Scranton republican

              POLYGAMY MUST GO. 

SENATE BILL PASSES THE HOUSE 

Interesting Proceedings---Democratic Opposition---How They Were Trapped by Mr. Haskell---Full Text of the Bill. 

WASHINGTON, March 14.--The House met at 11:30 o'clock in continuance of Monday's session, and the Speaker announced the un-finished business to be the consideration of the Anti-Polygamy Bill, and the pending question to be on seconding the demand for the previous question on the third reading of the bill. 
Mr. Reagan (Dem., Tex.) appealed to Mr. Haskell to allow an opportunity for the offering of amend-ments. 
Mr. Haskell (Rep., Kan.) said that it was under-stood that the opponents of the bill—those who de-sired no legislation at all—were desirous of tacking on some slight amendments merely for the purpose of hanging up the bill between the two houses. The emissaries of the Mormon Church were here to de-feat the bill. 
Mr. Cassidy (Dem., Nev.) said that there were a a number of members on the Democratic side who would vote for the clean bill without amendment. 
Mr. Haskell inquired how many Democrats would do so. Mr. Cassidy replied that there was at least one who would. 
Mr. Blackburn (Dem., Ky.) asked Mr. Haskell whether he was willing to respect the right of the majority to vote upon the amendments to the bill. 
Mr. Haskell replied that he did not want to deny to the other side debate or amendment, but he want-ed to have the bill passed as it was. Let a vote first be taken upon the bill as it came from the Senate. and if it were voted down then it could be amended. 
Mr. Blackburn said that he knew of no man who was not willing to vote for any bill that looked to the suppression of polygamous practices in every part of the United States. He was sure that there was no man on the Democratic side who would of-fer any obstruction or dilatory motion to the pas-sage of this bill, which many members believed to be bad in many regards. They wanted an opp ortunity to perfect the bill before it was voted upon. 
Mr. Haskell contended that if the majority of the House desired to amend the bill it could vote down the previous question. 
Mr. Blackburn—There is no precedent for such a practice. 
Mr. Haskell—It is the practice of justice and equity. 
Mr. Blackburn—You must perfect legislation be-fore you vote upon a bill. Is the gentleman afraid of an amendment? 
Mr. Haskell replied by renewing his demand for the previous question. 
Mr. Blackburn—You want to get the previous question under gag law. 
For several moments there was great confusion in the Chamber, the voices of those members who were endeavoring to arrive at some satisfactory ar rangement being drowned by the sharp rapping of the Speaker's gavel, and the loud cries for “regular order." At last, however, Mr. Burrows (Rep., Mich.), managed to make himself heard. He thought that the proposition, coming from gentlemen on the other side, was perfectly fair. He remembered pre-vious Congresses in which the Democrats were in the majority when day after day the Republican minority had fought for the simple right of voting upon amendments. He believed that they were right then. He believed that the gentlemen who were insisting on the same privilege were right now. (Applause on the Democratic side.) 
Mr. Burrows favored the bill just as it was, though it might not be perfect, he would vote against every amendment, but the majority had no right to say the minority should not offer amendments. 
After further noisy discussion, Mr. Haskell offered the following order which was agreed to unanimous ly: That the present legislative day continue until the pending bill is disposed of; that the bill be open to amendment and debate under the five-minute rule for an hour, at the end of the hour the previous question to be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments then pending; that one hour be allowed after the previous question is ordered, which hour shall be equally divided between the friends and op-ponents of the bill; at end of that hour the question to be taken on the pending amendments and passage of the bill. 
Mr. Reagan offered to amend the section provid-ing no polygamist or bigamist shall vote at any elec-tion in Utah, by the insertion of the words "any per-son duly convicted" of being a polygamist. Rejected. 
