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CHAPTER XVI.
The Effort for the Admission of Utah That Failed.
To extricate the high officers of the Mormon church from the dilemma they were in on account of the passage and vigorous and effective execution of the Edmunds act of 1882, and after most of them had for years been in hiding to avoid arrest, a vigorous effort was made by the Mormons previous to the announcement of the Woodruff manifesto to procure statehood for Utah. In 1888, an application having been made to Congress for the admission of Utah, I was requested by a committee of Gentiles to go to Washington and oppose its admission, which I did. Franklin S. Richards, John T. Caine, Jeremiah M. Wilson, a distinguished attorney, and Joseph M. McDonald of Indiana, appeared before the Senate Committee on Territories and spoke in favor of admission. Senator Dubois and myself appeared and spoke in opposition. The following quotation from the published proceedings before the committee shows the ground of my opposition:
"Mr. Baskin of Utah Territory, on behalf of the Gentiles of that Territory, addressed the committee as follows:
"`While the theocratic tenet of the Mormon church is as great if not a greater evil than polygamy, and as much opposed to our American institutions, polygamy is the feature most antagonistic to the sentiment of the nation, and against which the laws of Congress relating to the Mormon problem have been more directly aimed. The political power of Utah Territory, by the grace of Congress placed and kept in the hands of the Mormon hierarchy, has been and still is the main prop and shield of the Mormon system. This power has been its greatest protection, has stimulated its growth, and still preserves its existence. Without the possession of this power by the Mormons, polygamy could never have reached its present status, or Mormonism ever have become a difficult national problem.
"`The perpetuity of the objectionable features of the Mormon system is dependent upon the perpetuation of the political power of the church. The elimination of polygamy and theocratic rule would leave nothing vital in the system obnoxious to American sentiment. The Mormon church, fully realizing the great importance of the political power practically, though not in form, placed in its hands by the Organic Act of the Territory, with a zeal worthy of a better cause has stubbornly fought every measure introduced into Congress for the punishment of polygamy, or tending to curtail the power of the Mormon hierarchy, and as far as it was practicable used the power of the Territory to defeat the execution of all laws of the government abridging Mormon power or punishing Mormon practices. In 1862 Congress began to remove the safeguard which the Mormon legislature had thrown around the peculiar institutions and practices of the church, and protected by which safeguards the hierarchy had become confident, bold and. arrogant. Congress continued to advance by very slow approaches in the same direction, and by the passage of what is known as the Poland law of 1874, the Edmunds law of 1882, and the Edmunds-Tucker law of 1887, placed the Mormons in a position of great distress. The leaders at last began to realize that the government of the United States was more powerful than the government of the Mormon church. The heads of this hostile government within the national government fled to places of concealment to escape punishment, and have remained concealed for nearly four years. The discussions in Congress, and the comments of the press of the country on the passage of the measures before referred to, revealed the fact, alarming to the Mormons, that there is a growing public sentiment in the country in favor of the passage of a law by Congress taking the political power of Utah out of the hands of those who have wrongfully used it to build up and protect a system diametrically opposed to American institutions. The dilemma of the leaders and the growing public sentiment threatening its very life (political power) has forced upon the Mormon church the necessity of the departure which has been taken in the matter of the recent application for statehood, under a constitution - ostensibly, but not in reality - prohibiting the practice of that feature of the Mormon system, the prohibition and authority to punish which in a constitution framed and adopted by members of the church it was thought would do most to appease public sentiment, and turn it in favor of the scheme of statehood. The departure is artfully strategic, is intended to deceive, and is well calculated to accomplish that purpose. The ends really sought to be attained by the admission of Utah is the perpetuation of the theocratic power of the church, the rescue of the system of celestial or plural marriage, as taught and practiced, from threatened destruction, the rescue of its leaders and other polygamists from arrest and punishment, and the securement of amenity to polygamy. The admittance of Utah under the constitution presented to Congress would successfully accomplish these ends. The admission of Utah at any time in the future while the church holds dominant political control in the Territory will accomplish the same end, whatever may be the provisions of the constitution under which the Territory shall be admitted. In proof of the fact that this movement is not made in good faith, and that its success would accomplish the ends above indicated, the following facts are submitted:
"`On the 17th day of June last, without any agitation of the question of statehood among the masses? or any previous notice to the public of such a movement, on behalf of the central committee of the People's party - an organization within the church for the purposes of the church, composed exclusively of Mormons - the following communication was addressed to the chairman of the Democratic central committee of Utah:
"The territorial committee of the People's party, considering that the time is propitious for an application for admission into the Union of the Territory of Utah, has called mass conventions to be held in the several counties, June 25th, to nominate delegates to a constitutional convention to be held in this city June 30th, 1887. It is desired that the movement be made as general as possible, and that all classes of the people of the Territory shall participate in it. We therefore solicit the co-operation of - the Democratic party of Utah, and through you as its chairman, we respectfully invite your committee and your party to take an active part in the mass convention, and to assist in the nomination of delegates to the constitutional convention, with the understanding that if you accept the invitation your party shall be accorded a thorough representation in the convention.
"By order of the People's Territorial Central Committee.
"(Signed) J. R. WINDER, Chairman."
"`A similar communication was addressed to the chairman of the Republican committee. In thirteen days from the date of these communications a constitutional convention convened in Salt Lake City composed almost exclusively of Mormons, adopted the Constitution which at the last general election, without any authority of law, in an irregular manner, was ratified by the mass of the Mormons at the polls. As the Gentiles of the Territory did not deem the time auspicious for the admission of Utah, they did not vote upon the question of the adoption of the Constitution. under this constitution, application for the admission of Utah Territory has been made and is being urged upon Congress. Article XV, section 12, of this constitution contains the following clause:
"Bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with a republican form of government, each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a in misdemeanor."
