Show Yr THE IDAHO IDAHO TEST CASE THE appealed case in which which the k i validity of the Idaho religious test oath is embraced is now in tle tl e 5 of the Supreme Court of the X- X United States The decision of a august tribunal will win be awaited with deep anxiety The question t involved is one in the whole nation is interested It is not only the well-being well of the community of the Latter-day Latter Saints that is at stake b but t that of the country at 0 t large Ex This is necessarily necessarily so in every case involving a question of constitutional constitutional constitutional right of the sovereign citi citi- citizen citizen zen The one in point includes one on I J of the most important guaranties of f that sacred instrument which pro pro- provides provides vides videa that No religious test shall shaH be required as a qualification for any office or public trust in the United States A test t which excludes the citizen from the privilege of the elective fran franchise hise and om from holding office or public trust on account of member member- membership membership membership ship in a particular church is to all T intents and pur purposes Oses a bar on t the e ground of religion and and therefore an unconstitutional obstacle Those who have formulated and enacted the infamous test statute nave have put forth forth numberless excuses for their nefarious political political work but ut all of them are susceptible of being punctured and dissipated While they have falsely charged disloyalty upon the religious asso asso- association association association against which the statute was aimed they they themselves in the very enactment in question have manifested that they are disloyal to the core It is folly for men to suppose that constitutional rights can be denied to one class of citizens and the lib lib- liberties liberties liberties of the whole remain secure The historian Froude states a Q striking striking striking ing truth in his work on the C Caesars sars w when hen he says in substance that if history has taught any one thing ing clearly it is this When th the rights rights of ofa ofa ofa a constitution are denied upon any pretext to any class cla of citizens the constitution itself falls faHs to pieces pieces from mere Incompetence for its du duties du- du duties ties Any denial of such rights is tyranny and as justice is the es- es essence essence es essence sence of a all government when that thatis thatis thatis I is withheld disaster to the e whole I bod body politic is a foregone Even the small smallest st inroad up upon n the right of the citizen ought not to be permitted If it should be it will wUl I act like an apparently insignificant crevasse in the bank of a ri river ver with an elevated channel channel The water trickles through the tiny aperture at first gradually widening it till it becomes a gap through which the entire stream tream r impetuously y deluging the whole surrounding country Should the Idaho test oath be sustained we do donot donot donot not doubt that this figure will have havea a practical illustration by the ap ap- appearance appearance appearance ultimately of its legitimate results Men who formulate u late favor and enact such religious test statutes as the one under consideration are in ina ina ina a certain sense anarchists because every blow aimed at the liberties of the people of the Republic bUc or any class of them leads wh when n success success- successful successful successful ful to chaotic ie results We hope and believe that they will receive no en- en encouragement encouragement en encouragement from the Supreme Tri Tri- Tribunal Tribunal bunal of the land whose duty it is isto isto isto to be governed by law and principle principle I pIe being seated in their high calling far above the influence of public prejudice a and d popular clamor I |