Show THE IDAHO BILL washington april 2 the debate on the idaho bill today had bad the effect of filling the galleries with crowds of interested spectators who sat patiently through the four hours debate occasionally punctuating the remarks of the different speakers with hearty bursts of applause according as the batters lat sentiments found a corresponding echo in their own hearts in the discussion this afternoon the democrats bore off aff the honors the republicans put forward none done of their first class claey talent and the affirmative side of the question was argued by such second rate men as drsey of nebraska dubois of idaho sad and peters of kansas kansas the democrats on the other hand band were such brilliant orators as mansur of missouri chipman of michigan and smith ot of arizona no better evidence of the relative interest felt in the debate could be seen than in the rapid thinning out of the galleries while the republicans were speaking and the speediness with which it filled up again when those giants of debate mansur and chipman took the floor mr mansur spoke for an hour he began by spying abing that while he had no sympathy nor did he believe that any person on that side of the house had any sympathy with the institution of bigamy or polygamy yet we find in this bill there is a mode of striking at these offenses that is in violation of all the best beat of our doctrines and tenets of liberty as we have universally understood and enforced them in all times past to the present time 91 mr mansur then sketched at some length the injustice done to the mormons cormons in idaho in the pending bill it is in stated that the reason the mormons cormons are to te be dis franchised is because they vote the democratic ticket continuing he said just pass across the line an imaginary one as a 8 that into in to wyoming wyo ming territory which you admitted as a state the other day and while there are not so many mormons cormons there as in idaho yet they are nearly all republicans re ab awl and because of the weun well un der stood fact that every mormon there votes the republican ticket you let them vote an and not merely that but you provided the other day that their wives should have the right to voe thus giving to every mormon and wife in wyoming two votes while in idaho you deny the right to vote even to mormon men let those things be understood as we go fo along let it be understood that it is not a question of principle anywhere but is in every instance a question of expediency alone for the republican party let it be further understood from forty eight hours after the republicans began to think that they had carried the presidential residential election of 1888 the ahk whole political world of the united states was filled with rumors of the new pro gramme to be inaugurated by that party one feature of the gramme pro was the admission of the new states to strengthen the party in the senate it was also reported and published that there was to be a revolutionizing of the rules of pax par lia proceedings that there was wag to be the unsealing unseating un of divers members ou on the democratic side and that the republicans were to fortify themselves ir ip this congress and paw pass such bills as they deemed from their standpoint necessary to be passed and if new territories were admitted as states the republican party being thus strengthened in the senate it would be many years before under auy any circumstances the legislation of this congress could be repealed or done away with these are the cir cum stances that lead u to the admission of the youngest territories certainly the smallest in population and not the hest heat equipped in financial ability to maintain statehood if the mormons cormons Mor mons mr mansur said were black they would be protected under the fifteenth amendment to the constitution but he added impressively they are white and democrats and so they are your victims 0 o quoting judge wilson the speak er showed that out ot of mormon voters in idaho not more than 21 2 per cent cen t were bigamists biga mists or mists and the total of mormons cormons inthe in the territory bigamists biga mists and were scarcely one half of one per cent mr mansur next quoted judge carlton of the utah commission dr miller the editor of the omaha herald representative of iowa bayard tay taylor lor chief justice waltrand waite Walte and others to show the thrift industry and general morality of the mormon people he then proceeded to ask the questions I 1 I 1 W why by on account of the few anen me u who are engaged in the practice of bigamy or polygamy whether the number be one hundred and twenty five as mr wilson es i mates in the whole Territory of idaho idabo or whether it should be greater grea teg should we insert the penalty of dist upon rl eve every ry male adult of that church merely because he is a mormon and why should we refuse him even the poor pitiful I 1 right of purging himself toy by an oath in which he shall swear that he does not dot thus believe for gentlemen please observe that in said section 3 which it is sought to engraft into the constitution of idaho there are quite a number of provisions whereby a man is declared to have the right of trial by j jury arv and shall not suffer the penalty of disfranchisement until after his conviction vic tion whereas offenses connected with the mormon church are taken outside of the list of ordinary offenses and a man cannot purge him self by his bis own oath that he does not believe in bigamous or polygamous practices does not countenance them and does not assist in their perpetration when that is done he fie cannot complain if he be deprived of his privileges if convicted that to is the uni universal verval law in al all I 1 the states and a nd it is correct I 1 have been at the trouble of collecting the law from all the several states and there is not to be found I 1 in U one of the states of the union any different law than that they must be first convicted of crime before you can degrade a man or deprive him of the inestimable rights the right to vote e right to serve on a jury the ri eglit t to hold an office I 1 in 1 n no state of the union e h rights le taken from him law conviction fen crime first 4 UK made I 1 ask eich each and every gentleman oti on the other side if aque youbie vote to strike dwa dow these theme men without parting you vo go home bowe and the men in your district ask ak you how bow you could deprive citizens us of idaho of these privileges without a hearing what would your answer be when you know the people universally in your ow own D state believe in a different doctrine and decreed that it should become a part of the fundamental fu ud constitution of each and every one of your states hwa how I 1 crepea repeat t will you answer your 0 ow n people when they put that question to youa you mr mansur then referred to the recent creation in the city of boston odthe of the committee of one hundred 11 the committee he said has issued a pamphlet reviewing the last til letter of the pope and taking the post position lon that accordi according Dg to the encyclical no man can be beau an obedient and loyal catholic and at the same time be a lawful citizen of the united states this pamphlet takes the position that the relation of catholics towards our oti r government Is similar to that of mormons cormons who have taken the oath of the endowment house and then declares no ballot for the man who takes his big politics from the th vatican I 1 this is a 1 remarkable emark emar aWe kable length for such an organization to go and it shows the extent to which wine some citizens are aroused over the attitude of the catholic authorities towards the public schools 11 mr mansur quoted at length from the pamphlet one of the paragraphs being as follows we have no hesitation in affirming that the oath of allegiance to our government taken by and by which they have obtained the rights of the ballot of citizenship and of office mounts to na nothing if they are good Koma niete and has no binding oa gation where the church of M 6 pontiff pon tift requires it to be disregarded we do not hesitate to sayas say as a measure for the nations self protection that no do man who confesses allegiance to the pontiff should be allowed to participate tc ipaty as a citizen in either holding g an office or casting bastid a ballot the united Sta states supreme court has decided that the law of one of our states disfranchise ing mormons cormons is on the theory that the man who takes the oath the mormons cormons are required to take cannot be a good citizen why should not this principle be applied to those who confess allegiance to the papal heeran by continuing the t speaker said this is the address now being issued by a committee of citizens of boston I 1 think I 1 can fairly calely sa say to the catholics that if the mormons cormons are stricken down if this bill to is to be carried into effect in this way thus emboldening embolden ing the dominant ma arity it will not be long before meshall f nd certain denominations and certain classes of people in this country in augun augur aHng a crusade against the catholic because he be is a catholic A vote will be reached on the bill at 3 tomorrow afternoon |