Absurd” and “Outrageous
By Editor
"Absurd" and "Outrageous."—Mr. Upton Sinclair, the ardent Socialist and well-known author, was arrested in Delaware July 30 for playing tennis on Sunday. Nine others were arrested with him for playing baseball, and another for having sold soft drinks. The law under which they were arrested was an old colonial law of 1794. Mr. Sinclair considered his arrest absurd and ridiculous, and declares that he intends to purge Delaware's statutes of the Blue Laws. He intends to start a crusade that will result in the arrest of every member of every fashionable club in which golf, tennis, or croquet is played on Sunday. Thus he hopes to arouse the public to the absurdity of a law which permits such outrageous arrests. Of course it is absurd. There never was a religious law framed but what was absurd, and if put in operation was outrageous. It is unchristian, unjust, un-American.