the desire of the Commission to investigate the charges of irregularity, and to remove as far as possible, all cause of complaint. The Deseret News claims for itself, that "it is the organ of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the authorized medium through which the views, wishes and instructions of the church authori ties are expressed and given to the saints," and it is recognized as the official organ of the Peoples' party. Its editor holds the high position in the church of counselor of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, and member of the central committee of the Peoples' party. There was then time to investigate and act, had the request of the Commission been complied with. In the subsequent letter referred to, it will be seen that he gives as a partial reason for not complying with the request, "the indisposition to deal justly with the Peoples' party exhibited by all who possessed power to correct the wrongs that were being perpetrated. This we can only consider as a puerile attempt to besmirch the Commission, which had in good faith and in a respectful manner invited his assistance in its endeavor to investigate, and correct any wrong that might be found to exist. On the 1st day of May, nearly three months after the ignored request for information, long after the Commission had adjourned, after the functions of the officers referred to had ceased and too late for any act of the commission to be effective, or of benefit to any one, Mr. Penrose, the editor, addressed to the chairman of the Commission, at Des Moines, Iowa, the following communication: SALT LAKE CITY, May 1, 1890. Col. G. L. GODFREY, Chairman Utah Commission : GENTLEMEN: On the 7th of February I had the honor to receive from you a communication of which the annexed is a copy: "Mr. CHARLES W. PENROSE, "Editor Deseret Evening News. "SALT LAKE CITY, February 7, 1890. "DEAR SIR: In your paper of yesterday evening in an editorial headed Questiona ble Sincerity,' you make among others this direct charge, that two of the registration officers of this city made a trip on a special car over the Rio Grande Western and registered by wholesale gang after gang of employés found at various points between here and the Colorado line.' And further charge, the members of the Utah Commission, it is presumed, have full information of this flagrant crime.' The Commission, and each member thereof, emphatically denies having such information. "Will you have the kindness to furnish the Commission immediately with the names of the registration officers referred to in your article and oblige, "Yours, respectfully, by order of the Commission, To this I at once replied as follows: "G. L. GODFREY, "Chairman." "OFFICE OF THE DESERET NEWS COMPANY, "Col. G. L. GODFREY, "Chairman Utah Commission. GENTLEMEN: Your favor of even date in relation to an article which appeared in the Deseret Evening News of the 6th instant is received. Although I never wrote or inspired the article referred to, and did not see it until it was in print, I do not wish to avoid any responsibility which attaches to me as editor of the Deseret Evening News. I therefor reply to your assertion directly. "You say that I make among others this direct charge: That two of the regis tration officers of this city made a trip in a special car over the Rio Grande Western and registered by wholesale gang after gang of employés,' etc. I clip from the article the exact language used, as follows: "It is believed to have come to be as well understood to every citizen as is the season of the year or the state of the weather, that two of the registration officers of this city made a trip in a special car over the Rio Grande Western and registered by wholesale gang after gang of employés found at various points between here and the Colorado line. The members of the Utah Commission, it is presumed, have full information of this flagrant crime.' "You will observe that instead of making any direct charge' of the kind you mention, the Deseret News simply commented upon something that is a topic of common conversation. The charge did not originate with the Deseret News nor with any of its writers. "It is fair to presume that the Utah Commissioners present in this city have as 'full information of this flagrant crime' as is current in the community. And I must confess my surprise at your statement that the 'Commission, and each member thereof emphatically denies having any such information.' "I also respectfully suggest that if the Commission really desire to go to the bottom of this notorious affair there must be better means of reaching it than through newspaper channels. The names of the appointees of the Commission who are said to have perpetrated one of the most shameful attempts at fraud ever committed in the country, are bandied about by the public, and, as the Deseret Evening News has intimated, must surely have come to the ears of the Commission. "I am, gentlemen, very respectfully yours, "CHAS. W. PENROSE, At that time I was satisfied that the reports commonly circulated concerning illegal registration along the line of the Rio Grande Western Railway