The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1924-04-24
FIGHTING. SUNDAY
ADJUSTMENTS

watching the battle in New Jerse,
between those who would repeal The
so-called Blue Laws, or prevent thell
application, and those who insist OF
their literal enforcement and woult
even extend their scope.
The proponents of the liberal Sun
day see an opportunity to repeal, fol
the first time in any state, the
statute common to all of them
which can be utilized to prevent
Sunday sports and entertainment in
moving picture and other theatres
The opponents of what they term
the commercialized Sunday believe
they have the chance to win a per-
manent victory in the very strong
hold of their foes, and restore, II not
the Puritan Sabbath, one which shall
make church going the chief Occupa-
ton OF the day.
Then there are those, not active
participants in the fray, who see an
even closer analogy between the
liquor laws and the Blue Laws.
Both are ON the statute books, are
laws OF the land bv state and federal
enactment, but both seem, these
critics say, equally unenforceable in
large centers of population.
The situation today in New Jersey,
where Newark, in Essex county, with
it's vaudeville and motion picture
houses filled to the doors on Sum
days, chortles at Jersey City, Hobo
ken and other cities in Hudson
county, where the Blue Law of 1888
is being invoked to close similar
houses on the Sabbath, is a repeti-
ton of what has occurred at many
points between the Atlantic and
Pacific coats since church organiza-
tions four years ago began on ma
tional scale their drive to make
Sunday day of religious thought
and worship instead of one devoted
largely to amusement.
Blue Laws Prove a Boomerang
The very Blue Laws on which they
have counted to win a victory have
proved a boomerang for the various
organizations, which singly or in al
lied groups, have sought to prevent
attendance at theatres and baseball
games and other outdoor sports, and
participation In golf and tennis on
Sunday. They have found the acts
on which they based their COM
plants to be two-edged sworts, cut
ting protagonist and antagonist
alike.
After two years of campaigning in |
New Jersey the standards of the !
forces supporting strict conformity |
with the state Sunday observance
Mw, officially known as "An Act for |
the Suppression of Vice and I'm
morality" seemed in so far as mo-
tion picture and vaudeville theaters
were concerned, to have been adj
vanced to a clinching victory. For
eighteen months, up to early in last
January, the doors of such theatres
in Jersey City. the chief point of at
tack and The chief fortress of the de-
tense, had remained closed.
Suddenly all reopened for Sunday
performances and similar theatres
in the thirteen other municipalities
Of Hudson county followed suit.
Local minister's aided by the Lords I
Day Alliance and the Society for the ]
Promotion OF Morals and the Sup
preston of Crime, complained in s
vain To the local authorities, and as |
4 last resort went to Supreme Court
Justice Minturn He directed the {
grand jury to indict the producers, {
actors and patrons named in the
minister's complaint, but also said 1t 1
must indict each and every violator 8
II the law which forbade the carry '
ng on, upon Sunday, of "any worldly G
business or employment, or Of any I
nterIudes. plays for gain, dancing, o
inging, fiddling. or other music for t
he sage of merriment." 70
10000 Violators Listed n
The purveying of milk and news L
,apers was the only business allowed f
" this law. The only legal amuse- l.
nent for the citizens were walking, n
fding and driving. But IL the sale
4 gasoline was prohibited. where a
vas the automobiling! II music J
or the sake of merriment" and r
dancing and singing" were pro- t
fbited, the radio and the talking t
asehine might as we'll be stored d
way. b
A hostile grand jury and hostile n
Office force in thirteen cities obeyed
he courts order with such alarcity v
nd zeal that last sunday some 1O.-
90 persons were listed as violating a
he law. The authorities also an d
ounced they would round up those a.
nd talking machines in their homes, Il
nd send their names to join. those a
Iready reported to the grand jury "
,r indictment. II
With the local authorities and
loroly aroused populace determined a.
lat every vioIator shall be indicted, W
18th thousands willing to assume st
le role of martyr by continuing to tt
1rsue the forbidden occupations b.
Id attend the forbidden entertain 81
ents on Sunday, the forces of re- tt
rm are facing battle in the Leg al
lature at Trenton to prevent re- N
,al of the law with which they had III
)ped to accomplish their purpose. ca
heir own adherents, in large meas bl
e, are aghast at the consequences tn
hich would follow the absolute full pl
ment of Justice Minturn's order to la
e grand jury.
The nationwide drive for enforce tn
ent of the so-called Blue Laws as tie
med the form of a concerted effort M
it'll the entry of motion pictures az
to popularity, Prior attempts to tn
rec the Sunday closing laws had wi
zen restricted chiefly to baseball We