Show CAPITAL NEWS the hearing before the house committee on territories is still in progress and there has been sona some lively tilting between the two delegations gat ions the committee are highly interested and many questions are i put in order to draw out the facts on monday morning judge mbride made a lengthy address he acknowledged that he was one of tho th anti ivanti mormon ring that had beet been spoken of by mr richards and was also an agitator he spoke of d the organization of the state of des dea eret and the large area it proposed to include in 1849 and went on to say he did not dispute the statistics and other such information coll COD keyed in mr richards which through that gentleman 4 courtesy he had been able to exe amine f the speaker then pooh ta idea that the mormon pio pioneer tf found a desert when they arrived arrive as he said he had been in salt lak 1016 valley before then and rode through gb grass so tau tall that it wet his maccow moccas tf ial with dew there never waa a more inviting spot on the face the earth I 1 IP the track taken by t mormons cormons across the plains was 8 well beaten as the old military WOO from wheeling to baltimore and plain as pennsylvania avenue is atosa the capitol to the white house mr mcbride wanted to know why it il was the mormon people had bad to leave missouri and other places before they left illinois if there was lot dot something wrong about them lie he said they were charged with the greatest of crimes there must be something essentially wrong in their system they went to utah for isolation and in ten years were IU in rebellion against the government an army was sent against them slid d the mormons cormons burned the trains of supplies prom from the beginning they commenced legislation parcelling out the land as though they were the owners of the soil boll and made grants to brig ham aie young and others this he claimed was primary disposal of the soil forbidden in the organic act he said further that now the bishops lai shops I 1 parcelled par celled out the theland blandly but on being interrogated as to this by mr richards he made a very poor rho lowing wing in support of his extraordinary assertion that the common people in utah understood the titles to t land came from the church and sot lot from the united states this St was denied by mr richards mr mcbride then said the raising of f the united states flag by the cormons mormons when they arrived was waa consistent it was mexican soll soil and as 88 they were always in rebellion they rebelled against mexico they believed all man made governments ere illegal when god reveals anything hing it is the duty of people to bey and accept what comes from their air leaders mr mcbride then gave a version of the framing of the efah state constitution and said tale h people in voting for it simply ae apted the orders of the church as a 4 soldier accepted the orders of his on the gentiles y repudiated it both democrats lead i republicans who each had a of skeleton organization with a ew to sending delegates to national conventions every four years tile the anti polygamy provisions in the utah constitution he said mid were tended to punish gentiles and not armons cormons mormons Mor Or mons as the latter did not belie plural marriage was poleg aty y and the mormon courts would so 80 construe it but he would not IY y much stress on polygamy that ss but a symptom of the disease he mormon system was founded in m treason to all a government teg questioned on this he sundered wun dered a good deal and explain 49 that the cormons mormons believed gov eminent must have the sanction of god he was asked to show where this differed from the catholic or jewish belief he said it was waa a matter he cared very little about but shifting his ground read from a protest in which he said mr richards participated which declared that the doctrine of plural marriage was a vital part of the mormon religion mr richards here stated that the language of the protest was against interfering with the rights of conscience but it did not justify the claim of mr mcbride that it advised the violation of acts of congress this elicited much questioning of mr richards by members of the committee during which he explained that while the mormons cormons Mor mons believed that under certain circumstances it would not be morally wrong for a man to have more wives than one and that they had a constitutional right to that belief he did not admit that mormonism could co uld not exist without polygamy for it existed before bea ore that principle was adopted and therefore could exist if it were eliminated mr mcbride thea resumed and maintained that while the mor mons believed in the rightfulness of polygamy they would not punish it and were therefore not fit to be entrusted with statehood he was questioned by the committee about the number of convictions vict ions and the resistance to arrest by which it was shown that the polygamy cases cams he referred to were not for polygamy but for unlawful cohabitation he said the submission to the law was but a shallow pretense he next tried to make it appear that Geu gentiles tiles who had tried to preempt land had been resisted and driven away and on being questioned he could not deny that such persons were trying to jump the claims of others he also had bad to admit that as far as assaults and batteries were concerned the mor mons were as peaceful as any other community and compared favorably he thought the people were well governed the bishops took good care of that but on being pressed as to their authority said he was not up in theology