Forty Thousand Dollars a Month

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 18, 1912

Forty Thousand Dollars a Month

IN the House of Representatives on July 10, Congressman William Schley Howard, of Georgia, introduced a bill providing "that from and after the passage of this act any person, firm, or corporation who shall follow their usual avocation or work of their ordinary calling on the Sabbath day, excepting works of charity and necessity, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor." This bill aims to regulate Sunday labor in the District of Columbia. According to the Washington Times of July 10, Mr. Howard is quoted as saying, in defense of this measure:—

"I saw twenty men at work on a new office building in this city on Sunday. I also passed open clothing stores and moving-picture theaters. All work of this character should be stopped in the capital of the nation on the Sabbath day. I would except from the provisions of the bill works of actual necessity, putting upon the open establishment the burden of proving the necessity. Drugs, newspapers, ice, cigars, and soft drinks are recognized as necessities of life, and the sale of these might continue under the provisions of my bill. There is no reason whatever, however, that a contractor should be permitted to employ a squad of workmen on a building on the Sabbath. If he is behind on his contract, that is the fault of the contractor, and this should not be accepted as an excuse for laboring on the Sabbath. I find there is no law directly bearing upon the subject, and shall urge the immediate consideration of my bill. I have no doubt of its ultimate passage."

This will afford further opportunity for the education of the public with reference to the evils resulting from such legislation. With an object-lesson like this before them of attempted religious legislation in the national Congress, many will read who otherwise would be indifferent to the investigation of the principles underlying this agitation. Let us take to our friends and neighbors everywhere our literature on this subject.

Forty Thousand Dollars a Month

THE urgent necessity of the appeal to the denomination by the Mission Board for the Midsummer Offering is made apparent by the diminishing receipts of the foreign mission offerings during the summer months. The work carried by the General Conference, and for which it has become obligated, calls for an expenditure of $40,000 each month. The total mission offerings received by the treasurer for the month of June were only $12,500. This is a condition that to a greater or less extent prevails throughout the summer months. The Midsummer Offering is designed to help overcome this critical situation. Should not all recognize the urgency of the appeal, and on July 27, the time appointed for the donation, appear before the Lord with offerings sufficiently liberal to meet the necessities of the Foreign Mission Board in answering the calls from the mission field? W. T. Knox.