were true. But the direct evidences which have been obtained in proof of those reports were not then within my reach. Even if they had been at my disposal it is probable that I should have deemed it prudent to withhold them for a time, in consideration of the intense party feeling that then prevailed, and the indisposition to deal justly with the people's party exhibited by all who possessed power to correct the wrongs that were being perpetrated. As the contest is now over and the bitterness it provoked is somewhat allayed, and as I think you should be informed as to some of the disgraceful facts known to many members of the people's party who consider they have been defrauded, I submit to you certified copies of a few out of a large number of affidavits which I have examined, which are bona fide, and which will be carefully preserved for future reference. The affidavits in regard to the train registration, some of which I send you, coupled with the fact that the names of the men illegally registered appear on the registration lists without any address and chiefly inthe second precinct, established, in the minds of those who have well considered the matter, the assurance that three, at least, of your registration officers were parties to the fraud. I also send you a few out of a very large number of affidavits concerning the conduct of the registrars, sitting as a court of first and last resort and depriving hundreds of legal voters of the right to cast their ballots at the Salt Lake City election. And further, I add some samples of hundreds of other affidavits, showing that the judges of election violated the law in rejecting votes offered under the provision of section 2007 Revised Statutes of the United States. With this information at hand I feel it my duty to place so much at least as I now send at your disposal; not, however, with the view of making this correspondence public, but that you may not, through silence on my part, be left in ignorance of the wrong that has been done to the majority of the voters of this city, and the culpable conduct of those officers of your appointment who are now enjoying the pecuniary reward of their unlawful work. Very respectfully, CHARLES W. PENROSE. What purported to be affidavits of several parties, accompanied the communication, but as none of the parties purporting to have made them were known to, or ever heard of by, the Commission, with one exception, the Commission had no means of knowing whether they were deserving of weight and credence, even if the facts alleged in them were worthy of notice. The exception spoken of is the purported copy of an affidavit by one James B. Ray, which is the first of the series furnished. The Commission had information of the temporary presence here prior to the election of a person by that name, otherwise known in Salt Lake City as "No. 2" of a somewhat famous body of so-called detectives employed by the people's party committee, and of which one Bonfield, of Chicago, was known as "No. 1." The information the Commission had was supplemented by the following description of him as telegraphed 13190--2 from Chicago, and published in the daily press of this city, without denial: E. H. PARSONS, United States Marshal: CHICAGO, February 3, 1890. James Ray; about twenty-eight years; weight, 175 to 180 pounds; stout built; 5 feet 5 or 6 inches; light complexion; smooth face; blonde hair; done three years at Indiana penitentiary for burglary; was stool-pigeon for John Bonfield for three years when Bonfield was city detective; was arrested by a Pinkerton detective at Aurora, Ill., summer of 1888, for picking pockets, and known as an all-around thief, with a general bad reputation. W. A. PINKERTON. The Commission is not of the opinion that affidavits made, or procured by agencies of that character are entitled to be considered as of great weight, especially when directed against men of character and standing in the community, acting under solemn oath to perform their official duties impartially, and is of the opinion that the matter should have been referred to the courts instead of the Commission, if any action had really been desired. The municipal election of February 10 resulted in the election of the Liberal ticket by majorities ranging from 700 to 800. The majority of George M. Scott, Liberal candidate for mayor, over Spencer Clawson, People's candidate, was 807. The Commission believes the election was a fair one, and has no doubt that the Liberal party fairly won the day. The legislature of 1890 enacted that the elections for school trustees in cities of the first and second class should be by the registered voters of the city, and under that enactment the Commission held that the election must be conducted by officers of its appointment. On the 14th day of July school elections were held in Ogden, Salt Lake, and Provo, resulting at the former place in the choice of seven Liberal and three People's party trustees, thus giving the control of the Salt Lake City schools to the Liberals, or anti-Mormons. In the August election, which was general throughout the Territory, for commissioners to locate university