The Proposed Sunday-Law Amendment to the California Constitution
By W. A. C.
THE following is the proposed amendment to the State constitution of California recently introduced into the California Legislature with the view of making Sunday legislation constitutional in that State:— “A Resolution Proposing an Amendment to Article XX of the Constitution by Adding a New Section Thereto to Be Known as Section 21, Relating to a Day of Rest. “The legislature of the State of California, at its thirty-eighth session, commencing Jan. 4, 1909, two thirds of all the members elected to each of the two houses of said legislature voting in favor thereof, hereby proposes that Article XX of the constitution of the State of California be amended by adding thereto a new section to be known as Section 21, to read as follows:— “Section 21: The necessity of encouraging and fostering the observance of one day in seven as a day of rest is hereby recognized as essential to the welfare of the State, and to that end it is hereby provided:— “(1) That the keeping open of bars, saloons, race-courses, and coursing-grounds on the first day of the week is prohibited; and the legislature shall provide penalties for the violation of this provision, and for the proper enforcement of the same. “(2) That the legislature may provide that stores, workshops, banking-houses, and other places of business, of any class or calling, shall not keep open on the first day of the week, and shall provide penalties for the violation thereof. “(3) That the legislative body of any city, city and county, or county, may provide by ordinance that stores, workshops, banking-houses, and other places of business, of any class or calling, shall not keep open on the first day of the week, and shall provide penalties for the violation thereof; provided that such ordinance may enlarge, but can not restrict or limit, the scope or penalties of any provision enacted by the legislature on the same subject; provided, further, that whenever a petition is presented to the legislative body of any city, city and county, or county, signed by ten per cent of the voters thereof, asking that any ordinance authorized under this subdivision to be passed by such legislative body set forth in said petition, be submitted to the qualified voters of said city, city and county, or county, for their approval or rejection, the said legislative body must submit the same to the voters of said city, city and county, or county, for their approval or rejection at the next general election held therein, or at a special election called by such legislative body for that purpose. At least two weeks’ notice shall be given of such election by publication in some newspaper published in such city, city and county, or county. If approved by a majority vote of the voters voting thereon, the same is thereby adopted, and becomes binding as a valid ordinance of said city, city and county, or county, as the case may be, and supersedes any ordinance in conflict therewith, and can only be modified or repealed by a majority vote of the voters of said city, city and county, or county, voting upon the question of the modification or repeal thereof. “(4) Provided, however, that any law or ordinance passed or adopted under the second or the third subdivision of this section shall not apply to persons who conscientiously believe that the seventh day of the week should be observed as the Sabbath, and who actually refrain from opening their places of business on that day.” This piece of proposed constitutional Sunday legislation is the product of Rev. George L. Tufts, the Pacific Coast secretary of the International Reform Bureau, of Washington, D. C., of which Mr. W. F. Crafts is the founder and superintendent; was drafted by Mr. Chauncey H. Dunn, a Sacramento attorney; and introduced in the Assembly Jan. 8, 1909, by Hon. G. L. Johnson, of Sacramento. A hearing on the measure was held before the Assembly Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Thursday afternoon, January 21, which resulted in the committee’s unanimously deciding, after about five minutes’ deliberation, to report the measure back adversely. Several things in connection with this proposed amendment are worthy of note:— 1. It is religious, emanating from a clergyman who is the avowed emissary of a religious organization whose headquarters are in Washington. 2. The observance of one day in seven as a day of rest is declared to be essential to the welfare of the State. 3. The first day of the week is the day designated as this day. 4. Business, labor, and trade are to be prohibited by legislation. 5. According to a provision under subsection 3, local municipal bodies can enact additional repressive Sunday ordinances to any State Sunday law if they choose, enlarging upon the same to any limit,—a most dangerous provision, as it practically takes the question of legislation upon this question out of the hands of the State, and places it in the hands of local authorities, and leaves the people without any redress beyond the local authorities. 6. Ten per cent of the voters of any city or county can force a vote of all the citizens upon any Sunday legislation for which they may choose to petition. 7. Subsection 4 exempts those who conscientiously observe as the Sabbath the day God in his law commands to be kept as the Sabbath. All this as a part of the constitution of a great commonwealth! To such extremities have the friends of Sunday legislation gone to find a basis for such legislation in the State of California. The text of the Sunday bill proper which has been introduced along with this proposed constitutional amendment, and which this amendment is supposed to guard, will be given in a later number. The result of the efforts against it will also be reported.