The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-24
ROBERTS FLAYED.
Members of the House Relent-
less In Denunciati0n.
Women Again Crowd the Gal
leries of the Chamber.
TO HEAR THE DEBATE.
Scathing Speech Delivered by
Lands of Indiana.
Not Man Says Aught In the
MOrmOn's Defense.
TO HEAR THE DEBATE.

Washington. jan 24-The house re-
sumed the debate on the Roberts case
at IL o'clock today. The galleries were
again well filed, most of the occupants
as on yesterday being ladies. Some mi
nor business preceded the resumption
of the debate. The senate bill to grant
American register to the steam whaler
Bow Head was passed.
Mr.. Powers CVtO was the first speak
er. He argued in behalf of exclusion of
Mr. Roberts. The contention of the mi
nor1ty for expulsion he said ran up
against the very precedentS which were
cited in It's support. 1t was the uni
VerSal rule that a member could not be
expelled for an offence committed prior
to election. While it might be argued
in Mr. Roberts case that polygamy was
a continuing status the crime itself. the
initial act. took place before Mr.. Rob-
erts was elected. I'VE are not separat-
ing wife from husband" said Mr.. Pow
ers, commenting on Mr.. Roberts speech
OF yesterday. "POlygamy has never
been legal in Utah either before or after
her admission into the Union. Polyg-
amy was illegal under the common law
of England. The moment he took wife
No. 2, the marriage was void. Mr.. Rob-
ertS knew the law. He cannot now
plead the baby act against the law
and stern justice"
Mr.. Snodgrass (Tenn.) followed Mr.
Powers. supporting the views of the mi
nOrity in favor of seating and then ex-
pelling Mr.. Roberts. If we were not to
become the eXpOnentS of the French
system Of justice which presumed guilt
until innocence was proven he said Mr.
Roberts must be accorded his prima
facie right to his seat before being
ouSted.
Mr. Lands, Gnd.) q. member of the
Roberts committee, who signed the ma
JorIty report, argued that Utah had
violated her compact with the United
States. There had been universal re-
Joicing in the land in 1896 he said, when
Utah had been admitted into the Union
The people of the United States thought
that the birth of the state worked the
death of the system of polygamy. Yet
they were startled to learn in 1898 that
Utah had elected as her sole representa-
tive in the house a polygamist and that
he was moving upon Washington with
plurality of wives and multiplicity
Of children. Oaughter)
Mr.. Lands went over the record of
the apostles of the Mormon. church to
show that most of them were guilty of
continued polygameus practices. Some
OF his statements were sensational He
scored the church for its alleged faith,
arouS1ng great enthusiasm by his Scath-
ing denunciation.
AT times he convulsed the house with
his sarcasm. OF the fifteen apostles of
the church when the proclamation was
issued, he said, eleven were open vio-
lators of the law and three had un-
doubtedly taken plural wives since it
was promulgated.
Mr.. Lands said he believed that Mr..
Roberts had not denied that Margaret
c. Shipp had become his plural wife
since Utah was admitted in 1896.
He paid high tribute to the Chris
tan missionaries who had worked
among the people of Utah. Mr.. Rob
erts, he said, had boasted that he had
received the votes of the gentiles in his
district. That, Mr.. Lands said, was be-
cause his opponent had been a DANTE
who had killed his man.
In concluding he adjured the 1000
polygamiStS in Utah to take care of
their plural wives but in Gods name to
refrain from multiplying their infany
by bringing more children into the
world
Mr.. Lands expressed his pity for the
poor women who miniStered to the rot
ten and lustful notions of the Mormon
priesthood. He ridiculed the proposition
to admit Mr.. Roberts and then turn him
out. The trainers of the constitution in
statuary hall would get down off their
pedestals and laugh at such procedure
It would be a burlesque on law and pre-
cedent and an outrage on common sense.
Not only should Mr.. Roberts be turned
back, but also Utah, whose people, he
said. had solemnly lied to the congress
of the United States in 1896. In his
peroration Mr.. Lands protested against
Mr.. Roberts admission in the name of
the motherhood of the land and of the
pitiful innocents doomed to the shame
of inegitimacy. He got a whirlwind of
applause when he sat down. The speech
created a sensation.
IN THE SENATE.
Washington, Jan. 24.-When the SEN
ate convened today Mr. Hale reported
from the appropriations committee the
urgent deficiency bill and gave notice
that he would call it up tomorrow.
Mr.. Allen offered a resolution calling
upon the secretary of war for all in
formation and correspondence relating
to the administration of custom affairs
in Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philip
pines since the war with Spain. Objec-
ton being made, it went over.
Mr.. Pettigrew, South Dakota, offered
a resolution declaring that the United
States government could not recognize
the right of any nation to- declare as
cOntraband and seize food products as
such and that any such seizure would
be an act unfriendly TO the United
States. The resolution went over under
the rule.
The resolution offered yesterday by
Mr.. Pettigrew calling upon the presi-
dent for the report of Gen. John c.
Bates concerning the treaty made with
the Sultan of Sulu was considered.
The resolution recited the salaries
paid to the sultan and his officials, and
inquired what fund they were to be
paid from and what services the Off
cials rendered.
Mr.. Pettigrew supported the resolu-
ton in a speech. Mr.. Pettigrew said
that slavery in it's worst form existed
in the Sulu group of islands, and the
treaty itself provided that every slave
could purchase his freedom at the reg
ular market price. He said the amount
of the salaries paid to the sultan and
his officials under the treaty was $9, ,120,
yet the Spanish government paid to
them only S. 800.
A translation of the treaty he said
was withheld from the people until af-
ter the Ohio election. This was merely
- - tho r1o1foxr of oonooo ov1