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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:45:03 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:45:03 -0700 |
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diff --git a/14661-h/14661-h.htm b/14661-h/14661-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a88dad5 --- /dev/null +++ b/14661-h/14661-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,882 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Conditions In Utah, by Thomas Kearns. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + h1,h2,h3,h4 { text-align: center; clear: both;} + hr { width: 55%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both; } + body{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14661 ***</div> + +<h1>CONDITIONS IN UTAH.</h1> + +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +OF<br /> +HON. THOMAS KEARNS,<br /> +OF UTAH,</h2> + +<h3>IN THE<br /> +SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,<br /> +<br /> +Tuesday, February 28, 1905.</h3> + +<h4><br />WASHINGTON.<br /> +1905.</h4> + + +<hr /> +<h2>SPEECH OF HON. THOMAS KEARNS.</h2> +<hr /> + +<p><br /><b>POLYGAMOUS MARRIAGES AND PLURAL COHABITATION.</b></p> + +<p><b>The PRESIDENT pro tempore.</b> The Chair lays before the Senate the resolution +submitted by the Senator from Idaho [Mr. DUBOIS], which will be read.</p> + +<p>The Secretary read the resolution submitted yesterday by Mr. DUBOIS, as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Resolved</i>, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, and it is hereby, authorized and +instructed to prepare and report to the Senate within thirty days after the beginning of +the next session of Congress a joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress proposing +to the several States amendments to the Constitution of the United States which shall +provide, in substance, for the prohibition and punishment of polygamous marriages and +plural cohabitation contracted or practiced within the United States and in every place +subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and which shall, in substance, also require +all persons taking office under the Constitution or laws of the United States, or of +any State, to take and subscribe an oath that he or she is not, and will not be, a member +or adherent of any organization whatever the laws, rules, or nature of which organization +require him or her to disregard his or her duty to support and maintain the Constitution +and laws of the United States and of the several States.</p></div> + + +<p><br /><b>Mr. KEARNS.</b> Mr. President, I will not permit this occasion to pass without +saying, with brevity and such clearness as I can command, what it seems to me +should be said by a Senator, under these circumstances, before leaving public +life. Something is due to the State which has honored me; something is due to +the record which I have endeavored to maintain honorably before the world and +something, by way of information, is due to the Senate and the country.</p> + +<p>Utah, the newest of the States, to me the best beloved of all the States, +appears to be the only one concerning which there is a serious conflict with the +country. I was not born in Utah, but I have spent all the years of my manhood +there, and I love the Commonwealth and its people. In what I say there is +malice toward none, and I hope to make it just to all. If the present day does +not accept my statements and appreciate my motives, I can only trust that +time will prove more gentle and that in the future those who care to revert to +these remarks will know that they are animated purely by a hope to bring about +a better understanding between Utah and this great nation.</p> + +<p>Utah was admitted to statehood after, and because of, a long series of pledges +exacted from the Mormon leaders, the like of which had never before been +known in American history. Except for those pledges, the sentiment of the +United States would never have assented to Utah's admission. Except for the +belief on the part of Congress and the country that the extraordinary power +which abides in that State would maintain these pledges, Utah would not have +been admitted. There is every reason to believe that the President who signed +the bill would have vetoed it if he had not been convinced that the pledges made +would be kept.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>THE PLEDGES.</b></p> + +<p>As a citizen of the State and a witness to the events and words which constitute +those pledges, as a Senator of the United States, I give my word of honor +to you that I believed that these pledges consisted of the following propositions:</p> + +<p>First. That the Mormon leaders would live within the laws pertaining to plural +marriage and the continued plural marriage relation, and that they would +enforce this obligation upon all of their followers, under penalty of disfellowship.</p> + +<p>Second. That the leaders of the Mormon Church would no longer exercise +political sway, and that their followers would be free and would exercise their +freedom in politics, in business, and in social affairs.</p> + +<p>As a citizen and a Senator I give my word of honor to you that I believed +that these pledges would be kept in the spirit in which Congress and the country +accepted them, and that there would never be any violation, evasion, denial, or +equivocation concerning them.</p> + +<p>I appeal to such members of this body as were in either House of Congress +during the years 1890 to 1896, if it was not their belief at that time that the +foregoing were the pledges and that they would be kept; and I respectfully +insist that every Senator here who was a member of either House at that time +would have refused to vote for Utah's admission unless he had firmly believed as +I have stated.</p> + +<p>1. Utah, secured her statehood by a solemn compact made by the Mormon +leaders in behalf of themselves and their people.</p> + +<p>2. That compact has been broken willfully and frequently.</p> + +<p>3. No apostle of the Mormon Church has publicly protested against that +violation.</p> + +<p>I know the gravity of the utterances that I have just made. I know what +are the probable consequences to myself. But I have pondered long and +earnestly upon the subject and have come to the conclusion that duty to the +innocent people of my State and that obligation to the Senate and the country +require that I shall clearly define my attitude.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>RELIGION NOT INVOLVED.</b></p> + +<p>This is no quarrel with religion. This is no assault upon any man's faith. +This is rather the reverence toward the inherent right of all men to believe as +they please, which separates religious faith from irreligious practice. The Mormon +people have a system of their own, somewhat complex, and gathered from +the mysticisms of all the ages. It does not appeal to most men; but in its +purely theological domain it is theirs, and I respect it as their religion and them +as its believers.