The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-31
DR. STUART SPEAKS
 ON OPPOSITION ID
 THE BLUE LAWS"
Propaganda Favors Desecra- ton of Sabbath, Declares Preacher - Source of
 Opposition Defined

0RpOOlklOIt GOiiliON Vigorously denouncing the propa-
 ganda now being disseminated
 through press, moving pictures, the
 atres and otherwise against the
 "blue laws" and the Christian Sab
 bath and pointing out the dangers of
 this propaganda to the American in-
 stitutions and the contempt created
 thereby for the constitution of the
 United States, Dr. George R. Stuart,
 pastor of the First Methodist church,
 Sunday morning preached to ca
 pacity audience. He took as his text Pauls admoni- ton to Timothy, as found in 4;3 of
 tho second epistle of Timothy: For the time will come when they will
 not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to
 themselves teachers after their own lusts, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto
 fables"
 "T sat here in this pulpit last Wednesday when the President of the United States was here and heard the president of Johns Hopkins say, quot ing @ great English authority that
 most reforms start about 20 or 90 years after the propaganda has started, or when tho children have
 grown to young manhood or woman
 hood" said Dr. Stuart, in part. There is now a dangerous amount of propa-
 ganda going on. and the first is that which favors the dissertation of the Sabbath Day.
 What Js Hue Law: "They raise the cry of blue laws and use that as n kind of slogan to deceive the people. What is a blue
 law? It is a phrase the devil has coined for purpose There are only
 three things which the laws for tho preservation of the Sabbath contem- plate, first that all labor cease ex- cept that which Is necessary; next, that all commercial enterprises stop; and that no sports shall be run on commercial basis on that day. You go over here to MT. Joe Love
 man or his partner, Mir, Joseph, who are Jews. and to Saks', or Drennen's, and tell them to close and they do close on Sunday, and then you turn
 around and let n lot of little joints
 run, Why not treat all alike?
 All of this propaganda comes from seven sources of which the first, the moving picture business, according to Congressman Randall of California. is the third largest com
 mercial interest in this country and
 has d thorough system of propa-
 ganda. Next come the theatres and vaudeville interests. Why, tho other day Al q. Fields minstrels came to
 town and many of you applauded with considerable enthusiasm the propaganda about blue laws which was one of the features. Al C. Field
 is dead. But do you know who Al l c. Field was?
 Commercial Sports
 "The next class which opposes Sab bath laws are those who promote all commercial sports, such as prize | fights. baseball and other commer- cialized sports. Fourth are the Jews, | and I do not blame them, foH they have their own Sabbath and fail to
 see why they should be compelled to keep two and with them arc also the Seventh Day Adventists, good Chris
 tan people, who believe that the sev- enth day is the Sabbath.
 1 Fifth, there Is every newspaper, from the Toledo Blade to the Miami | Bugle. Did you ever stop to think why they spread this blue law propaganda? For the sake of their Sunday papers and also for the addi- tional revenue an open Sunday would | bring to their coffers.
 "As the sixth class we find the American Tobacco company and it's representatives, because they want to sell their cigarettes, cigars and tobacco and they also have an or ganized propaganda. They had 1t dur | ing the war when they made people believe that cigarettes were abso- | lutely essential to the welfare of our men overseas.
 Liquor Traffic And last, but by no means least,
 there is the liquor traffic. which still
 has it's strong organization, and also wants to break down the Sabbath. ."Who are for the Sabbath laws? Mothers. teachers, workers who are anxious to get out of their sweat shops one day in the week; preachers and the greatest Christian characters of the nation.
 There is no such thing as blue laws It is nothing but a slogan of the commercialized and monetized in- terests and their mouth pieces. Let
 me tell you when the Sabbath goes
 down, our civilization goes down,
 morality breaks down and we face
 chaos"
 | Dr. Stuart warned against
 the propaganda about democracy" 1 pointing out that there can be no
 true democracy without true enlight- | enment, and also pointed out that
 most of this propaganda Is directed 1 against the constitution. He declared
 that when one part of the constitu- ton is torn out, the whole is brought into contempt. and referred especially to recent efforts to weaken the pro-
 hibition laws. under the guise of
 using beer and alcoholic drinks as l medicine.