The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-19
ROBERTS SPEAKS OUT
in HIS own DEFENSE
He Denies the Statements Made in Working Up
Public Sentiment Against Him.
Mormon Church Did Not Elect Him and He Does Not Go to
Congress as Representative Of Poygamy.

New York, Nov 1S.-The Times to-
morrow will publish a three-column ar
ticle by Congressman Brigham H. Rob
erts, discussing the efforts being made
to exclude him from the house. Mr..
Roberts says. in part:
THOSE engaged in working up pub
lie sentiment against the representative
from Utah demand of the house of
representatives either that he be not
allowed to take his seat, to which it has
! been admitted he was legally elected or,
after being admitted, that he be ex-
pelled- That the house can do either of
these two things is extremely doubtful.
'.As many we'll meaning and Christian
ministers outside of Utah are mislead
by the falsehoods of those at the bot
tom of the fgio-political scheme to
urSeat Utah'S representative, and thus
! defeat the expressed will of the people
of a sovereign state, 1 point out some
of the false charges on which the agi-
| tation is based.
at is falsely charged that the Nor
mon church has broken faith with the
| government of the United States in ref
erence to polygany; that is, it is charg-
| ed that the practice of polygamous
marriages has been resumed by the
/ church.
I'm the first place it must be remem-
bered that no compact exists between
the Mormon church and the govern
ment of the United States on the sub
! ject of polygamy. The only compact
existing on that subject is between the
people of Utah, acting through their
/ representatives in the state constitu-
tional convention, and the people of the
United States represented by the presi-
dent and congress.
Compact Has Been Kept.
81 affirm positively that that compact
has been kept on the part of the people
of Utah. There is no attempt made to
repeal or annul the parts of the con-
! stitution prohibiting polygamouS or
plural marriages. There is no desire to
disrupt that compact with the United
! States. The Mormon church has not
violated the compact and has no desire
to annul it, but on the contrary, the
venerable head of the church has Off
cially avowed his determination to ad-
here to its settlement on the question.
The representative to congress from
I Utah has not violated this compact, the
assertion of his enemies to- the con-
I trary Notwithstanding. When the little
coterie of sectarian ministers and dis
appointed would-be political bosses in
Utah who began this agitation, say
Il
bers violate the compact between our
state and the people of the United
States because a few men in Utah feel
morally bound to fulfill Their obligations
to the women they married under sane
tion of the Mormon church, previous TO
the issuance of the church manifesto of
1890 disoontinuing polygamous mar
riaages, when they say this is a vio-
lation of the compact with the United
| States, they say that which they know
to be untrue; disrupting and discontin-
uing those polygamous marriages was
no part of the compact.
Abandonment of Wives.
''It was not demanded by the enact
ing amendment. 1t was not any part of
the action of the constitutional conven-
ton. but, on the contrary. steps were
studiously taken not to disrupt those
relations by constitutional provision,
by discarding the parts of the anti
polygamy law which would have
brought about that result What good
would come to the people of the United
States by disruption of those plural
families? What good would come TO
either morality or religion to turn those
plural wives and their children adrift?
What Christian woman's home would
be securer for knowing that Mormon
plural wife's home was now destroyed?
and family of that plural wife was es-
tablished under the sanction of-to her
"a holy church ceremony. and with the
approval of all her people The foun-
tain of the evil has dried up: the people
of the United States can be generous
enough to allow the streams that
flowed from it to take their course un-
til lost in the Oblivion of death. Some
men-the number is few and rapidly
growing less-who entered into plural
marriage relations previous to 1890,
when .he church formally and official
ly discontinued such marriages, and
hence, of course. previous to the set
tlement of the question by the COM
pact of our state constitution, have felt
it morally binding upon their con-
sciences to fulfill obligations of their
marriage vows to those polygamous
families This is the only 'polygamy'
that has existed in Utah since the ad-
mission of the state, or since 1890. in
fact-