" It is a pregnant fact that should be noted, that this clause does not state what acts shall constitute the crimes of bigamy and polygamy, and that the cohabitation clause of the Edmunds law, the only provision punishing polygamic practices that has ever been effective, was not inserted. Bigamy and polygamy, in general terms, are the only crimes prohibited. Celestial marriage is not mentioned. Yet celestial marriage is the system which the Mormons claim was revealed to the church, and is the only system of plural marriage practiced by them or accepted as a tenet to the Mormon church. They claim, further, that celestial marriage is entirely different from either bigamy or polygamy, and deny that they practice the last named crimes, or that either is permitted or tolerated in the church. What follows, shows their views upon this subject. The Deseret News, which is the official organ of the church, on May 20, 1886, contains the following:
"Polygamy, in the ordinary Asiatic sense of the term, never was, and is not now, a tenet of the Latter-day Saints. We have repeatedly shown that the Mormon system of plural marriage is not bigamy, and it does not contain the essential elements of that offense. We have also indicated that, properly speaking, it is not polygamy. In reviewing the message of President Arthur, we refuted the statement made by him that polygamy is the cornerstone of the Mormon church and said polygamy, speaking properly, is not now, and has never been, even a tenet of the Mormon faith. In that statement we made no attempt to deny the doctrine of celestial marriage, which is an essential part of the creed of the Latter-day Saints. What we claim is that the Mormon system of marriage is, properly speaking, neither polygamy nor bigamy."
"`Article XVI, section 1, of that constitution provided that Article XV, section 12 - which prohibits the practice of polygamy - shall not he amended or revised in any way except by the approval of Congress.
"`The constitution of the United States provides that new States may be admitted into the Union. The time at which this power shall be exercised, and the precedent conditions which may be required by Congress, is entirely left to its discretion. In the exercise of this discretion Congress may, if it chooses, dictate to the applicants any or all of the provisions of their constitution. But whatever may be the character of the provision so imposed by Congress as a prerequisite for admission, the moment the State is in the Union it is vested by the express provision of the constitution of the United States with all of the rights, privileges and powers possessed by the other States, and the constitution at once applies to such State with the same force and effect it applies to the other States. It therefore follows, that any precedent conditions for admission imposed by Congress which abridges the rights of the new State in such a manner as to deprive it, when in the Union, of the rights which the other States enjoy, under the provisions of that constitution destroys the uniform operation of that instrument, and is null and void. The other States possess the right to amend their constitutions.
"`This question, however, is of no practical importance in this case, because the Mormons will never disturb Article XII of the constitution which they have adopted, because it does not apply to their system of marriage, according to the distinction which they make between bigamy and polygamy and celestial marriage, and even if it applied, with the powers of a State in their hands it would be more harmless to them than the law of 1862 against polygamy has been. Is it likely that any member of the church would ever be prosecuted for the violation of Article XII of the constitution, with the administration of the criminal law of the State in the hands of judges, jurors, and prosecuting officers who belong to the church and believe that the practice of plural marriage by the Saints has the authority of divine revelation?'"
After a full discussion of the matter before the committee Senator Cullom reported the following resolution:
"Resolved, that it is the sense of the Senate Committee that new States should be admitted into the Union only upon a basis of equality with the existing States, and that Congress ought not to exercise any supervision over the provisions of the constitution of any such State further than is necessary to guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government. That the proposed constitution of the State of Utah submitted to Congress with the memorial praying for the admission of the Territory of Utah into the Union as a State, contains provisions which would deprive such proposed State, if admitted into the Union, of that equality which should exist among the different States. Resolved, further, that it is the sense of the Senate that the Territory of Utah ought not to be admitted into the Union as a State until it certain beyond doubt that the practice of plural marriage, bigamy, or polygamy has been entirely abandoned by the inhabitants of said Territory, and until it is likewise certain that the civil affairs of the Territory are not controlled by the priesthood of the Mormon church."
The last of these resolutions expressed the general sentiment of the nation, and it was not until after the manifesto was issued, and the heads of the Mormon church had given a pledge that polygamy would not be renewed and the church would not in the future control the civil affairs of the State, that the Territory was admitted into the Union. Without such a pledge, statehood could not have been obtained.
From the following incident, I have not the least doubt that such a pledge was made to the members of Congress, pending the Enabling Act under which Utah was admitted: There was an act of Congress which prohibited incorporated cities of the territories from issuing bonds beyond a certain percentage of the amount of taxes annually assessed. Salt Lake City had issued bonds up to the limit, and as it was necessary to issue more bonds in order to complete certain necessary public improvements which had been commenced, I, as mayor of that city, went to Washington to procure a special act authorizing the issuance of a million dollars of extra bonds. While there I met, in the lobby of the Arlington hotel, Geo. Q. Cannon, who was one of the counselors of Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon church, Bishop Clawson and Isaac K. Trumbo, who were in Washington to aid in procuring the passage of the Enabling Act which was then pending. Mr. Trumbo asked me if I had come to again oppose the admission of Utah. Upon replying that I had not, he requested me to aid in the passage of that act, to which I replied, "The president of the Mormon church has the power in Utah to defeat or elect any party ticket or candidate for office whenever he desires to do so, and while that power exists, I cannot favor statehood for the Territory." Mr. Cannon then said that the ruling church authorities had made a solemn pledge that the church would take no part in political affairs, and that polygamy would not be renewed. I replied, "While I have no doubt that both you and President Woodruff will favor keeping that pledge, the successor of President Woodruff might disregard it; and while I will not act a hypocritical part by favoring statehood, I will not take any active steps in opposition to the passage of the pending Enabling Act, as most of the influential members of the Liberal party, to which I belong, favor the admission of the Territory."
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