The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-23
PRINCIPLES IN
 SUNDAY MOVIES

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Sunday is a dies non to the business world, in order that people may use that day for the culture of their social, do- nestle, moral mental and spiritual life, as may seem good to each.
 Men have personal, social, moral, mental and religious rights, and to vouchsafe these rights to them requires that there shall be a time when they shall be re- leased from the restraints of their ord- nary avocations and contractual bonds to avail themselves of the privileges implied in these inherent and inalienable rights. Religious liberty, without a day for it's free exercise, would be worse than fiction, and the minute the American Sunday goes our boasted religious liberty to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience goes with it. We would then have rights but no time or op- portunty to avail ourselves of them. Hence the importance of making Sunday dies non to business and worldly occu- pation as far as it is possible so to do. Hence the Sunday law, as it is established in the common law, excepts only such business as>.is necessary and merciful. What lines of competitive business shall enjoy these exemptions may be deter mined either by statute or by judicial verdict.
 Applying these principles of Sunday
 law to the situation now acute by the persistence of the picture theatres and newspapers in asking special exemption from the Sunday law, is may be asked in what sense, if any, is this special line of business necessary to the life of our people; that it should be granted this spe- cal favor over their competitors in the business of selling entertainment and amusement to the public? Already there is serious danger of the picture theatre putting the other lines of theatrical ser vice out of business by it's competitions; and the same danger is impending to other competitors. Now. if the commission shall grant th,s special favor to this all ready dangerous competitor. can others in the same line of business live running six days in the week when their competitor
 is running seven? If then, the Sunday law is to be repealed for one branch of competing service. justice requires that it be repealed for all. In the world of competing business the old dictum, 'euual rights for all and special privileges for none is of the very essence of equity and fair dealing. If the fruit dealer shall not sell meat on Sunday because it is not fair to the grocer who must close on that day, would the operation of a picture theatre on Sunday be fair to the other theatres which must close? There never hung around civic center more patent lobby of self-seeking special interests than the picture theatres. who have been beseiging the city hall now for a year and more. with their attorneys. hoping to be granted this special privilege of ex- plotting the civil Sabbath for their gain They have also besought the pastors to indorse their petition for special priv ileges, but they have refused to do so for the reason that they are opposed to any special interest of any kind being priv ileged to exploit the civil Sabbath for business ends.
 Yet the pastors are in favor of Sun day pictures on Sunday and week day pictures on weekdays; but not week. day pictures on Sunday nor Sunday pictures on week days. Let the busi- ness as a business be limited to the business days under the law, then if they wish, in order to relieve the pitiabie condition of the working man." to operate on Sunday. let them do so as the musical entertainments are required to do by the law But now, they do not want to operate as Sunday shows; for it would make their operation pecuniary profit to them.