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Show AilEGIANCE TO CHURCH FIRST ly Citizenship Was Denied, Judge Anderson Established Precedent in Territorial. Terri-torial. Days. .Applies With Even More Force to Smoot Cqso Because of His High Position. When. In November, 18S9, the Mormons Mor-mons were endeavoring to mako votes for the control o. Salt Lake City by i making citizens of men and women who, though residents - here for years and enjoying tho protection oC the ; ; American flag, had not sworn allc-i allc-i glance, Judge T. J. Anderson, then Judge of the First Judicial district for ! the Territory of Utah, but at the time sitting on the bench in tho Third district, dis-trict, instituted an inquiry that was novel, but has since become a prcce-! prcce-! dent. The Tribune of last Tuesday printed some of tho history of the matter of kjphn Moore et al. In their application iwfbr citizenship at the time the Llbeial party was on the point of winning tho iK? municipal election in Salt Lake. These flpj mef under Instructions from those who lufli in hand (he management of the Mk c-AWpalen I behalf of the People's Kjti party, had applied for certificates of B& citizenship, so that their votes might Wf be recorded in the Interest of the hier-Bj'archy. hier-Bj'archy. Prior to that time any appll-Kf appll-Kf cant for citizenship might receive the Bjt same by forswearing allegiance to nny Mb other power, and, strange as it may WjL seem, the Mormon church had not bn. Hjr previously considered, judicially, as a Ilk power. Ck Petition Was Denied. mm After an inquiry extending over a mm number of days, and during which mm Charles W. Penrose submitted to In-IX In-IX carceratlon in the penitentiary for con-mJL con-mJL tempt of. court rather than state now wmany wives ho had told President Cleveland he liad when he pleaded with JLtlle chief executive for, and was grant-BSed, grant-BSed, amnesty and pardon, the petition of Inli the applicants was denied on the la grounds that their allegiance was to the MMormon church, . which the testimony HSadduced showed was regarded higher wand of more force than the Government lof the United States. The .leading, legil Mauthoritles of the Mormon church were engaged in the interest of the appll-fpcants appll-fpcants who were to become Mormon -voters, but the testimony of (he appll-Kfceants appll-Kfceants and the witnesses and the eva-Hslons eva-Hslons of James H. Moyle, one of the K .counsel, and who volunteered to go on K the stand, wore considered evidence by M khe court that a fealty that would be ft Incompatible with citizenship In the Re-M Re-M public had been sworn to tho church, m and the applications were denied. 9i In an interview with Judge Thomas :J, Anderson jesterday, the venerable m -Jurist was in a reminiscent mood and M, 'advor'cd to the fact that the precedent Khe had established in 1SS9 of Inquiring jlMfinto the possibility of applicants for Kl'icltlzenship to become desirable citizens, mm was subsequently followed by tho oth-r MjlJudjecs on the Territorial bench, and. from then on. and until after the manl-&'festo manl-&'festo and the "changed conditions" 3 and the "division of party lines," appli-mf appli-mf cants' were, subjected to an examlna-'tlon examlna-'tlon that would show whether their fehlgher allegiance was to the Mormon Schurch, and If so their applications KHvere rejected. k . Established a Precedent. KL Speaking of the period yesterday, jpuulgre Anderson expressed himself as f ?5$s satisfied at the indorsement that VS.' Vie Nation has now given to the preco-jjB'agnt preco-jjB'agnt that he established in tho United. States courts of I'tnh stxteen years ago. "The Smoot -inquiry which has just closed, but on which no decision has yet been rendered, and which was a spontaneous and popular movement on the part of the whole American people, Is based on the came- fundamental principles as those thot actuated me in starting the inquiry ns to the fitness for citizenship when John Moore and a number of others applied for the right of franchise In 1SS9. Sixteen years ago the question was. Ilavo these, men taken an oath of allegiance to a power which they regard as higher than the power and authority of the United States? The testimony of themselves and their witnesses showed beyond any reasonable doubt that they had, and this testimony was further conllrmcd by the evasions of one of tho leading counsel for tho applicants, who at the time volunteered himself as a witness this was James H. Moylel and then evaded the questions that were vital to the Issue and ultimately refused to answer. It was further confirmed by the contumacious attitude of Charles "W. Penrose, at first an anxious witness, who refused on the stand to tell how many wives ho had told President Cleveland he possessed when he applied for and was granted amnesty and pardon par-don for past violations of tho laws, and who prcferrftd a term in the United States -penitentiary rather than testify that he had deceived the chief executive execu-tive of the land Into granting a pardon, under representations that his own testimony tes-timony in tho Smoot case now show to have been false. ' Applicable to Smoot Case. "The Smoot inquiry was the result of the same ieh sense as to the responsibility responsi-bility of granting citizenship, though in his case It Vas (o determine whether he had taken allegiance to some power