Show OBJECTS TO THE BILL J I Strong Protest From the A t Catholic OrganSSi = > ARE AFRAID OF A PRECEDENT Objects to Polygamy But Wants It for MormonsBrlnB justice 1 OtherMang5 i ji 4 series of ears Congress has For a I occupied in each of its sittings with been less pressing than important I nO the tion what measures should be Question and 7lted in order to put a speedy adopted J definitive termination to polygamy the Mormons Different at one fmpts made 5n this direction Proved J more or less fnrtlle and only since the I I Federal officials in ltah began some eighteen months ago a strict enforce j t nf the penal statute against polyg men the socalled Edmunds tyo lIllY March 22 18S2 has there been an ap pearnnceof an approach to a solution of Mormon question Since the Fed the officials have begun to proceed with eralfficeveriiitty against the Latter day and have condemned several of hem to long terms of pumshine t on account of polygamy and especially exIJeegate Cannon one of the since Gclpnts of the Mormon church has uses been arrested and althougn accused imply of a misdemeanor put under 15000 bail the Mormons have been seized by a wholesome fear In fact come of their leaders who do not happen hap-pen to be in actual durance or under bail pen on cuargesof unlawful cohabitation Lave left the country to escape judicial prosecution It seems therefore that the Edmunds Act if strictly and conscientiously scienliouslv carried out would attain its purpose if not completely at least approximately and that it therefore only needs some amendments in order to make effectively suited to its objector object-or in other words to bring it about thai the Mormons would submit to the Federal Fed-eral laws and give up polygamy which offends against all morals A partial confirmation of this is to be found in the report laid before the Secretary of the Interior by the socalled Utah Commission Commis-sion concerning their activity since November 1884 and in which the fact is admitted that the strict enforcement of the Edmunds Act by the Fcderal officials in Utah has visibly contributed to a reduction of polygamy in that since then far fewer Mormon marriages have taken place A notion however that the dim nution of these marriages would continue only so long as the government continues this strict enforcement I en-forcement of the Edmunds Act and that much stronger measures than those already in force were necessary to a radical removal of polygamy has led Senator Edmunds to prepare and lay before the Senate a new measure to give the death stroke to all Mormons The Mormon question isnnmistakably one of the leading questions of the day in the United States and in a religious sense naturally attracts the special attention at-tention of Catholics because it lO cerns persons who maintain that Ilieir religion orders and justifies polygamy Vr < have therefore carefully examined the bill which has already been adopted by the Senate and mwlies beforetne House of Eepresenfathea where it will in aU nrobabihtv be shortly taken up and we I have come to the conviction that it Is by no means as praiseworthy as it would I seem on a hurried perusal Should this bill be adopted by the House of Representatives i Repre-sentatives and then become a law through thesignafure of the President there would be created a most dangerous precedent which remembering the fanaticism and influence of bigots could possibly at som > time time be ttsrned i against the Catholic church itself for the old proverb I today and thou tomorrow to-morrow which has held good in times so numberless will always anew prove itself true In so far as the proposal recommends legally and constitutionally allowable means for the suppression of polygamy it naturally has our full approval for it goes without saying that we thoroughly dislike the Mormon sect on account of its immoral character and I earnestly approve of the strict enforcement I enforce-ment of all measures tending to a radical radi-cal disposition of the many wives But this bill contains propositions iu which we can in no wise concur for they are neither in harmony with the common principles of right nor with the provisions pro-visions of our Constitution In its provisions pro-visions this bill offends not ony against the timehallowed rights of the citizens citi-zens of our country in that it provides pro-vides that persons who have made themselves guilty of no offense of any sort whatever may be taken into custody cus-tody on the order of Federal courts judges commissioners and grand juries merely upon suspicion that they will not render obedience to snpcenas in proceedings pro-ceedings against Mormons but also in that it disregards the right belonging to every citizen oflawful protection against unlawful search and seizure of his private pri-vate books and papers font empowers Federal officials upon the pretext of an order of any sort to break into a house and take posession of writings and documents which possibly might serve to bring about a connection of p rsons ccused of polygamy Finally the President of the United States is authorized on the advice and with the consent of the Senate to appoint ap-point commissioners who are to take the property of the Mormon church into heir possesston control it manage it and dispose of it without the regard to the wishes of its rightful owners In these provision the bill stamps upon the t sacred d best assured rights of citizens of our land although the Constitution Con-stitution in clear and unmistakable words declares these inviolable This I 15 too the chief not to say the only reason whywcdonot oncnr in the bill although it is directed against a Stet with whose religious faith we have no sympathy but in addition there is also to be remembered as a further consideration consid-eration the possibility that if this bill should become a law it might be made to serve as a starting pointfor other unconstitutional measures wbichfor the same reason should under no circumstances circum-stances approved even tmnghasin the case in question they had a praise Worthy purpose Legislation sua ort win in no wise he endured Secur ity of person and of property must be held sacred and be protect di every cry unless one of the firmest nd most important foundations upon winch slit State is built is to fall in ruiii The Proposition 1p seize the property of tne iirceeize C ale Nornion cbiirch and put it uuder ihe vWrol of Attic as lo Li nan d by the hte Jcut ant confirmed by the tVuate I means no more and no less thavcon tiscation of this property and we have seen in Prussia now Jar a State comes when with a high hand takes to Jtse the control of church property It does ttotcom into our mind to draw a parallel par-allel between the Catholic church and the Mormon sect We wishonlvt to call attention to this that an nnlawfn rat r-at though perpetrated by the overn ment itself can never bring good fruit to the government for it Is a proof eLher impotence or of an entire want of the sense of law and justice Moreover More-over as has been suggested above already al-ready there might sometimes come a willingness to essay with reference to the property of the Catholic church the same procedure which is now proposed pro-posed in the Edmunds Act in relation to the property of the Mormon church It would b3 dangerous therefore should such a precedent become established If the provisions of the Edmunds statute stat-ute are not sufficient to dispose of the evil of polygamy and it be thought that more stringent measures are necessary then let other means be devised but let not the foundations of the law and of the Constitution be departed from for what is not permissible to the individual individ-ual is by so much the more forbidden to the State New York Katholisch Vollsllatt the organ of the German Catholics |