A Nice Way of Getting Around the Sunday Law.
The Regina, Saskatchewan Leader of November 23, 1909, tells us that in a decision rendered by the Junior County Judge (Morson) in Toronto, November 22, tobacco was considered to be a drug. A magistrate had decided that selling cigars on Sunday was a breach of the Lord’s Day Act, and the druggist was fined $5.00. Lee, the defendant, appealed to Judge Morson, who decided on the evidence presented that a cigar is clearly a drug. “It was perfectly clear on this evidence that tobacco is, under the statute, a drug. It must be sold as a drug on Sunday, only, however, for some known ill. If sold simply to smoke for pleasure, it constitutes a breach of the Lord’s Day Act.” But it will be a mighty easy thing to find druggists who will prescribe tobacco as a drug, a remedy for stomach or nerves, just as this druggist declared they they were in the habit of prescribing cigars and tobacco as cures for various troubles. It will be just as easy for the purveyor of liquor to sell whisky on similar prescriptions; while the man who sells useful things, things that are legitimate, things that are beneficial to life in every way, will be considered the criminal. This is characteristic of Sunday-law legislation. It is utterly inconsistent, incongruous, inequitable, un-American, unchristian, iniquitous; and a half dozen more similar adjectives could be applied to it as well. If one would lay aside his prejudice and preconceived notions long enough to fairly consider it, he would never support a Sunday law again while he lived.