New York City’s Sunday-Law Agitation
New York City is again in the throes of a Sunday-law agitation. The purpose is to enforce an old section of the Penal Code forbidding amusements of nearly all kinds on Sunday. The claim is that the agitation is not in any sense a religious one, but based entirely on the right of actors to one day's rest in seven. But, in the face of this claim, there stands out the peculiar fact that the crusade is led by the Sabbath Alliance of the Clergy and the Actors' Church Alliance. None but these religious classes seem to be impressed with the idea that the need of rest or the right to rest one day in seven must necessarily be confined to Sunday. They are the only class who insist that one man can not rest unless every other man is compelled to rest. They refuse to recognize that there is any practical benefit to be derived from resting on any other day. Commenting on this movement, the World says:— The real fact is that this prohibition of any public amusement except concerts on Sunday night is a survival of the old Puritan spirit. It is a concession to Sabbatarianism, and, as such, is an invasion of the rights of citizens, and an assumption by the State of authority to compel people to observe a certain day in a manner which neither their conscience nor their customs require. This is contrary to the spirit of our democratic government, which guarantees freedom of belief, thought, and speech, and specifically separates Church and State.