UTAH 



791 



Commerce. The foreign trade movement of 

 Uruguay, from 1880 to 1883, was as follows: 



American Trade. The imports into the United 

 States from Uruguay, and our exports to that 

 country, for five years, are shown in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



UTAH. Territorial Government. The folio \v ing 

 were the Territorial officers during the year : 

 Governor, Eli H. Murray; Secretary, Arthur 

 L. Thomas; Auditor, Nephi W. Clayton; 

 Treasurer, James Jack ; Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction, L. J. Nuttall. Supreme Court : 

 Chief-Justice, John A. Hunter, succeeded by 

 Charles S. Zane ; Associate Justices, Philip F. 

 Emerson and Stephen P. Twiss. 



Legislative Session. The commissioners ap- 

 pointed under the act of Congress of March 

 22, 1882, report, under date of April 29, 1884, 

 that the Territorial Legislature met on January 

 14 and adjourned on March 14 " without ac- 

 complishing such legislation as is contemplated 

 by said act of Congress." The members of 

 this body were all Mormons, but none of them 

 disqualified under the act of Congress (not be- 

 ing in polygamy). No act was passed con- 

 cerning the marriage relation. A bill relating 

 to registration and elections, and declaring the 

 qualification of voters and office-holders, was 

 passed in both houses, but failed to receive the 

 approval of the Governor. By congressional 

 law the Governor is a part of the legislative 

 authority in Utah, and no law can take effect 

 without his approval. In the opinion of the 

 Governor, as set forth in his veto message, the 

 bill was an evasion of the law of Congress, and 

 did not come up to the requirements of the 

 country in regard to polygamy. 



Operation of the Edmunds Law. The commis- 

 sioners in their April report say : 



Thus far the legislation of Congress has been di- 

 rected against the crime of polygamy and " unlawful 

 cohabitation," a full exposition of which was submit- 

 ted in our last report. The present law provides for 

 the punishment of polygamy and unlawful cohabita- 



tion by fine and imprisonment upon conviction in th? 

 courts of justice, and also for the disfrunehujemtnt < t 

 polygamista. Prior to the time when tlm board took 

 charge ot the conduct of registrations and elections in 

 i ' m Au !? U8t i 18g 2, nearly all the principal offices 

 in the Territory were held by poljrgunbla, The Le- 

 gislative Assembly of 1882 (consisting of thirty-six 

 members) were all in polygamy with the exception 

 ot two or three. Other offices, such as dei 

 Congress, and Territorial, county, and municipal of- 

 fices, were failed by polygamists in about the same pro- 

 portion. The doctrine of " rotation in office " was 

 almost unknown in Utah, and many of the polyga- 

 mists had been kept in the same office* from youth to 

 old age. All this is changed under this u< ,-t' 

 this commission entered upon its duties there have 

 been elected in the Territory 1,351 officers, not one of 

 whom is a polygamist. In this number are included 

 390 municipal officers. We have estimated the num- 

 ber of voters (male and female) who have been dis- 

 franchised by reason of polygamy at 12,000, and there 

 is not now a polygamist in office in Utah. That the 

 leading polygamists among the Mormons feel the ef- 

 fects of the Edmunds act as a heavy blow against 

 their dominating influence has been proved to our 

 satisfaction in many ways. Whether the actual prac- 

 tice of polygamy is on the decrease or not is a dis- 

 puted question. We are of the opinion that in the 

 more rural districts, chiefly in the southern part of 

 the Territory there has not been much decrease, 

 while in Salt Lake county, and other counties where 

 there are considerable cities and towns, there has been 

 a decided decrease. 



It is said that the large influx of non-Mor- 

 mons since the completion 'of the transconti- 

 nental railroad in 1869, and especially since the 

 development of mining in Utah, has wrought 

 many changes for the better. It is not ex- 

 pected that legislation will effect any immedi- 

 ate change in the religious belief of the people, 

 but it is claimed that, in conjunction with other 

 influences, it will " place the obnoxious features 

 of Mormonism in a condition of gradual de- 

 clension and final extinction." In a later re- 

 port (Nov. 18, 1884), the commissioners express 

 their views as follows: 



After more than two years' labor and experiences 

 here, it becomes our duty to advise the Government 

 and the country that, although the law has been suc- 

 cessfully administered in respect of the disf'ranchise- 

 ment of polygamists, the effect of the same upon the 

 preaching and practice of polygamy has not been to 

 improve the tone of the former or materially dimin- 

 ish the latter. For a year or more after the effort to 

 enforce the law was 'initiated, polygamic teachings 

 from the pulpit were rarely heard, and there were in- 

 dications that the practice of polygamy might be ex- 

 pected to at least measurably decline ; but during the 

 present year there appears to have been a polygamio 

 revival. The institution is boldly, defiantly defended 

 and commended by the spiritual teachers^ and plural 

 marriages are reported to have increased in number. 

 This reported increase in plural marriages seems to 

 be coincident with the completion of the Mormon tem- 

 ple at Logan, the most prominent and influential city 

 in the northern section of the Territory. The dedi- 

 cation of this temple was attended witn great pomp 

 and ceremony. A large concourse of people assem- 

 bled there, Mormon fanaticism was blown into a flame, 

 and polygamic marriages received an additional im- 

 petus ; and although we have no official data upon 

 which to base a statement because the record of Mor- 

 mon marriages, if there is one in this Territory, is a 

 sealed book to all the world it is undoubtedly true 

 that an unusual number of plural marriages followed 

 this event. There are four Mormon temples in Utah 

 at Salt Lake City, Manti, Logan City, and Saint 



