VIII.
"Conditions in Utah." 1905.
FOREWORD.
This speech of Senator Kearns' on "Conditions in Utah", created widespread interest at the time it was read in the Senate House, viz., on the 28th of February, 1905. It was quite universally commented upon by the press of the country, and generally to the disparagement of Utah, and the Mormon people. The consensus of opinion expressed in the newspapers who took for granted the statements of the speech as representing the facts in the case, are clearly set forth in an Editorial of the "New York Globe."
"The Mormon church has broken both the letter and the spirit of the contract into which it entered when the Territory was admitted as a state. Polygamous cohabitation exists with the implied sanction of the church, and the hierarchy has become a huge political machine whose purpose is to control Utah for its own purposes, and, what is more ominous, the adjacent States and Territories. Never in Brigham Young's time was Mormonism more of a political and moral menace than it is today."
This conclusion might be quite logical, if the statements of Senator Kearns were true. All I ask is that after reading the speech of the Senator, the reader will suspend his judgement of the case until he shall have read the answer to it.
I.
Speech of the Hon. Thomas Kearns in the Senate of the United States.[A]
[Footnote A: From the Congressional Record.]
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: