The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-22

denied in the debate If | am right. and
the senator from Utah says that the
prosecution which followed was not
effective Here congress, for the of
Tense. put him out of the pale of its
membership, and the marriages having
been contracted prior 10 the enactment
Of the legislation, he was not within the
penalties of the law in respect 70 the.
cerenPnial rites of polygamous mar
riage for his marriage preceded this
statute, and for the bigamous or polyg-
amous cohabitation he escaped any con-
viction, as has been stated by the SEN
ator from Utah.
Mr.. President, ] have looked in vain
in the federal reports. in the supreme
court reports, to find whether any con-
struetion has ever been given or wheth-
er anybody has ever appealed to that
single line of prohibition in this en-
aiding act which made Utah a state.
1 looked in vain, and well might know
would Nobody would ever make
enough of such an impotent pretense
of restriction as to expect to find any
legal efficacy in that single line. 1t
was a good humored concession by a
good humored congress that lost con-
troll of this subject, that was indifferent
10 this grave and important matter;
and now that line is all that is served
up to us again in this bill to restrict
the Mormon evil. Roberts, the Mormon,
came to congress, and the present leg
islature of Utah is a Mormon body
The church has not weakened; it is in
1 trenched in power by statehood
The distinguished senator from Penn
/ sylvania says if we offer these amend
ments in good faith and at the proper
time the bill may be so amended. But
this bill is now pressed, whether
amended or not, and / take notice, and
/ think the people of the country Will
take-Rotice, that this bill, without any
such restrictions. is here pressed for
passage at the present session of con-
gress and will be pressed so far as L
can now see without any amendment IN
this particular. No court will ever be
called upon to enforce the efficacy OF
that idle and inutile line of ineffective
and scant profession of prohibition Of
polygamous marriag es. without any at
tempt TO restrict or restrain poiyga-
nous cohabitation, adultery, fornica-
ton or other offenses, or control of
marriages or certification of maria ges
and the like, in the federal statutes.
Mr.. President, hope l have not any
higOtry in my composition. l certain
ly- have no superstition. l saw in the
press some time ago that | had re-
Trained from talking on a certain occa-
sion because 1 had superstition about
the number 10. 1t makes me smile 20
think any one could print statement
So silly. l am not conscious Of any
superstition. ] certainly am not con-
scious of any bigotTy; but at the root
of the civilization of the English
speaking people are the home and the
home life. We are a people of homes.
We are a people of domestic affections
= and domestic life.
To us the words father" mother,
l wife" Child are as sacred, IL not
more sacred, than the equivalent words
\ in any other tongue to people of any
i of lon n11r Sta arr founded on
such a civilization, It is a poStulate
> of the American states existence. 1T is
the Plymouth Rock of that splendid
structure, this republic. 1t is the basis
Wbereon we have raised our supremacy
: I'm this world. without the home life,
the domestic life, in every state in this
Union we should find in one spot or an
other a quicksand under the stateliest
; pile ever reared under the sky. the lofti-
. est civil government the world has ever
known. l speak it not rhetoricaly.
= speak it sincerely.
These words are feeble when COM
, pared with those of a distinguished
q Judge of our supreme court in a case
I that came up from Utah, the case of
u Murphy VS.. Ramsey, in ia United
States, page 40. He had in mind the
Z formation of states and the duty OF
, legislators when dealing with the max
Il ing of states The simple and eloquent
by this danger of polygamy in the new
II states which it is proposed TO make
: should be an admonition to every legis-
: lator. it seems to me, as they are 70
= myself. Said Justice Matthews, for the
= supreme court:
IF we concede' that this discretion in
congress is limited by the obvious pur-
e poses for which it was conferred, and
: that those purposes are satisfied by
measures which prepare the people OF
y the territories to become states in the
= Union, still the conclusion cannot be
- avoided that the act OF congress mere
: in question is clearly within that justt
3 fication For certainly no Legislation
u can be supposed more wholesome anc
e necessary in the founding of free
= f-gOverning commonwealth, mt u
II rank as one of the coordinate states o.
y the Union, than that which seeks Il
establish it on the basis of the idea o.
= the family as consisting in and spring
y ing from the union of life of one maj
and one woman in the holy estate o
/ matrimony: the sure foundation OF al
y / that is stable and noble in our civiiiza
u ton: the best guaranty of that reVer
le ent morality which is the source OF al
beneficent progress in social and politi
cal Improvement. murphy vs.. ram
i sey. ia U. S. Reports, 49,
} This court, by that learned judge, il
those solemn terms admonishes us, tn
y makers of states, that we must bas
u new states only upon the institution o
the family as an EngiiShman and al
" American know the family, as Burn
saw the cotter's family on Saturda,
night. We must never again forge
,; that the unit is the family, of whicl
ia the basis is the domestic life-one nal
y and one wife, happy children, mother
Ie father. sister, brother, yet all a unit il
household; many households making
a many homes, and all the happy home
Us saving the state from corruption an
from secret conspiracy, from such con
u ditions as this which exists in Utah
"a conditions extending to Idaho, advanc
- ing to wyoming, already reaching on
"a as a fast-growing power in Arizona
~ and even invading New Mexico.
-, say this is a serious matter, and tn
~ / admonition of that learned justice, noN
% in his grave, should come home to me
% and to every one else who must Vot
- upon this serious proposition, propose
~ as il is improvidently, careiessiy, heed
~ IessIy. without the attempt TO hampe
this iniquity and this barbarous powe
IL similar to that which was made whe
a Utah came into the Union. / protes
20 that the American senate can, but
"a never should; it may, but hope it nev
- er will pass such a bill and be recrear
On to the moral sentiment of our eountr
- | and mankind.
&c Mr.. Kean-Mr. President. suppose