Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-04

| rest must come on Sunday at least fifteen
times in the year. The same rule applies
! to all government work and to all persons
| engaged in business controlled by the
state.
| Any firm or employer who wishes ex-
| emption from the law is required to make
application and give reasons to the author
! tiles during the previous week.
Provision is made for arringing rest hours
| for government employees, police, railway
men and others whose business requires
! them to work on Sunday. and these ar
engagements are subject to the approval Of
the magistrates.
The first violation of the law is punish
| able by a fine of from 5 to Is francs
of 500 francs. The penalty for the second
offense is fine of from 16 to 100
francs for every person involved, with
| maximum of 1900 francs; and for the third
offense the penalty is from 100 to 500 francs
per person involved The law is full of
| other details.
Scarcely Any Trouble.
The law went into effect September and
although a great deal of confusion and
trouble was predicted there has been
scarcely any at ALL This is largely due to
the tactful. liberal and conservative manner
in which the French administer new stat
| utes. They do not try to make every new
broom sweep clean. They allow the people
to become gradually accustomed to reforms
and innovations before Furnishing them for
violations: and in this case. although in
many cases work has not been suspended
as provided by the statute and doubtless the
authorities have been defied. they have
exercised a great deal of patience and dur.
ing the two Sundays that have elapsed thus
far have made no arrests In the mean
time inspectors of police and other officials
have been going about among the offenders
distributing copies of the new law, explain
ing it's provisions and advising obedience
There Is great deal of dissatisfaction
about its provisions. Many advocates of
the measure including several prominent
labor leaders. are now denouncing 1t be
cause it goes farther than they intended.
1t Is too sweeping to suit them and involves
questions which they did not expect to
have brought in. But. as a rule, both the
public and the persons interested are SUBJ
missive and show a disposition to adjust
their affairs SO as to make as little confu-
sion as possible.
The proprietors and managers of hotels.
restaurants, cafes and boarding houses,
representing Pip establishments, held a
meeting and by vote of ., 100 to decided
to accept the law and obey its provisions
by giving day off to all Of their employees
in turn without reduction Of wages. The
latter concession is insignificant, however,
because the walters in Paris get very little
If any wages and depend entirely upon tips
from customers for their compensation.
Some of them have to pay a bonus for
their places. The hotel and restaurant
keepers in large establishments will find
difficulty in filling the places Of cashiers,
room clerks. head walters. stewards and
other men of similar responsibilities and the
small establishments will have even greater
difficulty in letting their cooks off. particu-
larly when they have only one But they
promise to manage 1t somehow. Indeed the
acceptance of this law and the efforts
which those who are involved have been
making to adjust themselves to its provis-
ions is an extremely interesting study in
political economy.
Objections Of the BARRIERS.
The BARRIERS are hit harder than anybody
except the restaurant keepers They asked
for Monday instead of Sunday closing,
but 1t was refused them, and now they
have submitted a petition signed by more