Another Sunday Bill Before Congress
By G. B. Thompson
DEC. 5, 1905, Hon. Joseph C. Sibley, of Pennsylvania, introduced into the House of Representatives a bill known as H. R. 3022, which reads as follows:— “A BILL TO PREVENT SUNDAY BANKING IN POST-OFFICES IN THE HANDLING OF MONEY-ORDERS AND REGISTERED LETTERS.
“Be it enacted” by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the issuing and paying of money-orders and the registering of letters and delivery of registered mail on Sundays is hereby prohibited in the mail service of the United States.”
This is not the first time Congress has been asked to legislate concerning the mail service of the United States on Sunday. As early as 1811, petitions were received against post-offices being kept open and mail being carried on this day. Again in 1812 and 1815 Sunday petitions were received from the synod of Pittsburg, Pa., and citizens of other Christian denominations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Ohio, asking Congress to prohibit the transportation and opening of mail on Sunday. In each case the request of the petitioners was denied. In 1829 similar petitions were received on the same subject. The question having become of national importance, Senator Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, who afterward became vice-president of the United States, presented a report for the committee to which the petitions were referred, refusing to grant the request of the petitioners. This report was concurred in by the Senate. The year following, 1830, memorials were received from citizens in various parts of the United States, praying for a repeal of so much of the post-office law as authorizes the mail to be transported and opened on Sunday. Counter memorials from other citizens were received, which opposed the interference of Congress, upon the ground that it would be legislating upon a religious subject, and therefore unconstitutional. Colonel Johnson was then a member of the House, instead of the Senate, and again, as chairman, presented the report of the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, to whom the memorials had been referred. This report was likewise adverse, and was concurred in by the House of Representatives. Thus both branches of Congress have given attention to the matter of legislation regarding the handling of mail on Sunday, and by adopting these reports, refused to commit the government of the United States to a course of religious legislation, according to the dictates of, or to accede to its being run by, ecclesiastical power. These reports are among the ablest and best-prepared documents in the records of our government.