PROPOSED SUNDAY LEGISLATION IN THE FIFTY-NINTH CONGRESS.
By K. C. Russell
The Fifty-ninth Congress is unparalleled along the line of proposed Sunday legislation. There have been no less than seven different measures introduced into this present session of Congress involving this question. Three of these have been bills seeking to provide more rigid legislation concerning Sunday observance in the District of Columbia. The first bill introduced was by Mr. Sibley, of Pennsylvania, providing against the issuing of money-orders, etc., in the post-office department on Sunday. A duplicate of that bill was turned down in the Senate by the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, but the bill is still before the House of Representatives. The same principle that underlies all other Sunday legislation lies at the foundation of this one, altho on the surface it is not as rigid. It is, however, national, and would be more far-reaching than a bill for the District of Columbia. The next bill was introduced by Mr. Allen, of Maine, and provided that groceries and meat shops should be closed in the District of Columbia on Sunday. The District commissioners of the District of Columbia granted a public hearing on this bill, at which there was a large attendance, both for and against the bill. The principle which it contained was shown to be so contrary to the principles upon which our government was founded, and so out of accord with the rights of the citizens of the District, that the commissioners declined to recommend it to the District Committee of the House of Representatives. But in its place another bill was introduced by Mr. Wadsworth, of New York. This bill was the same that had passed the House in the Fifty-eighth Congress, but met with a tie vote in the District Committee of the Senate, and hence never was brought before the Senate for action. The prestige it had gained, however, by passing through the House, and almost through the Senate District Committee, it was evidently thought by the promoters, made its passage more promising than a new bill that had never run the gauntlet so far. At this writing, we are pleased to say that this bill has not passed from the District Committee of the House, and there seems to be very little prospect of its being acted upon during the present session of Congress. Another bill, which was introduced by Mr. Heflin, of Alabama, is doubtless the most glaringly religious measure along the line of Sunday legislation that has ever been presented before Congress. There seems to be an element of frankness in the wording of this bill in that it makes no attempt to cover up and hide its real character, as will be seen from its title, which reads, “A Bill Prohibiting Labor on Buildings, and So Forth, in the District of Columbia on the Sabbath Day.” In this particular15it does not seem to have been inspired by the so-called “Christian Lobby;” for in all of their attempts to procure such legislation they seek to cover up, as much as possible, any semblance of a religious character. The latest measure along this line which has been introduced is the Sunday-closing section in the bill for the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition, which provides that the proposed appropriation shall be upon condition that the exposition shall be closed on Sunday. There are bills at present in the hands of both the House and Senate committees asking such appropriation, with the Sunday-closing provision, and it is thought, in view of the prestige gained by similar provisions in previous Exposition bills, that this one may succeed. The promoters of Sunday legislation refer to the appropriations to other expositions on the condition of Sunday-closing as great victories for their cause. With this flood of proposed religious legislation being pressed upon one short session of Congress, it would seem that every true American citizen ought to be aroused to the importance of sounding the note of warning against these encroachments upon the rights and freedom of the citizens of this nation. Those, however, who are familiar with what has been outlined in prophecy, know that these are but added evidences that the time will come when this nation will have an exact parallel to the union which existed between the church and state during the long, dark night of papal oppression.