New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-28
DOOM OF THE HALF-HOLIDAY
THE Assembly IN FAVOR Or REPEATING
THE LAW.

,vo,,x rp,pn TT AND FOUND 1T WANTING.
AND ARE WILLING TO WIFE IL osT IN"
STATUTE BOOKS
hvnow rxr REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF The IinoaF
ADAM. March GA year ago the haai.aonaAs
,.~ as MESSED With practical unanimiy py inc Leg
isIsture Tho chief petitioners Tor u were .no 'se
.rx.s slsrlp In the stores In the great citles hs
sc,.,Iv IN tho hot summer months they desired
sss.se nom work on Saturday afternoons Tho BANKS
"a thsa they would be embarrassed In the TRANSACTION
q their business n such bill should become law
st ths LEGISLATURE listened to tho voices OF the CLERKS
end the hill became . law
A year has passed and now there Is demand oy
h,.In.ss men all over the State that the Law shall
be repealed Thore has been Of lato years socn
n loud demand for the repeal OF any Law. In the
summer II worked well enough In tho ciies-the great
half hoiiday movement secured Its enforcement thcre
but IN tho country It caused vast amount Oh Trouble
IA the farmers Saturday Is the day upon which tho
= y,,.r docs hfs banking business. when Therefore,
A farmer after journey Of many miles to town
vas told by the bank clerks that no could not get his
money owing to the Half Holiday law, he was niied
with wrath and Indignation Tho country member
of the Legislature who had voted for tho Law came
hack to Albany knowing that all his constituents were
holly demanding its repeal. Moreover, In the great
r,tes as soon rs September the retail dry goods
stores IN order TO accommodate their customers threw
omen their doors on Saturday afternoons But DUST
mass men angrily denounced the Legislature ~heh
xbrx foupd law prevented them 1fUhn optaih
tnr haukpe facilities. Consequently the members Vi
sbo Legislature from most Of the cities came here re-
solved either to repeal the law or so to modify u tha'
AZ NAV be in operation only in the summer months =
Untii today the Legislature has seemed disposed
10 presorye the Law in the months OF June, Juiy
August and September. The Senate judiciary Com
s,ittee bas reported favorabiy such BILL But 10
tay the Assembly took . moro radical step The
Committee on General Laws reported bill repeating
Che Half Holiday law.
THE LAW DELUSIoN AND SNARE
Mr. Rhodes OF wostchester County. In the Leading
ypecch OF the day upon 1t said that the stransest part
81 the law was that touched legally only one CLASS
Of busness-that Of banking and the pubic omces
throughout tho State. Thorc was not word In IL
which msdo 1t compulsory upon any employer 10 close
hts shop store or factory Saturday. or which fofN
bade any wage-earner from working full time every
saturday throughout tho year II he wished to do So
The fact was that the law far as workngmen were
concerned was a gross deception and fraud. II
docs not give them a single privilege nor moment
nore for rest and recreation than they had before
The law was passed. There was an impression soroad
among certain classes of workers that somehow OF
other this sO-called Half Holiday law helps them
Happily the great majority Of the worldngmen OF the
state were intelligent mon. and though they hishi
not be versod in all points Of law, they had learned py
sxperIence that 1t did them good whatever out Ill
suffered to fomain In It's present delusive form as
law of tho state It would work and more 10 thcr
aetriment and loss. Mr. Rhodes then called the mem
hers attention 10 tho falling of Of the business OF the
Eew-York Clearing House owing TO tho Half Hoioay
Law. The figures are given below