Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-03-31
Score of Speakers Argued For
and Against Opening of
TheaterS on Sabbath

For nearly three hours and A hall
last evening the military and public
affairs committee II the senate listen
ed to a free-for-all Il, b ne On mouse
bill l2a, the Sunday movies measure
one Of the hottest and most interest
ip:S forensic battles fOIgLi since the
Legislature has been in session. The
proponents and antagonists literally
packed the senate chamber. unit
scores were standing around the sides
In the doOrways and aisI"s
1t was the best turnuat If the pub
lie to a committee session yet expert
enCed and when the meeting adjourn
ed at 1915 O'Clock Chairman James
L. Coke, in thanking the 'Ien and wo,
men for their interest, declared that
II the citizens would shO,. equal inter.
est in other legislative MEASURES there
would be more good bills and fewer
bad ones
Practically every religious organi
Zation in Honolulu vas represented
al the session, either by its minister
Tor accredited representative A num-
Der of petitions of protest against the
bill were presented by these. Fifteen
or 90 men spoke against the bill OPP
posed to these were several Hawai-
ians, Representative Norman X. Ly-
man and f. K. Fernandez. the intro
Queer of the measure in the lower
house; Joel c. Cohen and J. A. Ma
COON, the two latter representing the
Consolidated Amusement Company.
Cohen also filed a petition which he
said bore the signatures of 1000 voters
! Leading the forces which objected
to the bills passage were Rev. Dore-
mus SCudder, Bishop Restarck, Rev
d. c. Peters, Rev. AkaikO Akana and
representatives of the Reorganized
Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day
Saints
The discussion was anything but
dry, anG at times was enlivened by
sharp tilts of highly personal char
acter.
/ Bishop Restarick declared his prn-
cipal objection to the idea of permit
ting motion pictures to be shown in
the theaters Sunday afternoon and
night was that it kept men working
seven days a week. Moreover, said
he, the bill is loosely constructed. 1t
provides for the display of pictures OF
a religious and educational character,
but, does not specify who shall decide
: whether they are educational or re-
ligious. He emphasized the seven-day
working feature, citing the fact that
actors On the mainland dislike to ap-
pear in the West because the laws
there permit Sunday theaters.
Rev. S. L. DesEa, senator from Hilo,
asserted the lawmakers are giving too
much time to this question of compar-
alive unimportance. They should re-
ject the measure ann give their atten-
ton to the larger affairs of state, he
said. He compared Sunday theaters
to Sunday baseball and related an
instance wherein he said the Sunday
baseball law now in effect was the
direct cause of two young fellows of
his acquaintance being in prison. I'm
til the law went into effect these boys
to baseball games, were drawn away
from good teaching and eventually
landed in the laws tolls. They are
now doing time in Jail. Representa-
tive Hale also spoke against the mea-
sure, telling a parable of rich man
who had seven dollars and gave six
Of them to poor man. The poor man
squandered his six dollars and came
back to the rich man, begging for the
seventh. This was the churchs case,
he said.
7 Kah rf 81 InrO n
motion pictures an unmitlgated evil, |
leading boys and girls astray. His
own boys, he asserted, had been pro- !
secuted in the district court several
times for theft. When he asked them
where they got their ideas for COM
hitting such crimes they said they |
had learned the trick at the movies.
Rev. Peters declared people had six
days in which to attend the theaters
and get their entertainment; they
should not take away the one day in
the week to which the church is en-
titled. He scoffed at the argument
that the laboring man needs Sunday
for recreation and entertainment. The
average working man, he averred, fin
ishes his work before o'clock in the
evening, has ample time to go home,
clean up, eat his dinner and spend
the evening at shows, if he desires.
Representative Norman Lyman said
he had been sent by the laboring men
of Hawaii to the legislature to help
enact a law giving them more Sunday
He poon-poohed the ar
gument that the movie tends to lower
the moral tone of the community.
Are We going to lower the moral
tone of the people by motion pictures
on Sunday, yet not lower it on Mon
day, Tuesday or any of the other days
of the week." he asked.
F. H. Conrad, a Seventh Day Ad-
ventist, cited the fourteenth amend
ment to the Constitution of the United
States, giving the people the right to
religious liberty.
Il don't want laws passed compell-
ing the people to attend my church"