The Washington herald., 1921-04-28
ANSWERS QUESTION PUT TO
DIR. RADCLIFFE.
To the Editor. The Washington Herald:

To the Editor, The Washington Herald:
Permit me to express my appre-
citation of the open Court" columns
of your paper. 1t is indeed inter-
esting to note the views of others
and to follow their lines of thought
even concerning the ordinary af-
fairs of everyday life; but 1t
seems to me that the value OF
these columns may well be meal
culable when affording an oppor-
tunity of even partially offsetting
certain influences which have led
to Biblical misinterpretations aSl
consequent error in matters of more
than ordinary Importance.
A letter which had for me more
than the usual amount of interest
appeared at the head Of the column
of your paper OF Friday. the Sth
inst, under the title, "A Question
to DR.. Radcliffe" While ! fully
realize that the question. or series
of questions contained in this COM
munication is addressed directly to
DR.. Radcliffe, / understand that any
communications placed in the open
Court" columns are open to gen.
eral discussion.
In the first place, the question
What right has the government to
decide that Sunday Is a sacred
day." might readily be considered
as including or inferring the fur
th"r questions Has the govern
ment right 10 decide that any day
shall be a sacred day." and Has
the government a right to make
laws which will be applicable to
one particular day and not ap-
plicable to the other six days OF
the week." The first two of these
questions would unhesitatinEly
answer in the negative. In answer
to the third | maintain that the
government not only has a right
but should make laws which would
make it possible for every man to
have one day of rest in seven
Furthermore, | maintain that II the
matter cannot be regulated in some
other way the government has an
unquestionable right to decide
whether that day shall be Satur-
day, Sunday or Monday. 1t may be
that the setting aside of a par
1t may be that laws could be made
which would allow for action being
brought against an employer who
had forced an employe to work
more than six consecutive days.
In this event, it would seem that
the employer would have the right
TO decide what day or days his en-
,ployes should have for rest. II
would be for the employe to decide
whether or not his religious con-
victions would allow him to COM
ply with the demands Of the en-
ployer. Whatever the possibilities
as to laws being made along these
lines, while it is certainly true that
the government has no right to de-
cree the sacredness of a certain day
of the week, it is certainly just as
true that the government has a
right to set aside a certain day of
the week as a uniform rest-day. IL
the proportion of rest and. labor
which is necessary for a mans
welfare can be best maintained by
a regulation of this sort. AS to the
right of the questioner to ask that
the horse show be closed on Sat-
urday, 1t would appear that he
would undoubtedly have a right to
ask this, but II the question of
labor is involved the government
would possibly have some right to
determine whether or not the re-
quest would be granted.
Concerning the sacredness of Sat-
urday, the writer of the communi-
cation referred to states that his
Bible says "that the seventh day
of the week is the Sabbath day"
Will he show us this? have bean
unable to find this statement in my
Bible. and yet am quite sure that
my Bible is the same as his; and I
have looked, believe. in a manner
calculated to fnd this statement
IL IL we're there. The. Fourth Com
mandrnent states that the seventh
day (after six days Of labor) is the
Sabbath. The New Testament would
no doubt be cited as evidence, con-
sidering the references made therein
to the time of the Crucifxion and
the Resurrection. However. in this
case. does the Rible state that thu