hlch he would regard us, divinely endowed en-dowed with greater authority than the Government of th United States, and I think the inquiry has proven the affirmative. af-firmative. Allegiance to Government -Impossible. "Now, then, three Judges In Utah, sixteen years ago, decided that the oaths and covenants imposed by the Monn6n church ,made a,n absolute and unqualified allegiance to the United States an Impossibility, and those affirming af-firming adherence to such oaths of vengeance ven-geance were not granted the privilege of becoming citizens. How much greater Is the inconsistency of permitting permit-ting an apostle of the church, one whose responsibilities to 'lis church arc i cces-sarlly cces-sarlly greater than those of a mere lay member, to sit In the highest legislative legis-lative body In the world and legislate for the good of his alien organization or against the welfare, morale and dignity of the Nation?" Diverting slightly, but still In his' reminiscent mood. Judge Anderson suddenly sud-denly said: "I will tell you how on one occasion I made a good citizen of the United States, and I believe the conversion was permanent. Down In Pcaver there was some years ago a certain Bishop Foth-erlncham, Foth-erlncham, a member of the Mormon church, who" had lived7 his religion as the same was taught; had collected the tithing, prospered in., his Jaifds, his herds, his flocks, and, especially, In the number of his wives. Prior- to "the manifesto mani-festo he had been indicted for unlawful cohabitation and was found guilty on ihe trial. He was defiant and was sent to the penitentiary for six months and paid a fine of 5600. 'Bishop Became Good Citizen. "Bishop Fotherlngham was a prominent promi-nent figure In Beaver and for years, In addition to his ecclesiastical duties, was Clerk of the Probate court under the old Territorial system, and as such he was the recipient of many fees in the divorce cases that In those dayn were permitted to be adjudicaced, In many Instances without a hearing, by the Probate, or County courts, and in this, as in many other pursuits. Bishop Foth-eringhani Foth-eringhani waxed rlcn "Subsequently the famous manifesto of "W 11 ford SVoodruff was promulgated and peace seemed to come over the troubled country It was generally thought that the people would observe rigidly Its requirements. That the sins of unlawful cohabitation and polygamy would cease and I was looking forward to an easy time, when the information suddenly became public that one of Bishop Fothcrlnghnm's plural wives had given birth to a child, a year or more subsequent to the manifesto. He was indicted and later apprehended, and in court pleaded guilty to the chanr1. "He requested a -suspension of sentence, sen-tence, stating that he v as secretary for a number of commercial and Industrial concerns, that he knew the books belter bel-ter than any one else, and asked for time to get business matters straightened straight-ened out. He further advanced the plea that one of his younger children was dying, and he desired to bo there, Judge Was Sympathetic. "Bishop Fotherlngham was at that time an old man, upwards ,of seventy, and I felt thut at his t'nie. of life I might as well send him to thn -'gallows as to the penitentiary. I was sympathetic, sympa-thetic, though he had been prior to that time one of the bitterest persecutors of the Gentiles in Utah. But I desired to save him from prison, and I entered into some questions, the proper answering answer-ing of which should decide me. " 'Bishop Fotherlngham. I understand that you are a native of Great Britain?' " 'Yes. I am.' " 'And as such do you adhere to the sovereignty of that country?' " 'I don't now, but 1 did for a number of years after I first came here " 'Well, this country has nad two wars with Great Britain, and It 1b not certain that we will escape-another. If, In the event of war between the two countries, which 3ide would you fight for, Great Britain or the Un'ted States?' " 'I would fight for the United States, first, last and always.' " 'Well, one more question; Blehop Fotherlngham; the Government of the United States at one time found it necessary to send an army to Utah to preserve the rights of the people and to uphold the dignity of the Nation's laws. As an individual and a member of the Mormon church, you personally" assisted In resisting and, us far ns you could, distressing this nrmy. Now I want to ask you, if another army was sent to Utan, and a state of rebellion existed among the peopla of the Mormon Mor-mon church against tho authority and sovereignty of the United States, which side would you support, the Mormon church or the Government of the United Stntes?' "The answer," Bald Judge Anderson, "was better than I had expected. " 'I Would sustain the Government of the United States against any power on earth?' said Fotherlngham, 'and I have seventeen sons who would do the same.' Had Daarned a Lesson. "His manner was zo earnest and the lesson that he could not violate the laws of the United States seemod so thoroughly inculcated that I showed him the card I had up iny sleeve. It was that If I found tho material out of which a good citizen would be mudc I would suspend sentence. I did so, and. up until row I have had no occasion to return to the rccordv I -believe I made a irood citizen of the man, but it topic several dosca of Uncle Sam's medicine to accomplish it." |