Prohibiting Polygamy

While the agent of the Salt Lake city board of trade was in Ann Arbor Saturday, expecting bis booming car, he was told by a citizen of Ann Arbor that actual settlers would not flock to Utah, no matter how much like a paradÍBe in its physical fispects is the territory, go long as the institution of polygamy remains there. He replied that there was not a case of actual open polygamy in all Utah, and earnestly declared that the prohibitory law is doing wondere. It is astonishing, truly. We had supposed that a prohibitory law against a common social evil would be openly and flagrantly violated, at least that it would not be so effective as a tax law, and we had been expeeting that Congress would take to taxing polygamy, thus to restrict the number of such marriages, and to keep the practice in the hands of the more respectable classes. We had begun to consider, too, that prohibiting this evil not only gave it free scope, but was a severe infringeinent on the rights of the people, and henee unconstituüonal. The prohibition of polygamy, too, if successful, would break up many large households, thus iinpairing rents and the value of real estáte. That accounts for this booming car, which is intended by the Salt Lake city land owners to créate a greater demand for their landsand thus raise its value to the point where it was before this iniquitous prohibitory law went into force. Men who have invested in homes and real estáte to rent to numerous families of the polygamous Mormons should not have the value of their property rudely swept away without full compensation. This is a pointer for the Democratie house of representatives. Wm. Steüfer, president of the First National Bank, West Point, Nebraska, now in the city, says that his state is good for 15,000 for Harrison and Morton, and that a gentleman from California had told him that state would give 16,000, and Oregon 7,000, majority for the Republican ticket. The democratie cry of "Chinese record" is proving a boomerang.