SUNDAY TRIALS IN BAKER CITY, OREGON.
CONCERNING the crusade against the business men of Baker City, Oregon, who keep their establishments open on Sunday, the Herald notes that the jury in the first case returned a verdict of acquittal. Public opinion is said to be adverse to the enforcement of the Sunday law. The Herald says: “The general belief seems to prevail that the district attorney will not allow any man or men to use the law as an instrument of persecution, and that, should he discover that any one is simply filing complaints as a matter of vindication for a course of action, he would throw such complaints out of court. Such a9course would be exercising good judgment, and would receive the indorsement of the people, who feel that their rights are being trampled upon for no other reason than to gratify the spleen of some imprudent person or persons.” It is a fact, however, that the principal use of Sunday laws is the gratification of religious prejudice, and this prejudice is quite liable to descend to a matter of personal or sectarian spite. Any law that can be used in this manner has in it the element of injustice, and therefore has no legitimate excuse for existence.