The record-union., 1891-02-26
SUNDAY Law AGAIN.
Rev. TindaII Answered by an Oak.
land Man.
He Asserts That California is Not the
Most Immoral State in
the Union.

listers who are set for the advocacy ofa Sun
day law on any or every pretext, seem to
have mania for ibeling California.
They essay to do Gods service by con-
tinually proclaiming to the world that
California is the most immoral State in
the Union. Some of them openly de-
clare that they advise their Eastern friends
not to come to California on this account.
And what evidence do they adduce in
support of the allegation? None what
ever, save the fact that the State has no
Sunday law.
One of these gentlemen, when before
the joint meeting of the legislative Com
charged that there is no redress in the
California law for the disturbance of re-
igious worship. This, in face of the fact
that there is not a State in the Union
which has more strenuous law on this
subject than Section 302 of the Penal Code
of California. And ii is effective not only
on Sunday but on every day OF the week.
Other ministers of this class have re-
peatedly ignored this provision of the
code (and they were not ignorant Of its
existence, either in their frantic appeals
for protection of the Sunday services.
They have published this charge to the
world, over and over again, no doubt, to
the detrirnent of the State.
1t is blandly assumed, and published
abroad, that because there is no Sunday
law in the State the commonwealth
stands in an attitude of hostility to moral
ity and moral teaching, Yet they fail TO
show wherein the morals of the State are
a whit more lax than in the other States.
They do draw some comparison between
some of the more quiet localities IN other
States and some of the more turbulent
r.la in, Ca1ifnrnio INIT thoyr haNra
shown, nor can they show, any better
state of morals in any State taking the
people as a whole. There is not section
in The Union of the same size, or of the
same population, for that matter, (consid-
ering the variety of its people,, y that has
not as bad spots as there are to be found
in California.
Pathetic appeals for Sunday law are
made on the ground that many people
are engaged in Sunday-school work;
they are devoting their energies without
pay, and that moral teaching is a neces-
sity and a benefit to the State. Nobody
denies all this, but it is presented i'll a
way to impress the idea that the State is
against them because it has no Sunday
law. The pretense is false: the State pro-
tects their work, not only by law but in
sentiment. This is demonstrated by
their own admissions. Speaking of
moral instruction, one of your ministers
said last Sunday:
Take any city or village in this broad
land, from the Atlantic to the Pacific
canvass the population, visit every family
and scarcely any can be found who are
not favorable to this instruction. Half
this city has recently been visited and
nearly every family was found favorable,
almost none opposing"
Here is an admission of the moral sem
timent of your capital city, and yet some
of your pastors publicly proclaim the
pre-eminent immortality of the people of
California. Their assertions to this effect
stand Substituted. Instead OF crying
out against the State as bad place to
raise children, why don't they say,
"Come here with your children; here
where there is an almost unanimous sem
tiInent in favor of moral training-almost
none OppoSing." Surely there is not an
( other spot in the United States where the
Hke'can be said of the population.
Not only is the sentiment so strong in
favor of this moral training, but there
are so many ready to engage in the work
of teaching. "a very large number are
actually engaged on Sunday in publicly
teaching the purest morality to thousands
of children and youth in our State" And
these teachers TASK no pay" Yet in the
face of all this earneStness on the part of
many to teach 1.-THE purest morality" and
almost none opposing" it, ministers of
the gospel will solemn1y proclaim that
go north to find a moral atmosphere in
which to raise their children. And why?
Simply because we have no Sunday law.
Verify there is something wrong in this
Sunday-law logic. There is something
behind the curtain that has not yet been
put upon the stage. These earnest advo-
Gates tells us that the Sunday law is wanted
as an aid ITO wake up moral sentiment,
but they show that moral sentiment is al
ready almost unanimous. The law
cannot be needed for that purpose; in
fact any Of them will admit that men cam
not be made moral by law. Then they
make a plea for the workingmen who are
worked seven days in the week: but they
present bill to the Legislature which ex-
empts nearly all that class, and leaves a big
hole for the others to crawl through who
may wish to evade the law. This shows
that this plea is a mere subterfuge. The
laboring men are not asking for rest
day; on the contrary they are urging a
bill the object of which is to provide them
work, without reference to any particular
day.
Again, it is urged that mans physical
nature demands day of rest in every
seven. If we admit this as a scientific
deduction, no scientist has assumed that
the rest must needs be on Sunday.
1t is claimed that since the repeal of the
Sunday law crime has increased at far
greater ratio than the population. If
tlllS w OlG lIbC IL Nould HIONc us
to the efficacy Of that measure. for the
law lay dead on the statute book for
about twenty years, and with the eXcep-
ton of an occasional abortive squirt no
attempt was made to enforce it. The
show of increasing crime may be the re-
suit of increased vigilance and effective
ness in the matter of detecting crime. Be
this as it may, however, the Good
Book tells us that in the last days 'evil
men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse. deceiving and being deceived but
there is no intimaiion that Sunday laws
viii remedy the situation.
But what do the American Sabbath
Union "a New York corporation, by the
way,) and its abettors in California want?
All the pleas they put forward III this
matter fail to show the real design. Why
is it they are willing to accept anything
that can be called a Sunday law, whether
it affect anybody at all or not? DR..
Thomson almost answered the question
at the hearing before the Committee on
Public Morals. When asked why he did
not ask for a certain provision, he re-
Piled: Because we couldn't get it."
There is more wanted than is asked for;
more will be demanded by and by.
This American Sabbath Union was
organized for the purpose of securing
national Sunday law. California stands
III the way. The Union wants to go be-
fore Congress with the plea that all the
States have Sunday laws, and the general
Government stands in the way of their
enforcement. A national law once Sc
cured. then the dropping State laws will
be braced up and strengthened where they
are too weak. Then we will find out
what is wanted in California that the
Sabbath Unions henchmen dare not ask
for now.
If the Committees on Public Morals
want to preserve the morals of the State.
as well as the freedom of conscience of its
citizens. they will nip in the bud this