Litchfield enquirer., 1879-01-16
Is "Wrecking" a Punishable 0ffencef"

and he breaks through, people will cry out that the net is rotten. They concede that il
 will catch certain proportion of moderate,
 average-sized offenders but they clamor fol
 something strong enough to hold even the
 enormous sharks which infest American busi
 ness. Ne doubt the net is old and oftener patched than mended, but that is not the
 worst. In this instance it never had a fair
 chance. The New York wreckers have escap-
 ed punishment because their work was some
 thing more than that began by Hartford insur-
 ance men; because the state official who is
 supposed to protect the interests of the public
 weakly assented to Furber's shrewd scheme of fraud and because the insurance interest de-
 layed investigation till it came too late to punish the guilty. Last but not least was the oppressive professionalism" of the judge, always sticking in the bark and never pene- trating to the heart of the legal questions so profusely and so successfully raised by the in genious counsel for the distinguished accused
 Just at the very time of this most lamentable failure of justice at Hartford. comes news of the final decision of the U. s. Supreme court against the government in the celebrated Cred it Mobilier cases. In that case it was Congress who was the chief criminal There was no punishing Congress, and now their accomplices have escaped, too.
 One result of the Hartford fiasco should be the abolition of our so-called Insurance De- partment. It is too pitiable hunbug to be allowed to stand longer. It could not put down even poor old Ben Moves. It positively helped Furber to his acquittal. Let it walk | the plank!
 The opinion of the U. S. Supreme Court af- firmiug the constitutionalty of the law of Congress, prohibiting polygamy refers as fol- l lows to the defense of religious belief and practice set up by the prisoner:
 The only question which remains is whether those who make polygamy part of their re- 1 ligion are excepted from the operation of the 1 statute. If they are, then those who do not make polygany a part of their religious be- l lief may be found guilty and punished while l those who do, must be acquitted and go free 1 This would be introducing new element into l criminal law. Laws are made for the govern ment of actions, and while they cannot inter 1 fere with mere religious belief and opinions 1 they may Wltn pracIceS
 The national constitution provides that l Congress shall make no law respectisg an ! establishment of religion, or prohibiting the ] free exercise thereof" It seems to us that 1 this guarantees the citizen something more |! than the mere freedom of religious opinion It prohibits any interference with religious practices. Take for instance the Romish prac- tice of confession. Could Congress make it a penal offence? Certainly net. On the other hand if any religious denomination were to ] attempt to enforce it's discipline by imprison- ment or corporal punishment the law would at once interfere It is not easy in fact to de- hne the true limits of the civil and ofthe re- i ligious power Both claim jurisdiction of the subject of marriage. The Catholic church and even the Episcopal church deny the right of the state to grant divorces for causes unsat- isfactory to them. Still it is undoubtedly ne general rule, that marriage is considered proper subject of civil regulation in Protest ant countries
 1 THE WOMEN VOTERS OF WYOMING TEREI- 1 ToRY.-The recent report that women suif rage in Wyoming Territory is failure, and { that the better class Of women do not vote, has called out a large number of denals, and 1 the testimony seems to be in faver of the eX- 1 pertinent. \ correspondent of the Boston | Herald gives some of the most valuable evi- dence on the subject. He says that there are, i in the first place, very few disreputuble wo- men in that territory, and that the female vote 1 is a very full one. In proof of this he cites 1 the fact that about six hundred women are en- titled to vote in Cheyenne, and that at the last election more than five hundred of them did vote and he says that throughout the territo- ! " the proportion of female citizens who took | advantage of the suffrage privilege was quite as large as that of the men, Moreover he l says that the wOmen's influence was for good. 1 He points out that in several places where | Democratic candidates were successful, the Democratic candidate fordelegate in Congress, who was personally objectionable ran far be- l hind, and he gives the women the credit for most of the adverse votes If female suffrage | has so good an influence, our western territO- ries offer very excellent field for it's opera tion.-N. F. Esenipg Post.
 That sage closing remark reminds us of an anecdote of frontier evangelism A Baptist gospel-worker was laboring with leading but rather profane old pioneer whohad tricky neighbor named Potter. Finally the old man softened. "l rather guess, stranger, you're right Come over next Sunday and I'll be d-d if we wont souse Jake Potter anyway" | HARPERs for February contains Treasures of the Deep Gllustrated); Rambles in the l South of France, II Gllus ); Our Travelled 1 Parson Admiral Hiram Paulding A Picture and Parable; At the Mouth of the Aluazons | Gllus. ); Mconshiners; Song; Winter Sports in Canada Gllus.) ); Old Flemish Masters Gllus. ); Education by Hand Young Mrs. Sardine; Mendelssohn's Letters to Mademe Moscbeles; A Story of the Plague; French Farmers; Ed itorial Articles
 Harper & Brothers, New York. S4 year. See Enquirer Clubbing Rates
 The House Committees are announced in Tuesdays Hartford Post. Mir. Robinson is given the chairmanship of the Judiciary; Treat takes that of Railroads: Catn of School Fund; Gay, of New Towns; Fessenden of Interpretations Camp, of Education Frisbee, of Insurance; Marcy, of Engressed Bills. Of the Special committees, Barpum is made chair man of that on Temperance Colt, of Consti- tutional Amendments; Spencer, of Federal l Relations.
 The allabsorbing question at Hartford this week, is that of the Senatorial nomination, The Republican caucus is to be held tomorrow l CThursday) night and the result is in great doubt. Strong Hobbies are at work for Jewell, Platt, Harrison and Minor. There will evi- dently be no choice on the first ballot, and everything depends on the combinations effect ed by those in search of best possible ''sec
 ond choice"
 We hear much complaint of the acoustic defects of our new Representatives Hall An at