There are many other phases of this subject which are of great interest,
but which can not be included within the becoming limits of this
communication. They are discussed ably in the reports of the Secretary
of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

For many years the Executive, in his annual message to Congress, has
urged the necessity of stringent legislation for the suppression of
polygamy in the Territories, and especially in the Territory of Utah.
The existing statute for the punishment of this odious crime, so
revolting to the moral and religious sense of Christendom, has been
persistently and contemptuously violated ever since its enactment.
Indeed, in spite of commendable efforts on the part of the authorities
who represent the United States in that Territory, the law has in very
rare instances been enforced, and, for a cause to which reference will
presently be made, is practically a dead letter.

The fact that adherents of the Mormon Church, which rests upon polygamy
as its corner stone, have recently been peopling in large numbers Idaho,
Arizona, and other of our Western Territories is well calculated to
excite the liveliest interest and apprehension. It imposes upon Congress
and the Executive the duty of arraying against this barbarous system all
the power which under the Constitution and the law they can wield for
its destruction.

Reference has been already made to the obstacles which the United States
officers have encountered in their efforts to punish violations of law.
Prominent among these obstacles is the difficulty of procuring legal
evidence sufficient to warrant a conviction even in the case of the most
notorious offenders.