The Nome nugget., 1904-02-27
The CASE OF SENATOR SMOOT.

There seems to have been a good deal of
miScOnception of the grounds on which an
attempt was made to GUST Mr.. Smoot, of
Utah, from his seat in the United States
Senate. While it is possible that the case
has already been settled in Mr.. Shoots ia
vor, it will not be out of place to consider
some of the reasons advanced by outside
newspapers. by which they aimed to show
that Senator Smoot approved of polygamy
and that therefore, he could be expelled
from the United States Senate The assump-
ton seems to have been based upon mis-
understanding of the federal constitution,
and of the act of congress passed in pursu-
ance thereof, for the admission of Utah to
the Union.
There is no doubt that the federal con-
gress is competent to prohibit in any terri
tory an act which it regards as contra
bonos mores" against good morals), and to
make the prohibition of such an act by it's
state constitution condition of the admis-
sion of the said territory to statehood. The
prohibition of an act is one thing; the pro-
hibition of a belief, or theoretical opinion is
quite another Under our constitution a
Jew is at perfect liberty to hold that polyg-
amy is sanctioned by his Bible, that is the
Old Testament, as is evident from the ex-
amples of the patriarchs, and of the Kings
of Israel and Judah. 1t is only when he at
tempts to pass from belief to practice that
he finds himself caught in the net of federal
or state legislation. A Mohammedan is eli
gible to citizenship in the United States, al
though, by the code of Islam, each adult
male of the faithful is entitled to four legit-
mate wives, to say nothing of concubnes.
Should Moslem citizen of the United
States, however. attempt to carry out in
practice the code of his religion, he would
find himself blocked by criminal law.
Nobody alleged that Senator Smoot has
more than one wife, or, in other words, is
practicing polygamy 1t follows that the
demand for his expulsion from the Senate
must be based upon the assertion that he is
a believer in Mormonism, and that, as a
matter of theory, Mormonism sanctions a
plurality of wives. 1t would be impossible
to eXaggerate the mischief of the conse-
quences of expelling a Senator on the score
of his theoretical opinions Such proceed
ing would be fragrant violation of the first
amendment of the federal constitution,
which prescribes that Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of re-
lgion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof. The act of congress by which Utah
was admitted to the Union did not violate
this amendment, because it did not forbid
the profession of the tenets characteristic of
Mormonism. 1t simply prohibited the prac-
tice of polygamy. So far as any evidence
has been brought forward Senator Smoot is
"a monogamist. AS regards his private opin-
ions concerning the religious or moral pro-
priety of polygamy, he is as free from re-
straint as would be Mohammedan, who is
at liberty to hold what doctrines on the sub
ject he may choose, so long as he refrains
in practice from a violation of state or fed
eral law. This is all there is to the Smoot
business, and the sooner people stop petit
tioning the Senate to transcend its constitu-
tional powers the better it will be for all
concerned.