The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-10-18
JUDGE BERRY's DECISION.

Associate Justice Berry, of Idaho,
has decided the WoolIey mandamus
case which was heard by him at Black
foot last week. The points upon which
the opinion was based were set out in
THE RERALD's special on Wednesday
morning. Briefly, His Honor holds
that although the Mormon Church in
Idaho has not, within two years,
taught, advised, counseled or encour-
aged the practice of polygamy, that
doctrine had not been repudiated by
the church, and that therefore mem
bers of the church belonged to an Or
ganizat;on which believed in, advised,
encouraged, ETC., polygamy and
bigamy; henc, they were not
eligible to vots and hold Office.
He denied the writ which
was prayed for to compel the registrar
to swear Mr.. Wooley and place his
name on the registration list. We are
not going to say that Judge Berry's de-
cision is not in perfect harmony with
good law; but 1t is only the truth to
say that good lawyers do not agree
with His Honor. The Judge, how
ever, has the "say'' in the case, and
there must be submission to his de-
cision unless there is a legal way to
avoid it. 1t seems cruel and in the
nature of persecution to deny the law
abiding Mormon cit .zens of Idaho the
right of suffrage. They have broken
no law. They denied the constitu-
tionality of the test oath act, and
in good faith went into the courts
with the denial, meantime care
fully obeying the statute by refraining
from registering and voting. The courts
having declared the law constitutional,
there was humble submission to it;
since the Supreme Court opinion was
handed down, the practices proclaimed
against have not been taught,
ce1nseled or advised in the Territory.
This was satisfactorily proven on the
witness stand by the testimony of the
highest church authorities in Idaho.
and was denied by nobody. 1t seems
to Us there has been complete COM
plianoe with the law, and that, there
fore the right OF the people to vote
ought not to have been denied. Judge
Berry thinks otherwise, though it
must be confessed that the defense of
his position is lame in the extreme.
OF course, this decision will put stop
to the registration of members of the
Mormon church. The registrars cannot
defy the court, and Mormons will not
attempt to violate law even for the
sake of voting. There may be a way
for circumVenting the conspirators who
are bent on preventing the Mormons
from exercising their rights, but that
way must be clearly within the bounds
OF the law, or it will not be approved by
law loving citizens. Men can better af-
ford to part with the franchise temper
arily than do anything not permitted
or justified by the law.
1t is impossible to say what effect this
decision will have on the election next
month. The people prescribed are
largely Democratic, and fully four.ffths
of them would have voted the Demo
cratic tickets, and insured the election of
these tickets in several of the counties
Mr.. HaWlev, the Democratic nominee
for Congress, would also have been
chosen beyond the possibility of a
doubt, as fully 1900 of the men who are
now denied would have voted for him.
We still have hope that Mr.. Hawley
will pull through. His opponent was
chosen two years ago by a majority of
only 400, and at time when the Demo-
cratic party was sadly divided. A good
many Democrats voted for Mr.. Dubois
in 1886, who are to-day back in the
ranks of their own party, and doing
good service for Mr.. Hawley. Further
more, not few Republicans in the
southern part of the Territory are
against Dubois and have openly es-
poused the cause OF the Democratic
candidate. It therefore seems that Mr..
Hawley will win in spite of the unjus!
laws and the wicked combinations
against him.