Independent

              THE PRELUDE. 
FACE TO FACE WITH MORMONISM. 
The Mormon cancer is now at least 1,000 miles broad. Advancing threads of its vile growth I have lately been crossing in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico. Since I last stood on this platform it has been my for-tune, not only to travel round the Mormon can-cer, but through it; and I must say that a study of the red tentacles, ramifying far and wide on all sides of Salt Lake City, has been quite as im-pressive to me as an examination of the ghastly core of the disease. I know how distasteful this topic is, and how lacerating it is or ought to be to that honorable love of country which should feel a stain on any part of one's native land as a personal wound. But agitation has begun on this great evil and must continue until peace is reached through purity. 
If Mormonism is allowed to grow twenty-five years longer, with no more check upon it than it has received in the last quarter of a century, there can be very little doubt that it will have a controlling power in the politics of all the states west of the Rocky Mountains, except California and Oregon. Open any atlas, showing the phys-ical development of the country, and you will notice that this region is thickly sown with mines; that it is already occupied by a very ener-getic floating population, who are disembowel-ing the earth; and that, between the snow-capped ridges, wherever streams can be led out into the brown and dusty plains, large portions of them are being converted into sources of ag-ricultural wealth. Wherever you can irrigate the land, there you are sure of a crop, and may laugh at the caprices of the seasons. In the favored spots of the arid soils of the Basin States will be found, ultimately, some of the most pros-perous ranches and fertile farms of the entire country. This region is worth possessing. It is a great prize. Six nations contended for what we once called Oregon. As a whole, the space now more or less in peril is larger than the entire Union east of the Father of Waters. 
Open your compasses and put down one point of them on Salt Lake City, spread them 500 miles, draw your circle, and the circumference will pass through or shut in every one of the thirteen states and territories nearest the Pacific. If the roots of the Mormon cancer run out until they directly or indirectly affect poli-tics and social life five hundred miles on all sides of this center, you will find the thirteen states and territories next the Pacific represented in Congress by senators and representatives greatly under the influence of the Mormon vote and largely governed at important crises by con-siderations of prudence, suggested by the in-terests of the Mormon oligarchy. 
Only 15,000 Mormons are polygamists; but they have such immense privileges that they may be compared justly with the oligarchy of the slave power. They rule the remaining mass of the Mormon populations even more sternly than the slave oligarchy ruled the populations of the Slave States. They have a scheme of filling the territory between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas with Mormon institutions; and that scheme, I believe, exerts quite as much influence upon them as the scheme of building a slave-holding confederacy around the Gulf of Mexico exercised upon the slave-holding oli-garchy. Put your ear upon the old Slave States, ask what the secret hope of the slave oligarchy was, and you will find that those who held great numbers of slaves expected to be petty nabobs; and that they were to be the foremost people in an aristocracy built around the Gulf of Mexico, in-cluding the Cubas and Mexico, and perhaps Brazil itself, at last. That secret hope never was much discussed in public; but it was the real soul of the slave-holding Rebellion. I believe the soul of the Mormon movement is the hope of build-ing a Mormon political power, ultimately to be either victorious over the Federal power or in-dependent of it. Disloyalty in the Mormon priesthood appears to me to be quite as great a mischief as polygamy in the Mormon popula-tions. 
* Copyright 1885 by The Independent. 
Not many months ago—as I had occasion on my lecture tour to hear several times from shrewd politicians—President Taylor and George Q. Cannon made up a ticket, for what? For the voters of Idaho. They sent the names of their own nominees to Mormon settlements in Idaho, and, of course, the Mormon population there voted solidly for them. Usually the Democrats and the Mormons, in the territories and states adjoining Utah, have voted together, and they have sometimes made a formidable coalition. But the Democrats were so much disgusted with this attempt at dictation that they revolted, and the Mormon ticket was whipped, horse, foot and dragoons, and this for the first time. The bold-ness of this dictation is to be noticed. A small Mormon population in Southern Colorado re-volted against the political dictation of the Mor-mon leaders in Salt Lake City, and endeavored to vote as they thought best. Who were they? Chiefly recruits that had been brought in from North Carolina, Americans, not accustomed to the slavish obedience of European peasants. You must not infer from the revolt of a few American-born Mormons that the mass of the Mormon population are likely to revolt against the political dictation of the priesthood. The general truth is that the man who sits in Brig-ham Young's office, and sends out orders over the telegraph lines that center in that spot, is an autocrat, not only religiously but politically. He determines the vote of the Mormon population as a mass. Of course, I am speaking roundly; there may be individual exceptions. One of Brigham Young's sons, a graduate of Ann Arbor, who has lately revolted from Mormonism, affirmed in Salt Lake City, not long since, that out of 18,000 votes cast for a certain Mormon candidate, at least 17,999 were cast purely as the result of dictation. 
