party convention ratified and adopted the ticket thus selected. It was charged that the Liberals, having control of the registration and, under the usual custom of appointment, likely to control the election boards, contemplated and were preparing for a system of wholesale frauds in order to carry the election, and it was demanded of the Commission that it appoint one member at least of each board of election from the newly formed Citizen's party. For the purpose of investigating the condition of affairs the Commis. sion held a session in the city of Ogden, inviting representatives of all the parties to appear before them. The representatives of the Citizens' party made demand for representation, accompanied by the assertion that the People's party had disbanded. This was promptly disputed by the representatives of the People's party, each and all of whom vigorously asserted that that party had not disbanded and would demand the representation the law gave it upon each of the election boards, one asserting that the People's party only supported the citi zens' ticket as "a choice between two evils," and would have its own ticket in the field at the next election. The Commission declined to depart from its customary rule of action, and appointed to constitute the election boards two from the Liberal and one from the Peoples' party. The Commission believes, from personal observation of the conduct of the election, that it was fairly conducted and was free from any attempts to override the will of the people. The greater portion of the citizens' ticket was elected by a small majority. As the time approached for holding the general Territorial election in August, 1891, a new condition of political affairs confronted the people of Utah. The People's party was officially declared disbanded by its Territorial committee and it was announced that for the future an alliance would be sought with the two great national parties. This departure from established methods was hailed by some as the end that had long been looked for, while others looked upon it as a ruse through which the leaders of the Mormon Church were seeking Statehood, well knowing that their large majority would control the State thus formed. Upon this conflict of opinion the Commission pronounces no judg ment, preferring that the experiment be given a fair trial and be judged by its results. Whether the disbanding of the People's or Mormon party be an act of good faith or a ruse by which to get rid of the power and control of the National Government, the Commission is of the opinion that it is a step in the direction of educating the people to think for themselves politically, will tend to loosen the bonds in which they have in the past been held by the church, and thus be productive of good in the end. In view of the fact that the Mormon Church has invariably in the past dictated the political movements of its adherents and presented a united front against any and every party which came in contact with it, those who now doubt its sincerity may well be excused for doubting. That church has, through the People's party, strenuously opposed every effort made, whether by laws of Congress, the action of the courts, or of the Utah Commission, to put down polygamy. It has appealed to the courts, generally going to the court of last resort, upon every question that could be raised to sustain its assumption that it was justified in obeying the alleged will of God expressed through daily revelation vouchsafed only to themselves, as against the revealed will of the nation expressed through its laws. It has denounced the Commission through all the years that it has been administering the laws directed against polygamy and kept a united force constantly standing and ready to oppose every effort to compel its submission to the laws of the land. When disfranchisement stared the church in the face; when the city and county of Salt Lake, the city of Ogden and county of Weber, and Park City had been wrested from its control and other places were showing signs of becoming anti-Mormon, then and not till then did this change come. This Commission hopes that it is the beginning of a better era. It cares not what the motive underlying the movement may be if its results be for the enfranchisement of this people and the substitution of better ideas and methods for those which have prevailed in the past. It will do no harm to Utah or to the nation to wait a while and see what this sudden conversion-as sudden as that of Saul of Tarsus— will bring about. Time, which proves all things, will prove whether it will be for good or ill. It is worthy of note that 7,411 Gentiles, more than ever before voted the Liberal ticket, avowed by their votes their disbelief in the sincerity of the new political movement. It is but 2 years since this Commission and its registration officers were charged with fraud and crime because the city of Salt Lake had shown a Gentile majority of 41 in the August election, 1889. The result of the Salt Lake municipal election of February, 1890, when the Gentiles elected their mayor and city council by a majority of 807, was made the occasion of again villifying the Commission by publishing wholesale charges of corruption from one end of the land to the other. A sufficient answer to these charges is found in the increased registered vote and increased Liberal majority in the business centers, as shown in Salt Lake City, and in the result of the later elections. In June, 1889, when the registry for Salt Lake City was made by which a Gentile majority of 41 was obtained, the registration lists exhibited a total of 5,494. In June, 1890, 7,621, and in June 1891, 10,273, nearly all of which represents an