Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-12-15
THE HASKIN LETTER
THE BLUE LAW DEBATE
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN

BY FREDERIC j.. HAShlN
WASHINGTON. ID. c., Dec. 10
Resolved: That Human Nature can
be improved and even made perfect
BY removing from it every imagina-
bic temptation, such as drink, gam
bling, smoking. dancing. short
skirts, Sunday baseball. and moving
pictures of thrilling love scenes.
This subject for debate has been
hurled into the arena by h an
uncemen that various religious
and reform organizations intend to
have the observance of the Sabbath
made compulsory in the United
States. Some propose to do this by
federal law, and some by city and
state law. At the same time there
is more or less talk of legislation
against cigarettes. and gambling. In
a word, 1t is evident that the forces
OF moral reform plan to follow up
the prohibition amendment with a
campaign for a variety OF other
legislation designed to improve u
morals by force rather tina suasion-
At the same time. a howl of pro-
test has gone up against h pro-
posed Sabbath law and all h other
moral legislation. 1t is made very
plain that there is a powerful and
aggressive. negative to the above
proposition. as well as a powerful
and organized affirmative. The re-
formers, of course, say hat n
negative is backed by promoters of
amusements. dealers in tobacco, and
other interested parties. just as the
opponents of reform say that the
reformers are all in the pay of a few
narrow-minded m~illionaires who
are ambitious to make US feel their
power by regulating u personal
conduct.
AS a matter of fact there are sin
cere persons enough on both sides.
You have only to talk to a few of
the reformers to realize that most
of them are burning with sincerity.
that they firmly believe the world
can be improved. IL we car only get
laws enough and policemen enough
to enforce them.
The Ltbcrtarians
Nor do you have to go a to find
a man who has not a cent invested
in any amusement proposition what
ever and never expects to have. but
who almost foams at the mouth as
he tells you that in this alleged land
of the free there will soon be
what less personal liberty than
there was in Russia of the car. I'M
less these reformers can in some
be prevented from executing
their benighted designs.
Yes, there is a genuine and even
heated difference of opinion. And
1t is one which has existed in this
country for a long time. The re-
formers undoubtedly take their in
%tellectual if not Their physical de-
scent from the Colonial P%uritans of
New England, the inventors of the
blue law. who put men in stocks for
drinking, smoking, kissing and the
like. In fact, what the reformers
really aim at Is nothing less than a
revival Of the blue laws on a ma
tional scale.
The opposing school of thought is
descended from Colonial Virginia
and especially from such men as
Patrick Henry and George Wash
According to the theory of
this school, personal liberty is a
necessary condition of happiness and
of development. Personality cannot
be developed without 1t, and person.
atty is the essence of civilization.
Morality is dependent upon charac-
ter, and must therefore be inculcat-
ed by education and example, not
by force. 1t holds, therefore. that
morals are not a proper sphere for
legislation, and that moral restraint
should be applied only to those
who are irresponsible-the very
the criminal and the weak
minded. This school of thought has
faith in human nature and believes
that the production of superior in
dividuals is the main purpose of
The moralists have
faith in the state, in law and in
force. and aim at the production of
an orderly whole. even though in
d~ividuality suffer in the process.
A Typical Rcformer
A typical representative of the
ideal Of uplift-by-force is DR.. Will
bur r. Crafts, superintendent of the
International Reform Bureau, with
whom we had a talk recently about
the state of the public morals. DR..
Crafts and his organization have
been blamed for the project to pass
a Federal Sunday Blue Law. He
denies that this is the case. He
says that the proposition for a fed
eral law came from a couple of
state conferences of the Methodist
church in the South, that no such
law has been introduced in~<congress.
and that the movement for such a
law is not to be taken seriously. He
Is trying merely to have a Sunday
Blue Law passed for the District of
Columbia. He says that California
and the District are the only parts
of the United States where adequate
Sunday laws do not already exist.
What he favors chiefly is a cam
paign for the enforcement of laws
already on the books.
DR.. Crafts has long been engaged
in trying to induce congress to pass
laws affecting the public morals. Hs
knows to a nicely what is constitu-
tional and what is not, and how to
claim the support of American ira
dition for his projects. He does not
take any positions from which you
can easily route him. Thus he is
well aware that to make the observ-
ance of the Sabbath as a religious
day compulsory is legislation re-
specting religion. and that is for
hidden by the constitution and by
tradition, too. This is theoretically
q land Of religious freedom. Jews,
Mohammedans, Buddhists, follow
ers of Pythagoras, Nietszche. and
Confucius. free-thinkers. atheists
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