As far northward as the banks of the Colum-bia River in Washington Territory I have heard merchants, preachers, and politicians converse in extremely serious tones of the dangers arising there from the interference of the Mormon priesthood with local politics. Just such con-versation I heard in the Yellowstone Park, Mon-tana, and Idaho, and even in Oregon, in spite of the vigor of her superb American populations. I heard little of it in California; for she is too well organized to succumb under such slight attack as Mormonism could bring to bear upon her at a distance; but in Arizona the same con-versation occurred, with the expression of sur-prise at our indifference, here in the East, at the growth of the political influence of this hierarchy. We think of Mormonism, here in the East, as a mosquito at the finger-tips. What is Mormonism to us? By and by, when the Mormon political influence has spread into the regions adjoining Utah far enough to color the legislation of all those states and territories, you will be ruled from Congress very largely by delegations obeying the beck of this priesthood. You will have Utah brought into the Union by some piece of political rascality that will succeed because of your torpidity, sluggishness, and short-sightedness. 
There are three views of Mormonism—the far view, the near view, and the hood-winked view. The far view is illustrated by the opinions of the average untraveled citizen at the East, that Mormonism could not long survive the death of Brigham Young; that railways and telegraphs will kill it speedily, and that the Mormon lobby has little influence at Washing-ton. In my own experience, I have found the difference between a far and a near view of Utah and Mormonism greater than that between the far and near view of any other country or subject that I ever studied. The hood-winked view is illustrated by the unwary travelers who are mis-led by the notorious blandishments of the Mor-mon priesthood in their manipulation of distin-guished visitors. Mr. Barclay, of the British Parliament, was treated with great courtesy by the Mormon leaders when he was in Salt Lake City; and so was Mr. Beecher. [Laughter.] 
It is my fortune to have visited Salt Lake City twice, with long lists of written questions in my hands. The visits were five years apart, and in the meantime I had much correspondence with those who have made the whole subject of Mor-monism a special study. Having sketched my observation of the cancer while traveling round it, I now give the results of my travel through it. 
A conference on Mormonism was held at the residence of the Rev. R. G. McNeice at Salt Lake City, May 15th, 1884. Some thirty-three leading men were present. Among them were judges of the federal courts of Utah, and pro-fessors and preachers and editors of Salt Lake City, apostate Mormons and prominent busi-ness men. I read thirty written questions, which were discussed by the company, Dr. Mc-Neice calling on various gentlemen for detailed opinions. There was a remarkable unanimity in their replies, which are indicated in the fol-lowing record, made from notes carefully taken at that time by myself and afterward indorsed by Dr. McNeice as correct. 
Question. What of the constitutionality and ex-pediency of governing Utah, temporarily, by a legislative commission appointed by Congress? 
Answer. Florida, Louisiana, the District of Colum-bia and Alaska have been governed by a territorial commission or its equivalent. The precedent Judge McBride thinks exactly in point. Both he and Judge Boreman express themselves as having not the slightest doubt of the constitutionality of such a commission. It should be made up of residents of the territory. It should not have a high salary. Its operation would not abolish elections for county and town officers. If laws needed amendment it would not be necessary to send to Washington and wait many months for legislative action. The com-mission would be appointed by the President, and confirmed by the Senate, and would take the place of the Territorial Legislature. Its action would be subject to the veto of the Governor of the Territory and of Congress. Mr. Godbe and Mr. Lawrence, prominent business men, have no doubt of the ex-pediency of the legislative commission. They are converted Mormons. They say Utah is now ruled by a Mormon commission of three men, with twelve assistants. It would not be safe to put even a liberal Mormon on the commission representing Congress. Remove political power from the Mor-mon leaders, and polygamy cannot be sustained. Protect the business of apostates, and many will abandon Mormonism. The whole company of gentlemen favors the Cullom and Cassidy bill. 