</p> + +<p>The trouble arises now, as it has frequently arisen in the past, from the fact +that some of the accidental leaders of the movement since the first zealot +founder have sought to make of this religion not only a system of morals, sometimes +quite original in themselves, but also a system of social relation, a system +of finance, a system of commerce, and a system of politics.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>THE SOCIAL ASPECT.</b></p> + +<p>I dismiss the religion with my profound respect; if it can comfort them, I +would not, if I could, disturb it. Coming to the social aspect of the society, it is +apparent that the great founder sought first to establish equality among men, +and then to draw from those equal ranks a special class, who were permitted to +practice polygamy and to whom special privileges were accorded in their association +with the consecrated temples and the administration of mystic ordinances +therein. The polygamous group, or cult as it may be called, soon became +the ruling factor in the organization; and it may be observed that ever since the +founding of the church almost every man of prominence in the community has +belonged to this order. It was so in the time of the martyrs, Joseph and Hyrum +Smith, who were killed at Carthage jail in Illinois, and both of whom were +polygamists, although it was denied at the time. There were living until +recently, and perhaps there are living now, women who testified that they were +married in polygamy to one or the other of these two men, Joseph having the +larger number. It has been so ever since and is so to-day that nearly every man +of the governing class has been or is a polygamist.</p> + +<p>Brigham Young succeeded Joseph Smith, and he set up a kind of kingly rulership, +not unbecoming to a man of his vast empire-building power. The Mormons +have been taught to revere Joseph Smith as a direct prophet from God. He saw +the face of the All Father. He held communion with the Son. The Holy Ghost +was his constant companion. He settled every question, however trivial, by +revelation from Almighty God. But Brigham was different. While claiming +a divine right of leadership, he worked out his great mission by palpable and +material means. I do not know that he ever pretended to have received a revelation +from the time that he left Nauvoo until he reached the shores of the +Dead Sea, nor through all the thirty years of his leadership there. He seemed +to regard his people as children who had to be led through their serious calamities +by holding out to them the glittering thought of divine guardianship. So +firmly did Brigham establish the social order in Utah that all of the people were +equal, except the governing body. This may be said to consist of the president +and his two counsellors, they three constituting the first presidency; the twelve +apostles; the presiding bishopric, consisting of three men, the chief bishops of +the church but much lower in rank than the apostles; the seven presidents of +seventies, who are, under the apostles, the subordinate head of the missionary +service of the church; and the presiding patriarch. These altogether constitute +a body of twenty-six men. There are local authorities in the different +stakes of Zion, as they are called, corresponding to counties in a State, but with +these it is not necessary to deal.</p> + +<p>Practically all of these men under Brigham Young were polygamists. They +constituted what one of their number once called the "elite class" of the community. +To attain this rank one usually had to show ability, and attaining the +rank he was quite certain to enter into or extend his already existing plural-marriage +relations. These rulers were looked upon with great reverence. +Brigham Young, besides being a prophet of God, as they believed, had led them +through the greatest march of the ages. His nod became almost superhuman in +its significance. His frown was as terrible to them as the wrath of God. He +upheld all the members of the polygamistic and governing class by his favoritism +toward them. He supremely, and they subordinately, ruled the community as +if they were a king and a house of peers, with no house of commons. Not elsewhere +in the United States, and not in any foreign country where civilization +dwells, has there been such a complete mastery of man over modern men. The +subordinates and the mass would perform the slightest will of Brigham Young. +When he was not present the mass would perform the will of any of the subordinates +speaking in his name. Below this privileged class stood the common +mass. It had its various gradations of title, but, with the exception of rare +instances of personal power, there was equality in the mass. For instance, as +business was a part of their system, the local religious authority in some remote +part might be the business subordinate of some other man of less ecclesiastical +rank, with the result that this peculiar intermingling kept them all practically +upon one level of social order; and the man who made adobes under the hot sun +of the desert through all the week might still be the religious superior of the +richest man in the local community, and they met on terms of equality and +friendship. Their children might intermarry, the difference in wealth being +countervailed by a difference in ecclesiastical authority.</p> + +<p>It was a strange social system, this, with Brigham Young and his coterie of +advisers, to the number of twenty-six, standing at the head, self-perpetuating, the +chief being able to select constantly to fill the ranks as they might be depleted +by death; and all these ruling over one solid mass of equal caste who thought +that the rulers were animated by divine revelation, holding the right to govern +in all things on earth and with authority extending into heaven.</p> + +<p>So firmly intrenched was their social system that when Brigham Young passed +away his various successors who came in time to his place by accident of seniority +of service found ample opportunity without difficulty to perpetuate this system +and to maintain their social autocracy. As the matter has appeared so +fully before the country, I will not speak further of the method of succession, +but will merely call to your minds that after Brigham Young came John Taylor, +then Wilford Woodruff, then Lorenzo Snow, then Joseph F. Smith, the present +ruler.