New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-29
THE REPRESENTATIVE OF LAWBREAKING.

The announcement Is made that Mr.. Roberts,
the polygamous Representative-eect from Utah,
will not be summarily excluded from the House
Of Representatives, but will be permitted to
take his seat, and that action upon his case, for
expulsion or what-not, will be taken thereafter.
1t is TO be hoped that those who have decided
upon this course are sure of their ground,
and that it is the best possible course for the
attainment Of the end desired. But 1t cannot
be overlooked that there are many who will re-
gard 1t with serious misgivngs. Beyond doubt
1t is desirable that Mr.. Roberts shall be ex-
Guided from the House in the most positive
and impressive manner. An expulsion after he
has been seated, by the required two-thrds
vote, might be more emphatic than refusal
TO seat him at ALL by a mere majority vote
But on the other hand, there is always the
doubt whether the two-thirds vote can be Sc
cured, and there is the danger Of unseemly and
undignifed fractional wranglings In the House.
such as would deprive his ultimate expulsion Of
half its moral force Which course is TO be pur-
sued is a matter of eXpedency, not of necessity.
For IL is, we assume not TO be doubted that the
House has the constitutional power to bar him
from taking his seat.
The Constitution makes the House the sole
Judge of the elections, returns and qualifications
of its own members, subject to the conditions
that Representative must be twenty five years
old, a citizen of the United States of seven
years standing, and an inhabitant of the State
In which he is elected. But it does not say, and
does not in the least imply, that any man pos
sessing those qualifications is, ipso facto, en-
titled to a seat. and that the House must I'M
hesitatingly receive his credentials. Those are
merely the minimum qualifications, below which
the House may not go, but above which it may
impose such other qualifications as in its judg-
ment are necessary for the National welfare.
The clause is inhibitory, not broadly manda-
tory. There are plenty of conceivable cases in
which man might have the qualifications
named in the Constitution and yet be so obvi-
ously unfit for membership in the House that
the seating Of him would be universally recog-
nized as public scandal.
Neither is II to be argued that the fitness of a
man is TO be determined by the State that elects
him. and that State has a right TO choose any
Representative it pleases. A State has that
right in respect 10 its own Legislature. But
members of Congress are not lawmakers for n
State but for the Nation Mr. Roberts is not
sent TO Washington to serve Utah alone but to
serve the whole Nation. He is to be a law
maker, a servant and a Representative of every
State, from Maine to Oregon, and every such
State has natural right to declare whether he
IS acceptable TO It. If Utah is content TO have
lawbreakers for members Of her own Iegisla-
ture, for her Governor and for her Judges. she
may enjoy that privilege as a sovereign State.
But she has no right, In sense or, we believe. in
law. to impose such upon the whole Nation as
its lawmakers
how In pbrpa lor'.
that seems most justly to fit the case. The OBJ.