the executive prerogative, under those fundamental laws. In referring to the laws of Congress he used this language:

When Congress has legislated for the Territory, its law is supreme and of binding force. We can not add to or subtract from it. Therefore, to attempt legislation upon like subjects is to make conflicts and introduce confusion, and should not be done except where Congressional legislation contemplates or provides that we may do something.

Whether the governor and the legislature were right or wrong in this position is open to discussion, and we do not consider that it would be profitable in this connection to argue it as a mere legal proposition. We are of the opinion that auxiliary laws relating to evidence, concealing, and aiding the escape of known offenders might well have been the subject of legislative action.

During the session of the legislature a Mormon member introduced a bill to punish polygamy and other offenses. It was referred to a committee, and a report made and a resolution adopted. The report recommended the rejection of the bill for the reasons, briefly stated, that the principle of the bill was not a rightful subject of legislation; that Congress having legislated fully and in detail upon the questions involved, its action was exclusive, and the legislature could neither add to nor diminish the force of the act of Congress. The resolution adopted was as follows:

Resolved, That said assembly are in favor of a just, humane, and impartial enforcement of said laws of the United States, in the same manner as other criminal laws are enforced under the Constitution and laws of our country, to the end that said offenses may be effectually prohibited.

This resolution contains the implied charge that prosecutions under the laws of Congress in Utah were not humane and just. This charge seems to us to be a repetition of charges of a like nature; charges which are incidental to the enforcement of a law against the will and belief of a people. These laws have been faithfully enforced; the courts of the Territory, we are free to say, have been held by courageous and fearless men, who were wise and just in the administration of the law and in the discharge of their duties.

One fact which may in some measure indicate the disposition of the Mormon people to antagonize the laws of Congress may be drawn from the passage of an act by the legislative assembly, the first which met after the passage of the law which provides for the appointment of probate judges by the President, which would have deprived these judges of many of their powers, and would have restricted the jurisdiction heretofore and now exercised by them, but which was vetoed by the governor.

In the public affairs of the nation Utah has attracted more than its share of attention, and yet in some respects it is an almost unknown country. The physical elements of what is termed the "Utah problem" are important and present unusual facts. The agricultural lands of Utah comprise but a small portion of the whole Territory, and lie principally in valleys running northerly and southerly, and bounded by mountainous regions with the same general trend. In these ranges there are sometimes found small tillable valleys or watered canons. The valleys and the lower table-lands skirting them are fertile wherever water to irrigate them can be procured. Land which can not be irrigated is generally useless for agriculture.

The streams issuing from the mountains are utilized by diversion and distribution to irrigate the valleys. When the limit of water is reached the limit of successful culture is also reached. Part of the

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mountain region is accessible for grazing, and part inaccessible. The mining districts are in the mountains. The great bulk of the popula tion of Utah is and always will be in the valleys. The number of those engaged in herding and grazing stock in the mountain regions is too inconsiderable to be an important factor in the population. The mining camps contain, perhaps, from eighteen to twenty thousand, and their increase or decrease depends on the success or failure of that industry, and the population of mining camps is not as permanent and unchangeable as that of the valleys. It will be seen that those who hold the valleys and appropriate and own the waters capable of use for irrigation, own and hold Utah, and nature has fortified their position more strongly than it could be done by any Chinese wall or artificial defense.

The influx of the Mormons was not a settlement, but a colonization, and their exclusive occupancy of Utah for many years and their devotion to agricultural pursuits has enabled them, with the aid of assisted immigration, to acquire all the agricultural lands irrigable without great expense and all the water which can easily be used for irrigation. They have not only settled but have filled all of tillable Utah.

That the Mormons have filled Utah is shown, not only by observation and well-known facts, but it is proven by the fact that for years they have disposed of their increase by settling them in adjacent States and Territories. This idea of massing their population has characterized them from the earliest period of their existence as a church, and wherever Mormonism goes it means dominion so far as numbers are concerned. This is the situation in Utah to-day. In some of the counties there are no non-Mormons to be found, except, probably, some one engaged in herding and grazing, stock, and in a large number of the precincts in the several counties in the Territory the population is exclusively Mormon.

