Troy weekly news. (Troy, Idaho) 1897-1933, 1907-04-12
CORRESPONDENCE.
Sunday Rest Law.
Park. Idaho. April g. 1907

kind of people is the house of COM
mons composed off" sage Ben John
son said: Take the first fifty people
coming down Fleet street, SIR So it
is with congress and gislatures-the
are representative of the people in all
walks of life-you find them good and
bad, wise and foolish. When we elect
them, careless, as we do most all our
work, we sometimes make very bad
mistakes; therefore the halo in which
legislative bodies appear to some
people as being of superior wisdom is
only figment of a mistaken mind.
In the issue of March 18th you pub
lished what I call the worst law of the
last legislature, the Sunday rest law"
and followed it up with probably the
best law of the same body, the
Vessels fence law The farmers
ought to put the fence law in the
scrapbook or the family bible, for it is
good. Surely you displayed good
judgment in selecting them for the
benefit of the readers, and there are
some in the hills around here who can
not but believe in freedom, as
they breathe nothing but the air OF
freedom day in and out.
am glad S. A. Anderson has come
out so frank and brave in branding the
Sunday rest law properly. Every
word of his 1 endorse, only l do not
share his fear that this law will be the
progenitor of worse blue laws. The
people of Idaho will never tolerate
+l,ot ~ior Nv
it's in the sacred constitution, for every
one it guarantees the enjoyment of
life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness and we will continue in the en-
joyment.
Not il all Europe would it be posi-
BILE to put such Sunday rest law in
the code. Thank God, such law
would be impossible in congress!
take the same charitable view of the
Idaho legislature as Mr.. Anderson. I
think that law was passed at the time
when, according to an Associated Press
dispatch from Boise, February 10,
about house proceedings, this was told:
"A bundle of bills, about twelve in
number, were handed in a bunch.
They were ordered printed without
even titles being read or any explana-
tons being made, and the house adj
journed till tomorrow"
Now, I will say, the Sabbath or day
of rest is man-made The Sabbath is,
with the Greeks, on Monday; Persians,
on Tuesday; Assyrians, Wednesday;
Egyptians, Thursday; Turks, Friday;
Jews and Advents, Saturday; Chris
tians, Sunday. 1t was made as a mat
ter of religion, convention and com
D omise. There can, in a free coun
try, be nothing compulsory or lawmadt
about a day OF rest, or work for tina
matter. To compromise is to SHOW
good horse sense. AS for myself l TT,
to keep every day holy by gooC
thoughts and deeds. l work and rest
when please or feel the need of it.
Some of our Legislators think t
make US happier and better by passing
laws without number and need, and W,
then have to suffer and bear the bur
den of their ignorance. This law
one, and the author can have but fey
sponsors and supporters for his views il
the mountain state of Idaho. If h
has, they believe more in straitjacket
versus my own plenty of elbow room"
they imagine that the provided her
and provided there" as it reads in la
sections, is an emanation of Providence
while 1 believe the less laws-the les
provided we have-the better fc
the country and for its people.
When we all mind our own bushes:
when we are kind and tolerant, the
we do right and need no law. Sue
laws, like the Sunday rest law, al
futile. They smack of intolerance
persecution and inquisition, and bree
the spirit of the dark ages.
In truth, reality is stranger tina
fiction, for who would have thought
possible to pass this act that has all th
earmarks of imbecile authorship;
pass it this day in the twentieth Gel
fury, the age of tolerance, enlightel
ment, progress, philanthropy, altruisl
par excellence; in the Gem of til
Mountains state, out in the hallowe
world of the Pacific coast-who coul
even have dreamed of this disgrace fl
the home of the brave and the free?
Foreseeing that even the officers
the law entrusted to enforce 1t woul