Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1916-06-15
SUNDAY i
| NEWSPAPERS

instant haa brought forth many
queries, among them the oft-repeat'
ed question, viii Sunday newspapers
| be distributed on that day?
/, Twelve or fifteen years ago, when
Alexandria was perturbed by the
periodical attempt to strictly enforce
the provisions of city law which
makes it misdemeanor for persons
to work at any occupation on the
first day of the week, this query was
propounded. The Gazette at that time
contained an editorial expressing the
conviction that no attempt to inter
| fere with the circulation of Sunday
newspapers should be made, and gave
| number of reasons why such papers
should be allowed to be published on
that day Of the week. The ground
taken was that many persons are de-
prived of the time to closely read
papers on other days Of the week.,
especially those whose occupations
take them out Of the city on work
days. About all such people know OF
current happenings is what they catch
from headlines, and this is often OBJ
tanned by glance at papers over
the shoulders of fellow-passengers on
trains who are perusing daily prints.
Many fail to reach their homes until
the day is far spent, and after par
taking of supper, the exhaustion
caused by travel and the days work
render reading tiresome. Papers can
be read ad libitum on Sundays, when
THE cares of factories, workshops and
Offices have been sidetracked.
The state law contains a provision
which allows ice cream, manufac-
turcd on other days of the week, to
be delivered on Sunday. Why not the
Sunday newspaper, the bulk of which
is prepared and printed on Saturday?
We live in busy age, not in the
days of the shepherd kings, who knew
but little of what was going on in, the
world and cared less. Laws which
bore no hardships to them in mild
country and where their actual neces-
sites sprung up almost spontaneously
are not applicable to the present gene
Grafton. Every person is expected to
keep up with mundane happenings, es-
pecially in his own country. Laws are
enacted which we are expected to OBJ
serve though we may never have
heard of them. In short, man is not
only responsible for what he does
know, but for what he might have
known. The newspaper is therefore
the sina qua non of his existence, and
the Sunday paper meets his require
mentS.
In this connection it may be stated
that the Supreme Court of Missouri II
recent decision lays it down that
publishing a newspaper on Sunday
is "work of necessity" The decision
contains many statements which are
incontrovertible, among them being
the following.
In order to decide that the Sun
day newspaper is necessity, we
should take-a brief view of the ser
vice the great daily newspapers arc
doing for the good of humanity. The
press disseminates practically all OF
the public news of the world; 1t I'M
parts intelligence regarding the public
health, public morals and public safe
ty, and materially aids in the preser-
walton of the two former and in de-
Tense of the latter; it is the mouth
piece of the statesman and lawmaker,
and proclaims to the world how gov
eminent affairs are administered. The
press is a great educator in literature
art, and science, and points out their
beneficcnt influence upon the home,
morality and religion: it enables the
poor, who earn their bread by the
sweat of their faces, to procure en-
ploymcnt, to familiarize themselves
with the best and cheapest necessi-
ties of life and; the most reliable
places where they can be procured.
The great service the press is rem
dering to humanity is performed on
Sunday as we'll as on Monday, and its
benefcence is more potential on the
former than on the latter, for the
simple reason that the toiling masses
have more time to read the papers
on Sunday than on any other day of
the week, and therefore acquire great
er knowledge and information from
them.
rnTEDNNp CJ VNN,S