Q. Why has the anti-polygamy law of 1862 not been enforced in Utah? 
A. Because of the probable perjury of many Mormon witnesses, the secrecy of marriage rites among Mormons, and the general defects of the jury system in a population hostile to the law. 
Q. Why was the law of 1882, giving Governor Murray power to fill county offices in Utah, not en-forced? 
A. Because of the disloyal resistance of the Mor-mon leaders and the laxity of the United States officials in Utah. 
Q. What prospect is there that the Alexander marriage law, recently brought before the Judicial Committee in Congress as a substitute for the Cassidy bill, would be any better enforced than the anti-polygamy law of 1862?
 A. No prospect whatever. 
Q. What would the effect of the government of Utah by a legislative commission be on the business interests of the territory? 
A. Highly favorable. This was the unanimous opinion of the company. 
Q. What reply do Mormons make to the proposal to institute a territorial commission for Utah? 
A. They pronounce such a proposal unconstitu-tional, undemocratic, anti-republican and unjust. Judge Black's opinion that a legislative commission would be unconstitutional is republished and widely circulated by Mormons. Threats of bloody resist-ance to a legislative commission are sometimes made by Mormons of quiet dispositions. Some of the company stated they had recently heard such threats. 
Q. In what has the Edmunds anti-Mormon legis-lation succeeded, and in what has it failed, and why? 
A. The Edmunds law has largely purified the ballot-box. General Bane affirms that he does not know of a single polygamist who offered a vote. It increased the Mormon vote by causing a thorough canvass. The number of polygamists in Utah is about one to three of the adult population. The acting Governor of the territory estimated that there are 3,000 male and 8,000 female polygamists in Utah. Before the Edmunds law one in every four of the adult voting population, male and female, were, or had been, polygamists. The law worked an almost complete revolution in the character of the officers in Utah. Old men went out of office, and young men, not polygamists, came in; but the former rule the latter. Nevertheless, the moral in-fluence of the law has been excellent. It shows that the thing to strike at in Mormonism is the political power of the priesthood. 
Q. What of Senator Hoar's proposal to confiscate the funds unlawfully gathered by the Mormon priesthood? 
A. It is a legal proposal; for only $50,000 can be held by any religious organization free from taxa-tion. But it would be a severe measure, and its ex-ecution would be very difficult. Not many honorable men, Judge Boreman thinks, would be willing to take the position of trustees of the funds such a measure would remove from Mormon hands. The suggestion that the funds be devoted to the support of schools was favored. But, I am told that since your distinguished senator made the proposal in Congress, the Mormon authorities have begun to transfer all their ecclesiastical funds to private par-ties, and that, if this proposition should become a law, and trustees sent to the territory, they would find no funds of which to take possession. 
Q. What would be the effect on Gentile enter-prises in Utah of admitting the territory to the Union as a state, with a constitution nominally abolishing polygamy? 
A. Most disastrous. The state under Mormon rule would be practically uninhabitable by Gen-tiles. Polygamy would be restored and placed un-der the shield of state rights. Gentile schools and churches would be legislated out of existence. Even a constitutional amendment could not be enforced any better than an anti-polygamy law, while the political power of the Mormon priesthood remains unbroken. 
Q. How dangerous would Mormonism be without polygamy? 
A. As dangerous as with it. In Illinois and Ohio the Mormons were not polygamists, but their crimes were such that they were driven out of these com-onwealths. The priesthood forms really a disloyal secret organization. It has an income of $1,000,000 a year. 
Q. How far does political dictation extend among the Mormons? 
A. It is universal. The priesthood make up tickets and determine how the masses shall vote. One man wields the voting power of 200,000 people, who will soon be 500,000. 
Q. What prospect is there that the political and financial power of the Mormon priesthood may so corrupt politicians as to secure the admission of Utah to the Union before the real abolition of the dangerous elements of Mormonism? 
