REPORT OF THE UTAH COMMISSION. OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 31, 1882. DEAR SIR: The commission appointed by the President, under the ninth section of "An act to amend section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes," approved March 22, 1882, respectfully report: That all the members of the commission met, by request of the chairman, at the city of Chicago, on the 17th of July, 1882, and remained in session several days. James R. Pettigrew, of Arkansas, a member of the commission, was appointed temporary secretary. After consultation and an examination and consideration of the laws of the United States and of the Territory of Utah pertaining to our duties, it was determined that nothing could be done. in regard to the registration of voters and the conduct of any election in Utah until the necessary appropriation bills then pending in Congress should be passed. Accordingly, the commission adjourned to meet at Omaha, Nebr., on the 15th day of August, where the commissioners met, and on the following day commenced their journey to this city, arriving here on the evening of the 18th instant. On the day following a session was held for the transaction of business, Arthur L. Thomas, secretary of the Territory, and ex officio secretary of the commission, being present, and one or more sessions have been held each day since. A strong disposition with some of the nonMormon citizens against preparing for the election of a Delegate in Congress manifested itself before the work of preparation therefor was commenced. But upon investigation as to the condition of affairs, and an examination as to the state of the law and the duty of the commission thereunder, the following preamble and resolution was adopted: Whereas it is provided by the Revised Statutes of the United States (section 1862) that every Territory shall have the right to send a Delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States, and as it is further provided (section 25) that such election shall be held in all the Territories of the United States on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1882: Therefore, Resolved, That in order to prepare for such election in the Territory of Utah on the day so established the commission will proceed forthwith to appoint registration officers to revise the registration lists, now on file in the office of the clerks of each of the several counties, in the manner required by law. In pursuance of this resolution the commission proceeded with great care and deliberation to prepare "rules and regulations" for the guid ance of the registration and election officers to be appointed. This was a difficult and delicate task, because of the necessity of framing the rules and regulations governing the registration of voters and the con duct of the election to conform to the principles and requirements of the act of Congress as well as the laws of the Territory. We inclose a printed copy of the same, together with the forms of affidavits, &c., provided by the commission. The matter of the appointment of registration officers for the several counties in the Territory was then taken up, and one for each county has been duly appointed and commissioned. In addition to these a deputy or assistant in each voting precinct in the Territory will be immediately appointed. Our selections have and must necessarily be influenced in a considerable degree by suggestions and recommendations of leading citizens here. The embarrassments in this direction have been great, but the commission have endeavored to secure the very best available men, rejecting, of course, all persons who are ineligible under the law. From present indications it appears that that class of persons who are deprived of the right of suffrage by the act of Congress will not attempt to register or vote. These will number, male and female, probably 10,000 voters. Many of the non-Mormons have hitherto refrained from voting, but it is believed that at the November election they will cast a much larger vote than at any time heretofore. However, the business of the commission, as understood by the members thereof, relates not to the questions of parties nor candidates, but to securing so far as possible a fair registration and an impartially conducted election under the law. As before suggested, the commission have encountered many embarrassments and complications. The opposition made at the outset by some non-Mormons of respectability and influence against holding the regular election for Delegate in Congress, as required by law, in November next, was an unpleasant feature of the situation. But there does not appear to be under the law any discretion whatever for the commission. The law demanded an election. The people of the Territory were clearly entitled to representation in Congress, if the same could be secured through a due observance of the restrictions imposed in relation to bigamy and polygamy. We did not see how we could excuse the omission, if being present and prepared to proceed with the work assigned us we should not even attempt to perform this manifest duty, and so it was decided to proceed. It was not deemed advisable, even if the power was in the commission, concerning which there is some doubt, to commence de novo a registration of the voters of the Territory; but after very careful consideration it was decided to order a revision of the existing registration lists in September, as required by the Territorial law, applying to the same the