while stating that if a gentile took up land his water would be cut off judge wilson asked him what use the water would be in a country where the grass grew so high that the dew on it wet his riding through it this nettled him and he lost his temper for the first time during the hearing the colloquy that ensued was amusing to everybody mcbride confusion being marked being questioned as to his objections to the utah constitution he said mid 1 I do not care what kind of a constitution they make I 1 would oppose it I 1 do not care how perfectly formed it might be he then referred to the act of incorporation of the church to show its extraordinary powers but being pressed by mr richards to do so read the proviso which limits those powers by the constitution of the united states and anything beyond morality and the religious duties of man to his maker he tried to make it appear that tha t th this is w was as acan an ecta establishment bli ahme nt of religion being reque requested ste d to formulate in a few words his objection to the admission of utah he answered because I 1 believe a majority of the people of utah axe are rats who believe in a government through th r 0 ugh a priesthood and who do not believe in another system of government vern ment that is my objection fo I 1 belleve believe with other gen gentlemen demen that polygamy muad must by pressure from the the out outride sille world cease to exist in time an adjournment was then taken to wednesday morning judge mcbrides Mc Brides effort was pronounced astonishingly thin and beneficial rather than damaging to the supporters of the statehood movement governor west appears to be greatly worked up over this hewing hearing and is very nervous and uneasy on wednesday morning delegate caine had the floor and was listened to by the committee with respectful attention he was much interrupted by the other side particularly by governor west who finally had to be called to order by the chairman mr caine was fully equal to the occasion he punctured judge mo brides air bubbles and showed the governors press interview and official report to be AM of gross misrepresentation the interruptions were so many that after speaking an hour and a balfan half an adjournment was had before he had concluded his speech this morning mr caine announced that as he wished to make some remarks about the governors course in this matter and the gentleman was not present he preferred to wait until he put in an appearance as what he had to say he desired to utter in the gent lemans presence the other side were then invited to speak and delegate dubois of idaho addressed the comm committee his speech was a rehash of last years yearns diatribe with some additions about the mormons cormons endeavoring to vote in idaho at the november election this brought out the text of the infamous test oath and excited the astonishment and disgust of the committee that such an enactment could be made and enforced in the united states dubols dubois said there were about mormons cormons in idaho and two thirds of them were polygamists I 1 also that when they voted they received their orders from salt lake and the tickets were made up in logan mr aft caine then finished his speech and made things lively for erwest Mr West whose endeavors to establish an oligarchy with himself as dictator which would exactly answer his purposely pur purpose f were criticized criticised severely mr caine thought as governor of the Territory he respected hi his office but when he came here as a lobbyist and descended to misrepresentation he considered it his right to expose his attempt to injure the people of utah and gratify personal ambition As the reader ought to have more than this brief notice of mr caines strong speech and sufficient space will not now remain to give it a full synopsis will be sent in another letter it is understood the worried governor will have a chance to deliver himself tomorrow and some fun is anticipated when judge jere wilson gets after him at the close the church suit was not taken up in the supreme court until wednesday afternoon when col jas aaa 0 broadhead occupied an hour and a half in an elaborate explanation of the case reciting considerable interesting mormon history and laying down the proposition that congress had no howerto power to annul the charter of the church corporation because thereby it attempted to impair the validity of a contract between utah territory with the united states conjoined and the mormon church while explaining the resistance taace of the mormons cormons to the army sent out to utah under president buchanan Bue hanan he was asked by justice harlan what that had to do with this case to which the learned counsel replied that is what I 1 would like to find out but as it is in the brief of counsel for the government ern ment I 1 have the right to speak upon it though I 1 cannot see why hy it is there except to prejudice the mind of the court on the mormon question col broadhead concluded his argument today reasoning in masterly style as to the rights of the members of the church to the corporate property properly even if the corporation was dissolved and the lack of any limitation to the amount of personal property in any event it could not escheat to the government he was closely interrogated by members of the court solicitor general jenks commenced his argument for the united states but had not finished when the court adjourned to friday morning this case is viewed as of very great importance not only to the IMor mormon church but to the general cause of religious liberty X washington DC BC jan 17 1889 |