A. Great and very dangerous prospects. Mormon votes have the balance of power in Idaho, and are fast gaining it in Arizona and Nevada. 
Q. Are the churches and schools, unless supple-mented in their reformatory work by strong legal measures against Mormonism, likely to be rapid enough in their operation to secure the regenera-tion of Utah before a dangerously strong pressure arises for her admission to the Union? 
A. By no means. Judge McBride said: "Leave the political power in Mormon hands, and schools and churches cannot reform Mormonism in ten cen-turies." 
Q. What persecutions and annoyances are in-flicted on Christian teachers by Mormons? 
A. Such as the reports of the various educational organizations have recorded. The lives of some teachers have been endangered by the midnight stoning of the buildings occupied by them. 
Q. What are the conditions and prospects of the schools exclusively under Mormon control? 
A. Wretched in the extreme. They would be worse if Utah were admitted into the Union as a state and the rivalry of the Gentile schools brought to an end by Mormon power. 
Q. What books and newspapers do the Mormons read most? What amusements do they patronize? On what topics do Mormon sermons dwell oftenest? 
A. The Mormons as a mass are little above Euro-pean peasants in general intelligence. They read little but the Mormon official newspapers. Theaters and dancing are favored by the Mormon priesthood. The sermons of Mormons in Utah are based usually on the Book of Mormon, and not on the Bible. They often discuss secular topics, such as agriculture and stock raising. Brigham Young's discourses in the Taber-nacle were often of such a character that they could not be published without revision. It is cer-tain that he was sometimes profane and obscene in the pulpit. Mormon preaching abroad, when con-verts are to be gained, is based largely on the Bible; but in Utah the Bible always takes a secondary rank as a religious influence. 
Q. On what grounds do Mormons justify polyg-amy? 
A. Chiefly on the ground of alleged revelation to Joseph Smith. The example of Old Testament saints would not be enough alone to uphold plural marriage, but it is often cited by Mormons in its defense. 
Q. What are the most powerful of the reasons which induce Mormon women to tolerate polygamy? 
A. Compulsion, Mormon fashion, religious con-viction. 
Q. What is the political effect of the Mormon cat-echism? 
A. To educate the people in fanatical devotion to Mormonism as a whole, and especially to the sup-port of the system of polygamy, and of the financial and political power of the priesthood. 
Q. What reply do the polygamistic Mormons make to the non-polygamistic Josephites? 
A. They defend polygamy on the basis of an al-leged revelation to Joseph Smith. 
Q. Why does the Mormon priesthood insist on leading Mormons becoming polygamists? 
A. To make apostasy from Mormonism as difficult as possible. A polygamist has no welcome open to him outside of Mormonism. 
Q. Is the number of polygamistic marriages de-clining in the Mormon population as a whole? 
A. No; but on the increase. 
Q. Is it declining where the influence of Gentile example and discussion is strongest; as, for exam-ple, in Salt Lake City and Ogden? 
A. Perhaps so. But this is not certain, so many marriages are secret at their origin, and afterward shielded as much as possible from Gentile observa-tion. 
Q. Is the doctrine of blood atonement held by both people and priesthood among the Mormons? 
A. It is. Except for the power of the United States soldiers it would be carried out to-day, as it undoubtedly was in numerous instances under Brigham Young's rule. 
Q. Will the Mormons fight rather than reform? 
A. Yes; very probably; and in defense of both polygamy and the political power of the priesthood. 
Q. What is the usual intellectual and spiritual condition of those who leave Mormonism and do not accept Christianity? 
A. That of skeptics. They think Christianity a fraud, because Mormonism is. They are peculiarly open to the attacks of infidelity. 
Q. To what extent is Mormonism a land specu-lation? 
A. To a very large extent. Mormon emigrants obtain land under the United States law, and think they receive it from the Mormon priesthood. 
Q. Is the state of social morals among Mormons, especially among youth connected with polygam-istic families, better than it is among Gentile popu-lation? 
A. By no means. 
Q. What of the secret oaths and ceremonies of the endowment houses? 
A. They have often been in part correctly de-scribed as, for example, in the "Hand-book of Mor-monism," edited by Professor Coyner. They are horrible in the extreme, and have almost irresist-ible power over Mormons. 
