Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-04

They are parasite upon civilization or .
fungus growth on progress. They should be
low the rest of tho body politfc to live in
better health, and the sooner thev are abol.
ished or modified the better it will be for
civilization, for the Government and for
step backward, for they are q bar to prog
ress. The luxnries of the eighteenth GEN.
tury are the necessities Of to-day. and when
the laws are CHANGED good government and
again, If Providence is so opposed to any
work on Sunday, why is 1t that MI functions
Of the body do not cease on Sunday and
tion from Saturday until Monday. Why are
the trees and flowers allowed to keep on
growing on that day. Nature carries on its
same. Tho world is too big to come to dead
ston every six days."
When Harry Metzgar General Manager
Of the Telephone wns asked ed. for 9,.. his
ming would strike us. There is no denying
that our business is a necessity. On week
davs we have so operators in the Ptttsburg
say that nine-tenths of our Sunday business
is absolutely necessary. It is made
~. up of calls for physicians under un.n,r
M ns o.hsr ana ou.nes sse nortons
We catch are not sufficient to tell US whether
it is work of necessity or not. OF course
there may be some business. We could nos
really necessary, and If an attempt were
made to prosecute us We would fight il on
that ground.
Law and Advancing Civilization.
'Law should keep pace with the advance
ment of civilization. The statutes that made
good government in the last century do not
apply now. Conditions have changed
slightly since the day the Pilgrims landed on
Plymouth Rock, or the time when ten
minutes walk carried one beyond the
bounds of civilization. Yet the law is not
day is great institution and 1t
should not be swept away. believe
six days work is enough for any man, 6ut
snould not be deprived of those things
which make it really q day Of rest. and for
that reason say the law should be modified
to suit tbs age. Street railways, newspapers,
railroads. the telephone and the telegraph
are necessities to us. The law. however,
regards them as luxuries. NV opinion Of
the meaning of the Blue Laws Is that
protection, the defense or sustenance Of
life. Thus, if a doctor rode on street car
to visit n patient tho car could be classed
as necessity. but II it was person simply
going to see his another, the car would then
become n luxury. As the law Is now 1t Is
oppressive. and must be amended to In.
clude the modern ideas Of necessities"
terests iFf 'ne Jones etcSarman @ of the
Republican National Committee. and the
well-known iron master, says: s"It would in
volve the loss of hundreds of thousands of
dollars every year to both capital and labor
to shut down the iron and steel mills on
SUNDAYS. In our mills alone VIC employ
from 1000 to 8 600 men. On Sundays the
as person needs a physician when one is
sick. 1fthis work was not done then the mills
and the workmen would have to be idle on
Morfdays, and the reduction in wages would
t,<af fnf
work six days to support their Iamilies, and
what would they do II they could only work
five. 1t Is the Same thing with keeping up
fires in the blast furnaces. We must either
two days in the week"
The Demand for . Modern Statute.
Chief E. NJ. Bigelow said: "There is but
one way to get rid of the annoyance caused
by those back-number laws. I should dis
like very much to see all restraints removed
from Sunday observance, because I think
the day should be properly remembered, but
1 am not an extremist. The Legisla-
ture should repeal the Blue Laws and
give us something modern. The railroads,
the telegraph and the Sunday newspa pers
we're unknown when that law was passed,
and If 1 were sitting in Judgment on the
does not apply to them. That they are all
equally necessary is beyond question"
Delinquent Tax Collector Ford said: II am
not surprised at Judge Porter's decision. He
could only decide in lire with the laws and
the Supreme Court decisions. It would be a
perfectly reasonable thing for the news
papers and all others unjustly affected by
the obnoxious Blue Laws to combine in
making, them SO obnoxious that their repeal
will be q public necessity. I consider SUM-
day, newspaper as necessary as a Sunday
milk man."
City Clerk Booth said: cit is possible to
get too much of q good thing The Blue
LAWS are a good thing i'll compelling large
class who would not otherwise do so to re-
fIsiin from Sabbath breaking. don't be- |
lieve in free for all Sunday as they have in |
the Western cities, but no law should inter- |
fere with our Sunday newspapers and other |
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