Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-21
SUNDAY REST LAW,

movement, people who signed the petit
tons for it and the intention and gen.
eral scope of the measure, were discussed
last Wednesday before a senate commit
tee by two or three prominent citizens
of Helena. Among the speakers were
Attorney Massena Billiard, the Rev. E.
NJ. Ellis and the Rev. c. F. Brown. Mr..
status of the bill, contending that it was
a measure in harmony with the constitu-
ton, and recited authorities showing it
was not in the nature of religious or
special legislation, that the bill simply
provides that one day in the week shall
be set apart as a day of rest, and that as
by almost common consent Sunday is
observed as a rest day, hat day is
named in the bill as the one to be OBJ
, served. The bill, however, he said, pro-
vides that it shall not apply to those
VINO cOnSclenClOuSly ana III Soou lain
observe another Sabbath. The bill does
not provide for the observance of a
! Christian Sabbath, but that one day in
! the seven shall be observed as a rest day.
That being the case, Adventists, He
brews, and any others who hold some
particular day as their Sabbath, are not
required to rest on the day we call Sun
day. But they must abstain from labor
if for no other.
The Rev. Ellis spoke Of the origin of
the rest day movement, the source of
the petitions, and the need of a rest-day
law. He said the BARRIERS of the state
are responsible for the movement. They
had desired to close their shops Sundays,
and many Of them had entered into
agreements to so close, but in many in
stances some one or two of the craft
had refused to join the closing move
ment and others, to protect themselves,
had been compelled to open again. These
facts ~instigated the BARRIERS Sunday
law, and now all stand by it.
AS the law worked so satisfactorily
among the BARRIERS, Mr.. Ellis concluded
he would see what merchants Of the
state thought about it. He has occasion
to travel considerably, and in talking
with business men throughout the state
he learned that about all of them favor
Sunday closing. Indeed, in our larger
cities legitimate business houses are
closed on the Sabbath day. In smaller
towns, where agreements had been made
to close on Sundays, the few who refused
to join or who had broken their agree
ment, compelled the many to throw open
their doors. But all want Sunday clos
5 ing, and over 420 names of business men
S in the state are affixed to petitions for
3 a rest day law.
g Mr.. Ellis contended that the genera.
y need of the law grows out of a funda.
= mental principle of nature-a law which
s God has stamped upon every human be
d ing-on every horse as well-that h,
needed rest, and that without it he coulc
y not perform the same amount of work.
d He held that the bill was not a religion
measure. 1t doesn't require a man to b
u religious; 1t simply requires him to res
one day in the seven. There are "a diff
A ferent business callings which the bil
a Mr.. Ellis averred that there is not a lin
of business named in the bill which is no
W represented in the petitions.
f. Saloon men, Mr.. Ellis said, do not as
is for a rest day law, and therefore the
>. are not included in the bill for tina
reason, and for the more cogent on
that if saloon men were required to clos
-, on Sundays the bill would meet a stron
:, opposition that might imperil that pal
of the measure its friends most favol
The reverend gentleman would close sa
n
looms every day in the week, If he coult
but as the owners do not wish to join
Sunday closing movement they are lei
st
out of It's provisions altogether.
ia