1871-11-11-New York Tribune-The Mormon Problem
The Mormon Problem
New York Tribune, n. 9548, 11 November 1871, p. 1 c. 5
The following conversation occurred yesterday, at the St. Nicholas Hotel, between a TRIBUNE reporter and John W. Young, son of the Mormon President:
Reporter—Will President Young resist any process of the Court, if served on him? Mr. Young—He will resist no legal process.
Reporter—Has any officer been sent in pursuit of the President? Mr. Young—Not that I am aware of, and it would be unnecessary.
Reporter—Has the President any intention of leaving Salt Lake City and founding a capital elsewhere? Mr. Young—None whatever.
Reporter—Has the Government of Mexico ever made a proposition to President Young to settle in its territory? Mr. Young—No; never.
Reporter—Has not Delegate Hooper proposed to the Government at Washington some compromise? Mr. Young—None whatever.
Reporter—Will any compromise he offered at the coming session of Congress? Mr. Young—I have no knowledge of any such intention.
Reporter—If none is made what will he the result of the prosecutions pending against the President, Mayor Wells, George Q. Cannon, and others? Mr. Young—It would be impossible to say, but we hope there will be some peaceful solution.
Reporter—Do you think Congress will interfere in the matter when it shall assemble? Mr. Young—I presume Congress will be asked in the interest of all the Territories to repeal the law prohibiting an appeal in criminal cases, and we hope in this way to be able to bring our case before an impartial court.
Reporter—Is any outbreak or resistance likely to result from these prosecutions? Mr. Young—I can say with all candor, I think not. We would rather suffer from illegal rulings, for the present, hoping for relief from the Supreme Court of the United States in time.
Reporter—Do you think the Government will allow these prosecutions to be continued until polygamy is entirely abolished? Mr. Young—We think there will be a change in the policy of the Administration before long, from the fact that it has superseded the acting Prosecuting-Attorneys, who are bitter partisans, by the appointment of a man of acknowledged ability—a Mr. Bates, from Chicago.
Reporter—What, in your opinion, will be the final solution of this trouble? Mr. Young—The only solution that will prove final is our admission as a State and the exercise of the rights of American citizens, of which the citizen of a Territory is totally deprived under our present oppressive territorial system. We are entitled to admission to the Union, as we have double the population which was made the requisite to the admission of several of the States into the Union.
Reporter—Would polygamy be prohibited and finally abandoned in case of admission as a State? Mr. Young—If our liberties as American citizens were guaranteed us, looking to the future, I am not prepared to say what concessions might be made.
