Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-12-14

|
the appointment of the usual commit
tees to wait upon the president and
the seat drawing contest, with its US
ual amusing features, went off without
hitch. The only other feature out
| of the ordinary was the adoption of the
Reed rules for the present congress
| by strict party vote. A joint COM
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 senators,
the last named including the silver re-
publicans and populists and each con-
sldered 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 vote Of 302 to 80 adopted the res
olution offered by Taylor (Ohio) for
the appointment of 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 irep., CALI, and
NeWlands. silverite, from Nevada. By
the terms of the resolution Roberts is
denied a 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ly repealed the insinuation of Roberts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 it's 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
irrespective of whether he since CO.
habited with a 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
constituents. In all his investigation
of precedents, Taylor said he failed to
find single case where the house hest
tated to assert upon proper occasion
its right to halt a member at the bar
when his qualifications for his seat
were questioned. 1--WE are tolu said
Mr.. Taylor, his voice ringing out
clearly, 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
empowered 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 non-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
those in the present case were made to
the president and senate against the
appointment Of certain federal officials
in Utah but the objections were
waived aside" In concluding Roberts
| denied that the members who voted to
seat him would be voting for polyg-
amy. The question of polygamy was
settled. Il am not defending polyg-
amy. 1t is dead" Roberts con-
cluded by thanking Taylor and the
house for their indulgence He was
given a round applause as he took his
seat.
Dinsmere and Richardson (dems)
opposed the Taylor resolution. Mr.
Grosvenor (rep) denounced Roberts
statement concerning the appointment
by the president of polygamists in
Utah as a miserable subterfuge. The
vote was then taken, first on the pro-
Roberts substitute which was de-
feated, SO to 247. The vote then re-
CURED upon the adoption of the Taylor
resolution which was adopted by a
vote of 302 to 80, and thus Roberts is
denied his seat till his case is fully in
vestigated by a committee. The chances
are very much against his admission.
Washington Dec. 6.-The reciprocity
treaties negotiated during the congress
sional recess were transmitted to the !
senate and were referred to the COM
mittee on foreign relations. The most !
important of these treaties is that be- |
tween the United States and France
for reciprocal reductions in tariff rates. |