| Show legislation AGAINST BELIEF thir THE utah conspirators as well as the idaho republican publican Ee plotters are anticipating the passage of the woodburn bill or the rafting grafting into the edmunds edmun ds bill of the sections drafted in this city which contemplate the same infamy as is proposed in the woodburn measure and incorporated in the idaho test oath enactment which is now under test of its own validity we do not believe that any such atrocious scheme will find sufficient favor in congress to pass the house of representatives but eve even if it should be shuf shuffled fied through the lower house on unexpected pressure it is by no means certain that the senate would consent to the fla flagrant rant wrong however disguised in its language cunningly framed to get round objections against its purport it is designed to disfranchise all voters belonging to the mormon church that is to make belief or membership in a religious body a bar to voting and holding P office so that tile the majority of the citizens of utah who belong to the obnoxious church may be deprived of the ballot and the minority who are not connected with it may gain the political ascendancy A very bold and impudent scheme but with all the care exercised in its verbal construction too glaring a violation of settled principles to be endorsed by sound lawyers and experienced statesmen however strong may be their auti anti mermon prejudices and desires when the first edmunds bill was under discussion in the senate the question of punishing people for their beliefs was brought prominently into view fear was expressed by some senators that the bill might be so construed that men and women who had not broken the law could be prevented from voting it was for this reason that the clause was inserted in the ninth section which says nor shall they refuse to count any such vote on account of the opinion of thel the person casting it on the subject of bigamy or polygamy during the debate mr brown of georgia expressed his wil punish persons legally convicted of bigamy but declared he was not willing to drive from the tolls polls in utah every man who elleves believes that he or any other man has a right to practice polygamy if he does not practice it and he made the following further remarks as published in the congressional record ecord and endorsed by the author of the bill again as to the instance put by the S senator from vermont in my state it it were possible for there to be such an instance there if any man there believed it was right to burn his fathers wives we do not allow them to have but one wife there upon the funeral pile lie I 1 would inflict penalties upon him joa for practicing practicing it but if he really believe it is right i I 1 have no right 0 exclude him from holding office because he says he believes it mr edmunds so I 1 say so say we all 71 thus it will be seen that mr edmunds and indeed both the supporters and ana op posers of the edmunds bill were agreed on the doctrine that citizens could not be franchised disfranchised dis on account of their opinions ioni in regard to polygamy or anything e else I 1 se and could onla only be punished for their actions on vio violation aaion of law this also as we have heretofore shown is the doctrine of the supreme court of the united states in the discussion of the new edmunds bill of the present session which pas passed s ed the senate and is now before the judiciary committee of the Hous ewhen the women of utah was under debate mr hoar of massachusetts said as reported in the congressional record I 1 why does not the honorable senator from vermont come out and frankly say that no mormon no man who believes in plural marriages no mormon elder no teacher in that church shall be clothed with the suffrage I 1 I 1 to this mr edmunds responded mr president my friend from massachusetts inquires why I 1 do not come out frankly and say that I 1 want to deprive grive a mormon ot of the right ll 11 of botin voting 9 because because he believes in e ertain certain thinas that I 1 believe to be criminal I 1 do come out frankly and say that I 1 lam am not in favor of anything of the kindi these quotations serve to show the sentiments of the strongest advocates 4 of A legislation on the question lu estion of franchising disfranchising dis people for their beliefs or membership in or teaching the doctrines of a church that advocates plural marriages legislation cannot be aimed against belief in teaching advocating or countenancing polygamy but only against practicing it and any law whether of a territory or of the uni ted states which makes penalties for belief or deprives a citizen of any right privilege or immunity on account 0 his belief is unsound in policy wrong in principle and in violation of constitutional provisions and the enunciations renunciations of the highest judicial tribunal of if the country |
