Show UTAH AFFAIRS DISCUSS IKU among the papers that discuss thi noise being made over the el election edtion of hon B H roberts for fior congress is the times in an editorial that appeared on nov 28 this says As for roberts it appears that all of his wives were acquired acquire ct when plural marriage was lawful in utah and he takes care of them as he always did I 1 says that he not abandon one or all of them without being guilty of gross cruelty and immorality his domestic relations were it seems pretty ventilated during the campaign and the re turns show that he has lost votes among 1 the mormons cormons and gained vot votes a among the gentiles this being the testimony of the salt lake tribune the leading gentile organ the smith faction of tho the mormon church is very strong anti dr polygamous lyga and they did not support mr roberts we are no apologist apolo apologist gitt for plural marriage but we kemem remember er that christ did not denounce the institution the early christians practiced it there is but one single disparagement of it in the new testament in his first epistle to timothy iii 2 paul enjoins on his disciples to see to it than an elder should be the husband of one wife which to Is an admission b by the apostle that there were in the chu church ach men who had more than one wife neither christ nor any of his twelve dwely e disciples dis made monogamy a condition of membership in the christian body it was not made a condition during the first three hundred years of the era that began with christs coming even now converts in polygamous countries are received by missionaries of some of the churches into the communion without it eliout being required to put away any or t their air wives and fl final nalty it may easily be true that the ron hon blyly bangham aham H roberts is quite as moral a man as good a Christ christian bin and patriot t as are many of his colleagues in the house who are not pratt practical leal mists if he is in not superior su to colne of them in these respects we ought to tb be properly sorry for foi his constituents the times Is as we say eay no defender of the aftem attempt institution I 1 to transplant an pastern eastern domestic institution into this country count we do not believe that it can be made to suit western ot any other advanced civilization hut but the country is ia ea entitled titled to the facts fact of the ce case that has started this fresh discussion of a were mere remnant ltv ot X wb vow never a ire general practice amock the ibe mormons cormons Mor mons such ludicrous misstatements as an the atlanta constitution make sout not to be unchallenged we are curious cur loua naturally as to what th 6 national house of representatives will do in mr roberts case under the constitution ution it is the sole judge of the elec tion tien and qualification of members and we do not think the country would go to ruin if the new member from utah a were altow alow ewd to serve his term through A polygamist delegate from utah territory tot sat in the house for eight years an and the country survived and during f mr cannons incumbency as delegate 3 the sentiment against mormonism in eral and the outcry about polygamy in particular were far more violent than fc now when all men who care to under stand the situation know there to a noth ing left of plural marriage in utah except a rare case here and there where the marriage occur when they were sanctioned by the local law and by the church the mormons cormons Mor mons as a body nave have abandoned polygamy in good faith such is the uniform testimony of those who are objectively familiar with the subject the springfield republican takes this conservative view mr roberts side Is worth hearing he admits that he has more than one wife but the plurality of his marital relations originated before pol polygamy gamy was prohibited mr law the settlement settlement of that question he now says ays after years of strife and heartache left upon men moral obligations ligat ions from which no decrees of the church could release them and no act of the state absolve them he means of course that after having promised certain women to cherish ant and support them before the world as his wives he could not honorably desert them thereafter besides says mr roberts no law is being violated the demand of the ameri can people as expressed in the utah enabling act went no further than this that perfect tolerance of religious sentiment shall be secured provided that polygamous or br plural marriages are forever prohibited in his opinion future polygamous marriages were prohibited abile those already existent were not inea with of may not be correct however that may be it is highly probable that he Is not a wilful violator or of law but simply an outspoken honest man who finds it difficult to readjust himself fo b the new conditions forced upon utah by the righteous blows struck at the practice of polygamy rea reared ed in the mormon religion which a an pro proved ed of the poly st I 1 idea ea he e contracted art d plural Y m marriage ar age whose be obligations he has refu refused sed to repudiate owing he claims to wh what a t he considered consider his duty toward the women he had married it Is id well known that men of his stamp are numerous amon among the older members of the mormon a church new plural marriages ahre are no longer contracted by them if we are to believe the defenders of the faith yet those already existing at the time of the revolution in utah are still in many cases undisturbed under such circumstances the question to 1 be tonal considered dered by the opponents of polygamy Is not so much the moral principle cip e a involved in plural marriages as the effects of making an issue of mt mr Ro roberts bertli right to a seat in congress aby polygamy in n utah will not survive for long in amk the t e face of hostile laws the real struggle Is over the time now 1 egme we when toleration for such cases as t 1 at of mr roberts may be wisely y practiced human nature must be given some leeway no one had the right to 0 expect that all the marital relations of polygamist mormons cormons could be suddenly sundered by an act of con congress ress any more than one could reasonably reason reasonably abry have hoiem that conferring freedom upon millions of f blacks would raise them at once in t the he social and political scale the utah people may safely be left to A settle this question themselves in the recent cent election both the republican and democratic candidates for congress were mormons cormons and polygamy was not a paramount iesue T the e defeated republican candidate says that we he shall make no contest for mr roberts seat beat and if any contest Is made it must be bv a pop alist who polled but 2000 out of a total of bf votes |