A Blue Law

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 15, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 37.

President Guggenheimer, of the New York City Council, in an effort to stop profanity, has prepared the following resolution, which passed the council unanimously, July 19, and waits at last report approval by the aldermanic board and Mayor Van Wyck:—

“Be it ordained by the municipal assembly of the city of New York as follows: Section 1. That under the provisions of section 49, subsection 22, of the charter, the use of profane, vile, or obscene language in any public street or place within the limits of the city of New York, or in any public transportation car, ferry-boat, or other public conveyance operated within the limits of the said city, shall constitute a misdemeanor, and that the person using such profane, vile, or obscene language shall be liable within the cognizance and jurisdiction of the magistrate’s courts of the city of New York to a fine of not more than ten ($10) and not less than two dollars ($2.00). Section 2. This ordinance shall take effect immediately.”

The folly of this law is that it has no standard by which to determine what is “profanity” or “obscenity,” save the opinion of some police judge. Profane words in some would be reverential in others. Who is to determine the heart and motive behind the utterance? And as to obscenity, etc., what about many of the books and other publications in the market, and the nude and lewd art just now in the ascendant. All this is in the same line as Sunday laws, making men better by statutory enactment. It will not do it.