</p> + +<p>Under these several men the social autocracy has had its varying fortunes, but +at the present time it is probably at as high a point as it ever reached under the +original Joseph or under Brigham Young. The president of the church, Joseph +F. Smith, affects a regal state. His home consists of a series of villas, rather +handsome in design, and surrounded by such ample grounds as to afford sufficient +exclusiveness. In addition to this he has an official residence of historic +character near to the office which he occupies as president. When he travels he +is usually accompanied by a train of friends, who are really servitors. When +he attends social functions he appears like a ruler among his subjects. And in +this respect I am not speaking of Mormon associations alone, for there are many +Gentiles in and out of Utah who seem to take delight in paying this extraordinary +deference.</p> + +<p>If I have seemed to speak at length upon this mere social phase it has not +been without a definite purpose. I want you to know how this religion, claiming +to recognize and secure the equality of men, immediately established and has +maintained for the mass of its adherents that social equality, but has elevated +a class of its rulers to regal authority and splendor. Understanding how the +chief among them has the dignity of a monarch in their social relations, you will +better understand the business and political autocracy which he has been able +to establish.</p> + +<p>In all this social system each apostle has his great part. He is inseparable +from it. He wields now, as does a minister at court, such part of the power as +the monarch may permit him to enjoy, and it is his hope and expectation that +he will outlive those who are his seniors in rank in order that he may become +the ruler.</p> + +<p>Therefore, if there be evil in this social relation as I have portrayed it, every +apostle is responsible for a part of that evil. They enjoy the honors of the +social class; they help to exert the tyranny over the subjugated mass. Those of +you who do me the honor to follow my remarks will realize how close is the relation +between the apostles and the president, and that the apostle is a responsible +part of the governing power. While I may speak of the president of the +church segregated from his associates and as the monarch, it must be understood +constantly that he maintains his power by the support of the apostles, +who keep the mass in order and in subjugation to his will, expressed through +them.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>THE BUSINESS MONOPOLY.</b></p> + +<p>Whatever may have been its origin or excuse, the business power of the president +of the church and of the select class which he admits into business relations +with him is now a practical monopoly, or is rapidly becoming a monopoly, of +everything that he touches. I want to call your attention to the extraordinary +list of worldly concerns in which this spiritual leader holds official position. +The situation is more amazing when you are advised that this man came to his +presidency purely by accident, namely, the death of his seniors in rank; that he +had never known any business ability, and that he comes to the presidency and +the directorship of the various corporations solely because he is president of the +church. He is already reputed to be a wealthy man, and his statement +would seem to indicate that he has large holdings in the various corporations +with which he is associated, although previous to his accession to the presidency +of the church he made a kind of proud boast among his people of his poverty.</p> + +<p>He conducts railways, street-car lines, power and light companies, coal mines, +salt works, sugar factories, shoe factories, mercantile houses, drug stores, newspapers, +magazines, theaters, and almost every conceivable kind of business, and +in all of these, inasmuch as he is the dominant factor by virtue of his being the +prophet of God, he asserts indisputable sway. It is considered an evidence of +deference to him, and good standing in the church, for his hundreds of thousands +of followers to patronize exclusively the institutions which he controls.</p> + +<p>And this fact alone, without any business ability on his part, but with capable +subordinate guidance for his enterprises, insures their success, and danger and +possible ruin for every competitive enterprise. Independent of these business +concerns, he is in receipt of an income like unto that which a royal family +derives from a national treasury. One-tenth of all the annual earnings of all +the Mormons in all the world flows to him. These funds amount to the sum of +$1,000,000 annually, or 5 per cent upon $32,000,000, which is one-quarter of the +entire taxable wealth of the State of Utah. It is the same as if he owned, +individually, in addition to all his visible enterprises, one-quarter of all the +wealth of the State and derived from it 5 per cent of income without taxation +and without discount. The hopelessness of contending in a business way with +this autocrat must be perfectly apparent to your minds. The original purpose +of this vast tithe, as often stated by speakers for the church, was the maintenance +of the poor, the building of meetinghouses, etc. To-day the tithes are +transmuted, in the localities where they are paid, into cash, and they flow into +the treasury of the head of the church. No account is made, or ever has been +made, of these tithes. The president expends them according to his own will +and pleasure, and with no examination of his accounts, except by those few men +whom he selects for that purpose and whom he rewards for their zeal and +secrecy. Shortly after the settlement of the Mormon Church property question +with the United States the church issued a series of bonds, amounting approximately +to $1,000,000, which were taken by financial institutions. This was probably +to wipe out a debt which had accumulated during a long period of controversy +with the nation. But since, and including the year 1897, which was about +the time of the issue of the bonds, approximately $9,000,000 have been paid as +tithes. If any of the bonds are still outstanding, it is manifestly because the +president of the church desires for reasons of his own to have an existing +indebtedness.</p> + +<p>It will astound you to know that every dollar of United States money paid to +any servant of the Government who is a Mormon is tithed for the benefit of +this monarch. Out of every $1,000 thus paid he gets $100 to swell his grandeur. +This is also true of money paid out of the public treasury of the State of Utah +to Mormon officials. But what is worst of all, the monarch dips into the sacred +public school fund and extracts from every Mormon teacher one-tenth of his or +her earnings and uses it for his unaccounted purposes; and, by means of these +purposes and the power which they constitute, he defies the laws of his State, +the sentiment of his country, and is waging war of nullification on the public +school system, so dear to the American people. No right-thinking man will +oppose any person as a servant of the nation or the State or as a teacher in +the public schools on account of religious faith. As I have before remarked, +this is no war upon the religion of the Mormons; and I am only calling attention +to the monstrous manner in which this monarch invades all the provinces +of human life and endeavors to secure his rapacious ends.