THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.
By Editor
PRESIDENT HAYES has sent his last annual address to Congress. Among the many other interesting matters, the subject of polygamy receives its share of attention, and it is to be hoped that the prompt measures recommended may be speedily executed. He says :— "The political power of the Mormon sect is increasing. It controls now one of our wealthiest and most populous Territories. It is extending steadily into other Territories. Wherever it goes it establishes polygamy and sectarian political power. The sanctity of marriage and the family relations are the corner-stone of our American society and civilization. Religious liberty and the separation of Church and State are among the elementary ideas of free institutions. To re-establish the interests which polygamy and Mormonism have imperiled, and to fully re-open to intelligent and virtuous immigrants of all creeds that part of our domain which has been in a great degree closed to general immigration by intolerant and immoral institutions, it is recommended that the government of the Territory of Utah be reorganized. I recommend to Congress to provide for the government of Utah by a Governor and Judges or Commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, or a government analogous to the provisional government established for the Territory north-west of Ohio by the ordinance of 1787. "If, however, it is deemed best to continue the existing form of local government, I recommend that the right to vote, hold office and sit on juries in the Territory of Utah be confined to those who neither practice nor uphold polygamy. If thorough measures are adopted, it is believed that within a few years the evils which now afflict Utah will be eradicated, and this Territory will in good time become one of the most prosperous and attractive of the new States of the Union."