lands, and county and precinct officers, the result was again favorable to the Liberals in Salt Lake County, they electing their ticket with the exception of recorder, sheriff, and treasurer. Elections have been held under the supervision of the Commission since September 1, 1889, as follows: Municipal election for school trustees under Territorial law of 1890: July 14, 1890, Salt Lake, Salt Lake County; July 14, 1890, Ogden, Weber County; July 14, 1890, Provo, Utah County. August 4, 1890, general election for commissioners to locate university lands, and county and precinct officers. The Commission feels justified in pointing with some degree of pride to the results that have been attained through its administration of the election laws in the Territory, and in expressing the opinion that without such enactments, and the thorough and conscientious manner with which the Commission has endeavored to enforce them, such good results would yet be among the things to be hoped for, but not attained. In addition to the duties of the Commission under the laws in regard to registration and elections by act of Congress approved October 19, 1883, the Commission was created a "Board of Management and Control of the Industrial Christian Home Association, for the Territory of Utah," and required to report to Congress in regard thereto. Upon assuming the management of said institution it was found that the association had purchased a lot, and that the building had been partially completed under its management. A large and commodious brick building is now completed, partially furnished, and is now ready for occupancy by such persons as may under the law be eligible to become inmates, to wit, "Dependent women who renounce polygamy and the children of such women of tender age; women and girls with polygamous surroundings in danger of being coerced into polygamy; girls of polygamous parentage anxious to escape polygamous influences; and women and girls who have been proselyted elsewhere and removed into the Territory in ignorance of the existence of polygamy." Thus far but few of any of these classes have availed themselves of the munificence of the Government by accepting the home thus generously offered them. In compliance with the terms of the law, the direct management of the home has been turned over to the association named, but the action of the association is subject to the supervision and control of the Commission. A fuller report on this subject will be made to Congress, as the law directs. During the year there have been frequent expressions of the hope that the church would, in some authoritative and explicit manner, declare in favor of the abandonment of polygamy or plural marriage as one of the saving doctrines or teachings of the church; but no such declaration has been made. There is little reason for doubting, so complete is the control of the church over its people, that if such a declaration were made by those in authority it would be accepted and followed by a large majority of the membership of the so-called "Mormon Church," and a settlement of the much-discussed "Mormon question would soon be reached. On the contrary, in all the teachings in the Tabernacle and the church organs every effort of the Government to suppress this crime is still denominated as a persecution, and those charged with ferreting out and prosecuting the guilty are denominated persecutors of the saints. The church seems to grow more united from day to day under these teachings. At the general conference of the church, held in Salt Lake City in April last, Wilford Woodruff, a disfranchised polygamist, was chosen "as prophet, seer, and revelator, and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in all the world;" the first time since the death of John Taylor, in 1887, that that office has been filled. At the same time George Q. Cannon was chosen as first counselor, in the first presidency, and Lorenzo Snow as president of the twelve apostles, all of them being disfranchised polygamists. The council of the twelve apostles was completed by filling all vacancies. A large proportion of the twelve apostles and the high dignitaries of the church are polygamists, and all are reputed to be open believers in the doctrine. Indeed, it is believed that no one can be promoted to office in the church unless he professes a belief in it as a fundamental doctrine. The day he was elevated to the presidency, Wilford Woodruff, addressing the conference in the tabernacle, used the following language: * We have also the book of doctrines and covenants. This code of revelation was given through the mouth of the prophet, Joseph Smith, by the urim and thumшim and otherwise. That book contains some of the most glorious and most sublime revelations God ever gave to man. These things are clear, they are pointed, they are strong, and they are the revelations of God, and they will be fulfilled whether men believe it or not. I say there is not a nation under heaven, there is not a king, a prince, or a president, or any other man who has power over the sons of man but should give unto their subjects the privilege of worshiping God according |