Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-11-27
THE roLYGAMous CONGRESSMAN

] unless determined action is taken by
the House, the Fifty-sixth Congress OF
the United States will have among its
| msmbers a man With three wives. The
| individual with these tripiicate domestic
| obligations is Brigham H. Roberts. a
| full-hedged Mormon. who was recently
elected by a constituency In Utah to rep
resent them in the National Assembly.
TO say that the selection of Mr.. Ro-
berts Tor this honored position has
created a sensation throughout the coun-
try, is but to express the fact mildly.
By many his election is regarded as an
open act Of defiance on the part of the
MormOns. and there are few who do not
think his official presence in Washington
would be public disgrace.
When Utah was admitted to the Union
as state, in 1895, the act Of admission
was passed only after a solemn pledge
had been given by the Mormon officers
that they would abandon polygamous
marriages. The agreement left in doubt
whether it nulIifed the polygamous mar
riages which had already been contracted
In the future. Roberts maintains that he
had already been united 10 his three
wives when the Mormons' pledgs was
given, and that that pledge has no retro
active effect. THE settlement of that
question" he insists. "after years of
strife and heartache, left upon men
moral obligations from which no decree
of the Church could release them and no
act of the state absove them" In short.
Roberts considers that his marriage vows
forbid him from now discarding his three
consorts. This argument is by no means
a poor one, from the standpoint Of
Mormon who has no fear of three
mothers-in-law. but unfortunately for the
congressman-elect it is alleged that since
the pledge in question he has taken still
another wife.
The Mormons are a great political
power in Utah and they always stand
together with united front. They elected
Roberts by an overwhelming majority.
but the spirit in which he was chosen is
subveIsiye Of the relations which Utah
bears TO the Union. For many years
over three decades--the United States
have been making known their opposition
to the polygamous doctrines promulgated
by the Mormon Church. In 1862 Congress
passed bill 20 punish those guilty of this
evil practice, though the law does not
appear TO have been vigorously enforced
In 1882 another and more drastic measure
was adopted, and five years later suffrage
among the Mormons was greatly restrict
ed and much Church property, both
real and personal, was escheated. It was
now for the first time that a check was
really put on the Latter-Day Saints
though the act of 1882, which was tho
work Of Senator George +. Edmunds
gave warning that Congress was not TO
be trifled with. Five cases arising under
II were carried TO the Supreme Court. and
Inc act was III each case upheld by that
tribunal From 1885 to 1890 hundreds of
Mormons We're sent 70 the penitentiarv
for bigamy, but upon their discharge thev
resumed their former mode of living
They contended that having served their
sentences they could not be again pun
ished for the same offence and that they
had undergone the full extent of the
laws condemnation. OF late years poly
gamy has not been openly practiced by
the Mormons, but their views on the
subject may well be surmised from the
election of Brigham Roberts