The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-12-04

and IS fhdepeHheyst
questions.
a Word About Congressman Hoberts
II the House of Representatives To-Day
refuses to allow Representative HoDerts
~ I14ab 10 take the oath of office and the
seat to which he has been elected anothef
deadly blow win have been struck at tne
ropstit,,tior of the United States, and
hereafter election to Congress will not de-
mend upon the win of the various con
stituencies. but upon the caprice or Inc
necessity of the majority party.
W. AVE no sympathy with Roberts as
an Individual. We can see no possfoie
ahiection to expening him rom the house.
for cause. when proof of the cause Is
placed on record; but we regard 1t as
nothing short of revolutionary to reluse
~ honor his certificate of election, ana 10
ascias his case off-hand, arbitrarily, ana
without even the formality Of an enquiry
To say that Roberts. seated or unseateo'
e. 4 menace to the morals or the FANNY
tE -
.rg an,zatien of the country is mere poppy
cock. 1t is as absurd as to say mat q
train robber in the West is a menace 10
,ba general peace and order of the coun-
try. Roberts is totally insignificant. ne
Is important My through the fuss tina
has been raised about him. So far as the
general social organization of the United
states Is concerned. he can do no more
harm than a yellow dog, and all the taiA
TO the contrary is mere hysterical e~7
areeration. the nonsense of indisereet in
dividuals and yellow newspapers.
But there is real danger to the country
in creating a precedent by which the legis-
latar who has obtained a majority vote
of the people. may be arbitrarily refused
the seat to which he was elected. Anyone
in his sober senses can see the logical out
come Of such a proceeding. This year,
Congress refuses to put a mans name on
The roll because he is a suspected poly
gamist. Two years hence they may do so
because ne Is a G0SQCStEA
or because they doubt the validity OF his
election. Two years later, they may ex-
clude a whole minority and keep them
clamoring at the doors for admission
while the majority investigates, and does
as It pleases.
If Congress has a right to organic
- $500, 1rhn
holds an u%ndisputed certificate of election,
such a certificate means nothing and any
faction can get together and call itself the
House Of Representatives, and pretend to
think It has good reason to think all the
other elected members unfit persons to sit
In the House. Indeed if objections are to
count for anything previous to the or
ganization of the House, it is within the
compass of the imagination that the
all, there being some protest against
every member.
We repeat we have no objection to the
expulsion OF Roberts. when the House is
formally organized to take cognizance of
the credentials of its own members. But
NE freely say we can imagine no true adj
vantage to public morals in the act. By
his expulsion, Roberts will become a hero
and a martyr in the eyes of his own
people. Unquestionably, they will elect
him again and again, as happened in the
case of Wilkes, when the British Par
lament expelled him. Nay, more, in all
probability. Roberts will be chosen Gov
ernors of Utah at the next election. He
will become the leading man in his State.
Then where viii the protest against poly
garny avail
AS a Congressional unit. this man would
have been . nonenity. whereas he will now
become an Issue and q power. The true
remedy for polygamy is social obloquy.
ii is more than likely 1t will flourish under
penal laws. Such is the experience of all
history. But 1t would inevitably wither
before ten years of social coventry.