| Show WILL OPPOSE THE BILL BWashington TH THE washington gazette of december has the following on utah affairs it needs no comment it is true that the homes of the anti polygamists all over the country are not all of them ideal homes that wife murder husband poisoning divorce suits and foul scandals are common in non polygamous countries and do not happen in in polygamous utah certainly ceita among the cormons mormons nevertheless polygamy is a crime agai against ast law morality alit yand and taste but this is not tie the question something deeper than anti polygamy is the cause which seeks success by trying to get up public feling feeling ill against a plurality of wives I 1 ars bask baskin in and bennett the representatives representative in washington of the anti momon mormon faction in utah are working to build up such a public p feel ing fag as their public utterances within wit am the last week have sho shown wa their aim is of course to influence congress ebs to pass at this session what is known as the edmunds tucker bill a bill which among other things proposes to the mormon church and to dispose of its property through the united states courts courte we warn congress ithac this is dangerous legislation indeed it is so fraught with possibilities of evil that the wonder is the committees committee fon judiciary of the senate and house composed of men who are supposed to be lawyers could be found fouad willing to subscribe to 10 it polygamy is n a crime and lias has been so declared by saw law lot let every person who commits that offense be punished by due process ot of the law but outside 0 of polygamy has baa the cotmon church not as much right to be protected by the constitution ution as assay any other ether chur church cli ifton if con gress can disestablish the mormon churl lurch so it can the catholic or t the he methodist methodist or any other the proposition is too monstrous to be entertained tor for one moment it may be well to remind congress Con griess that since the passage of the edmunds law of is 1882 ra polygamy and unlawful cohabitation as crimes under that law have been punished in utah under tile most strained legal construction st ruction with a severity that thal is almost unknown in tats or any other country coun counti tty arrests for either of the above offenses fes in utah has become almost equal to conviction A man who is arrested for ba lavioe vinz committed either of them is looked upon as guilty until he proves his innocence the trials are mere inere forms partisan republican judges with a very partisan republican united states di attorney itu orney carry matters with a very high ban hand carry certainly t ainaly no further legai legislation is needed so long as the edmunds bill is 18 allowed to be enforced by these officials their prejudice runs a way away with their reason we know it s unfashionable to take the side of the under dog in a fight alight and certainly not profitable but right is right and we see in this attack upon religion iou a source of evil precedents that will be sure to plague the inventors polygamy is s a crime against our law and should not be permitted to be practised practiced even as the er of religious belief but to attack a church to persecute its members for their religious opinions and for their religious acts when those acts are cot contrary to law is and is la is dangerous theory this edmunds tucker bill is a monstrous piece of legislation it is aimed not at polygamy but at th the elands lands and money and religious rights of the Mor mormon mons it should down indignantly it may be weirdo say that utah is ready for admission into the union as a state her people are democratic mo cratic in politics ka to pass such a bill 1 as the edmunds tucker bill wold make her republican against the will of the people eople this has been a pet scheme wix with certain republican politicians for years will the democrats knowingly kno assist them to accomplish their end but to put the matter on a higher plane this bill is a covert covers attack upon liberty of conscience and the constitutional tut ional right of the citizens to worship god as they please it aimed at polygamy so much we repeat as it is intended to drive the mormons cormons out ot of their hard bawl earned patrimony it is unjust and wrong and we shall oppose it as a measure fraught with pos of future disastrous egils to the country |
