There have been a large number of people in my own State in former years who not only believed in polygamy. but who practiced it. but that practice has been abandoned. yet I venture to say that there are many people there today who. as a merely theoretical proposition. may believe in it. and they are. notwithstanding. very good people. The polygamists of that State who not only believed In it. but who practiced it in former years. outside of that one objectionable thing. were among the best citizens of the country. I do not think that a test of this kind ought to be put into an immigration bill. a test which seeks to probe the conscience of the individual as to a mere abstract belief. The provision that is in the bill todaythose "who admit their belief in the practice of polygamy." or who practice ithas been the law for a great many years. and I am not aware that any harm has resulted from the enforcement of the law in the terms in which we find it.
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immigration