Show Power of Congress over Polygamy That Congress has the constitutional power to deal with polygamy is a fact that seems to be recognized everybody but polygamists They have questioned the power at various times in the courts but only with the result of seeing it I reaffirmed The latest dispute of this kind was as to the right of Congress to disqualify polygamists from rom voting or holding office in the Territory of Utah as r is done by the Edmunds law passed in 18S2 In an opinion banded down yes I terday the United States Suprem e Court holds that while the personal and civil rights of the inhabitants of the Terri tories are securto them as to all other citizens by the principles of constitutional con-stitutional liberty their political rights are franchises which they hold as privileges in the legitimate discretion I of Congress That body the Court adds has the undoubted right to determine deter-mine the form of the local government in any Territory and the qualifications of those who shall administer it uIt rests with Congress to say whether in a given I case any of the people resident in the Territory shall participate in the election I of its ofhcers or in the making of its laws and it may therefore take from them any right of suffrage it may previously have conferred or any time modify or abridge it as it deem may expedient This exposition ex-position of the lawis not new but il may nevertheless have a salutary effect on the I average Utah mind New York Herald March 24th i t |