Show THE HAND OF LAW considering the bosh gush ami and Z trash indulged in iii allyan by an overwhelming portion of the pros press concerning the mormon mornion problem it ia is refreshing fre freshing shim once in a great while to come collie across some expressions of sound sense unbiased by sectarian spite political prejudice or popular clamor such an independent voice hag bas lately mado made itself heard in the editorial columns of the illinois the leading german organ of the northwest this paper under the caption at the tho head of this article devotes about a lal column to the consideration of the k rv proposed prohibition prevention and punishment of polygamy occasion for this was furnished by the recent mass in meeting in chicago denouncing noun cing the people and their religious institutions although we by no means cither either second the skeptical animus nor endorse the views of the its article still touches the sore spots of the legislation gl gi lation with such caustic criticism that a translation may be interesting te in this connection what else but a coarse joke or a malicious mockery on our brilliant army of judges and lawyers was the remark of a speaker in the recent indignation dig nation meeting concerning polygamy the iron hand of law must and will crush abo misdeeds of mormon ormon harem owners the tile iron hand liand you dont gay say eo so not of iron but ol 01 brittle paper is in this country lie the hand of law whoever doubts this needs but look about him with open eyes then lie will see how criminals of all kinds kind laugh at law lair how ilow dishonorable lawyers assist them in it and how judges rende rendered idiots by h air split clug petty fogger run boles holes through the tile very statute looks books he ile will find that in many parts of the country lynch justice is the only honest impartially strict justice ustice on which the people can rely he will find judges es who discharge the tie instigator of of a grave crime without punishment while they imprison liis his deluded accomplices judges who not only spare a postal thief thief caught and convicted of crime the humiliation of I preliminary re incarceration but postpone the sentence for three months to enable him to obtain a pardon even ere the sentence is pronounced judges who brazen faced infringe on the prerogatives of the resident Nes president ident or governor by pardoning criminals after the sentence and hewko he who reviews the execution of law by federal courts will find that the U S courts are impotent in a large portion of t the lie country that in many states they are poN powerless verless to furnish the revenue officials protection against violence eliat they are entirely unable to enforce laws such as those far for the protection of forests or against the invasion of whites on indian reservations what a pate must lie bo be who expects that the iron hand of law will extirpate extirpate polygamy poly polygamy out of mormonism if it could gamt bo done it would have been done long age for as long as twenty years there lias has been in existence a severe federal law against polygamy in the tho territories but it lias has remained a dead letter iron hand pshaw even supposing tho case that federal judges could bo be found who had the genuine intention to enforce the law against pol polygamy gamy and supposing it were possible sib e to impanel in utah juries consisting of purely anti 31 mormon ormon gentiles what would that amount to as long aa as there is no evidence of the fact of a mormon dormon I having more mor e tb than in one wife th the wives caving themselves cannot be compelled to testify the mormon church records are inaccessible if even all these difficulties were surmounted there would arise a few further questions what is to bo be done with the children of polygamous wives and their lie hereditary ry claims on the fathers property and how can the polygamous wives bo be prevented from froin living again with their husband after lio lie lias I as served his ilia term of punishment even in our state laws there aro are no I provisions prohibiting a div divorced I V e f couple to live an again in together as ll 11 husband u and wife a thing by no means too infrequent at any rate the mormon could reintroduce and install his wives into his ho household as house keepers 11 nurses cooks 11 or under any other dolc domestic tic denomination in which manner could the iron hand of the law prevent this or should the government employ loy spies and detectives to ferret out ut intimacy of such any of these female inmates of his household and if they did find out such a case what then such thin bilings are arc said to occur among christians and jews without law and courts wor worrying r ying about it unless the tile legitimate wife enters complaint but of this the Il mormon would have much less reason to bo be waid than the self styled moral christian or jew in that tile puerile gentlemen who dream and blabber of the tile iro iron n hand of the law as an instrument for the eradication of polygamy arc are the deeper one studies the matter the less likely it appears that any such legislation wit will appears effectively operate on polygamy when 25 years cars ag ago tb alie e crusado crusade against the polygamy of the mormons cormons Mor mons was first pre preached ached it was asserted that their plural wives were in bondage yea in abject slavery and the stale and unprofitable party arty cry of twin relic was wai raised raise aut but it has since been proven that those objects of cheap charity cli arity were perfectly well satisfied with their condition thus what is to be done at any rate yate thus much is certain n the hollow bombastic harangues in in I mass n iss meetings outside of utah will 64 not promote the solution of ohp alie po problem for one single inch Z |