The Gentiles in Utah occupy the mining camps and largely control the business of mining. A few are engaged in raising cattle and sheep in the mountains. They are also settled and engaged in mercantile, mechanical, and professional business in the railway cities and villages, and engaged in operating some of the lines of railways. In cities and towns they own lots, and in Salt Lake and Ogden, the two leading cities in the Territory, they own a very fair proportion of the real property. They occupy but little of the agricultural lands and are not engaged in agricultural pursuits. The Mormons are officially advised by their priesthood not to sell their lands to Gentiles, and the jealousy of Gentile ownership of agricultural lands is stronger than against ownership in the cities and towns.

It will thus be seen that if the Mormon problem is not settled until the Territory is filled by non-Mormon immigration the end is not near. The reform must come from within the ranks of the Mormon people, and it is to this end that the Government should direct its efforts, and to aid in the accomplishment of which we have made the recommendations elsewhere referred to in this report, and expressed our conclusions with regard to them.

In conclusion we have only to say, the Government ought not to turn back; the enforcement of the laws should be continued; and, if we are right in assuming that the evil will not end until a majority (and it should be a strong majority) believe in the enforcement of the laws, then so long should the laws be enforced. How and when this end will be regel we can not tell. We express the opinion, however, that an

energetic enforcement of the laws, and of the continuation of political disabilities, together with the measures we have recommended will combine to effect the end. These will be aided by the spirit of the age, the habits and customs of the times, contact with the world, financial considerations, and education.

MINORITY REPORT.

CHICAGO, ILL., September 24, 1888. SIR: Former reports of this Commission have been so full and elaborate as to supersede the necessity of any particularity of detail at this time. It may be stated generally that the reform in Utah is progressing favorably, far beyond our most sanguine anticipations when we first entered upon our official duties. Utah is forging to the front among the Rocky Mountain States and Territories, and may be compared favorably with any of them in the enterprise of her citizens, the fertility of her valleys, the richness of her mines, and the flourishing condition of her cities and towns.

A great deal of capital is being invested in Utah by non-Mormons in city lots, farming lands, and mining property. Such investments are as safe there as in any other State or Territory; that is to say, there is not the slightest danger of armed insurrection, nor, in our opinion, is there any danger of adverse legislation that will jeopard personal security or property rights. Apart from sexual offenses (which are decidedly on the decrease) the Mormon people of Utah will compare favorably with other communities for peace, good order, sobriety, honesty, and industry. In this respect we concur in the opinion of our three associates of the Utah Commission as expressed in their report of September 30, 1887:

The majority of the Mormons are a kindly and hospitable people. They possess many traits of character which are well worthy of emulation by others. In their local affairs they strive to suppress the vices which are common to settled communities. In matters of religion they are intensely devotional, rendering a cheerful obedience to their church rules and requirements. They possess many of the elements which under a wise leadership would make them useful and prosperous people.

Either this "wise leadership" or the voluntary action of the people. appears to have been asserted within the last eighteen months in ways that are commendable. Within that time the mass of the Mormon voters have taken the registration oath, swearing that they will not go into polygamy, and 95 per cent. of them voted in August of last year for the adoption of a constitution prohibiting and punishing the offense. Subsequently the legislative assembly of Utah, composed of thirty-one Mormons and five non-Mormons, on March 8, 1888, passed a very wellconsidered and efficient marriage law, providing, among other things, severe penalties against clerks who issue licenses for plural marriages, and officers, priests, and preachers who solemnize such unlawful marriages. The act also declares all polygamous marriages null and void. The same legislature also adopted a resolution in relation to polyg amy and other sexual offenses under the laws of Congress that—

This assembly are in favor of a just, humane, and impartial enforcement of said laws of the United States in the same manner that other criminal laws are enforced, under the Constitution and laws of our country, to the end that such offenses may be effectually prohibited.