anti-Mormon gain, an increase of Gentile immigration. Under this registration the Liberal party of Salt Lake elected its representatives by a majority of 1,045 over its highest competitor and of 691 over the Republican and Democratic competitors combined, and the old charge of fraud against the Commission and its officers has not been once heard. It would seem that no better vindication of the work of the Commission would be wished for, and the redemption of the great business centers of Utah from the blight of the old régime points the way to the final redemption of the Territory if the lessons of the past are heeded and the work continued which has thus far produced such gratifying results. As a means of securing impartial and fair elections throughout the Territory the Commission from time to time as the exigency arose issued to its registration and election officers circulars of instruction, which are given as Appendices A, B, C, and D to this report, and which it is believed were generally observed and acted upon. Many of them do not differ materially from those heretofore published and acted upon. Others seemed required to meet their present need, and the prompt ac quiescence of the officers so allayed partisan fears that less complaint followed the August election of 1891 than ever before. The Commission has heretofore recommended and now repeats the recommendation that such legislation be had as will make its registra tion officers responsible to it for their actions. ATTITUDE OF THE PARTIES TOWARD MORMONISM. The Democratic party of Utah, in its declaration of principles adopted in convention July 20, 1891, has the following on local affairs: Be it resolved, That we accept the declaration and action of the Mormon people abandoning the practice of polygamy, and the People's party in disbanding the same, as done in good faith and in all sincerity, and we favor the restoration of the franchise to all disfranchised citizens who will obey the laws of the United States. The Republican party adopted the following resolution: Sixth. We are opposed to the disfranchisement of any citizen except for crime, or which he shall have been convicted by due process of law, and we favor the free exercise of the power of amnesty to all citizens disfranchised on account of polygamy of polygamous relations who will obey and uphold the laws of the United States. Upon the same subject the Liberal party declared as follows: The American citizens of Salt Lake County in Liberal convention assembled hereby present to their fellow-citizens their platform of principles. Whereas for 40 years institutions of the free Government of the United States have been menaced in this portion of American territory by a theocracy so despotic in its exercise of power as to suppress all freedom of thought or action in the individual; and Whereas during all of said time the people acknowledging its authority have been directed and educated in lines of thought tending to induce the conviction that the Government of the United States was a league with death and a covenant with hell, and an enemy to them and their institutions; and Whereas in the past the subordination of temporal government to ecclesiastical power in the Territory of Utah has made life unendurable and the pursuit of liberty and happiness impossible for all true Americans within its sovereignty; and Whereas the Liberal party, born of the necessities of the hour, and made possible by the union of brave and true men and women, by its strong and steady opposition for these many years past to the insolent demands of an arrogant and alien priesthood, had touched the pulse and quickened the conscience of the great people of these United States; and Whereas the political conditions of the 150,000 people produced by years of mental slavery and superstition in the natural order of things can not possibly be changed in a day; and Whereas all revelations, judging from the lessons of history, come from within and not from without; and Whereas the political power of the Mormon Church in the Territory of Utah as exercised in the past, and as it now exists in the present, is a menace to free institutions too dangerous to be suffered : Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Liberal party of Salt Lake County in convention assembled, That we announce to our fellow-citizens of the United States that there is no question of a national political character which at the present time can serve to distract the attention of them and ourselves in the single one that here confronts us. Resolved, That the efforts of a few designing place hunters, coupled with those of the agent of the Mormon theocracy, to place the American citizens of this Territory in a false light before the country, do and of a right should receive our condemnation. There is nothing in the past nor present life of the Mormon Church which indicates to us that it has taken its priestly hand from the throat of the citizen. For years we have been fighting for the supremacy of the principle, and the veteran experience of many conflicts enables us, as we believe, to judge better than mere theorists and holiday soldiers as to present conditions. Resolved, That the Liberal party has no animosities to gratify, no revenges to accomplish, but that it loves the principles of American liberty and reveres its institutions; that its hatreds are directed alone against the methods and madness which would subject the government, overwhelm the family, and degrade the man. Resolved, That the men and women who are educated under and believe in the principles of free government are not prepared to say to the people of the United States at this time that the Territory should become a