Mr. Mills moved to strike out sections eight and nine, which prohibit any polygamist or bigamist vot-ing at elections and provide for the appointment of territorial election offices by the President. He was opposed to polygamy and in favor of stamping it out, but in doing it he did not desire to commit a grave offense against the American people. The bill would overthrow the long established principle of self-government. The people of Utah had the same political connections, not in accordance with the views of the majority on this floor, and they had to answer not only for their religious but political con-victions. If there was one principle in the govern-ment of the United States more prominent than another, it was that every distinct political commu-nity in the land was clothed with the right of self-government. Why did not those who desired to ex-tirpate polygamy content themselves with providing the necessary machinery to carry out the laws? They also warned to overthrow the territorial government of Utah and constitute a returning board—that in-strument that prostrated the rights of man. 
Mr. Cassidy (Nev.) said he subscribed to every word uttered regarding the fundamental principle of local self-government; but this was an exceptional case. All were agreed polygamy should be extir-pated, but if those two sections were stricken out the bill would be worthless. The youth of that terri-tory must be taught to obey the law of the land as other people. Polygamy must be made disreputable among the people of Utah, and this could not be done as long as polygamists occupied all the elective offices in the territory. The bill was not perfect, but he believed it was the best this Congress would pass. There was a good deal of sentiment brought into the question, and it was said a man had the right to worship God as he saw fit, but he denied that the Mormon religion, as promulgated by the lecherous element in Utah, was a religion anywhere under the face of the sun. He denounced it as lust, as prostitution, carried on and promulgated by the leaders, apostles and chief scribes of the Mormon Church in Utah. Mr. Cassidy was several times in-terrupted with applause. 
The first part of Mr. Mill's amendment, striking out section eight, was rejected without division, and the latter portion, striking out section nine, by a vote of 89 to 139. 
The following Democrats voted in the negative with the Republicans: Messrs. Beltzhoover, Berry, Cassidy, Colerick, Morse, Mosgrave, Phelps, Rice (Mo.), Townshend, Wilson. 
The vote by which the House refused to strike out section eight was reconsidered, and roll call con-sumed the remainder of the hour, and when Mr. Hammond desired to offer in amendment the Speaker ruled it out of order. 
Mr. Singleton (Ills.) suggested Mr. Haskell had been very successful (probably on account of his ex-perience in trapping wild animals) in trapping the Democrats. 
Mr. Buckner said great as the wrong of polygamy was, this bill was a greater wrong on the constitu-tion and rights of the people. He believed this measure was pushed through for the purpose of affecting the contested election case of Campbell vs. Cannon.
Messrs. Springer Kenna and Herbert, while favor-ing the purposes of the biil, declared it unconstitu-tional, and they would vote against it. 
Mr. Townshend argued the bill was constitutional, and was no infringement on the religious liberty of any people.
Mr. McCaid predicted the gentlemen on the other side who filibustered against the measure to sup-press polygamy would learn to regret it.
Mr. Skinner (N. Y.) said public sentiment on the subject of polygamy could not be mistaken. The people rose against slavery and it was abolished. Public sentiment was to-day written on the political skies that polygamy must go and would go. 
Mr. Singleton (Ill.) said the bill did not go far enough in the direction of suppressing polygamy and kindred crimes. Here was the District of Columbia with no law for the punishment of adultery, and yet the House was unwilling to listen to a proposition which would cure this crying evil against society, re-ligion and good morals. He was opposed to the bill because it authorized the President to dicker with the Mormons and grant them amnesty under certain conditions. The President might want a contract for half a dozen wires himself. 
Mr. Singleton (Miss.) asked unanimous consent to offer an amendment (and it was refused) that the provisions of the bill should only apply to persons hereafter elected. 
Mr. Tucker declared himself in favor of eradicat-ing polygamy, but he considered the bill unconsti-tutional.  
Mr. Muldraw said if he voted for the bill it would be under protest.
Mr. Converse asserted the bill would legislate out of office all minor officers in the Territory, and or-ganize anarchy instead of law. 
Mr. Carlisle contended under the bill there will be no man left to probate wills, settle estates, keep re-cords or execute processes. 
Mr. Haskell said it is the intention of the bill and its friends to legislate out of office every one of the infamous Mormon priesthood and give an opportu-nity to put in honest men. (Applause.) 