governing principles of the Edmunds act. We think the regularity of this proceeding cannot be questioned. Its effectiveness will be equal to an entirely new registration, and we believe the results of the election will so demonstrate. In the preparation of the rules and regulations to govern the registration and the conduct of the election, as before stated, the labor of assimilating the acts of Congress and the local election law, was tedious and perplexing, involving much greater responsibility than was agreeable to the commission to assume; but to accomplish the results required by the provisions of section 8 of the Edmunds act it became necessary to use all the powers conferred. A later embarrassment came in the form of a demand on the part of certain non-Mormon citizens of high character that the commission should assume jurisdiction and decide the local statute authorizing women to vote to be illegal and void. We concluded that it was not competent for the commission to repeal or modify that statute in the manner suggested; that the principle of female suffrage is, in no respect, in conflict with the purposes of the Edmunds law, and, therefore, that the commission had nothing whatever to do with the subject; moreover, we found on investigation that this statute had been in force for twelve years without being adjudicated in the courts of the Territory or disturbed by Congress. In conclusion, permit us to say that we believe the results to be reached through the careful registration already insured, and the impartial election which can hardly fail to follow, will be satisfactory to the government and the country. In closing this report, it is due to the Territorial secretary, who is ex officio secretary of the commission, Mr. Arthur L. Thomas, to say that the commission has received from him valuable assistance in its work, particularly in the matter of the selection of registration and other officers. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, ALEX. RAMSEY, A. S. PADDOCK, G. L. GODFREY, A. B. CARLTON, Hon. H. M. TELLER, Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C. OFFICE OF THE UTAH COMMISSION, Salt Lake City, Utah, November 17, 1882. SIR: The election for Delegate to Congress having been held in Utah Territory on the 7th inst., under the supervision of this commission, we deem it proper to report to your department the progress made up to this time in the discharge of our trust. Since our last report, dated August 31, we appointed a registration officer for each voting precinct of the several counties, and established some additional polling places, with a view of affording proper facilities for all the legal voters. In order to conform the local law, so far as practicable, to the requirements of the act of Congress, we were obliged to promulgate rules and regulations for the judges of election. We next appointed judges of election, three for each polling place, about seven hundred and fifty in number. The local law requires that the judges shall be selected from both political parties, if practicable. Accordingly we selected them, in general, from both parties; but in some instances we were obliged to appoint all of them from the "Liberal party" or from the "People's party," because there were no eligible and qualified persons, so far as we were informed, in such precincts belonging to the other party. Commissions were sent to each of the judges (copies of which, together with the rules and regulations, are herewith inclosed).. In order to procure such information as we deemed useful to the gov ernment, we addressed circulars to the registrars, and from their responses we learn that the total number of registered voters is 33,266, of whom 18,772 are males, and 14,494 are females. From their reports it appears that about 12,000 men and women are excluded from regis tration by reason of polygamy. Several of the counties of this Territory are quite large in area, some of them over a hundred miles long, sparsely inhabited, and difficult of access by mail or otherwise. This has occasioned considerable delay and extra exertion in preparing for the election and receiving the returns. The anomalous condition of this country and its people, together with the inherent difficulty of adjusting the local laws to the act of Congress, are such that they imposed on us great care and deliberation, lest, on the one hand, we should go beyond the limits of the law, or, on the other hand, fall short of a vigorous and effective discharge of our duties. In the absence of instructions or judicial decisions to aid us in the interpretation of the law prescribing our duties, we were obliged to construe it for ourselves, and in doing so we endeavored to conform to the well-known canons for the construction of statutes, having a due regard for the evident intention of Congress in this act, construed with other acts of Congress, in pari materia. "Polygamists and bigamists," and persons "cohabitating with more than one woman," are, by section 8, to be excluded from voting and holding office. Immediately upon addressing ourselves to the discharge of our duties, we were obliged to consider the scope and extent of this exclusion. Did Congress intend that those only should be excluded, who, at the very time of the registration or election, were then living in polygamy, or in "unlawful cohabitation with more than one woman?" If so, such a construction would render this section a perfect nullity. The means of evasion are patent to the dullest comprehension. We