Another law, which is far more just than the preceding, has been proposed recently by ex-Governor Murray (in his last official report), and was strongly advocated by Joseph Cook in his Boston Monday Lecture delivered February 8th, 1886. It was also introduced into the House of Representatives on April 1st, 1886, by Mr. Woodburn, of Nevada. It is known as the “Idaho Statute,” because it has been in operation in the Territory of Idaho. It disfranchises every man and woman who believes, teaches, or practices bigamy or polygamy, or who belongs to any organization or association which believes, teaches, or encourages the practice of bigamy or polygamy, and renders all such ineligible to any office. That law would only disfranchise the Mormons, the disloyal element in the Territory, and would put Utah in the hands of the law-abiding citizens alone.
But it is open to the grave constitutional objection of interference with a religious belief. Those who simply believe in polygamy would be punished by this enactment; but our Government, whether national or State, has no right to inquire into the beliefs of our citizens. It is only when they carry their beliefs into actual practice of that which is contrary to the laws of the land that our Government can rightfully punish them or deprive them of civil rights.
CHAPTER VII.
THE POLITICAL PUZZLE (concluded).
Objections to proposed remedies—Gladstone on “Coercion”—A NEW PLAN ADVOCATED—The Abolition of Female Suffrage—A National Colonization Scheme—Natural resources of Utah—Superiority of the colonization plan over others—The establishment of National Free Schools—Ignorance the keystone of Mormon despotism—Public schools in Utah used for Mormon purposes—Proposed Federal Superintendent of schools in Utah—Territorial schools too few—Necessity of Government action—Prejudice disarmed by this plan—The Political Puzzle Solved.
All the measures that have yet been proposed are acknowledged to be unusual and extraordinary, and are advocated only on the ground of necessity, which William Pitt called “the argument of tyrants.” It is said that the facts to be dealt with are unprecedented. An insolent anti-American empire has for years been growing in the body politic of this country, and it must be overcome at all hazards. But let us pause a moment. Is not that the great doctrine of the Jesuit—“The end justifies the means”? That is an exceedingly dangerous doctrine to follow. No, fellow-Americans, we must not, we dare not, allow our righteous, passionate fervor against Mormon disloyalty to carry us so far as to violate fundamental principles of the American Constitution. Whatever we do, we must cling to the traditions of the past, and not depart from the spirit of our cherished American principles.
Besides, all of these measures are open to the objection of persecution from a Mormon point of view. Threats of bloody resistance, especially to a Legislative Commission, have been made by Mormons even of quiet disposition. Now, if the evil can in any way be overcome without persecution, that way is by all means to be preferred.
Utah may well be called “The American Ireland.” Ireland is practically in rebellion against the Government of Great Britain, and she bases her rebellion on wrongs and abuses. Utah is in practical rebellion against our Government, and bases her disloyalty on the ground of injustice and abuse. Coercive measures have long been tried with Ireland and have been of no avail; and now Gladstone, the greatest living statesman, advocates pacific measures. When he introduced his Irish Home Rule measure into the House of Commons on the 8th of April, 1886, the most memorable day in the history of modern English Parliaments, in his great speech (confessedly one of the greatest efforts of his life) he said: “Coercion, unless stern and unbending, and under an autocratic government, must always fail. Such coercion England should never resort to until every other means has failed. The basis of the whole mischief is the fact that the law is discredited in Ireland. It comes to the Irish people with a foreign aspect.” So we have tried prohibitory and repressive methods with the Mormons for thirty years, and they have failed. They will fail to the bitter end. The longer they are tried, the worse the result. They will only increase their enmity to the Government, heal over their internal dissensions, bind them the closer together, and wed them more firmly to their peculiar beliefs, which have made them objects of persecution. History can teach us that; and so we believe that it is time to inaugurate a change—viz., to work on the Christian plan, to overcome evil with good.