Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-12-14

mittee notified the president that con-
gress was ready for business. A short
and sharp debate occurred on the adop-
ton of the Reed rules, Bailey (dem,,
Tex opposing it, as did also Richard
son (dem., TENN.
Washington, Dec. 5.-Yesterday
three caucuses were held in the senate
end of the capitol. They were under
the auspices respectively of republican,
democratic and independent senator's
the last named including the silver re-
publicans and populists and each con-
sidered the reorganization of senate
committees. In each instance the de-
tail work was referred to special COM
mittees.
Washington, Dec. 5.-After an inter
esting debate of three hours the house
by a vote of 302 to 80 adopted the res
olution offered by Taylor (Ohio) for
the appointment of a special COM
mittee TO investigate the charges
against Brigham H. Roberts, mormon
representative-elect from Utah. Prev
iously the house had rejected the sub
stitute resolution offered by Richard
son, the leader of the minority, to al
low Roberts to be sworn in and send
the whole case to the judiciary COM
mittee. Of the 80 who voted against
the Taylor resolution all were demo-
Gratis except two, Loud rep, CALI, and
Newlands, silverite, from Nevada. By
the terms of the resolution Roberts is
denied seat in the hall. The most re-
markable feature of the debate was
Roberts presentation of his own side
of the case, which lasted almost an
hour, and became so absorbing that he
won the sympathy of the men in the
galleries and was several times show
cred with applause. During the de-
bate Mr. Grosvenor of Ohio indignant
ly repealed the insinuation of Roberts
that the president had knowingly ap-
pointed men guilty .of polygamy to
federal offices in Utah. Taylor said
the power of congress to halt the
claimant at its door was clear. He
read from decisions of the supreme
court defining polygamy which stated
that irrespective of whether a man
had contracted plural marriages after
the passage of the Edmund's act and
of whether he since CO.
habited with plural wife, he was
guilty of polygamy if he still main
tanned the relation of husband to more
than one wife. But higher than the
civil law was the law of civilization
which demanded that one so tainted be
excluded. For supporting a higher
law the member was answerable only
to his conscience, his country and his
In all his investigation
of precedents, Taylor said he failed to
find a single case where the house hest
tated to assert upon proper occasion
its right to halt member at the bar
when his qualifications for his seat
were questioned. I'VE are toIu. said
Mr.. Taylor, his voice ringing out
that we are about to create an
unhappy precedent. Why, Mr.. Speaker.
we are doing this in the open gaze Of
the whole world, not in a clustered
court. We are servants of the people
to do right as we see it,
The public eye is upon us. In that
presence we can do no wrong if we do
but obey it," Roberts sent to the clerks
desk and read his naturalization pa
pers. He held he had not been ar
raigned or condemned for any crime
since the amnesty proclamation. If he
had been law breaker why had he not
been punished since the nom Mormon
power prevailed in Utah? Proceeding
he took up the charge that Utah had
broken her contract with the United
States by the election of an alleged
polygamous representative. If that
were true then Utah had simply fol-
lowed the illustrious example of the
present national administration. Il
affirm" said he, that there is abund-
ant evidence that objections similar to
hose in the present case were made to
the president and senate against the
of certain federal officials
n Utah but the objections were
waived aside" In concluding Roberts
ienied that the members who voted to
seat him would be voting for polyg-
my. The question of polygamy was
settled. Il am not defending polyg-
amy. 1t is dead" Roberts con-
,luded by thanking Taylor and the
house for their indulgence. He was
given a round applause as he took his
eat.
Dinsmere and Richardson (dems.) |
opposed the Taylor resolution. Mr..
irosvenor (repD denounced Roberts
statement concerning the appointment
~ the president of polygamists in |
Jtah as a miserable subterfuge. The