Johnston Sunday Bill Unlikely to Pass

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 4, 1909

Johnston Sunday Bill Unlikely to Pass

At the present writing (February 28) there is little expectation that the Johnston Sunday bill will be passed by the present Congress. There has been no meeting of the House Committee on the District of Columbia for two weeks, and the regular time for the consideration of District business in the House is now past. Any further business reported from this committee can be considered only by unanimous consent of the House. As no report of the Johnston Sunday bill has yet been agreed to, it is extremely improbable that in the two or three remaining days of the present session of Congress this Sunday bill can have any further consideration. The bill introduced by Representative Heflin, of Alabama, prohibiting labor on buildings in the District of Columbia "on the sabbath day" has suffered the same fate. The District commissioners, to whom the bill was referred, have informed the House Committee on the District of Columbia that they believe it is too late now for action by Congress on the proposed legislation, in view of the opposition to it. They stated that they had received two communications, one from the Employers’ Association of the Building Trades of the District of Columbia favoring the bill, and one from the Religious Liberty Bureau opposing it.