</p> + +<p>In all this there is no thought on my part of opposition to voluntary gifts by +individuals for religious purposes or matters connected legitimately with +religion. My comment and criticism are against the tyranny which misuses a +sacred name to extract from individuals the moneys which they ought not to +spare from family needs, and which they do not wish to spare; my comment +and criticism relate to the power of a monarch whose tyranny is so effective as +that not even the moneys paid by the Government are considered the property +of the Government's servant until after this monarch shall have seized his +arbitrary tribute, with or without the willing assent of the victim, so that the +monarch may engage the more extensively in commercial affairs, which are not +a part of either religion or charity.</p> + +<p>With an income of 5 per cent upon one-quarter of the entire assessed valuation +of the State of Utah to-day, how long will it take this monarch, with his constantly +increasing demands for revenue, to so absorb the productive power that +he shall be receiving an income of 5 per cent upon one-half the property, and +then upon all of the property of the State? This is worse than the farming of +taxes under the old French Kings. Will Congress allow this awful calamity to +continue?</p> + +<p>The view which the people of the United States entertained on this subject +forty years ago was shown by the act of Congress in 1802, in which a provision, +directed particularly against the Mormon Church, declared that no church in a +Territory of the United States should have in excess of $50,000 of wealth outside +of the property used for purposes of worship. It is evident that as early +as that time the pernicious effects of a system which used the name of God and +the authority of religion to dominate in commerce and finance were fully +recognized.</p> + +<p>This immense tithing fund is gathered directly from Mormons, but the burden +falls in some degree upon Gentiles also. Gentiles are in business and suffer +by competition with tithe-supported business enterprises. Gentiles are large +employers of Mormon labor; and as that labor must pay one-tenth of its earnings +to support competitive concerns, the Gentile employer must pay, indirectly +at least, the tithe which may be utilized to compete with, and even ruin, him in +business.</p> + +<p>And in return it should be noted that Mormon institutions do not employ Gentiles +except in rare cases of necessity. The reason is obvious: Gentiles do not +take as kindly to the tithing system as do the Mormons.</p> + +<p>The Mormon citizen of Utah has additional disadvantages. After paying +one-tenth of all his earnings as a tithe offering, he is called upon to erect and +maintain the meetinghouses and other edifices of the church; he is called upon +to donate to the poor fund in his ward, through his local bishop; he is called +upon to sustain the Women's Relief Society, whose purpose is to care for the +poor and to minister to the sick; he is called upon to pay his share of the +expense for the 2,500 missionaries of the church who are constantly kept in the +field without drawing upon, the general funds of the church. When all this is +done, it is found that, in defiance of the old and deserved boast of the predecessors +of the present president, there are some Mormons in the poorhouses of +Utah, and these are sustained by the public taxes derived from the Gentiles +and Mormons alike.</p> + +<p>Broadly speaking, the Gentiles compose 35 per cent of the population and pay +one-half of the taxes of Utah. In the long run they carry their share of all +these great charges.</p> + +<p>The almost unbearable community burden which is thus inflicted must be +visible to your minds without argument from me.</p> + +<p>Let it be sufficient on this point for me to say that all the property of Utah is +made to contribute to the grandeur of the president of the church, and that at +his instance any industry, any institution, within the State, could be destroyed +except the mining and smelting industry. Even this industry his personal and +church organ has attacked with a threat of extermination by the courts, or by +additional legislation, if the smelters do not meet the view expressed by the +church organ.</p> + +<p>Mr. President, I ask to have read at this point an editorial from the Deseret +Evening News of October 31, 1904, which I send to the desk.</p> + +<p><br /><b>The PRESIDENT pro tempore.</b> The Secretary will read as requested.</p> + +<p>The Secretary read as follows:</p> + + +<p><br /><b>DESERET EVENING NEWS.</b></p> + +<p>[Organ of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.]</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>SALT LAKE CITY, <i>October 31, 1904</i>.</p> + +<p>AWAY WITH THE NUISANCE.</p> + +<p>The people of Salt Lake City are waking up to the realization of the trouble of which +our cousins out in the country are complaining. The sulphurous fumes which have been +tasted by many folks here, particularly late at night, are not only those of a partisan +nature emanating from the smokestacks of the slanderers and maligners, but are treats +bestowed upon our citizens by the smelters, and are samples of the goods, or rather evils, +which farmers and horticulturists have been burdened with so long. Complaints have +come to us from some of the best people of the city, of different faiths and parties, that +the air has been laden with sulphurous fumes that can net only be felt in the throat, but +tasted in the mouth, and they rest upon the city at night, appearing like a thin fog.</p> + +<p>The fact is this smelter smoke will have to go; there is no mistake about that. If the +smelters can not consume it, they will have to close up. This fair county must not be +devastated and this city must not be rendered unhealthful by any such a nuisance as that +which has been borne with now for a long time. The evasive policy that has been pursued, +the tantalizing treatment toward the farmers who have vainly sought for redress, +the destruction that has come upon vegetation and upon live stock, and now the choking +fumes that reach this city all demand some practical remedy in place of the shilly-shally +of the past.</p> + +<p>The Deseret News has counseled peace, consideration for the smelter people in the +difficulties that they have to meet, favor toward a valuable industry that should be +encouraged on proper lines, and arbitration instead of litigation. But it really seems +now as though an aggressive policy will have to be pursued, or ruin will come to the agricultural +pursuits of Salt Lake County, while the city will not escape from the ravages of +the smelter fiend. If the companies that control those works will not or can not dispose +of the poisonous metallic fumes that pour out of their smokestacks, the fires will have to +he banked and the nuisance suppressed. We do not believe the latter is the necessary +alternative. We are of opinion that the evil can be disposed of, and we are sure that +efforts ought to be made to effect it without further delay.