Q. What can be done to prevent the recruiting of Mormons at home and abroad? 
A. All the evangelical Churches in the United States should unite in sending circulars and letters to the leading religious bodies in the countries from which Mormon emigrants are derived in largest numbers. Government should assist in this work of distributing information as to the disloyal character of Mormonism, and the atrocities and abominations of its social system. 
The acting Governor of Utah thinks that the United States ought to refuse to allow professedly Mormon emigrants to land on our shores. They come with the purpose of violating our laws against polygamy, and may be turned back by the laws against treasonable conspiracy. 
The Cullom and Cassidy bills I now hold in my hands, and I have with them a letter from Rep-resentative Taylor, who has supported them in a powerful minority report. This Congressional document, I can recommend to every one here who wishes to have in a brief compass the most important recent facts concerning Mormonism. It is the House of Representatives document No. 1351, part 2, and the title of it is "Reorganiza-tion of the Legislative Power of Utah Territory." It proves beyond cavil the harmony of the pro-posed legislative commission with the precedents in our history and with the Constitution. Per-haps I shall be pardoned for saying that your vote of last year is quoted in this document, so that this audience has made itself audible in Con-gress. I believe the whole of the prelude given here on the topic of Mormonism last year is in this pamphlet; but it was your vote which caused it to be cited in a Congressional document. This minority report is a defense of the Cullom and Cassidy bills. My private information from friends of those measures is that there is partisan division on both these bills, and that no Demo-crat is to be expected to vote for a legislative commission, because of the Democratic doctrine as to state rights. 
Let us most earnestly support the Cullom and Cassidy bills as the best thing we can do for Utah. Let us urge their adoption upon Congress by petition, by correspondence, by newspaper and platform discussion. We shall have this health-ful legislation, or, very probably, military con-flict. 
In case Governor Murray's remedy cannot be had at once, what is the next best thing? I be-lieve it to be what the Utah Commission asks for. And what is the Utah Commission? Why, a number of gentlemen who have been sent to Utah by the President to oversee the execution of the Edmunds Bill, who now have asked for an en-largement of their powers, and particularly de-sire that the number of appointed officers in the territory be increased, and the number of the elective correspondingly diminished. I beg you to notice that even this commission, whose mem-bers would lose their places if a legislative com-mission were appointed, think that the latter will at last become necessary. They say: 
"It is not unlikely that finally the Federal Govern-ment will find it necessary to take into its own hands all civil power in this territory. For the present, however, we advise only: 
"First. That the offices of territorial auditor and treasurer should be definitely defined by Congress as offices to be filled by appointment. And we may remark in this connection that, although the organic act would seem to leave no doubt as to the appoint-able character of these officers, and the commission has persistently refused to recognize the right of election under the law, and the local courts have sustained this view, still the incumbents of these offices at the present time are holding over from previous elections. We would recommend that, in addition to the above, commissioners to locate uni-versity lands, probate judges, county clerks, county selectmen, county assessors and collectors, and county superintendents of district schools, be made by act of Congress appointable by the governor, and that all these, after the nomination of the gov-ernor, shall require to be confirmed by a majority vote of the commission, before being commissioned. The reason for this is obvious. The organic act now requires that all nominations by the governor shall be confirmed by the legislative council. The coun-cil is always the creature of the Mormon power; hence, no suitable appointments can be secured. The governor and the commission acting respec-tively as nominating and confirming powers would insure such appointments as would be effective in the effort of the Federal Government to overthrow polygamy. 
"For the courts, after conferring with the judges and district attorney of this district, we recom-mend: 
"First. That the provisions of the law of 1874, relative to juries, and the mode of selection, be re-vised either by providing for a greater number of jurors, or by authorizing an open venire when the names in the box have been exhausted. 
"A better provision perhaps would be one author-izing an open venire in all cases prosecuted by the United States. 
"Second. The jurisdiction of the several district courts ought to be extended, so as to give to each jurisdiction of all cases of polygamy, wherever, in the territory, the crime may have been committed. 
"Third. In United States cases the territorial courts should be invested with a power co-extensive with that possessed by the United States circuit and district courts in the several states, in matters of contempt and the punishment thereof. 