Mr. Carlisle said he did not object to the provision that legislates them out of office, but to the crude and imperfect section which legislates them out and puts nobody else in, and leaves the Territory in a state of utmost confusion. 
Mr. Converse said, in his judgment, the bill organ-ized disorder to continue for the next two years in Utah. There could be no doubt of it. 
Mr. Williams, (Wis.), said, secret vice, however prevalent and deplorable, could never be a justifica-tion for the flagrant and open violation of the public morals and law. Mormonism, with its adjunct of polygamy robbed the vice of its hideousness and demanded it should not only be sanctioned by pub-lic law, but Deified by the divine approval of God. Thus entrenched it challenged criticism and defied attack. While he would persecute no man, while he would give the widest liberty to conscience and re-ligion. he would say to Oriental Paganism with its customs and demands, "Thus far, and no farther, where the clear waters of the Pacific kiss the pure sands of our western shore, there you shall pause in the presence of the majestic power of civilization and of the noonday of the world." (Applause). 
Mr. Robeson said he would rather make anarchy in Utah than submit to a false religion organized in the form of an oligarchy in open defiance, not only of the spirit of the Constitution, but to the letter of our laws. He preferred Christian anarchy to bar-baric order.
Mr. Haskell characterized the Mormon Church as infamous in its object, purposes and past accom-plishments, but magnified in power by a priestly or-ganization unrivalled by any organization in the world. He wished he could picture to the House this Mormon hierarchy of Utah, which was struck at by the bill. He would like to show the Democrats, who were voting to maintain that infamous institution how the Mor-mons slipped out of the control of the general gov-ernment over 400,000 acres of public lands and pros-tituted them to the Iron Clad Church ecclesiasticism. He would like to tell how they passed the greater part of their territory out of the control of the Fed-eral Courts and put it into the hands of municipal organizations. He would like to call the attention of the Democratic party to the fact that the people of the United States would not hold it guiltless for the mere declaration it abhorred polygamy if it should vote against the most righteous bill that ever came before Congress; 
Mr. Mills' amendment to strike out the eighth sec-tion was rejected—45 to 193. 
The bill then passed in exactly the shape it came from the Senate—Yeas 199, nays 42. 
The following is the negative vote: 
Armfield, Atherton, Belmont, Blanchard, Buckner, Cobell, Caldwell, Carlisle, Chapman, Converse, Cook, Cox (N. C.), Cravens, Dibrell, Evans, Garrison, Gun-ter, Herbert, Herndon, Hewitt (N. Y.), Hooker, House, Jones (Texas), Kenna, Knott, Manning, Mc-Millan, Mills, Money, Physter, Reagan, Robertson, Shackelford, Shelly, Singleton (Ill.). Thompson (Ky). Tillmen, Tucker, Upson, Warner, Wellborn, Wil-liams (Ala.). 

FULL TEXT OF THE BILL AS PASSED. 

A bill to amend section 5,352 of the Revised Stat-utes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes: 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-tives of the United States of America in Congress As-sembled, That section 5,352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is, hereby amended so as to read as follows, namely: "Every person who has a husband or wife living, who, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter marries anoth-er, whether married or single, and any man who hereafter simultaneously, or on the same day, mar-ries more than one woman, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, is guilty of polygamy, and shall be pun-ished by a fine of not more than $500 and by imprison-ment for a term of not more than five years; but this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage, whose husband or wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years and is not known to such person to be living and is believed by such person to be dead; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by a valid decree of a compe-tent court; nor to any person by reason of any form-er marriage which shall have been pronounced void by a valid decree of a competent court on the grounds of nullity of the marriage contract. 
SEC. 2. That the foregoing provisions shall not af-fect the prosecution or punishment of any offense already committed against the section amended by the first section of this act. 
SEC. 3. That if any male person, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have ex-clusive jurisdiction, hereafter cohabits with more than one woman, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $800, or by im-prisonment for not more than six months, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court. 
SEC. 4. That counts for any or all of the offenses named in sections one and two of this act may be joined in the same information or indictment. 