</p> + +<p>It looks as if the courts will have to be appealed to to obtain compensation for damages +already inflicted. Also that they will have to be applied to for injunctions against +the continuance of the cause of the trouble. We think there is law enough now to proceed +under. But if that is not the case, then legislation must be had to fully cover the +ground. Litigation will have to come first, legislation afterwards. However that may +be, temporizing with the evil will not do. Patience has ceased to be a virtue in this +matter. The conviction is fastening itself upon the public mind that no active steps are +intended by the responsible parties, but simply a policy of delay. They must be taught +that this will not answer the purpose, and that the injured people will not be fooled in +that way. The smelter smoke must go. And it must not go in the old way.</p> + +<p>The proposition to put the matter in the hands of experts chosen by the complainants +is not to be seriously considered. The onus is upon the smelter men; they are the +offenders, and they must take the steps necessary to remove the cause of complaint, and +also reimburse those who have been injured. We do not ask anything unreasonable. +We join with those of our citizens who Intend that this beautiful part of our lovely State +shall not be laid waste, even if the only cure is the suppression of the destroying cause. +This may as well be understood first as last. Useless practical measures are adopted to +abate the evil, active proceedings will have to be taken and pushed to the utmost to +remove entirely the root and branch and trunk and body of this tree of destruction. The +people affected are deeply in earnest, and they certainly mean business.</p></div> + + +<p><br /><b>Mr. KEARNS.</b> Mr. President, I must not burden you with too many details, +but in order for you to see how complete is the business power of this man I +will cite you to one case. The Great Salt Lake is estimated to contain +14,000,000,000 tons of salt. Probably salt can be made cheaper on the shores of +this lake than anywhere else in the world. Nearly all its shore line is adaptable +for salt gardens. The president of the church is interested in a large salt +monopoly which has gathered in the various smaller enterprises. He is president +of a railroad which runs from the salt gardens to Salt Lake City, connecting +there with trunk lines. It costs to manufacture the salt and place it on +board the cars 75 cents per ton. He receives for it $5 and $6 per ton. His +company and its subsidiary corporation are probably capitalized at three-quarters +of a million dollars, and upon this large sum he is able to pay dividends +of 8 or 10 per cent.</p> + +<p>Not long since two men, who for many years had been tithe payers and loyal +members of the church, undertook to establish a salt garden along the line of a +trunk railway. One of them was a large dealer in salt, and proposed to extend +his trade by making the salt and reaching territory prohibited to him by the +church price of salt; the other was the owner of the land upon which it was +proposed to establish the salt garden. These men formed a corporation, put in +pumping stations and flumes, and the corporation became indebted to one of +the financial institutions over which the church exercised considerable influence. +Then the president of the church sent for them. There is scarcely an +instance on record where a message of this kind failed of its purpose. These +men went to meet the prophet, seer, and revelator of God, as they supposed, but +he had laid aside his robes of sanctity for the moment and he was a plain, +unadorned, aggressive, if not an able, business man. He first denounced them +for interfering with a business which he had made peculiarly his own; and, when +they protested that they had no intention to interfere with his trade, but were +seeking new markets, he declared in a voice of thunderous passion that if they +did not cease with their projected enterprise, he would crush them. They +escaped from his presence feeling like courtiers repulsed from the foot of a +king's throne, and then surveyed their enterprise. If they stopped, they would +lose all the money invested and their enterprise would possibly be sold out to +their creditors; if they went on and invested more money, the president had the +power, as he had threatened, to crush them. Not only could he ruin their enterprise, +but he could ostracise them socially and could make of them marked and +shunned men in the community where they had always been respected.</p> + +<p>Is there menace in this system? To me it seems like a great danger to all +the people who are now affected, and therefore of great danger to the people +of the United States, because the power of this monarchy within the Republic +is constantly extending. If it be an evil, every apostle is in part responsible +for this tyrannical course. He helped to elect the president; he does the +president's bidding, and shares in the advantages of that tyranny.</p> + +<p>I did not call the social system a violation of the pledges to the country, but +I do affirm that the business tyranny of Mormon leaders is an express violation +of the covenant made, for they do not leave their followers free in secular +affairs. They tyrannize over them, and their tyranny spreads even to the +Gentiles. In all this I charge that every apostle is a party to the wrong and to +the violation. Although I speak of the president of the church as the leader, +the monarch in fact, every apostle is one of his ministers, one of his creators, +and also one of his creatures, and possibly his successor; and the whole system +depends upon the manner in which the apostles and the other leaders shall support +the chief leader. As no apostle has ever protested against this system, +but has, by every means in his power, encouraged it, he can not escape his +share of the responsibility for it. It is an evil; they aid it. It is a violation of +the pledge upon which statehood was granted; they profit by it.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>THE POLITICAL AUTOCRACY.</b></p> + +<p>I pass now to the political aspect of this hierarchy, as some call it, but this +monarchy as I choose to term it.