Petition Work by C. S. L.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 29, 1914

Petition Work

By C. S. L.

It was very gratifying to hear thirteen petitions against Sunday legislation read to Congress on January 12, the day when Congress reconvened. Every day since, the Congressional Record has printed from six to a dozen petitions against the three Sunday bills now before Congress. One of the senators from Florida had the whole petition, protest, bill, and arguments printed in the Congressional Record. Some of the Washington newspapers have made favorable mention of the great opposition there is to these Sunday bills, and have alluded to the petitions of protest which are coming into Congress from all parts of the country.

Let us keep up the good work. Every day it opens its sessions Congress is having its attention called to a false sabbath, and to the dangers of religious legislation. Send these petitions to your own senators and representatives in Congress. Do not send them to us, as many are doing. It will have a much better effect if you send them direct to the men who represent your district in the Senate and House of Representatives than it will for you to send them to us and have us send them to these men.

Dr. Henry King Carroll, the religious statistician of the United States, has been appointed by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America as their representative in dealing with Congressmen, and has been urged to use his good office and all the influence back of it to secure a Sunday law for the District of Columbia. At their recent convention held in Baltimore, one of the leaders said, in substance:—

"The Sunday laws are the right arm of our movement. The capital of the nation has no Sunday law. As the capital goes, so will the nation go. If we fail in the District of Columbia, our efforts will be neutralized throughout the States. We must spare no efforts to get a Sunday rest bill through Congress for the District of Columbia, and then it will be easier work to get further legislation along these lines."

The eyes of these reformers are now turned on Washington and Congress; and if they can only get Congress to step over the line and open the door for religious legislation, then the future will be under their control, and the floodgates will be opened for more drastic religious legislation.

We are thankful for the cooperation of our people throughout the field, and for the earnest spirit with which they are taking hold of this petition work. The final day of judgment alone will reveal all the good that has been accomplished in this work. Let us not allow an opportunity to pass unimproved. We are in critical times, and we must be on our guard. C. S. L.