SUNDAY LEGISLATION. 



751 



Southwestern States are slight in extent and 

 mild in requirements, when compared with 

 earlier legislation. This is still more marked 

 in the Territories. Arizona has no Sunday 

 laws, and Colorado and Wyoming scarcely 

 more than fragments ; while the former law of 

 California, though mild, was wholly repealed 

 in 1883. Louisiana had no Sunday law until 

 1886, and the original law of Massachusetts 

 - i amended in 1887 as to make it extremely 

 liberal. In general, the Sunday laws forbid 

 ordinary employment works of necessity and 

 mercy excepted and in a greater or ^s de- 

 gree, sporting, gaming, fisliing, and hunting. 

 But the legal status of Sunday in the States is 

 very different from the actual. For many years 

 past, the Sunday laws have been nearly or 

 quite inoperative. Aside from excise legisla- 

 tion, little is done to enforce existing laws. 

 All serious efforts to do so, even against liquor- 

 selling, have, in most instances, been check- 

 mated by the attempt to enforce the provisions 

 against traveling, and other secular occupations 

 that have become almost universal. Thus op- 

 posed, those who have sought to enforce the 

 law in one particular have soon desisted, and 

 the execution of the law has failed. The his- 

 tory of this practical decline in the execution 

 of our Sunday laws shows a marked change in 

 the public opinion concerning the religions 

 status of the Sunday; nor can any one seeking 

 to analyze the causes that have produced the 

 history here outlined, make such analysis suc- 

 cessfully without a careful and extended con- 

 sideration of the religious features of the case. 

 For more than twenty years past prepara- 

 tion has been made for an epoch in the history 

 of Sunday legislation in the United States, 

 which has appeared, definitely, within the cur- 

 rent year. The National Reform Association, 

 organized to secure a recognition of the name 

 and authority of God and Christ in the na- 

 tional Constitution, has included in its mission 

 the work of reviving and securing the better 

 enforcement of existing Sunday laws, and the 

 enactment of more stringent ones. The Na- 

 tional Women's Christian Temperance Union 

 has lately entered into this movement with 

 great zeal : and, still later, individuals in relig- 

 ious circles have joined in the movement, by 

 organizing "The American Sabbath Union." 

 In May, 1888, a bill was introduced into Con- 

 gress by Senator Blair, of New Hampshire, 

 proposing national legislation which forbids all 

 secular business and work on Sunday, in all 

 places under the control of Congress, such as 

 the postal service, the army and navy, the Ter- 

 ritories, and in interstate commerce. At the 

 present writing this bill is in the hands of a 

 committee which has granted two public hear- 

 ings to the advocates of the bill, in one of 

 which the opponents of the bill were also 

 recognized. This movement is a radical de- 

 parture from the historical policy of the United 

 States concerning Sunday legislation. The 

 friends of the bill claim that it is necessary, 



since State legislation is of little value, while 

 the nation, in its corporate capacity through 

 the Post-Office Department and otherwi- 

 tinues " to be the greatest Sabbath-breaker " ; 

 that State laws against commerce and travel- 

 ing are insufficient, and hence Sunday legisla- 

 tion must continue to be a failure, unless C'( in- 

 gress assumes control of all such matters, under 

 the general provisions of the interstate com- 

 merce act. The history of this movement in- 

 cludes two prominent features. It involves 

 more extended efforts, and more nearly na- 

 tional organization in its favor, among the re- 

 ligious people of the United States than any 

 similar movement in the history of the nation. 

 Through their efforts, the " the workingmen," 

 so-called, and especially representative organi- 

 zations in which these are combined, are peti- 

 tioning Congress for the passage of the bill. 

 The friends of this movement claim that the 

 Roman Catholics of the United States have 

 united witli Protestants in support of the Blair 

 Bill. Those who advocate its passage on re- 

 ligious grounds, insist that they do not wish 

 to deal with religion directly, but desire the 

 passage of the law for its indirect effect. Nev- 

 ertheless, the bill avows a distinctly religions 

 character, as is shown by its title : " A bill to 

 secure to the people the enjoyment of the 

 first day of the week, commonly known as 

 the Lord's Day, as a day of rest, and to pro- 

 mote its observance as a day of religious wor- 

 ship." The history of this movement also in- 

 cludes an unprecedented interest and agita- 

 tion on the part of the people in the various 

 phases of the Sunday question. The Blair 

 Sunday-Kest bill expired in the hands of the 

 Committee, in March, 1889. 



It is impossible to trace the results of Sun- 

 day legislation in detail in different periods; 

 but some general results appear in the success- 

 ive laws. Prominent among these is the fact 

 that legislation has not secured religious regard 

 for Sunday. Neither has legislation been strict- 

 ly enforced and sustained in any period when 

 there was not high religious regard for Sunday. 

 The general effect has been, rather, the devel- 

 opment of Sunday as a holiday ; the character 

 of this holiday varying with the state of civili- 

 zation, refinement, and general culture. The 

 verdict on this point, as shown in the results 

 connected with the stringent legislation of the 

 Puritan period, both in Great Britain and in 

 the United States, is emphatic and important. 

 Such legislation has always been lightly re- 

 garded by the irreligious. In spite of all strin- 

 gent legislation, the strictness required under the 

 Puritan regime declined rapidly in England, 

 and steadily, though perhaps a little less rapid- 

 ly, in the New England colonies, where s-uch 

 legislation passed through a searching historic 

 te-t. In many instances the history of Sunday 

 legislation shows that enforced abstinence from 

 legitimate business has increased objectionable 

 holidayism on the part of the irreligious. An- 

 other fact is clearly set forth in the history of 