</p> + +<p>I have previously called your attention to the social and business powers, +monopolies, autocracies, exercised by the leaders. Through these channels of +social and business relations they can spread the knowledge of their political +desires without appearing obtrusively in politics. When the end of their desire +is accomplished, they affect to wash their hands of all responsibility by denying +that they engaged in political activities. Superficial persons, and those desiring +to accept this argument, are convinced by it. But never, in the palmy days +of Brigham Young, was there a more complete political tyranny than is exercised +by the present president of the Mormon Church and his apostles, who are +merely awaiting the time when by the death of their seniors in rank they may +become president, and select some other man to hold the apostleship in their +place—as they now hold it in behalf of the ruling monarch.</p> + +<p>In this statement I merely call your attention to what a perfect system of +ecclesiastical government is maintained by these presidents and apostles; and I +do not need to more than indicate to you what a wonderous aid their ecclesiastical +government can be, and is, in accomplishing their political purposes.</p> + +<p>Parties are nothing to these leaders, except as parties may be used by them. +So long as there is Republican administration and Congress, they will lead their +followers to support Republican tickets; but if, by any chance, the Democratic +party should control this Government, with a prospect of continuance in power, +you would see a gradual veering around under the direction of the Mormon +leaders. When Republicans are in power the Republican leaders of the Mormon +people are in evidence and the Democratic leaders are in retirement. If the +Democracy were in power, the Republican leaders of the Mormon people would +go into retirement and Democrats would appear in their places. No man can be +elected to either House of Congress against their wish. I will not trespass upon +your patience long enough to recite the innumerable circumstances that prove +this assertion, but will merely refer to enough instances to illustrate the method. +In 1897, at the session of the legislature which was to elect a Senator, and which +was composed of sixty Democrats and three Republicans, Moses Thacher was +the favored candidate of the Democracy in the State. He had been an apostle +of the Mormon Church, but had been deposed because he was out of harmony +with the leaders. The Hon. Jos. L. Rawlins was a rival candidate, but not +strongly so at first. He was encouraged by the church leaders in every way; +and finally, when his strength had been advanced sufficiently to need but one +vote, a Mormon Republican was promptly moved over into the Democratic column +and he was elected by the joint assembly. I do not charge that Hon. Joseph +L. Rawlins, who occupied a seat with distinguished honor in this great body for +six years, had any improper bargain with the church, or any knowledge of the +secret methods by which his election was being compassed; but he was elected +under the direction of the leaders of the church because they desired to defeat +and further humiliate a deposed apostle.</p> + +<p>I will not ignore my own case. During nearly three years I have waited this +great hour of justice in which I could answer the malignant falsehood and abuse +which has been heaped upon a man who is dead and can not answer, and upon +myself, a living man willing to wait the time for answer. Lorenzo Snow, a very +aged man, was president of the church when I was elected to the Senate. He +had reached that advanced time of life, being over eighty, when men abide +largely in the thoughts of their youth. He was my friend in that distant way +which sometimes exists without close acquaintanceship, our friendship (if I +may term it such) having arisen from the events attendant upon Utah's struggle +for statehood. For some reason he did not oppose my election to the Senate. +Every other candidate for the place had sought his favor; it came to me without +price or solicitation on my part. The friends and mouthpieces of some of the +present leaders have been base enough to charge that I bought the Senatorship +from Lorenzo Snow, president of their own church. Here and now I denounce +the calumny against that old man, whose unsought and unbought favor came to +me in that contest. That I ever paid him one dollar of money, or asked him to +influence legislators of his faith, is as cruel a falsehood as ever came from human +lips. So far as I am concerned he held his power with clean hands, and I would +protect the memory of this dead man against all the abuse and misrepresentation +which might be heaped upon him by those who were his adherents during +life, but who now attack his fame in order that they may pay the greater deference +to the present king.</p> + +<p>You must know that in that day we were but five years old as a State. Our +political conditions were and had been greatly unsettled. The purpose of the +church to rule in politics had not yet been made so manifest and determined. +Lorenzo Snow held his office for a brief time—about two years. What he did in +that office pertaining to my election I here and now distinctly assume as my +burden, for no man shall with impunity use his hatred of me to defame Lorenzo +Snow and dishonor his memory to his living and loving descendants.</p> + +<p>As for myself, I am willing to take the Senate and the country into my confidence, +and make a part of the eternal records of the Senate, for such of my +friends as may care to read, the vindication of my course to my posterity. I +had an ambition, and not an improper one, to sit in the Senate of the United +States. My competitors had longer experience in polities and may have understood +more of the peculiar situation in the State. They sought what is known +as church influence. I sought to obtain this place by purely political means. I +was elected. After all their trickery my opponents were defeated, and to some +extent by the very means which they had basely invoked. I have served with +you four years, and have sought in a modest way to make a creditable record +here. I have learned something of the grandeur and dignity of the Senate, +something of its ideals, which I could not know before coming here. I say to +you, my fellow Senators, that this place of power is infinitely more magnificent +than I dreamed when I first thought of occupying a seat here. But were it +thrice as great as I now know it to be, and were I back in that old time of struggle +in Utah, when I was seeking for this honor, I would not permit the volunteered +friendship of President Snow to bestow upon me, even as an innocent +recipient, one atom of the church monarch's favor. My ideals have grown with +my term of service in this body, and I believe that the man who would render +here the highest service to his country must be careful to attain to this place by +the purest civic path that mortal feet can tread.