Show A TEST CASE The Democrats of Idaho have gone about the business of testing the constitutionality constitution-ality of the testoath law In the right way The outcome of the proceedings they have instituted will determine the question ol the Mormons voting thocominc election As has been statedjin thesecolumns the Republicans Repub-licans some weeks ago made a bluff at a judicial test of the statute They want to makeit appear that they are desirous of gettIng the law off the hooks and of being just to the Mormons after all these years of oppression and persecution and yet they are not at all eager to have the Mormons Mor-mons vote at the coming election The Republicans Re-publicans are aware that the law will be repealed by the legislature to be chosen In November they also know that the act is unconstitutional and will be so declared by any fair court that shall pass upon it but what the managers of tho party are playing for istime They want two more years of rule and this they expect to secure by keeping theTMormons away from the polls in November The case which the Republicans Republi-cans have made up baa all the appearances of a trick Prom the fact that nothing has been hoard of tho matter since the announcement an-nouncement weeks ago that the case was to be carried before a judge it would seem the bosses were in hopes the promise to do something would pacify the Saints and keep them quiet until it was too late for anything to bo done It is also significant that the case was to be taken before the most rabid of the antiMormon judges a man who would naturally feel that he was going back on his record were ho to do anything any-thing which savored of justice to any member mem-ber of the Mormon church Finally his decision would have effect only in his district dis-trict and would not therefore apply to thousands of Mormon citizens throughout the state That socalled test case from Paris was decidedly lishy at tho start and has grown more so as time has flown and while nothing has been done A dispatch from Occur dAlene on Saturday Sat-urday says that Hon JAMES H HAWLEY has presented to United States Judge BEATTY a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of SOLON ROBISON a Mormon Mor-mon citizen of Bear Lake county who has been held for trial by a United States com missioner on the charge of perjury the alleged al-leged offense consisting of the taking of tho electors oath by Mr ROBISOX This looks like business It will bring the matter squarely before a court of competent jurisdiction juris-diction and one whose decision will be heeded in every part of the territory by all registration officers THE HERALD assumes that Judge J3EATTT will give prompt hearing hear-ing to the petition and we also assume that his opinion will be against the validity of the act as able lawyers in Idaho and Utah whohave examined the statute agree that the ex post facto feature of the law clearly makes it unconstitutional We congratulate congratu-late the Mormons of Idaho upon the prospect pros-pect of in the near future regaining one of the most valuable privileges of American I citizenship |