therefore concluded that neither the letter nor spirit of the statute required such a narrow construction, and,in our published "Rules and regulations," we gave the exclusion a wider scope and application. We found that the local law prescribed a certain form of oath to be taken by persons applying to be registered as voters. We adopted this oath verbatim, adding a clause in regard to "polygamy and bigamy," and "unlawful cohabitation," which we considered it proper to do, in order to make the local law conform, so far as practicable, to the principles and requirements of the act of Congress. In short, we were charged by the act of Congress with the duty of excluding from the polls and from eligibility to office, a certain class of persons. How this was to be done was not defined by the act. Were we to exclude only those who had been convicted of the crime of polygamy in the courts? This construction would have been derided by everybody in this Territory. We concluded that it was the intention of Congress to leave it largely to the discretion of the commission, to determine the means of discrim inating between the legal and illegal voters. This we endeavored to do in part by the prescribed oath, which sets forth the various qualifications of a legal voter, e. g., those in regard to age, residence, citizenship or naturalization, and freedom from the disqualifications imposed by act of Congress. During the week before the November election the commission made an order appointing five gentlemen of character and standing as a board of canvassers of the returns of the election for a delegate to the Fortyeighth Congress (a copy of which order is enclosed herein). On the 16th day of November, 1882, the said board of canvassers met at the rooms of the commission and canvassed the election returns, from which it appeared that John T. Caine had received 23,039 votes, and Philip T. Van Zile had received 4,884 votes. John T. Caine having received a majority of all the legal votes, he was declared duly elected, and a certificate given accordingly. Having reason to believe that it is expected by the Executive that this commission will make suggestions as to any additional legislation that may be needed to carry out the principles of the law under which the commission was organized, we would state that, in our judgment, a marriage law enacted by Congress would be an efficient auxiliary in the suppression of polygamy. It is asserted, and generally believed by non-mormons in this Territory, that plural marriage is still practiced here in secret. We would recommend that Congress enact a law declaring all future marriages in this Territory null and void, unless they are contracted and evidenced in the manner provided by the act. For example: That all marriages shall be solemnized in certain designated public places; and witnessed by such persons, and registered in such public offices, as to make the proof of marriage morally certain; providing, also, that the person officiating in the marriage ceremony, together with the parties and witnesses, shall make their affidavits against polygamy, and set forth the time and place and other particulars relating to the marriage. Or, allow marriages to be solemnized in private; but with the like guarantees of registration, affidavits, witnesses, &c., and in either case providing penalties for violation of the act by any of the persons concerned therein. In making this suggestion, we omit the details, which can readily be supplied by reference to the marriage acts of most of the States. In our former report we adverted to the law of this Territory conferring on women the right of suffrage. This law was enacted by the Territorial legislature some twelve years ago. Of course it is competent for Congress to repeal or annul this law. Without expressing any opinion on the question of women suffrage in general, we are satisfied that, owing to the peculiar state of affairs in Utah, this law is an obstruction to the speedy solution of the "vexed question." In the prosecution of polygamy cases here it is difficult to prove the first or legal marriage. We would suggest, as a remedy, that the first or legal wife be declared by act of Congress a competent witness in such prosecutions. Under the act of Congress, by virtue of whose provisions this commission was appointed, the people of Utah appear to be put upon probation until a legislative assembly, elected under the provisions of the act, shall meet and pass the requisite laws concerning registration and election. The election for members of the legislative assembly will be held next August, and that body will hold its next session in January, 1884. It is to be hoped that it will comprise a sufficient number of members who will be disposed to bring this Territory into harmony with the sentiments of the people of other parts of the country. We have been engaged in the discharge of our trust only a few months, not long enough to fully test the operation the law as to its ultimate results. But, so far, it has been a decided success in excluding polygamists from the exercise of suffrage; and we are of the opinion that the steady and continued enforcement of the law will place polygamy in a condition of gradual extinction, and that the domination that is complained of by non-Mormons in Utah and elsewhere, will, at no distant day, be much ameliorated. In accepting the trust committed to us, it was not expected by the commission, and, we suppose, not anticipated by Congress nor the ex |