The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-09
AN ANSWER TO MIR. ROBERTS
UTAH GENTLE DUPLICATION TS-
 SUES 4 SPIRITED STATEMENT.

SCES fl SPlRIIED SIATEM EN2.
 Many People Misled by the Congress
 man-Elect's Vigorous Suggestioszs-Is Is
 Fugitive from Justice in Salt Lake
 County and in Davis County, Where ! Resides One Of Ills PoIygam ous Wives
 and Twins.
 Washington, Dec. S.-An answer to Brigham Roberts address to the Amer 1 ican people was issued to-day by a
 delegation representing the Gentle ele-
 ment of Utah, who are here to oppose
 MT. Roberts. The answer in part is as ! follows
 i MT. Roberts claims that the prece-
 dent made by his exclusion is both new
 and dangerous. That it is not new was shown by MT. Taylor of Ohio in his able argument before the house and not
 q single precedent to the contrary was cited where the ground of objection was ! ineligibility Neither is the precedent 1 dangerous. Whenever a "prima facie"
 case is made against members citi- zenslip, showing that under a convic-
 ton of felony he is disfranchised and
 further, that by reason of his present
 maintenance of the status of polyg-
 amist he is again suffering from civil
 disability under the Edmunds anti
 polygamy act, such a member refusing
 even to deny the charge should be ex-
 cluded. Nor is this dangerous for it is
 not likely, as Mr. Roberts seems to as-
 sume that an entire minority of all
 representatives of large state are com-
 ing to congress carrying such bur-
 den.
 MT. Roberts contention that no evil
 dence of his guilt can be received exx
 cept judicial record of his conviction
 in Utah, as matter of law, is errone-
 ous and as a matter of practice dan
 gerous, because Mr. Roberts and his all-
 powerful priesthood can prevent such conviction if they consider it worth
 while. MT. Roberts claims that what
 ever were his civil disabilities before statehood they were removed by the
 adoption of the state. If at the time of the passage of the enabling act MT. Roberts was, as he seems in his appeal to admit, disfranchised by act of congress and therefore not full cit- zen of the United States, as by the constitution he must be to become a member of congress, then he is still in the same condition because the consti- tuition of Utah could not restore him to federal citizenship and the enabling act did not do it. The enabling act of Utah required citizenship of the Unit ed States as a qualification for voting and did not confer that citizenship upon those then not such citizens.
 Mr.Roberts says he has not been con- victed since statehood. It does not fol- low that he is innocent He 4is now fugitive from justice in Salt Lake coun- ty on a charge of unlawful collabitation and in Davis county, Utah, where re- sides one of his polygamous wives with her illegitimate twins born August il, 1897, a charge of adultery Ca felony un- der the laws of Utah), has been for two months pigeonholed by a Mormon attorney.
 MT. Roberts insists that he is only charged with misdemeanor. He knows better. He knows that he has been charged with the felony of adul- 1 tery as we'll as the misdemeanor of un- lawful cohabitation. He asserts that in 1889 he pleaded guilty to misde- meanor only and also says that if he were guilty of the same acts in the District of Columbia even flagrantly so, as a member of congress, he could not be arrested there for it because it is only a misdemeanor. Here MT. Roberts states what is not true. Unlawful CO., [ ha bita ton under the Edmunds act, | under which he pleaded guilty. was a felony, as also Is adultery with which MT. Roberts is charged in Davis county, Utah. In the District of Columbia both unlawful cohabitation and adultery are felonies
 Many sentimental people are being nisled by MT Roberts very ingenious from which some people nfer that he took his polygamous wives when it was lawful to do so. This is l mistake. Adultery was crime in Utah when MT. Roberts was born and 1t the time of the passage of the Gull om anti-polygamy act. MT. Roberts vas only six years old His plea for therefore, amounts only to his: That he should be allowed to con- inue his criminal practices notwith- tanding he took his polygamous wives n defiance of law. We demand that he hould support his families, but also de- nand that he shall cease the begetting if further illegitimate offspring.
 Ex-Congressman ". H. King was nd is a Mormon and no claim of ineli- ibility was ever made against him. Ve point to this fact as showing that re oppose MT. Roberts not upon the round of any religious or political per- ecution of prejudices. The undersign- d include men oe different churches nd men who belong to no church. . hose who are republicans and those rho are democrats MT. Roberts denies, and we assert hat the compact between Utah and the ther states has been violated. That ompact was evidenced by many public l. cts. All these public acts combined how conclusively that the compact in- . Iudes the discontinuance of old poly . amous relations as well as the pre- / ention of new ones. As evidence that 7. lie compact has been broken we point ) the following: First-That in Utah 1000 illegitiniate nildren have been born to polygamouse ives since statehood