Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1888 — FAITH IN THE MORMONS. [ARTICLE]

FAITH IN THE MORMONS.

Minority Report of the Utah Commission— Folygamy Decreasing. [Washington special.] John A. McClern and A. B. Carlton, of the Utah Commission, have filed a minority report with the Secretary of the Interior. The Commissioners say that in their opinion a great majority of the Mormon people have wisely resolved that the practice of polygamy should be abandoned. “We are thoroughly satisfied,” say the Commissioners, “that the work of reformation in Utah is progressing rapidly, and it will soon result in a successful issue without a resort to legislation that is proscriptive of religious opinion. Our view may be epitomized in a few words: ‘Punish criminal action, but religious creeds never.’ ” The commissioners are averse to any further restrictive legislation by Congress, believing that tho present laws are sufficiently stringent and will accomplish all that can be reasonably required by legal coercion. The report recommends the adoption of an amendment to the Federal Constitution prohibiting the institution or practice of polygamy in any form in the States or Territories or other places over which the United States has exclusive Jurisdiction. The commissioners, in conclusion, say; “We have no disposition to defend Mormons against all that has been alleged against them, but we believe they are entitled to be treated with justice and humanity; that they are not incorrigible; that they are subject to be influenced by the same causes that have changed and ameliorated other peoples, churches, and creeds. We also believe they have got common sense, and by tho exercise of this valuable attribute they have found out that polygamy must go, We believe that the great mass of the Mormon people are determined to go on with this reform and that they will accomplish the work in spite of any influence that may be attempted to be exercised by a few fanatical old polygamists.”