American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1916-02-17

Al B0&x - W. uCblv0Acu W AtuOA
ney T. 8. Becker Of American Falls,
- Tho ~. H. chuch Of American Falls.
LIT Sunday evening. February Is,
before q large and appreciative aud
fence. He touched on the Sabbath
question, Marriage and Divorce, Pur-
tty Of Franchise. We Are a Christian
Nation, Liquor ard Its Evils.
Mr.. Becker had the attention Of the
large crowd that was present and was
warmly congratulated at the conclus-
lon OF his remarks. 1t was the wish
Of all present that they might have
the pleasure of again hearing MI.
Becker ably discuss the questions Of
the hour. The different topics were
handled in a mastery and convincing
manner He said I'm part, al follows:
SABBATH.
I believe, first of all, that there are
certain principles with which we
have to do or should have to do In pub
lie life. II will not do for us to say
about any question that comes TO us,
that because It Is a moral one, there
fore we Will have nothing to do with
It In politics. For example, ! be-
iieve In maintaining what ] call a
civil Sabbath. Section 1928 OF our
Revised Codes sets apart Sunday az a
day OF public rest. Section 1924 OF the
same book sets forth such business as
will be unlawful to be carried on on
Sunday. and making a violation
thereof q misdcmeanor. Section 1927
states that 1t 10 the duty OF public o.
ncers to enforce this law. / say to
you that the law as just quoted or
read, Is not enforced by our public
officers as 1t should be, and ! believe
that this law should be enforced, and
should our pubic officers fail. neglect
OF refuse TO enforce 1t, that YOU as cit
liens and electors should zee that 1t
10 rigidly enforced. You may object
to my statements made here and say
that the Sabbath question Is a purely
religious one. but when ! observe that
when our courts, our legislatures and
our congress are In session that each
and all OF them adjourn on Saturday
until Monday--these courts, legisla-
lures and congress do not tell Its
members how to spend the Sabbath
but they do say In substance that II
would not not be meet and proper for
them to meet and transact business
ON the Sabbath. They give every one
Of their members an opportunity 10
attend public worship without con
flicting with their rights as members
OF the said courts, legislatures or
congress, whichever II may be. Every
Legislative assembly and every de-
partment of government will come
face to face In this practicable man
ner with the Sabbath question as civil
government rs retained for the pur.
pose Of protecting us In our rights a,
q right which II ought to protect, ant
our public officers should see to this
II IL as much a right as u right ID
our properly. ! will venture the opin
Ion that there are three million PEG
pie in the United States who labo
every Sabbath day. They have m
Sabbath. The majority. ! might say
do not like to work on the Sabbath
but they know that the great corpor
ations for whom they work woul
refuse to give them employment
they refused to work on the Sabbath
Now. on behalf OF these three millio
people l would like to see somethin
done. some law enacted, some nations
law, II you please. that would protet
them IN their right to a day OF res
I would also like to see a law enacte
that would make II compulsory O
our public officers 10 enforce tn
law and II they failed. neglected {
refused to enforce II they would
compelled to vacate their office.
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.
! also believe marriage and divor,
should be regulated by laws not n
consistent with Christian morality.
It not q fact that where YOU see fan
lily relations pure, you find a stror
people and where 1t is impure you o,
people who will rapidly decay
Thanks 10 the Anglo-Saxon race X
ono thing. whatever their other VIC,
have been. they have guarded the ma.
tial relation. Even though this hi
proven true In thepast. We IN tods
on the down grade. We cannot b,
shrink with fear and shame when v
know that congress has been In
PEELED 10 tnvestigate the divorce que
tfon and we find that the last twent
To forty years, divorce has increase
$50 per cent while our population hi
increased about fifty per cent. Divor,
has multiplied three times "a fast /,
population has increased. Whs
we look at certain typical states al
cities IN our Union. we find In son
states one divorce for every nine
twelve marriages. In the city OF De-