</p> + +<p>I have said enough to indicate that for my own part I never countenanced, +nor knowingly condoned, the intrusion of the church monarchy into secular +affairs. And I have said enough to those who know me to prove for all time +that, so far as I am concerned, my election here was as honorable as that of any +man who sits in this chamber; and yet I have said enough that all men may know +that rather than have a dead man's memory defamed on my account, I will +make his cause my own and will fight for the honor which he is not on earth to +defend. This will not suit the friends and mouthpieces of the present rulers, +but I have no desire to satisfy or conciliate them; and in leaving this part of +the question, I avenge President Snow sufficiently by saying that these men +did not dare to offend his desire nor dispute his will while he was living, and +only grew brave when they could cry: "Lorenzo, the king, is dead! Long live +Joseph, the king!"</p> + +<p>As a Senator I have sought to fulfill my duty to the people of this country. +I am about to retire from this place of dignity. No man can retain this seat +from Utah and retain his self-respect after he discovers the methods by which +his election is procured and the objects which the church monarchy intends to +achieve. Some of my critics will say that I relinquished that which I could not +hold. I will not pause to discuss that point further than to say that if I had +chosen to adopt the policy with the present monarch of the church, which his +friends and mouthpieces say I did adopt with the king who is dead, it might +have been possible to retain this place of honor with dishonor.</p> + +<p>Every apostle is a part of this terrible power, which can make and unmake at +its mysterious will and pleasure. Early in 1902 warning had been publicly +uttered in the State against the continued manifestation of church power in politics. +The period of unsettled conditions during which I was elected had ended +and we had opportunity to see the manner in which the church monarch was +resuming his forbidden sway; and we had occasion to know the indignant +feelings entertained by the people of the United States when they contemplated +the flagrant breaking of the pledge given to the country to secure the admission +of Utah. I myself, after conference with distinguished men at Washington, +journeyed to Utah and presented a solemn protest and warning to the leaders +of the church against the dangerous exercise of their political power. I did it +to repay a debt which I owed to Utah, and not for any selfish reason. I knew +that from the day I uttered that warning the leaders of the Mormon Church +would hate and pursue me for the purpose of wreaking their vengeance. But +as the consequences of their misconduct, their pledge breaking would fall upon +all of the people of the State, upon the innocent more severely than upon the +guilty, I felt that I must assert my love and gratitude to the State, even though +my warning should lead to my own destruction by these autocrats. If there had +been one desire in my heart to effect a conjunction with this church monarchy, +if I had been willing to retain office as its gift, I would not have taken this +step, for I knew its consequences. I began in that hour my effort to restore to +the people of Utah the safety and the political freedom which are their right, +and I shall continue it while I live until the fight is won.</p> + +<p>The disdain with which that message was received was final proof of the contempt +in which that church monarchy holds the Senate and the people of the +United States, and of the disregard in which the church monarchy holds the +pledges which it made in order to obtain the power of statehood.</p> + +<p>They do not need to utter explicit instructions in order to assert their demand. +The methods of conveying information of their desire are numerous and sufficiently +effective, as is proved by results. To show how completely all ordinary +political conditions, as they obtain elsewhere in the United States, are without +account in Utah, I have but to cite you to the fact that after the recent election, +which gave 57 members out of 63 on joint ballot to the Republican party, and +when the question of my successor became a matter of great anxiety to numerous +aspirants for this place, the discussion was not concerning the fitness of candidates, +nor the political popularity of the various gentlemen who composed that +waiting list, nor the pledges of the legislators, but was limited to the question +as to who could stand best with the church monarchy; as to whom it would +like to use in this position; as to who would make for the extension of its ambitions +and power in the United States.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>THE MORMON MARRIAGE RELATION.</b></p> + +<p>And now I come to a subject concerning which the people of the United States +are greatly aroused. It is known that there have been plural marriages among +the Mormon people, by sanction of high authorities in this church monarchy, +since the solemn promise was made to the country that plural marriages should +end. It is well known that the plural marriage relations have been continued +defiantly, according to the will and pleasure of those who had formerly violated +the law, and for whose obedience to law the church monarchy pledged the faith +and honor of its leaders and followers alike in order to obtain statehood. The +pledge was made repeatedly, as stated in an earlier part of these remarks, that +all of the Mormon people would come within the law. They have not done so. +The church monarch is known to be living in defiance of the laws of God and +man, and in defiance of the covenant made with the country, upon which amnesty +by the President, and statehood by the President and the Congress, were +granted.</p> + +<p>I charge that every apostle is in large part responsible for this condition, so +deplorable in its effects upon the people of Utah and so antagonistic to the +institutions of this country. Every apostle is directed by the law-breaking +church monarch. Every apostle teaches by example and precept to the Mormon +people that this church monarch is a prophet of God, to offend or criticise whom +is a sin in the sight of the Almighty. Every apostle helps to appoint to office +and sustain the seven presidents of seventies, who are below them in dignity, +and they are directly responsible for them and their method of life.</p> + +<p>It is quite evident that the church monarchy is endeavoring to reestablish +the rule of a polygamous class over the mass of the Mormon people. Of the +apostles not practicing polygamy there is at most only three or four men constituting +the quorum of which this could be truthfully said. Special reasons +may exist in some particular case why a man in this class has not entered into +such relation.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>THE GENERAL SITUATION.</b></p> + +<p>Briefly reviewing the matters which I have offered here, and the logical +deductions therefrom, I maintain the following propositions:</p> + +<p>We set aside the religion of the Mormon people as sacred from assault.