diff options
Diffstat (limited to '14661-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 14661-0.txt | 948 |
1 files changed, 948 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/14661-0.txt b/14661-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c2b702 --- /dev/null +++ b/14661-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,948 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14661 *** + +CONDITIONS IN UTAH. + +SPEECH +OF +HON. THOMAS KEARNS, +OF UTAH, + +IN THE +SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, + +Tuesday, February 28, 1905. + +WASHINGTON. +1905. + + + + +SPEECH OF HON. THOMAS KEARNS. + + * * * * * + +POLYGAMOUS MARRIAGES AND PLURAL COHABITATION. + +The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair lays before the Senate the +resolution submitted by the Senator from Idaho [Mr. DUBOIS], +which will be read. + +The Secretary read the resolution submitted yesterday by Mr. +DUBOIS, as follows: + + _Resolved_, 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. + + +Mr. KEARNS. 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. + +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. + +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. + + +THE PLEDGES. + +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: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +1. Utah, secured her statehood by a solemn compact made by the Mormon +leaders in behalf of themselves and their people. + +2. That compact has been broken willfully and frequently. + +3. No apostle of the Mormon Church has publicly protested against that +violation. + +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. + + +RELIGION NOT INVOLVED. + +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. + +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. + + +THE SOCIAL ASPECT. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +THE BUSINESS MONOPOLY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The almost unbearable community burden which is thus inflicted must be +visible to your minds without argument from me. + +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. + +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. + +The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Secretary will read as requested. + +The Secretary read as follows: + + +DESERET EVENING NEWS. + +[Organ of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.] + + SALT LAKE CITY, _October 31, 1904_. + + AWAY WITH THE NUISANCE. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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. + + +Mr. KEARNS. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +THE POLITICAL AUTOCRACY. + +I pass now to the political aspect of this hierarchy, as some call it, +but this monarchy as I choose to term it. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +THE MORMON MARRIAGE RELATION. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +THE GENERAL SITUATION. + +Briefly reviewing the matters which I have offered here, and the logical +deductions therefrom, I maintain the following propositions: + +We set aside the religion of the Mormon people as sacred from assault. + +Outside of religion the Mormons as a community are ruled by a special +privileged class, constituting what I call the church monarchy. + +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. + +This monarchy pledged the United States that it would refrain from +controlling its subjects in secular affairs. + +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. + +This monarchy sets up a regal social order within this Republic. + +This monarchy monopolizes the business of one commonwealth and is +rapidly reaching into others. + +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. + +This monarchy rules all politics in Utah, and is rapidly extending its +dominion into other States and Territories. + +This monarchy permits its favorites to enter into polygamy and to +maintain polygamous relations, and it protects them from prosecution by +its political power. + +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. + +I charge that no apostle has ever protested publicly against the +continuation of this sovereign authority over the Mormon kingdom. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +THE REMEDY. + +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? + +What shall the Americans of that Commonwealth do if the people of the +United States do not heed their cry? + +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. + +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. + +May heaven grant that this may be effective and that the church monarchy +in Utah may be taught that it must relinquish its grasp. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors were corrected: +tryanny to tyranny, autocracts to autocrats, monorchy to monarchy.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Conditions in Utah, by Thomas Kearns + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14661 *** |