The Washington herald., 1921-02-21
BISHOP LEONARD
SCORES REVIVAL
OF PURITAN LAWS
Churchman Also Says
Foreign Born Are Men,
ace to u. S.

CHASING Sunday blue laws" such
as have been suggested for revival
and re-enactment, as medieval meth
DDS and beyond enforcement. and
deploring present day immigration
as. not only harmful. but perilous
to this country. Bishop w. A. Leon
ard, of Ohio, preached yesterday af-
ternoon at St. Johns Episcopal
Church 10 members of the Sons of
the Revolution and the Society of
Colonial Wars at the annual service
commemorating the birth of George
Washington. Bishop Leonard did
not mince words in discussing
these two subjects, but was con-
WINGED that this country would
never tolerate Sunday laws such as
existed in colonial days, and was
emphatic in his statements that un-
restricted immigration is imperil-
ing the very foundations of this
country.
Bishop Leonard, chaplain general
of the Society of Colonial Wars. dis
cussed the Sunday laws as they
existed in colonial times and con-
trasted them with conditions of the
present day, adding:
Law Did Not Work.
I'VE have heard much lately con-
cerning the revival and re-enact-
ment of the blue laws in this coun-
try, and our mind Immediately re-
verts to New England, for we have
been impressed with the tradition
that there was great rigfdity and
severity in the usages there. But
Virginia also compelled attendance
on Divine services and made 1t
rule of life that every
one should respect religious observ-
ances.
But the law in neither of these
sections worked. You cannot con-
vert souls by law. There were
many and continued fractions. Nor
NAL people would not submit, and
souls rebelled. Many
Of the laws remain on the statute
books, and remnants still survive,
but they increasingly became what
were expressly styled dead letters;
mute relics of an age, the extreme
repressions of which had proved
their own inevitable undoing.
I'VE may consider ourselves, IN
one sense, fortunate, that we do not
live in such an atmosphere as that
which surrounded our forefathers
either in Virginia or in New Eng
land; because disabilities were en-
forced which positively shackled
the freedom of consent. or the lib
erality of assent in both sections Of
the land. Some good men and
having been disgusted, gave
up religion entirely. and at last
there was the entire discarding OF
such medieval methods.
Early Immigrants.
And this leads me to speak of
the cognate subject of our heteroge-
neous population and the advent Of
the immigrant into this country at
the present time. The early emil
grants were very readily amalga-
mated, marrying and intermarrying
with the local stock and pursuing
the sturdy American life of which
we are proud. This was largely
because of the fact that we neces-
sarily spoke one language, had a
common literature, and, let us be-
lieve, a common Bible For the con-
and, preservation of such
the duty of every pa
triotic son and daughter is appar-
ent. Our special obligation as
of societies is the insis-
endh upon common tongue as
taught in the public schools; the in
sistence of morals as indicated by
the Word of God; and the insistence
Of what is called Americanization,
Or the insistence, through Con-
gress. of the refusal of this gov
ernment to admit so many unde-
immigrants into our ports.
The melting pot is not a splen-
lid success. The different races and
tribes of the earth colonize and keep
BY themselves. They do not go upon
he farms; they congregate in great
cities and Industrial centers, where
hey speak their own language, have
heir own books. insurance compa.
CoNTINUED ON PAGE TWO,