State. When the people here shall have become emancipated; shall have renounced all dependence in secular matters upon a hierarchy; when they evidence by their own honest endeavor in a bona fide struggle for freedom that the spirit which leavens the institutions of the country prevails indeed with them; when in fact there shall be no question that proper conditions exist; when that time comes, and not until then, are we willing that Utah shall become a free and sovereign State; because every interest of Utah, both Morman and Gentile, forbids the admission of this Territory to statehood under present conditions, inasmuch as it would destroy values, demoralize business, and stretch around a polygamous theocracy the protection of State lines. Resolved, That we stamp upon the attempt to divide Gentiles upon party lines as but another attempt of the Mormon leaders to accomplish by stealth and fraud and with the help of Gentile allies what they have so often failed to attain unaided, and we deplore the blindness which has led a few former friends astray. POWER OF THE COMMISSION QUESTIONED. The Commission was of the opinion that under the present Territorial law elections for school purposes within the Territory of Utah should be conducted under the officers appointed by it. But in May last the school board of Salt Lake City ordered an election upon the question of issuing school bonds. Upon the Commission undertaking to provide the machinery for such election, a suit was brought against it to enjoin it from in any manner interfering with such election. The suit was brought in the third district court of the United States before Judge Anderson, who sustained the views held by the Commission, and the election proceeded under its supervision. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, which, by a majority, reversed the deci sion of Judge Anderson. A new election was ordered, and was held by the officers chosen by the municipal authority. While the soundness of the decision is doubted by many, the Commission has submitted to the ruling as one which all are bound to respect and obey unless reversed. REAPPORTIONMENT. By act of Congress of March 3, 1891, the duty was imposed upon this Commission, "as soon as practicable, and upon the basis of the census of the said Territory taken in the year 1890, to redistrict said Territory and apportion representatives in the same in such manner as to provide as near as may be for an equal representation of the people, excepting Indians not taxed, according to numbers, and by districts as nearly compact as possible, in the legislative assembly, and the number of members of the council and house of representatives thereof respectively as now established by law." In compliance therewith the Commission met in Salt Lake City on the 10th day of May, 1891, and after due and careful consideration and after publicly inviting suggestions and plans from all parties and persons interested, reapportioned said Territory, and caused such reapportionment to be recorded in the office of the Secretary of the Territory, as required by the terms of said act, as set out in the following circular issued to all registration and election officers in the Territory: OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, Salt Lake City, June 1, 1891. SIR: I inclose for your information a copy of the apportionment of representatives in the legislative assembly of this Territory, as made by the Utah Commission. There are seventeen representative districts, with apportioned membership and population as follows: No. 1 Cache and Rich Counties 2 Box Elder County 3 Ogden City.. 4 Remainder of Weber County.. 5 Salt Lake City... District. 6 Davis and Morgan Counties and Pleasant Green, Hunter, and North Point precincts of Salt Lake County 7 West, South, and North Jordan; Herriman, Riverton, Bluffdale, and Draper precincts of Salt Lake County; and Cedar Fort, Alpine, Lehi, American Fork, and Pleasant Grove precincts of Utah County. 8 Brighton, Granger, Farmers, Mill Creek, Sugar House, Mountain Dell, East Mill Creek, Union, South Cottonwood, Big Cottonwood, Butler, Sandy, Granite, Little Cottonwood, and Silverton precincts of Salt Lake County 9 Juab County, except Mona precinct; Tooele County, and Bingham precinct of Salt Lake County 10 Summit and Uintah Counties... 11 Provo Bench, Provo, Lake Shore, Lake View, and Springville precincts in Utah County 12 Spanish Fork, Thistle, Pleasant Valley Junction, Benjamin, Salem, Goshen, Santaquin, Payson, Fairfield, and Spring Lake precincts of Utah County, and Mona precinct, of Juab County, and Thistle, Milburn, Fountain Green, and Fairview precincts of San Pete County.. 13 Remainder of San Pete County. 14 Wasatch, Emery, and Grand Counties. 15 Sevier and Millard Counties... 16 Beaver, Piute, and Iron Counties 17 Garfeld, Washington, Kane, and San Juan Counties The totals are 24 members and 207,906 population. And it is further ordered that if any part of said Territory be omitted from said districts the inhabitants of such omitted portion shall belong to and be a part of the representative district and council district to which the county in which it is situate belongs unless said county itself be divided, in which case it shall belong to and be a part of the district to which it is contiguous. And it is further ordered that the above and foregoing establishment of such new districts, and the apportionment of representatives and councilors thereto be recorded in the office of the secretary of said Territory of Utah, as provided by the terms of said act of Congress, and that said redistricting and apportionment take effect and be in force on and after this date. Respectfully, ELIJAH SELLS, Secretary. |