Johnston Sunday Bill Hearing Finished by K. C. Russell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 24, 1910

Johnston Sunday Bill Hearing Finished

By K. C. Russell

At the regular meeting of the House Committee on the District of Columbia, in the House Office Building, Wednesday, March 16, the friends of the Johnston Sunday bill were given the twenty minutes of their hour which they failed to secure at the hearing on March 8.

Mr. E. Hilton Jackson, a Washington attorney, occupied the twenty minutes in behalf of the Washington Ministerial Association. His speech consisted chiefly of an attempt to prove the constitutionality of Sunday laws by citing court decisions of numerous States, and one of the Supreme Court of the United States, respecting State Sunday laws. He briefly traced the history of Sunday laws, beginning with the law of Constantine and that of Charles II, passed in 1676, stating that this was the model from which the Sunday laws of many of the American States have been taken.

Twelve members of the committee were present. The number of visitors present did not exceed twenty.

As soon as Mr. Jackson had finished his argument, for forty minutes he was asked a number of questions by the committee. The confusion caused by these questions, and by members discussing the bill at the same time, made it impossible for the stenographer to take down all that was said. One member was anxious to have the bill disposed of at once, but the committee had voted previously that a forty-eight-hour notice should be given before any vote is taken upon the bill. It is probable that no action will be taken on the bill before the next regular meeting of the District Committee, Wednesday, March 23.

K. C. RUSSELL.