RECENT EXPERIENCES IN NEW ORLEANS.
By S. B. Horton
A Wrong Stand for a Baptist.
SUNDAY law agitation has found its way to New Orleans, and from now until the meeting of the Legislature in May a campaign in behalf of more stringent Sunday enactments will be prosecuted in this city especially. On Sunday, March 4, a mass meeting of barbers was held in New Orleans in behalf of laying plans for forcing all barber shops to close on Sunday. Some of the barbers desire a day off, but fearing that other shops might secure their trade, they desire a law to force all to close up. A Baptist minister was present and made the principal speech. Among other things he said: “I am here to help your cause, as it is a righteous cause. As to Sunday rest, I am an American, and we have an American Sabbath. Sunday rest is so ingrained in our American Sabbath that for any to oppose its observance is to invite anarchy. Our chief executive, legislators, and other officials lay aside their labors and observe the day; and why not accord this privilege to the barbers? We want to claim our rights in this government. The nation and state have the right to rest, and why should not this right permeate even the barber shops? Shaving on Sunday is not an act of mercy or necessity. On the contrary, it is merciless to demand a shave on Sunday. And when one barber would like to close up on Sunday he sees the possibility of his competitors securing his trade; this is merciless, and so we should have a law to compel all to close to conserve equal rights. There are those who would like to go to the house of God on Sunday, but they can not do this under present conditions. My appeal to you is to contend for your rights on this day. You have the right as an American citizen to do so. I shall help you all I can.” A lawyer, who will probably represent the barbers before the Legislature, in his address advised that great care be used in “tinkering” with the present Sunday law. Several barbers spoke. One said that he had not enjoyed a Sunday rest for sixteen years, except when he had the typhoid fever, and that he had not been inside of a church for the three years of his married life. He thought that a law should be passed to help along that line. On the same day the president of the Anti-Saloon League of Louisiana spoke in two of the churches, giving expression to thoughts which are to serve as texts for the pulpits from this time onward. Such incidents are indicative of the stirring times which are before us in this section, and we must be aroused, and rise to the opportunities afforded us in giving this message to the people of our country.