SUNDAY-LAW AGITATION IN FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND.
By JEAN VUILLEUMIER
[We have received the following letter from Paris, France, containing much information concerning the present condition of the Sunday institution in France and Switzerland, in which the reader will be interested.—Ed.] As far as I understand it, the situation in Switzerland is as follows: Freedom of conscience is recognized by the constitution. At the same time, the State supports the Catholic, the Protestant, and the Jewish clergy. The Sunday laws, so far, extend only to factories and large establishments. The Sunday leagues are quite active. They have induced the cantonal and federal governments to pass many regulations limiting work among their employees. The same results have been obtained among railroad, steamship, and other large companies. From time to time, a bill for stricter Sunday observance is presented in one or the other cantons; so far no great enthusiasm has been manifested in their favor. One was defeated at Geneva, and one at Bâle a few years ago. Just now two bills are before the Vaud and Bern (canton) legislatures respectively. Now about France. I find matters have made great headway here for the past ten years. In 1889, on my way to Battle Creek, Mich., I stepped into the Sunday Congress in Paris. That was under government protection, and at its expense. It was first suggested by the Geneva Sunday committee, known as the International Sunday Federation, and was introduced to the government by a prominent Sunday man in Paris. The story was told in the Sentinel a few weeks ago. By calling it a “Weekly Rest Congress, from the standpoint of hygiene and social progress,” they finally secured the government’s consent. Of course it was only a farce,—I mean the hygienic part of it,—and they carried through the Sunday idea. Immediately at the close, a national Sunday league was organized, of which the Catholic and Protestant clergy are the most active part. They now have seven thousand members in France, and have succeeded in awakening a great interest in Sunday closing. The Catholic and Protestant clergymen want a law passed. Some leading laymen are opposed to it. This opposition between these two opinions was the leading feature of the 1900 Congress at the exposition. I believe that is why the report of that congress has not appeared yet. Recently the Sunday agitation among store people has become such that, in a few cities, disturbances were caused against some merchants who would not close their stores. They finally had to yield, on account of the mob. As a rule, in France Sunday is very loosely kept, or not at all by many, even on government street works. The last law enacted for Sunday rest was in 1814. It became very unpopular, and has since been rescinded. In 1882 an effort to pass a Sunday law was choked in the senate, at which time M. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, senator, proved that the divinely appointed rest-day is not Sunday, but Saturday. Everything that smells of clericalism is very unpopular just now, and, strange to say, Sunday closing is popular. Still more strange, a foremost anti-clerical deputy, M. Zewaès, has presented a bill in its behalf. The Catholic Church is active for Sunday closing; so is the Protestant Sunday league, which held its annual meeting in Paris last Sunday [May 12.] I have prepared a paper against the Sunday law, and presented it to M. Louis Sautter, engineer, and president of said society. I also gave him two of our American Religious Liberty pamphlets. He read all with interest, as he said, and is himself against a Sunday law, but in favor of Sunday closing, of course. He wants to have everybody free to rest or labor on Sunday, but thinks the government ought to protect the weak. In a word, he is struggling between the idea of liberty and the Sunday craze. JEAN VUILLEUMIER. 5 rue Dangeau, Paris XVIe.