p. 16 | SENSIBLE LOS ANGELES by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 3, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 35.

SENSIBLE LOS ANGELES.

By Editor

For some time Los Angeles councilmen have been wrestling with a proposed Sunday-closing ordinance, forced upon the council ostensibly and partially in the interest of certain clerks, but really and largely in the supposed interests of religion. The ordinance proposed, introduced by Councilman Munson, reads as follows:—

“Sunday is hereby prescribed a day of rest in the city of Los Angeles, and every person who keeps open, or causes to be kept open, on Sunday any dry goods store, clothing store, general merchandise store, hat store, meat market, grocery store, hardware store, boot and shoe store, barber shop, jewelry store, for the purpose of transacting business therein, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $50, or by imprisonment in the city jail for a term not exceeding fifty days, or may suffer both such fine and imprisonment.”

President of the Council Mr. Leed offered the following amendment, which passed:—

“This law shall not apply to Seventh-day Adventists or any other denomination of people who regularly close their place of business and keep the same closed upon some other day of the week.”

After this bicycle renters were excepted, as were also public light, water, telegraph, and telephone companies. Drug stores, restaurants, and hotels were prohibited selling soda water or cigars. After all this painstaking, this typical Sunday ordinance was, to the surprise of its friends, defeated. The good sense of the majority of the council asserted itself. This ought to be the fate of all such class, religious, and special legislation. We congratulate Los Angeles. May she continue so to walk and prosper.