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Show A K BLAST II IMHOJOW Blaine Phillips Frees His Mind on the Worth of Their Work. THINKS VERY LITTLE OP IT; THEY ARE INCOMPETENT And Denounces Their Evident Indisposition to Do Their Duty. The ninth session of the Idaho Legislature Legis-lature wns grilled in most catistic terms Inst night by Blaine Phillips, editor of tho Northwest .Magazine, for its utter disregard of the interests of the poo- ! plo of the State and for its unseemly j determination to plnco Idaho in Utah's I ignoble prodicamont. Mr. Phillips was J ! most emphatic in his denunciation, cx- ploitiug the politicnl rottenness with nil I the energy at his command. He sanl I sarcastically that the Ninth session sur- j passed all other legislative bodies in J harmonious action and perfect merging . of ideas when it passed tho legislative j appropriation bill without a dissenting vote. Ho pointed out that the Legislature Legis-lature hnd broken faith with tho people, peo-ple, and had virtually accomplished nothing; that the session has been a monstrous farce from beginning to end. lie brought out several oryslalix.ed illustrations il-lustrations which put to flight tho claims of freedom from affiliation with tho hierarchy, and said that, some of the legislators were bent upon satisfying satisfy-ing craven tastes rather than upon studying and understanding conditions and making laws for the public .better- ! incut. He said: J "With a few exceptions the Idaho law-makers are tho most incompetent law-makera I have ever' seen. There is J no moro convincing illustration of their indifference to duly, of their lack of sincerity, than the action of the Son-atc Son-atc in emasculating the tost oath and suggesting legislation which deviated from tho Constitution. Tho Senate has shown a determination to fa'or the Mormons or it has displayed ignorance both of the law and o'f conditions. From a legal staudnoint there was the precedent of a decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Utah in the Park case, which held thai, a celestial, patriarchal pa-triarchal or sealing marriage was binding, bind-ing, that it was a tie sufficiently strong to entitle a celestial wife to tho do-ccased's do-ccased's estate. Tf the brilliant lawyers law-yers who, in part, form the Senate were aware of this holding, why did they cut out the terms 'celestial and patriarchal!' patriarch-al!' Moreover, if they are lawyers, why did they suggest that the Legislature Legis-lature transcend its sphere and deviate from tho text: of tho constitutional test oath ? If thoy were not familiar either with the law or tho Constitution of tho State of Idaho, their presumption in discussing the question pro or con wa3 intolerable. The Test Oath Law. "The oath recommended is absurd, ffnd tho oath suggested in the unspeakable unspeak-able message or Gov. Gooding was an insult to public decency. The executive wrote that he was opposed to legisla- tion directed against a religious sect. 1 I cannot quite 'get at' his perspective. ' It thcro were no Mormons there would be no need to make laws against polygamy. polyg-amy. They have never ceased teaching ing it; and so soon as some genius find a new name for polygamy thoy will practice it openly, if they can. If they do not, they will b'e oternally damned, and they cannot enter into the glory or Qodl l am satisfied that tho Idaho legislators aro aware of thi and the only excuse I have been able to discover for their action is that Congressional Con-gressional bees aro buzzing around the oapitol. It now is a question of sub-Rorving sub-Rorving State to fortify self-interest. I can lnnk of nothing moro inexpressibly inexpress-ibly cowardly unmanly and unpatriotic unpatriot-ic than this absolute .belravnl r,r ,io: trust, and it is time, that the peoplo should know of soraethiug moro than the exotic characters of tho lawmakers. lawmak-ers. I hnvo unlimited contempt for a man who fears the consequence of expressing ex-pressing an houcst opinion, or who retrains re-trains from voicing liis convictions to make himsplt solid with those who might help 111, furthering his career as a public man. I have studied the Idaho Ida-ho Legislators simply with the idea of ascertaining what kind of men wore serving the people, and T now know their ability, their minds and their morals. mor-als. Some are worthy of their positions, posi-tions, and others are utterlv unfit "to associate with respectable people. If otmlv ' fcIy. Slrr:" son filiation to stiuh the conditions and to discern what legislation was most needed thev miht be tolerated. ' e; As to what has been done bv the Ninth session, its behavior in k'Uling The legislators have broken faith h nearly everything that has been undertaken. under-taken. Ir. will be seen upon tho dose of the session that the Ninth is m$? the worst and most costly o. IcWho Legislatures. ' ' UdUO |