Sunday Law Agitation in Missouri
ELDER R. C. PORTER gives in the Workers' Record an account of a recent effort to pass a Sunday bill through the Missouri Legislature, of which the following is a condensed report:— “A Sunday bill was introduced into the House of Representatives of our State by Hon. W. F. Blair. This bill seemed to be very harmless. It only provided for Sunday closing of theaters, beer gardens, football and baseball. It had in it, however, in principle all the iniquity of religious legislation. We determined therefore to give it battle in the name of the Lord. I wrote to Representative Blair to secure a hearing for those opposed to the measure.” “After waiting seventeen days from the time I had written to secure a hearing, the reply came from Hon. W. Blair that the bill had been engrossed and placed on the calendar for its third reading and final passage. I felt that I had been the victim of an intentional delay in the reply to my request for a hearing until the opportunity had passed.” “I decided, however, to give the promoter of the measure some reasons for our opposition to Sunday laws. Accordingly I wrote him quite a vigorous epistle defining our opposition to Sunday laws.” “I then took the train for the capital, thinking the Lord might open some way yet to meet the members of the legislature and set before them the principles of religious liberty.” “Upon reaching Jefferson City I secured an audience with Representative Blair. I found him a cordial, genteel, and apparently very fair-minded man. It was too late for a hearing in the House, so after my interview, in which we plunged straight through the arguments in favor of Sunday laws, we proceeded to place the four tracts by Elder Colcord and ‘An Appeal to the Clergy’ in the hands of the governor and each member of the House and Senate.” “We then placed a copy of the letter which we had written to Mr. Blair in the hands of the editor of the Jefferson City Tribune, which is the official journal of the legislature, and appears each morning on the desk of each member.” “The next morning, the very day the bill was to come up, the pith of my letter came into the hands of the legislators. We could but see the Lord's hand in all this. Excitement ran high while the bill was under discussion. It was finally voted to reconsider the engrossment, and give opportunity for further amendments. While one of these amendments was pending, a motion was made to table the amendment. This motion carried, and it was found it carried the bill with it upon the table, and it could not be taken from the table without a two-thirds vote. This could not be secured, so the bill was declared defeated by a sharp turn in parliamentary practise.” “Wild excitement prevailed when it was learned that the bill had been defeated. The Sunday Rest League called a public meeting in the court-house, and secured prominent speakers to try to recover, as far as possible, from the results of the defeat of the measure.” “We had further correspondence with Mr. Blair of a very interesting character, and we feel sure the Lord overruled in the matter.”