"Fourth. Prosecutions for polygamy should be exempted from the operation of the general limita-tion laws. Certainly while the parties continue to live in polygamy the statute should not run against the principal crime, polygamy. 
"Fifth. The process of subpoena in all cases pros-ecuted by the United States should run from the territorial courts into any other district of the United States. 
"Sixth. Provision should be made for the binding over of witnesses on the part of the Government, in all United States cases, to appear and testify at the trial. 
"Seventh. When a continuance is granted upon the motion of the defendant, provision should be made for the taking of depositions of witnesses on the part of the Government, with opportunity given the defendant to be confronted with the witness or to witnesses, at the taking of such deposition, and to cross-examine. Such deposition to be used at the trial in the event of the death of the witness, or in case of his or her absence from the territory at the time of trial, or in the event that such witness con-cealed himself or herself, so as to elude the process of subpoena. 
"Eighth. It should be made a penal offense for any woman to enter into the marriage relation with a man knowing him to have a wife living and undi-vorced. This should be coupled with a provision that, in cases where the polygamous wife was called as a witness in any prosecution for polygamy against the husband, her testimony given in such case could not be used against her in any future prosecution against herself, with a like provision as to the testi-mony of the husband called as a witness in a prose-cution against his polygamous wife." ("Report of the Utah Commission," 1884, pp. 7, 8.) 
National law in Utah is a sword without a hilt. It is a Gentile blade with a Mormon hilt, if it has any hilt at all. The problem of highest legislative importance in Utah is how to put a Gentile hilt on the Gentile sword. 
A Massachusetts girl, coming home through the sage bushes, from her school-house in Utah, where she was teaching for a pittance, heard a bullet whistling past her head. She supposed that possibly this might be the result of acci-dent; some hunter on the hills might have mis-taken her for game. She said nothing of the mat-ter; but, within a week, the same thing occurred again; and when, within a fortnight, it had occurred three times, she made her will, and said to her superior in the list of officers of the schools: "If anything happens to me, you will find a paper in my portfolio giving directions as to what is to be done with my small effects. It may be," she said, "that the firing has been accidental or intended merely to frighten me; but that seems hardly a probable theory." These facts were laid before the Mormon bishop in whose district they occurred, and he, from motives of prudence, restrained the conspirators against the life of this teacher. That happened in a rural quarter, not in Salt Lake City. I suppose there is no danger of a teacher being shot at in the streets of Salt Lake City; but God knows how soon riot may spring up there. I have spoken twice at crowded anti-Mormon indigna-tion meetings in Salt Lake City, and have been as frank there as I would be here; but there were officers of the United States Army on or near the platform. There was no insult offered. Without the soldiers at Camp Douglass, there would have been danger of a riot. The young women who are teaching Christain schools in Utah are worthy of your loftiest respect; for, some of them, day by day, take their lives in their hands, and "carry the war into Africa," at the risk of all that is dearest and noblest in the feminine nature—that is, at the risk of insult, and of losing their opportunity of use-fulness, and perhaps life itself. I am not anxious to exaggerate the dangers of teachers in Utah; but, in the rural districts, I believe assassination is one of them. You may judge, therefore, whether I do not regard with reverence the work of the New West Education Commission, and of the Presbyterian schools, and of the Methodist, and of the Baptist, and of the Episcopalian. God bless them all, above all our thought and prayer! And yet, let us remember, that, while they are efficient, they do not, to the local judges of this topic, appear to be sufficient to solve the problem, before a dangerously strong pressure will be brought to bear upon Congress for the admission of Utah as a state into the Union. Schools and Churches may reach a large portion of the Mormon youth, and yet hardly touch the mass of peasants above school age and brought into Utah from Europe in a constant stream. 
What remedies do the evils of Mormonism, as seen in a near view of them, now call for? 
1. The government of the territory by a ter-ritorial commission, or its equivalent, as recom-mended by Governor Murray and by the Cullom and Cassidy bills. 
2. If this is not granted by Congress, then, as a temporary measure, the extension of the powers of the present Utah Commission, accord-ing to their own request in their last report. 
3. The exclusion of Utah from the Union, until the power of the non-Mormon population of the territory is in the ascendant. 
