The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-18
THE SENATE AND MoRMoNIsM.

eN-~.s@e Disguise 1t as we may, the contest against the seating of senator-elect Shoot of Utah. has narrowed down be- tween the established laws of marriage in the United States and polygamy' Shoots case is a challenge to the Amer ican people to decide whether they feel able to stamp out the crime Of plural marriages or ara willing to continue the attempt The testimony so far gwen plainly shows that the Mormon Church authorities welcome an opportunity to advertise the failure of the general gov ernnent to weaken or destroy polygamy' If the Senate gives Shoot a place In that body, we may confidently look to A wide extension of Mormon activity. A usn will have been given that 1t IS in no wise disreputable to belong to a heirarchy the foundation doctrine of which is plural marriages. There is much needless squirming about religious free- dom and we suppose there are some good souls troubled by the instances the MOT mons fondly cite, of certain old barba- r,ans of the Hebrew dispensation who took unto themselves score. e muitituae of wives As to the question of religious freedom. the House of Representatives, in the Roberts case. encountered and dis posed of the constitutional provision on that point. The Constitution declares that each House shall be the judge or the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members. Under this clause the House decisively refused to permit Roberts to sit amongst them and solely because he was a polygamist in belief and practice. They might have objected to him because of the color of his hair or the way he parted it; their account ability would have been to the people in an election, and not to the courts. The Senate has the same power with the House in the Roberts case, and we believe they ought to exercise 1t against Shoot. The evidence shows clearly that Shoots monogamy, if indeed he is mon- ogamous, is put forward as a blind. His brother apostles are disregarding the law fiagrantly and openly, the head Of the church with five wives and forty-two children, confessing that nine of these children have been born since the act of 1890. an act that makes his adulterous intercourse a crime. whatever his so- called religious belief may be. If they can now secure a seat in the Senate for one of their number, they will be greatly dignifed not only in their own esteem. but in the good opinion of many light headed men and women throughout the | country. We do not of course anticipate that the humiliation of Smoot will be the beginning of the end with Mormon ism. That means a long fight The Mor- mons now practically control the courts and Legislature of Utah. They dominate the juries and they are secure against hostile laws or verdicts, except at Wash ington. Mormonism will be stamped out in tfr:e by the influx of Gentilcs ir Utah. Idaho and Montana. We can ses no reason to think there is anything Ia
 tho nature of the creed itself invitln7
 as 1t is to lonely and cranky womel
 in all parts of the world, to ensure t: gradual decline and disappearance, un
 less it is vigorously opposed by al; wht
 consider it{a .rerace to the national life
 Much might have been said and wal
 said for slavery. In Mormonism we hay,
 ar institution, that far more deeply thai
 slavery, struck at the foundations of tn,
 moral order. The Senate has a chance
 to strike at .t and we hope 1t will sciz
 the opportunity The Mormons should b.
 shown that under no guise can they pu
 into Congress one of their followers O
 apostles, there to assist in framing law
 for the United States. There are man,
 retty jokes floating around. like tn
 foul and dirty compliments paid Aposti
 Smith by Mrs. Livermore. Thers vii continue to be petty jokes cracked as t the relations between the sexes. Mor monism is no joking matter, however
 Either they are a pack of religious fools or those of the human race who believ in the one man, one woman theory ar co.'s.