* New York Evening Post, February 20, 1899.
** Roberts was tried in the district court in Salt Lake City, on
April 30, 1900, on the charge of unlawful cohabitation. The case was
submitted to the jury of eight men, without testimony, on an agreed
statement of facts, and the jury disagreed, standing six for conviction
and two for acquittal.
The second incident referred to was the passage by the Utah legislature in March, 1901, of a bill containing this provision:
"No prosecution for adultery shall be commenced except on complaint of the husband or wife or relative of the accused with the first degree of consanguinity, or of the person with whom the unlawful act is alleged to have been committed, or of the father or mother of said person; and no prosecution for unlawful cohabitation shall be commenced except on complaint of the wife, or alleged plural wife of the accused; but this provision shall not apply to prosecutions under section 4208 of the Revised Statutes, 1898, defining and punishing polygamous marriages."
This bill passed the Utah senate by a vote of 11 to 7, and the house by a vote of 174 to 25. The excuse offered for it by the senator who introduced it was that it would "take away from certain agitators the opportunity to arouse periodic furors against the Mormons"; that more than half of the persons who had been polygamists had died or dissolved their polygamous relations, and that no good service could be subserved by prosecuting the remainder. This law aroused a protest throughout the country, and again the Mormon church saw that it had made a mistake, and on the 14th of March Governor H. M. Wells vetoed the bill, on grounds that may be summarized as declaring that the law would do the Mormons more harm than good. The most significant part of his message, as indicating what the Mormon authorities most dread, is contained in the following sentence: "I have every reason to believe its enactment would be the signal for a general demand upon the national Congress for a constitutional amendment directed solely against certain conditions here, a demand which, under the circumstances, would assuredly be complied with."
The admission of Utah as a state followed naturally the promulgation by the Mormon church of a policy which was accepted by the non-Mormons as putting a practical end to the practice of polygamy. For the seventh time, in 1887, the Mormons had adopted a state constitution, the one ratified in that year providing that "bigamy and polygamy, being considered incompatible with 'a republican form of government,' each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor." The non-Mormons attacked the sincerity of this declaration, among other things pointing out the advice of the Church organ, while the constitution was before the people, that they be "as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves." Congress again refused admission.
On January 4, 1893, President Harrison issued a proclamation granting amnesty and pardon to all persons liable to the penalty of the Edmunds law "who have, since November 1, 1890, abstained from such unlawful cohabitation," but on condition that they should in future obey the laws of the United States. Until the time of Woodruff's manifesto there had been in Utah only two political parties, the People's, as the Mormon organization had always been known, and the Liberal (anti-Mormon). On June 10, 1894, the People's Territorial Central Committee adopted resolutions reciting the organization of the Republicans and Democrats of the territory, declaring that the dissensions of the past should be left behind and that the People's party should dissolve. The Republican Territorial Committee a few days later voted that a division of the people on national party lines would result only in statehood controlled by the Mormon theocracy. The Democratic committee eight days later took a directly contrary view. At the territorial election in the following August the Democrats won, the vote standing: Democratic, 14,116; Liberal, 7386; Republican, 6613.
It would have been contrary to all political precedent if the Republicans had maintained their attitude after the Democrats had expressed their willingness to receive Mormon allies. Accordingly, in September, 1891, we find the Republicans adopting a declaration that it would be wise and patriotic to accept the changes that had occurred, and denying that statehood was involved in a division of the people on national party lines.
All parties in the territory now seemed to be manoeuvring for position. The Morman newspaper organs expressed complete indifference about securing statehood. In Congress Mr. Caine, the Utah Delegate, introduced what was known as the "Home Rule Bill," taking the control of territorial affairs from the governor and commission. This was known as a Democratic measure, and great pressure was brought to bear on Republican leaders at Washington to show them that Utah as a state would in all probability add to the strength of the Republican column. When, at the first session of the 53d Congress, J. L. Rawlins, a Democrat who had succeeded Caine as Delegate, introduced an act to enable the people of Utah to gain admission for the territory as a state, it met with no opposition at home, passed the House of Representatives on December 13, 1893, and the Senate on July 10, 1894 (without a division in either House), and was signed by the President on July 16. The enabling act required the constitutional convention to provide "by ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of that state, that perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and that no inhabitant of said state shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; PROVIDED, that polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited."
The constitutional convention held under this act met in Salt Lake City on March 4, 1895, and completed its work on May 8, following. In the election of delegates for this convention the Democrats cast about 19,000 votes, the Republicans about 21,000 and the Populists about 6500. Of the 107 delegates chosen, 48 were Democrats and 59 Republicans. The constitution adopted contained the following provisions:—