4. A national constitutional amendment, pro-hibiting polygamy. 
5. A national divorce law. Let us smite with clean hands, and put down successive polygamy in New England and the Mississippi Valley in our attempt to put down synchronous polygamy in Utah. 
6. Anti-polygamy leagues, to organize public effort against polygamy. 
7. Circulars from the chief ecclesiastical bodies in the United States to the state Churches in European countries, from which Mormon emigrants are chiefly drawn, setting forth the true character of Mormonism. 
8. Similar circulars from Government to our consular and diplomatic agents abroad, accord-ing to the Evarts suggestion. 
9. The vigorous support of Protestant schools and missions in Utah. 
10. Turning back Mormon immigrants from our shores as prospective violators of our laws. 
It is one purpose of the discussion conducted on this platform to reflect the sentiments of lead-ers of reform throughout the country. I hope to hold this platform in sympathy with the fore-most thought of the land; and whenever I can speak in the words of a leader of reform and use his name, I think it my duty to do so. I hold in my hands an important letter, which I had the honor to receive this morning from Senator Hoar, and which he has given me the liberty to read: 
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31st, 1885. 
My Dear Sir:—I am glad that the topics of Mor-monism and the Reorganization of the South are to be discussed in your lectures in Boston. Massa-chusetts is an old state. Her people dwell under institutions which have been ripening for 250 years. But in the West, in the heart of the continent, and in the South, we are laying foundations still. If Mormonism live and grow, the Christian family will not be an element in the civilization of the great Central States of the future. If the 30,000,000 of the colored race who, within fifty years, will inhabit the states of the South, are to be a race of peasants, denied their practical and equal share in the Gov-ernments by such processes as have prevailed in recent years, the republic itself cannot continue. The Russian "despotism tempered by assassination" is quite as desirable as Republicanism tempered by both assassination and fraud. In the warfare with these things the school and the Christian Church are to be our most potent instruments. They can accomplish more than any political party. I have contemplated with the greatest satisfaction the noble work in this cause of our New England churches and of the associations they have organ-ized. I am yours, very truly, 
GEORGE F. HOAR. 
God bless the senator from Massachusetts, and God be with those who are laying foundations on our frontier of to-day as He was with our fathers when they began to build on Plymouth Rock! [Applause.] 
A copy of the Cassidy bill is here appended for reference: 
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre-sentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the legislative power of Utah Terri-tory shall be vested in the governor and a legisla-tive council. The council shall be composed of fif-teen members, who shall be citizens of the United States and qualified voters in said territory, not more than eight of whom shall be members of the same national political party; and a majority of said council in commission shall constitute a quo-rum. All the powers heretofore granted to the leg-islative assembly of said territory shall be vested in said legislative council, subject to all the limitations and restrictions imposed by existing law; and the provisions of section eighteen hundred and fifty-four of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall be applicable to the members of said council.  
"SEC. 2. That the legislative council aforesaid shall be organized by the choice of a president from one of the number by a majority vote, and such necessary additional subordinate officers as are provided for in section eighteen hundred and sixty-one of the Revised Statutes, and no other subordi-nates or attendants shall be allowed to said council or paid by the United States or said territory. All the provisions of the existing laws of the United States heretofore applying to the legislative assem-bly of said territory shall be in force in reference to the acts and proceedings of said council, except that said council may hold a session not oftener than once in each year, and no session shall exceed sixty days' duration, and all sessions shall be public. 
"SEC. 3. That the members of said council shall be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate of the United States, and the times of their commissions shall be three years, respectively, ex-cept the members first appointed, one-third of whom shall be commissioned for one year, and one-third for two years, and one-third for three years; and thereafter each shall be commissioned, when ap-pointed, for the full term of three years; and the compensation for each member shall be as hereto-fore provided by law for members of the legislative assembly of said territory, and paid in like manner. 
"SEC. 4. That the first session of said council shall commence at such time as the governor, by proclamation, issued not less than thirty days prior, shall fix, after the appointment of the members of said council, and thereafter said council shall meet at such date as may be fixed by law; and each mem-ber shall, before entering upon his duties, take the oath heretofore required of a member of the legis-lative assembly of said territory. 
"SEC. 5. That all acts and parts of acts inconsist-ent with this act are hereby repealed."