</p> + +<p>Outside of religion the Mormons as a community are ruled by a special privileged +class, constituting what I call the church monarchy.</p> + +<p>This monarchy pledged the country that there would be no more violations of +law and no more defiance of the sentiment of the United States regarding +polygamy and the plural marriage relation.</p> + +<p>This monarchy pledged the United States that it would refrain from controlling +its subjects in secular affairs.</p> + +<p>Every member of this monarchy is responsible for the system of government +and for the acts of the monarchy, since (as shown in the cases of the deposed +apostle, Moses Thatcher, and others) the man who is not in accord with the +system is dropped from the ruling class.</p> + +<p>This monarchy sets up a regal social order within this Republic.</p> + +<p>This monarchy monopolizes the business of one commonwealth and is rapidly +reaching into others.</p> + +<p>This monarchy takes practically all the surplus product of the toil of its subjects +for its own purpose, and makes no account to anyone on earth of its +immense secret fund.</p> + +<p>This monarchy rules all politics in Utah, and is rapidly extending its dominion +into other States and Territories.</p> + +<p>This monarchy permits its favorites to enter into polygamy and to maintain +polygamous relations, and it protects them from prosecution by its political +power.</p> + +<p>Lately no effort has been made to punish any of these people by the local law. +On the contrary, the ruling monarch has continued to grow in power, wealth, +and importance. He sits upon innumerable boards of directors, among others +that of the Union Pacific Railway, where he joins upon terms of fraternity +with the great financial and transportation magnates of the United States, who +hold him in their councils because his power to benefit or to injure their possessions +must be taken into account.</p> + +<p>I charge that no apostle has ever protested publicly against the continuation +of this sovereign authority over the Mormon kingdom.</p> + +<p>Within a few months past the last apostle elected to the quorum was a +polygamist—Charles W. Penrose—and his law-breaking career is well known. +Previous to 1889 Penrose was living publicly with three wives. Under false pretenses +to President Cleveland he obtained amnesty for his past offenses. He +represented that he had but two wives, and that he married his second wife in +1862, while it was generally known that he took a third wife just prior to 1888. +He promised to obey the law in the future, and to urge others to do so; yet +after that amnesty, obtained by concealing his third marriage from President +Cleveland, he continued living with his three wives. His action in this matter +has been notorious. He has publicly defended this kind of lawbreaking on the +false pretense that there was a tacit understanding with the American Congress +and people, when Utah was admitted, that these polygamists might continue +to live as they had been living.</p> + +<p>And it was this traitor to his country's laws, this unrepentant knave and +cheat of the nation's mercy, this defamer of Congress and the people, that was +elected to the apostleship to help govern the church, and through the church +the State.</p> + +<p>Is it not demonstrated that Utah is an abnormal State? Our problem is +vast and complex. I have endeavored to simplify it so that the Senate and +the country may readily grasp the questions at issue.</p> + + +<p><br /><b>THE REMEDY.</b></p> + +<p>Will this great body, will the Government of the United States, go on unheedingly +while this church monarchy multiplies its purposes and multiplies its +power? Has the nation so little regard for its own dignity and the safety of +its institutions and its people that it will permit a church monarch like Joseph +F. Smith to defy the laws of the country, and to override the law and to overrule +the administrators of the law in his own State of Utah?</p> + +<p>What shall the Americans of that Commonwealth do if the people of the +United States do not heed their cry?</p> + +<p>The vast majority of the Mormon people are law-abiding, industrious, sober, +and thrifty. They make good citizens in every respect except as they are dominated +by this monarchy, which speaks to them in the name of God and governs +them in the spirit of Mammon. Any remedy for existing evils which would +injure the mass of the Mormon people would be most deplorable. I believe that +they would loosen the chains which they wear if it were possible. I think that +many of them pay blood-money tithes simply to avoid social ostracism and business +destruction. I believe that many of them do the political will of the +church monarch because they are led to believe that the safety of the church +monarchy is necessary in order that the mass may preserve the right to worship +God according to the dictates of their conscience. The church monopoly, by its +various agencies, is usually able to uprear the injured and innocent mass of the +Mormon people as a barrier to protect the members of that monarchy from public +vengeance.</p> + +<p>It is the duty of this great body—the Senate of the United States—to serve +notice on this church monarch and his apostles that they must live within the +law; that the nation is supreme; that the institutions of this country must +prevail throughout the land; and that the compact upon which statehood was granted +must be preserved inviolate.</p> + +<p>May heaven grant that this may be effective and that the church monarchy +in Utah may be taught that it must relinquish its grasp.</p> + +<p>I would not, for my life, that injury should come to the innocent mass of +the people of Utah; I would not that any right of theirs should be lost, but that +the right of all should be preserved to all.</p> + +<p>If the Senate will apply this remedy and the alien monarchy still proves defiant, +it will be for others than myself to suggest a course of action consistent +with the dignity of the country.</p> + +<p>In the meantime we of Utah who have no sympathy with the now clearly +defined purpose of this church monopoly will wage our battle for individual freedom; +to lift the State to a proud position in the sisterhood, to preserve the compact +which was made with the country, believing that behind the brave citizens +in Utah who are warring against this alien monarchy stands the sentiment and +power of eighty-two millions of our fellow-citizens.</p> + +<p><br />[Transcriber's Note:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The following typographical errors were corrected:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">tryanny to tyranny, autocracts to autocrats, monorchy to monarchy.]</span></p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14661 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |