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CHAPTER IX.
Marked Ballots and the Absurd Election Law.
The act of the territorial legislature, which was approved January 3, 1853, and remained in force nearly thirty years, contained the following sections:
"Sec. 3. The senior justice of the peace shall be judge of elections in his precinct, and shall appoint one clerk, and furnish the necessary stationery and a ballot box; and in the absence of a justice of the peace, the electors first assembled on the day of election to the number of six, may appoint some suitable person to act as judge of that election." * * * *
"Sec. 5. Each elector shall provide himself with a vote containing the names of the persons he wishes elected, and the offices he would have them fill, and present it neatly folded to the judge of election, who shall number and deposit it in the ballot box: the clerk shall then write the name of the elector, and opposite it the number of his vote."
There was no provision respecting the manner of conducting the election at the polls, but the matter was left entirely to the discretion of a single judge. Non-taxpayers were disqualified from voting or holding office. The Liberal party, as time progressed, continued to increase rapidly in membership, and it was evident that in a few years it would have a majority in Salt Lake City. It was also evident that under the existing election law the Liberal party could not elect its ticket after it acquired a majority. A number of Liberal Mormons especially among the younger members, from time to time expressed to me a desire to vote the Liberal ticket, but refrained from doing so because their marked ballots would disclose the fact and subject them to discipline or expulsion from the Mormon church, and injure their business in a way they could not afford. It was useless in my opinion to expect the territorial legislature to change the absurd election law, and in view of the fact that it was necessary to have it changed, in connection with Senator Christiancy, who was formerly chief justice of the supreme court of Michigan, I drew up an election bill. He introduced it in Congress and had it referred to the Senate Committee on Territories, of which he was chairman. The bill never became a law, but its most vital provisions were incorporated into other acts passed by Congress. George Q. Cannon and myself discussed the bill before the committee and inasmuch as my speech will show its scope and purpose, and my motives; I make the following extracts from it:
"Gentlemen: The immunity which this crime (polygamy) has so long enjoyed has made it bold and aggressive, as was apparent from the remarks of Mr. Cannon, and unless its progress be soon arrested by wise and adequate legislation by Congress, its evil at no distant day will culminate in calamity of great magnitude to the nation. It strikes at the very foundation of society by destroying the harmony, and contaminating the pure and important relations of husband and wife, parent and child. Mr. Cannon objects to the last section of the bill because it disqualifies polygamists from voting or holding office. He asserts that polygamy is part of the Mormon religion and that the law of 1862 providing for its punishment is in violation of the constitution, and until its constitutionality is declared by the supreme court of the United States, the Mormons have a right to disregard and violate its provisions. The absurdity of such a proposition is surpassed only by its audacity. The application of such a doctrine would totally destroy society, because the thief, the burglar and the murderer would, with as much reason and propriety, make the same claim.
"At the date of the formation of the constitution, polygamy was recognized as a crime throughout the civilized Christian world. Every State at that time and at the time of the adoption of the amendment of the constitution guaranteeing religious freedom, had statutes punishing polygamy, and every Territory, except Utah, has such statutes. It is also a crime both at the common and civil law. Is it not therefore the height of absurdity to claim that the constitution in guaranteeing religious freedom gives immunity to a crime which is universally recognized and punished as such in every Christian nation? Suppose some religious monomaniac should in his delusion imagine that he had received a revelation that the custom of wearing clothes is a perversion of nature, and that it is the will of God that men should go naked, and that in obedience to such a revelation a sect should spring up and insist upon appearing and openly mingling in society in a nude condition - Would the constitution protect such a practice? No, indeed, and why not? Simply because it would outrage the general moral sense of the community. Such a practice would not be much less repugnant to the moral sense of civilized and Christian people than is polygamy. The protection of religion by the constitution ends where license begins.
"The shedding of human blood for the remission of certain sins is a doctrine of the Mormon church as plainly taught and as well understood as polygamy, in proof of which the following quotations will fully show. The Mountain Meadows butcher, John D. Lee, in his confession said:
"For the past seventeen years - in fact, since the commission of the crime - I have given this subject much thought and reflection. I have made an effort to bear my confinement with fortitude and resignation, well knowing that most of those engaged in this unfortunate affair were led on by religious influence, commonly called fanaticism. And nothing but devotion to God and their duty to him, as taught to them by their religion and their church leaders, would ever have induced them to commit the outrageous and unnatural acts - believing that all who participated in the lamentable transaction, or most of them, were acting under orders which they considered it their duty to their religion to obey."
"The following are quotations from the sermons of Brigham Young. contained in the Journal of Discourses, an official publication by the Mormon church. In speaking of the words of Jesus, `Love thy neighbor as thyself,' he says:
"All mankind loves themselves; let those principles be known by an individual and he would be glad to have his blood shed. This would be loving ourselves even unto eternal exaltation. * * * Will you love your brother and sister likewise when they have a sin that cannot be atoned for without shedding their blood? This is what Jesus Christ meant. * * * Any of you who understand the principles of eternity, if you have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood except the sin unto death, should not be satisfied or rest until your blood should be spilled, that you might gain the salvation you desire. That is the way to love mankind. * * * I have known a great many men who have left the church for whom there is no chance whatever for exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled it would have been better for them." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. VI, pp. 219-220.)
"There are sins that cannot be atoned for by an offering upon the altar, as in ancient days; and these are sins that the blood of a lamb, or calf, or of turtle doves cannot remit, but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man." (Idem, Vol. IV, p. 54.)
"When the time comes that we have need to shed blood, then it will be necessary we should do it, and it will be just as innocent as to go and kill an ox when we are hungry, or in time of famine." (Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 59.)
"Many similar quotations could be added from the Journal of Discourses, as also from the Deseret News, a church paper of which Mr. Cannon was formerly the editor, but time will not permit.
"Is that portion of the Mormon creed also protected by the constitution? Polygamy at the formation of the constitution was as well recognized as a crime as that of homicide, the difference being only one of grade.
"The gentleman said that `there has been only one conviction for polygamy since the passage of the law of 1862.' This is true, and I do not believe that it will be possible to procure another one until by some means jurors can be selected who recognize the supremacy of municipal law, and yield to the obligation of an oath administered by a civil magistrate. The Mormon people do not recognize the supremacy of that law. On this subject Brigham Young, in another sermon said, `I live above the law, and so do this people.' Because persons guilty of open crime have not been and cannot be punished is no reason why they should continue to enjoy immunity, but is the very best reason in favor of the provisions of this bill.
"Suffrage is not a right, but a privilege, and it rests with the law-making power to fix the limit, and regulate its enjoyment. The laws on this subject are various. Persons who have engaged in a duel, either as principals or seconds, are disqualified by the constitutions of many states, and by the statutes of others, as also by the statutes of Colorado and other territories from voting or holding office. In some instances conviction is required, in others it is not. Persons are likewise, before conviction, frequently disqualified from voting at any election who have bet or are interested in any wager upon the result thereof. By the statute which this bill is intended to supersede persons who are not taxpayers are disqualified from holding office, voting, or serving on a jury. The provisions of the bill under consideration apply the principles of these precedents to a class of persons, not as the legislature of Utah has done, because they are poor, but because they are guilty of a crime alike revolting to Christianity as it is destructive of the well-being of society.
"Objection is also made because the disqualification does not depend upon conviction. The gentleman well knows that under a system of law which allows criminals to be placed upon juries to indict and try each other there can be no convictions. He has stated that there has been but one conviction of polygamy in fourteen years, and that was aided by the Mormons far the purpose of testing the constitutionality of the law. The latter part of that statement is not true; but, even if it were, it is a pregnant circumstance that while the gentleman was speaking in this connection, he omitted the only thing which could give it any point, namely, he was careful not to pledge either himself or the Mormon people to yield submission to the law in case it should be pronounced valid. The testing of the constitutionality of that law was a safe experiment, even if any such purpose existed, because if such an improbable result should occur as holding the law void, much would be gained by the Mormons; otherwise nothing would be lost, but they could still go on and violate the law with impunity, as they always have done.
"The gentleman complained because adultery and fornication are not also made disqualifying causes. There is a great difference between the cases. Adultery and fornication are not continuing in their nature, while polygamy is. Besides, the polygamic legislature of Utah has passed the most stringent laws to suppress and punish all illicit intercourse between the sexes, which are most harshly and rigidly enforced against all classes outside of the Mormon church, while members of that church are not molested in the indulgence of unbridled lust. Adultery and fornication even in Utah are hid from the light of day, and are only carried on behind bolted doors, and in hidden, dark streets, while polygamy, which in its constituent elements embraces both adultery and lewd and lascivious cohabitation, boldly and shamelessly invades the sacred precincts of the home, and its adherents, there revel in debauchery and lust in the home of the lawful wife, and in the presence of her family. Even the sacred ties of consanguinity are disregarded in its invasions, and it unblushingly stalks abroad in open day spreading moral contagion. Adultery and fornication are not so shameless as to claim constitutional protection, while polygamy, with an effrontery which is amazing, makes such a claim and asserts for itself the sanctity and purity of holy religion. Adultery and fornication are not frequent nor general, while polygamy is of daily occurrence.
"The only other objection worthy of notice made by the gentleman, was to that portion of the twenty-fifth Section, which makes it penal for any person to threaten, vote for, or in any way take part in the excommunication of any person from any church, or organization called a church, on account of having voted for or failed to vote for any particular persons or person. While the bill renders it impossible to detect how anyone votes by reason of the manner in which the election under it is conducted, it will be very easy in the absence of this provision for the Mormon church, absolute as it has made itself, to force a member by threats of excommunication to disclose how he voted. The gentleman complained that this provision interferes with the church in fixing the rules of fellowship. That is exactly what is intended to the extent specified in the bill and for the best of reasons. No church has any right to exercise such power, because in its exercise the freedom and independence of the ballot box might be entirely destroyed, and in Utah, it most certainly would be. Excommunication from the Mormon church in Utah means, if the party excommunicated be a laboring man, no more employment from his former brethren. If he has a family, in many instances it means to deprive his children of their daily bread. If he be a merchant or a business man, it means bankruptcy and financial ruin. To all persons excommunicated, it means an unfriendly neighborhood, which as General Sherman said of war, `is hell.' Yea, more, it may mean personal violence or assassination. Let one of Brigham Young's sermons and the bloody history of the Territory say what it means. I quote from Brigham's sermon published in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, page 83:
"Now, you Gladdenites, keep your tongues still, lest sudden destruction come upon you! * * * I say, rather than apostates should flourish here, I will unsheath my bowie-knife, and conquer or die! [Great commotion in the congregation and simultaneous burst of feeling assenting to the declaration.] Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet! [Voices generally, Go it! Go it!] If you say it is right-raise your hands. [All hands up.] Let us call upon the Lord to assist us in this and every good work."
"Strike out this clause of the bill and the excommunication of a few persons from the Mormon church for voting against the church ticket would do as much, yea, more to affect the freedom of the ballot at the succeeding elections as any threat could possibly accomplish at or before such time. If, as the gentleman asserts, there is no possibility that anyone will be excommunicated from the Mormon church for the causes specified in the bill, then the provision is certainly harmless; otherwise it is very necessary.
"The hackneyed cry of persecution which the gentleman makes is not germane to the question, and I have only this to say in reply: that mere general assertions will fail to convince anyone who is at all familiar with the toleration and liberality which has always characterized American communities on the frontier, especially in matters pertaining to religion, that the Mormons were ever harshly treated without some enormous provocation on their part. Polygamy had not been publicly promulgated or openly practiced when the Mormons emigrated from the States. Polygamy, therefore, could not have been the cause of the disturbance referred to by the gentleman.
"In referring to the settlement of the Territory, he omitted to state the fact that, notwithstanding the hostility of the heads of the Mormon church, an industry has sprung up which produces the principal articles of exportation of any importance in the Territory. The product of silver last year was between six and seven million dollars, and the yield of the present year, is expected to amount to ten or twelve millions. There is also a large production of lead and considerable gold. This important and growing industry is almost exclusively carried on by the class whom the church leaders in their tabernacle harangues denounce as `nasty Gentiles.' The development and increasing wealth of the Territory are not reasons, however, why the ordinary safeguards should not be thrown around the ballot-box. On the contrary, they furnish the very best of reasons why this should be done. Neither does the settlement of Salt Lake valley by Mormons justify combinations to defeat the execution of the law or constitute a valid reason why democratic principles should not be established and protected there by legislation of Congress, the territorial legislature having failed to do so. Hundreds of other communities in this country have been instrumental in redeeming the soil from the blight of dense wilderness and building up prosperous, progressive cities, yet have fair election laws.
"Gentlemen, Mormonism, according to Brigham Young, is at war with republican institutions, and is today a blight, as it has always been, upon one of the richest territories in the country.
"The gentleman thought proper to designate the advocates of this bill as `a ring.' Yet its advocates include the entire Gentile population, and thousands of the Mormon rank and file. Both the Republican and Democratic parties in the Territory have passed resolutions in favor of it. What will be the effect of this bill? First, it excludes a class of persons from the exercise of a privilege who have forfeited all claim to enjoy the same; second, it inflicts upon polygamists the only punishment which is practicable by reason of the fact that the polygamist theocracy has rendered the enforcement of the law of 1862 by the courts impossible; third, it will destroy polygamy without violating either precedent or principle, by rendering available an opposition majority which at no distant day is as sure to be the case as that the sun shines it the heavens. The only immediate effect, however, on theocratic rule will be (as after disqualifying polygamists the Mormons have still several thousand majority over the opposition) to transfer the offices now almost universally held by polygamists to Mormons not living in violation of the law.
"Without such provisions of law as this bill contains the Mormon church can keep itself in power long after it ceases to be a majority, because it can poll or return whatever number of votes may be necessary to overcome the opposition. As the passage of this bill will be the death knell of polygamy, I suggest that the word `cohabits' be substituted in place of has `cohabited' so that the bill will then itself restore persons to civil rights who are disqualified as soon as they cease to be polygamists in practice. This change will give them the opportunity of choosing between enfranchisement and the practice of a pernicious crime. Does this display improper animus? Is this persecution?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * The experience of William S. Godbe illustrates what, in former days, excommunication from the Mormon church meant to an apostate. The following extract is from a manuscript written by Mr. Godbe, and placed in my hands by one of his sons:
"After I was excommunicated, it was said by the people that in ninety days - to use their own terse, if not elegant phraseology - 'there wouldn't be a grease-spot' left of me, and to carry out that prediction the Zion Drug Store was started, and I found the competition too severe for me, and was forced to close out my business. I lost my trade on account of the strong feeling against me. I had a large establishment full of goods, and I owed money for part of these goods, and I found I could not collect. There was about $100,000 due me at that time, and practically the whole amount is due now. In a year or so after being cut off from the church, instead of being worth at least $100,000, which I should have been worth, I found myself owing that much, and paying interest at a rate that would average at least $1,000 a month. Well, to meet all that, I put myself to work with all my might and main, and commenced mining, as being about the only thing open to me, and finally succeeded in discharging my indebtedness and recovering my former footing. At the time I was excommunicated it was very unpleasant for me - it was terrific. The Mormons took advantage of the feelings against me on account of being excommunicated and did not pay me the money owing me, thinking it would have a tendency to crush me, as prophesied. Owing to this and the competition started against me, I was unable to continue."
Mr. Godbe and B. L. T. Harrison in 1869 established the Utah Magazine, in which appeared articles advocating the opening up and development of the mines, which was against the counsel of Brigham Young. Upon refusing to change the policy of the magazine in that respect, Mr. Godbe was excommunicated at the dictation of Brigham Young, as was Mr. Harrison. The charge against them, preferred by George Q. Cannon, was "apostasy" on the grounds of the articles in the magazine mentioned, containing views on financial questions differing with those of President Young as well as on account of an expressed belief "that members of the church had not only the right to think, but to express their ideas on such subjects."
At the trial, Apostle Woodruff, who appeared on behalf of the church, asked Mr. Godbe this question: "Do you believe that President Young has the right to dictate to you in all things temporal and spiritual?" In answer Mr. Godbe said that he did not believe in the extraordinary right claimed for Brigham Young but deemed it wise in commerce to be guided by commercial experience and the circumstances of the case. After Mr. Cannon had read the charges preferred against the accused, he was asked by Mr. Godbe if it was apostasy to differ honestly with the measures of the priesthood. The reply was "It is apostasy. A man may be honest even in hell." Daniel H. Wells, who was present, remarked that "the question might as well be asked whether a man had the right to differ honestly with the Almighty."
Henry W. Lawrence, who was intimate with Mr. Godbe, defended his friend and voted against his excommunication on the ground that what he was charged with was not wrong but praiseworthy. For doing so he was also, at the dictation of Brigham Young, afterward excommunicated. At that time he was very highly respected by all, and generally popular. He was engaged in the mercantile business and built up a large and lucrative trade which, if he had sacrificed his manhood, instead of defending his friend against an absurd charge, and had observed silence and remained in the church, would have in time made him very wealthy. His excommunication, however, as in the case of Mr. Godbe, took from him the mass of his Mormon customers, ruined his trade, and forced him to go out of the mercantile business. In my experience of more than threescore years and ten I have never known so great a financial sacrifice for principle as that made by W. S. Godbe and Henry W. Lawrence.
Notwithstanding Brigham Young's efforts to prevent it, mines were discovered and developed, and almost exclusively by the despised Gentile element, who, by their investments and consummate skill, have made the mining industry, next to agriculture, the most important and greatest asset of the State.
William S. Godbe and Henry W. Lawrence were infinitely better and wiser than their fanatical and relentless oppressor, Brigham Young, and at the time he was oppressing them I have no doubt, although heartless and tyrannical as his treatment of them showed him to be, he secretly respected them for their manly independence.
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