SEC. 5. That in any prosecution for bigamy, poly-gamy, or unlawful cohabitation, under any statute of the United States, it shall be sufficient cause of challenge to any person drawn or summoned as a juryman or talesman, first, that he is or has been living in the practice of bigamy, polygamy, or un-lawful cohabitation with more than one woman, or that he is or has been guilty of an offense punishable by either of the foregoing sections, or by section 5,352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, or the act of July 1, 1862, entitled: "An act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Ter-ritory of Utah;" or, second, that he believes it right for a man to have more than one living and undi-vorced wife at the same time, or to live in the prac-tice of cohabiting with more than one woman; and any person appearing or offered as a juror or tales-man and challenged on either of the foregoing grounds, may be questioned on his oath as to the ex-istence of any such cause of challenge, and other evidence may be introduced bearing upon the ques-tion raised by such challenge; and this question shall be tried by the court. But as to the first ground of challenge, before mentioned, the person challenged shall not be bound to answer if he shall say upon his oath that he declines on the ground that his answer may tend to criminate himself, and if he shall answer as to said first ground his answer shall not be given in evidence in any criminal prosecution against him for any offense named in sections 1 or 3 of this act but if he declines to answer on any ground he shall be rejected as incompetent. 
Sec. 6. That the President is hereby authorized to grant amnesty to such classes of offenders guilty of bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation before the passage of this act, on such conditions and un-der such limitations as he shall think proper; but no such amnesty shall have effect unless the conditions thereof shall be complied with. 
SEC. 7. That the issue of bigamous or polygamous marriages, known as Mormon marriages, in cases in which such marriages have been solemnized accord-ing to the ceremonies of the Mormon sect in any Territory of the United States, and such issue shall have been born before the 1st day of January, 1883, are hereby legitimated. 
SEC. 8. That no polygamist, bigamist, or any per-son cohabiting with more than one woman, and no woman cohabiting with any of these persons de-scribed as aforesaid in this section, in any Territory or other place over which the United States have ex-clusive jurisdiction, shall be entitled to vote at any election held in any such Territory or other place, or be eligible for election or appointment to or be en-titled to hold any office or place of public trust, honor, or emolument in, under, or for any such Ter-ritory or place, or under the United States. 
SEC. 9. That all the registration and election offices of every description in the Territory of Utah are hereby declared vacant, and each and every duty relative to the registration of voters, the conduct of elections, the receiving or rejection of votes, and the canvassing and returning of the same, and the issuing of certificates or other evidence of election in said Territory, shall, until other provision be made by the Legislative Assembly of said Territory, as is hereinafter by this section provided, be performed under the existing laws of the United States and of said Territory by proper persons, who shall be ap-pointed to execute such offices and perform such duties by a board of five persons to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, not more of whom than three shall be members of one political party, and a majority of whom shall be a quorum. The members of said board so appointed by the President shall each re-ceive a salary at the rate of $3,000 per annum and shall continue in office until the Legislative Assem-bly of said Territory shall make provision for filling said offices as herein authorized. The Secretary of the Territory shall be the Secretary of the said board and keep a journal of its proceedings, and attest the action of said board under this section. The canvass and return of all the votes at elections in said Territory for members of the Legislative Assembly thereof shall also be returned to said board, which shall canvass all such returns and issue certificates: of election to those persons who, being eligible for such election, shall appear to have been lawfully elected, which certificates shall be the only evidence of the right of such persons to sit in such Assembly, pro-vided that said board of five persons shall not ex-clude any person, otherwise eligible to vote, from the polls on account of any opinion such person may entertain on the subject of bigamy and polygamy; nor shall they refuse to count any such vote on ac-count of the opinion of the person casting it on the subject of bigamy or polygamy. But each house of such Assembly, after its organization, shall have power so decide upon the elections and qualifica-tions of its members, and at or after the first meet-ing of said Legislative Assembly, whose members shall have been elected and returned according to the provisions of this act, said Legislative Assembly may make such laws, conformable to the organic act of said Territory and not inconsistent with other laws of the United States, as it shall deem proper concerning the filling the offices in said Territory declared vacant by this act.