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SUNDAY-LAW ENFORCEMENT

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 8, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 10.

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SUNDAY-LAW ENFORCEMENT.

By Editor

We never have maintained, as some are disposed to insinuate, that it is wrong to close saloons, and to prohibit other bad things on Sunday. What we have maintained, and do maintain, is that all such prohibition, while ostensibly against the practises thus prohibited, are only in the interest of Sunday observance. And this is demonstrated by the fact that the Sunday closing, and Sunday prohibition generally, are not confined to pursuits that are recognized as evil in themselves. No one ever thinks of condemning a barber-shop as an evil thing, yet the barber-shops form one of the special objects of attack by Sunday-law zealots. And the medium through which they are attacked is the selfish few who, not wishing to open their own shops, imagine that they will be ruined if all others are not compelled to close also.
The inconsistency of legislating against bad things on Sunday only, lies in the fact that such laws practically declare the prohibited practises to be legitimate at other times. The saloon being evil, and only evil, is not only wrong on Sunday, but equally so on all days. If it can not be prohibited because professed Christians and professed temperance men will not vote prohibition; in other words, if it must exist, let it be deemed a nuisance, and exist where it can, as such, rather than give it standing by legal recognition in any form. There would not be half the temptation for young men, who pass as respectable, to enter a place publicly branded as vile, as there is to go in where the people say, by their suffrage, “This place is recognized as worthy of protection by law.”
It is a peculiarity of laws or crusades in the interest of closing saloons on Sunday, that, instead of being made an entering wedge for further prohibition of the liquor traffic, as is usually claimed, they are made stepping-stones for the closing of legitimate places of business on Sunday. Such laws are solely in the interest of the enforced observance of a religious institution.
In all parts of the country the work of enforcing Sunday laws is being pressed with increasing zeal—not merely against the saloon, but against all other classes of business, excepting the corporations. This shows the animus of the crusade to be compulsory religion, and it also shows a gradual relapse from the standard of religious liberty so nobly taken by the Republic in former days. In several of the states the Sunday laws have been reckoned as dead letters on the statute books—relics of continental days—until recent times, when the spirit of intolerance has been revived under the guise of “Sabbath reform.” In this connection we note a few current items:
“Sunday law in full force,” is the report from Superior, Wis.
Two indictments for violation of Sunday law in Shreveport, La., and others charged.
Convictions and fines for a like offense in New Orleans.
Grand jury investigating complaints for violation of Sunday law in Abbeville, La.
Religious societies in Missouri urging Legislature to pass a law prohibiting Sunday baseball.
Merchants of Maury City, Tenn., agree not to sell goods on Sunday, under penalty of $10 for each offense, to be applied to building sidewalks.
Six indictments in Gonzales, Texas, for violations of Sunday law, and general closing ordered by officials.
The village board of Cherry Valley, Ill., has decided to enforce the state Sunday law on all kinds of business.
The mayor of Marinette, Wis., having informed the ministers that the citizens would not back the enforcement of the Sunday law, they are endeavoring to form a general committee of 150 for that purpose.
A movement is reported from Chicago looking to a provision in the new charter closing all kinds of mercantile and manufacturing business.
The Milwaukee, Wis., barbers' union is discussing the matter of urging a law closing all barber shops in the state on Sunday.
Official word has recently gone forth in the towns of eastern Long Island, N. Y., that barber shops must be closed on Sunday.
The Ministerial Association of Waterloo, Iowa, have started an agitation to secure a state law prohibiting baseball playing on Sunday.
There can be no more Sunday funerals in the cemeteries of Riverside, Fairmont, or Denver, Iowa, and the agitation is said to be spreading.
Trials for violating the Sunday law are reported in El Paso, Texas.
The Men's League of the Methodist Church in Chariton, Iowa, has started a movement for the enforcement of Sunday closing.
Some merchants in Iron Mountain, Mich., are said to be greatly exercised because others open their places of business on Sunday, and propose legal prosecutions.
The grand jury of Romney County, W. Va., has indicted the superintendent of the state school for the deaf, dumb, and blind, on a charge of gambling on Sunday. This action implies that he might gamble all he pleased on other days, and it would be all right; which is an illustration of Sunday-law inconsistency.
The Bulletin, of Anderson, Ind., says that on January 5, the sheriff had placed under arrest two boys who had participated in a game of baseball last summer.
The barbers' unions of Cincinnati and Indianapolis are pressing the matter of Sunday closing.
The “ministers and church people” of Missoula, Mont., are urging the county attorney to prosecute the proprietors of Sunday theaters.
It is reported from Sheboygan, Wis., that the ministers of that county have adopted a resolution against Sunday funerals, altho the undertakers declare it a hardship on the poor, who find it difficult to obtain pall-bearers on other days.
The Protestant clergymen of Carbondale, Pa., have declared against Sunday funerals.
The Wisconsin Sunday Rest-day Association has solicited the co-operation of the State Federation of Labor in support of further Sunday legislation by the state.
An instance of the treachery which the Sunday-law principle fosters, is reported from Brooklyn, N. Y. The superintendent of the Society for the Prevention of Crime employed two detectives to induce a man to open his store on Sunday, and sell one of them a cheap cap, on the plea that he was going sleigh riding. Just as the sale was made, the superintendent dropped in and arrested the merchant. Thus, instead of being preventers of crime, these officials assumed to induce a violation of the law for the cruel pleasure of making an arrest.
The following announcement, with twenty names, of men apparently, following it, appeared in the Ottawa (Kan.) Republican of November 25:
We, the undersigned citizens of Franklin County, in Centropolis and Greenwood townships and adjoining country, who, being desirous of protecting the morals of our people and the sanctity of the Sabbath, do hereby request that all parties interested take notice and stop hunting and shooting in the vicinity of our homes on the Sabbath. We do further declare that unless this warning is duly heeded we will, after due notice has been given, report all violators of our Sabbath laws to the proper authorities.
No law can affect the sanctity of that which God has made holy, or give sanctity to that which is common.
Under the heading, “Observance of Sunday,” the Winnipeg (Manitoba) Telegram, of November 29, thus reported an action which had just been taken by the board of Aldermen of that city:
It was moved by Alderman McCharles and seconded by Alderman Fry that the mover and seconder of the motion be a committee to inquire into the law with reference to the proper observances of Sunday. Alderman Fry explained that he thought that merchants selling goods on Sunday should be prosecuted under a bylaw instead of the present law governing violations of the observance of the Sabbath, as the present fine of five shillings was altogether too small to prohibit offenses of this nature. The motion was carried unanimously.