Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-01-24
AROUSED BY ROBERTS.
Women Cheered and Kissed
! = His Utterances.
LIrTLEFIELD HERO OF DEBATE.
His Speech Showed Him to Bc tho Most
Ready Debater since Thomas Bracket
Reed Had q Seat on the Ploor-soms
Details OF Debate.

the Roberts exclusion resolution excited
great attention In the house. Tayler
talked first. His speech was an excel
lent elaboration of what he said when
Roberts was stood aside.
Then came Littlefeld, the Maine
Yankee, who represents the Dingley
district, and finally Roberts. by unani.
nous consent, was recognized.
Some women cheered and Others
hissed his utterances.
The three spoke we'll, but there ID
only one Of the three who may be said
to have made more than an ordinary
impression, and that one Is Charles e.
Littlefield. tall, brawny and as straight
and slender as pine tree. For more
than two hours he entertained the house
with q marvellous flow Of language, dur.
ing the delivery Of which he showed
himself the readiest debater the house
has known since Thomas Brackett Reed
occupied seat OH the floor.
Mr.. Taylor, in his speech, said in part:
"Chief Justice Waite in the Reynolds
case In 1878, speaking Of the claim that
polygamy was a religious practice,
said:
10 permit this would be In effect to per-
nit every citizen to become law unto
himself. Government could exist only in
name under such circumstances. and Jus.
tice Matthews. In the Ramsey case In 1891
declares In substance that all political in
huence ought to be withdrawn from those
who are practically hostile to the estab-
lishment Of n free, self-governing Com
monwealth founded on the idea of n
family as consisting In and springing from
inc union Tor life OF one man and one
woman In the holy estate OF matrimony.
III we are to attach any Importance
to those fundamental declarations OF tho
highest court, we must declare--no matter
what moral question may be involved
that this case presents, In bold relief, a
question OF governmental life, the basis
OF which In law.
This is q representative government:
It springs from the people, from the peo-
pie who make the law. and their represen-
tatives are such because they are believ-
ers in the law and subject to the law.
Now and then we have law which
springs from the united voice Of united
people as the expression of civilized force
in which practically all of them believe.
and which is necessary to the existence Of
that civilizing force. or the more than
7b,oO0.000 American citizens all but the
merest handful believe, and believe with
a mighty fervor In the kind OF common.
wealth which Justice Matthews declares
Is founded on the marriage relation exist
ing for life between one man and one
woman. That idea has been for many
years crystailized In solemn and deliber.
ate law. whose principle and form have
been approved by the highest judicial
authority. ..,
Such laws made imperitive demand for
universal respect and obedience. and the
duty of such respect and obedience presses
most urgently upon. a represen-
tative Of the people In law.
are fundamental and seif-evident.
They lie at the root OF things They are
bed rock upon which written constitutions
rest; theySprccedci constitutions; constitu.
tions assume their pro- existence and their
pre,natural existence; they are constitu.
tional
'If the Federal constitution had explicitly y
declared that all persons should be elig-
able for representative in Congress who
denied that denied that the constitution
law of the land, that instrument and the
government II sought to create would not
have endured single day, II follows
that II such specific declaration could not
have been made Il cannot be implied
Neither the presence nor the absence OF
certain words In the instrument can i'm.
ply n certain meaning, II II Is Impossible
that such meaning could have been ex-
pressed. fUii
"If the claimant to this seat In eligi
Bile. he is eligible because the constitu
tion so makes him, either by Its exprcsi
Language or by necessary implication. l.
the member-eiect from Utah NJ elIgibl,
to be n representative In Congress, then
for the purpose of his case we mus
read into the constitution other words s,
that Il would read: NO person shall b,
representative In Congress unless h,
,1,alI lsnx,. s.l~ -. -
and been seven years citizen OF tn,
United States, and who shall not, wher
elected. be an inhabitant Of that Stat,
In which he shall be chosen: providet
that no person shall be Ineligible to Q
seat as such representative who. In form
and In practice. defies the constitution
and the laws and denies their validity
and supremacy
at matters not whether this provist
be attached to the clause referred to oi
to some other, 1t must he written into
ant Is eligible. and my friends on tn,
other side Of the question will not deny
It."
Mr.. Ta Spr was emphatic In his asser,
tton that exclusion was In harmony witt
precedent, expulsion In violation OF 1t. Ht
nmpliiied tho three grounds for Mr.. Rob
arts exclusion: First, because of his VIC
lation of the Edmunds act. second, be
cause he was living In open. fragrant ant
notorious violation OF the statutes OF tn,
Congress he seeks to enter. and third. be
cause his electin was q Violation OF tht
compact by which Utah was admitted
into the Union.
"Thus stands tho case, them" he said
III the minority be right. the trainers OF
the constitution. II they had foreseet
the Roberts Incident, with Its defiance OF
the constitution and the law and Its de.
NAL OF their validity and supremacy as
to him, would have said Brigham II. Rob.
erts Is eligible and must be seated II
elected l say that no such provision
could have been adopted. and II It ccule
not. cannot be implied.
Much is said about the moral side ol
this question, Doubtless II has such a
side, and II that were the only considora
uon before us the House might take the
same action 1t will take. But do not
here and now. In the face OF the great
fundamental fact Of disobedience to law
plus audacious defiance of II. care to as.
sert the moral ground.
M. Speaker. I do not hesitate to sub
nit this proposition to the candid judg-
ment OF this House and before the bar
OF history. I am profoundly convinced
that II 10 right and that history will so
declare II; the House can no more safely
part with this power than It can part
with any other power It possesses. This
touches itn very vitality. II Il loses II,
IL Is In certain conceivable instances alb
solutely without power. Hut we are told
that II is q power that may bo abused.
What does the House possess that 1t has
not at some time abused? What branch
Of the Government 10 It that, having
power, has not at some time abused ty
What man. what body OF men clothed
with a little brief authority haa bean