OCR Text |
Show I ;ljjJB?- The Independent construes the clause in the I lifiral Constitution "Each house shall be the judge or IIiImHhP the elections, returns and qualifications of its own I'll! HX members" to mean that each house shall sit as a '!fi IHffl judiciary to reach a decision, which is pure baby il' 'SbL talk SuPPse lne PePle of any State were to f f& I 9r elect a Chinaman, or a tramp that no gentleman '$i r could associate with, and his election was in form "''l HI regular, would the Senate have no recourse? ; m ' Hi The Constitution makes one essential qualiiica- ! '1 1 ! 151 a Senator tliat ne must be a citizen of the ' ,f ! K United States. Senator Smoot practically admitted ;', ; S' that there was a power that held a higher fealty Vi'" ' Bi from him in purely temporal matters than he could $' lH gve e government of the United States. Sen- , ' Kj ator Knox so construed his testimony, and yet he i Hp signed the report which declares him entitled to , ' J! ! Iv a seat. Would it have been that way with Sen- l K. ator Foraker or Senator Beveridge except for the vt'' ilp sixteen electoral votes referred to above? Is it , jj..! K so very wrong for such Senators to know the pub- w V Pn'n country tllr0l,Sn petitions of the i M'. What did the framers of tho Constitution ' '"til Hk mean when they incorporated in that instrument ; j I j&t the right of petition to Congress, but withheld it I W D iejr mean tnat tne r'sht of petition was ' 3 ' SP ony sacrec when it should be approved by the , I i 1 New York Independent or the Deseret News? ' ',. P There is still more to this business. While all v i j other creeds in the United States are undisturbed, ' . the Mormon creed has filled every State and Ter- ' '"- ill it' ritbry, wherever it has raised its crest, with con- $ jjll fflj: tentlon, heart-burnings and sometimes violence, llmyf This for seventy-five years. In this present con- :!ffip' test Reed Smoot the individual has been notnmg. ;I;M It is the lawless system to which he belongs that ilJI fH as reay keen on trial, and one of the chief TtB objects of the petitions was to urge the Senate to 91 thoroughly investigate this system that it might V 'm ffil e un(lerstood what it really is. kfl li Either it is a law unto Itself which should bo ' V'lf f brought within the laws of the republic, or the 4 X Mr people of Ohio, of Missouri, of Illinois, and the &jj j Gentiles of Utah and Idaho have, each in their ' fif time, been a law-breaking and trouble-making , 'T ! I crowd that should be suppressed. The petitions i were in perfect order. |