. The affairs of state, if such they may be called in a Territory, are conducted as elsewhere, except that the governor holds the absolute veto, and is the embodiment and representative of the greatest absolutism in the United States. But not satisfied with this unusual one-man power he desires, and has modestly asked for, the power to appoint those petty officers in the counties and precincts of Utah who are now elected by the people.