Show THE RIGHTS OF MAN i r Afansurs Speech on the Idaho Admission Bill I IS THE MORMONS RELIGION That is Belnc Attacked Today Tomorrow it Mill be the Catholics The Committee Com-mittee of One Hundred WASHINGTON April 2Special tele pram to TIm HERALD The debate the Idaho bill today Lad the effect of filling I A the galleries with crowds of interested spectators who sat patiently through the four hours debate occasionally punctuating punctuat-ing the remarks of the different speakers with hearty bursts of applause according as the latters sentiments Iound a corresponding corres-ponding echo in their own hearts I the discussion this afternoon the Democrats bore off the honors The Republicans put forward none of their frst class talent and the affirmative side of the cass tent question was argued by such second rate men as Dorsey of Nebraska DuboIs of Idaho and Peters of Kansas The Democrats on the other hand were such brilliant orators as Mansur of Missouri Chipman of Michigan and Smith of Arizona No better evidence of tho relative interest felt in the debate 4 could be seen than in the rapid thinning out of the galleries while tno Republicans A were speaking and the speediness with u which they filled up again when these giants of debate Mansur and Chipman took the floor foor Mr Mansur spoke for an hour He began be-gan by saying that while he had no sympathy sym-pathy nor did he believe that any person on that side of the House had te any sympathy with the institution of bigamy or of polygamy yet we find in this bill there is a mode of striking at these offenses that is in violation of all the best of our doctrines and tenets of liberty awe a-we have universally understood and enforced en-forced them in all times past to the present time Mr Mansur then sketched at some length the injustice done to the Mormons A lit Idaho in tho pendiog bilL I is stated that the reason the Mormons Mor-mons are t be disfranchised is because be-cause they vote the Democratic ticket Continuing he said Just pass across the line an imaginary one as that into Wyoming Wy-oming territory which you admitted as a state the other day and while there are not so many Mormons there as in Idaho yet they are nearly a Republicans and because of the wellunderstood fact that every Mormon there votes the Republican ticket you let them vote and not merely that but you provided the other day that their wives should have the right t vote thus giving to every Mormon and wife in Wyoming two votes while m Idaho you deny the right t vote even t Mormon men Let those things be understood a we go along L tit t-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 Re-publican party Let it be further understood under-stood from fortyeight hours alter the Republicans Re-publicans began to think that they had carried the presidential election of ISSS the whole political world of the United States was filled with rumors of the new programme to bo inaugurated by that party One feature of the programme was the admission of the new states to S strengthen the party in the Senate I l was also reported and published that there was to be a revolutionizing of the rules of j parliamentary proceedings that there was to be the unseating of divers members on the Democratic side and that the Republicans were to fortify themselves them-selves in this Congress and pass such bills as they deemed from their standpoint necessary t be passed and if new territories terri-tories were admitted a states the Republican Repub-lican party being thus strengthened in the Senate it would be many years before under any circumstances the legislation of this Congress could be repealed or done away with These are the circumstances crcustnccs that led up t the admission of the youngest young-est of our remaining territories certainly the smallest in population and not the best equipped in financial ability t maintain f statehood I the Mormons Mr Mansur p 1 said were black they would be protected under the fifteenth amendment to the constitution con-stitution But he added impressively they are white and Democrats and so they are your victims Quoting Judge Wilson the speaker showed that out of 3000 Mormon voters in Idaho iiPl more than 2 M per cent were bigamists or polygamists and that of the total of 25000 Mormons in the territory bigamists and polygamists were scarcely onehalf of 1 per cent Mr Mansur next quoted Tudge Carlton of the Utah commission commis-sion Dr Miller the editor of the Omaha JfaaW Representative Struble of Iowa Bayard Taylor Chief Justice Wait and others to show the thrift industry and general morality of the Mormon people He then proceeded t ask the questions ¼ Why on account of the few men who are engaged in the practice of bigamy or polygamy whether the number be one hundred and twentyfive a Mr Wilson I estimates in the whole territory of Idaho I or whether it should be greater should we insert the penalty of disfranchisement upon every male adult of that church merely because he is a Mormon J And why should we refuse him even the poor I pitiful right of purging himself by an M ath in which he shall swear that he does not I thus believe For gentlemen please observe that in said section 3 which It is sought t engraft into the constitution of Idaho there are quite a number of provisions whereby a man is 1 declared t have the right of trial by jury and shall not suffer the penaity of disfran chiscment until after his conviction whereas offenses connected with the Mormon Mor-mon church are taken outside of the list of ordinary offenses and d man cannot purge himself 1 y Ms own oath that he does not believe in bigamous or polygamous practices prac-tices does not countenance them and does not assist in their perpetration When that is done he cannot complain if he be deprived of his privileges i convicted con-victed That i the universal law in all tho states and it is correct I have been at the trouble of collecting the law from a the several states and there is not t be found In one of the states of the union any different i differ-ent lawthan that tie must be first con 1 rictod of crime before you can degrade a r y man or deprive him of the inestimable rights the right to vote the right to serve on a jury the right to hold an office In no state of the union can such rights be taken from Mm without conviction forcrimo first being made I ask each and every gentleman on the other side if you vote to strike down these men without parting you go home and the men in your district ask you how you could deprive citizens of Idaho of these privileges without a hearing what would your answer be when you know the people universally in your own state believe in a different doctrine and decreed that it should become part of the fundamental constitution of each and every one of your states How I repeat will you answer your own people when they put that question t youl Mr Mansur then referred to the recent creation in the city of Boston of the Committee Com-mittee of One Hundred The commit mite said he has issued a pamphlet reviewing the last encyclical letter of tho Pope and taking the position that according accord-ing to tho encyclical no man can be an obedient obe-dient and loyal Catholic and at the same time be a lawful citizen of the United States This pamphlet takes the position I that the relation of Catholics towards our government is similar to that of Mormons Mor-mons who have taken the oath of the endowment house and then declares No ballot for the man who takes his politics from the Vatican This is a remarkable length for such a organization t go and ifc shows the extent to which some leading citizens are aroused over the attitude of the Catholic authorities towards the public schools Mr Mansur quoted at length from the pamphlet one of the paragraphs being as follows We have no hesitation in affirming affirm-ing that the oath of allegiance to our government gov-ernment taken by Romanists and by which they havo obtained the rights of the ballot of citizenship and of office amounts to nothing noth-ing if they are good Romanist and has no binding obligation where the church of the pontiff requires it to be disregarded We do not hesitate to say as a measure for the nations selfprotection that no man who confesses allegiance to the pontiff should be allowed to participate a a citizen in either holding an office or casting a ballot The United States supreme court has decided de-cided that the law of one of our states disfranchising dis-franchising Mormons is constitutional on L the theory that the man who takes the oath L the Mormons are required to take cannot be a good citizen Why should not this principle be applied to those who confess allegiance to the papal hcirarchy P l Continuing the speaker said This is the address now being issued by a committee commit-tee of 10 citizens of Boston I think I can fairly say to the Catholics that if the Mormons Mor-mons are stricken down if this bill is t be carried into effect in this way thus emboldening em-boldening the dominant majority it will not be long before we shall find certain denominations de-nominations and certain classes of people I in this country inaugurating a crusade against the Catholic because he is a Catholic Cath-olic A vote will be reached on the bill at 3 oclock tomorrow afternoon |