The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-02-07
ROBERTS OF UTAH.

Our national congress has resolved
itself into a police court, extended its
Jurisdiction beyond the District of Co
lumbia and tried a member-elect for
an offense alleged to have been COM
mitted in a distant state and before
the accused became a member of that
body or amenable to it's authority. The
mex, thing in order will be for the Re-
publican majority to revive it's force
bill and put a bayonet behind every
ballot" as Senator Frye has preached
for fourteen years. AS we'll be real ar
bitrary while about it-Salt Lake Her
aid.
1t is refreshing to find one Republi-
can organ that has the courage to COM
bat the combination of hysteria hy-
pocrisy and cowardice that seeks to
keep Representative Roberts out of his
seat by overriding the constitution.
New York World.
After profound elaboration of the
case of Mr.. Roberts of Utah, the con-
gressonal committee startles the coun-
try by finding that he is a polygamist.
No report has yet been made on the sui
tan of Sulu. However it may be re-
garded as settled that if the sultan
should be elected to congress he will be
fired, and that is a very correct pro-
cedure. A man cannot faithfully serve
the state and take care of three wives
at one and the same time.-Indiana-
polls Sentinel.
1t does not matter so much in the
case of Roberts, whose RELOCATION TO
private life is certain, but the accept
ance of the majority report will estab-
lish dangerous precedent, making It
possible for an interruptions majority
to exclude members Of the opposition
from the house altogether, regardless
of the facts and conditions. Mr.. Rob-
erts pointed this out in the early days
of the hearing in his case and perhaps
this prejudiced some of the members
of the house committees but the con-
tention has weight-Los Angeles Her
aid.
Quietly the tip has gone from the
White House to the big temple in Salt
Lake that If the Mormons will get into
line for the Republican party, the cru
sade against pOlygamy will be called
off.-Helena Independent
Utah has a law against polygamy.
The course of the house of represen-
tatives will constrain the people of that
state to take especial pains to enforce
1t, particularly against men who are
ambitious to go to congress. Untn a
new choice is made by Utah that state
viii be unrepresented in the popular
branch Of the national leglslature.-St.
Louis Globe Democrat
1t is not Roberts at all that is in
issue in deciding between the two re-
ports of the committee. 1t is to the
future that we have to look. The rights
of representatives hereafter to be cleo
ted may be affected by the precedent
now made. Roberts will have to go in
any event. But the precedent of halt
ing member at the bar of the house
on the mere false statement OF another
member that he is ineligible is one of
very portentous character. 1t was
q m In hn do rlna he
tuition was suspended to keep mem
bers from Kentucky out of their seats
until an investigation was made. Their
prima facie right to their seats was as
goou as that of any other member. If
this system were applied generally it
would be impossible to organize the
house at all, If objection were made to
a majority of those elected. Thus the
system of stopping a member on an
objection from another cannot be ap-
piled without Partially. That alone is
sufficient to condemn 1t. The report
of the minority of the committee there
fore, seems to be decidedly preferable
Louisville Courier-Journal.
Mr.. Roberts may be moved to COM
plain that in his case Congress failed to
live up to It's fame for procrastination.
Washington Star.
So many people will claim the credit
for the rejection of Roberts that when
he comes to look revengefully for the
author of his trouble he will feel like
man who has received round robin.
Washington Star.
Believing that Mr.. Roberts is a too
much married won, the special house
elections co., ~7'tt8~ evidently felt
bound to give him Tho '0itten.-Seattle
Post Intelligencer.
A