Executive Order  No. 6: (1st Series) Dept. of Public Utilities authorized to issue permits to allow the transportation and handling of war supplies and food on Sunday (waiver of Blue Law restrictions)

WHEREAS, the expeditious and orderly movement of supplies, materials and foodstuffs utilized on the Lord's day in connection with the prosecution of the present war is of paramount urgency; and

WHEREAS, the provisions of existing statutes concerning work on the Lord's day constitute a burden upon and impediment to the necessary transportation of such supplies, materials and foodstuffs:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the authority of Acts of 1942, chapter 13, section 2, clauses (5) and (6), and section 3, and of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and any foreign country:

The Department of Public Utilities is hereby authorized and empowered in its discretion to issue to any person transporting and handling supplies, materials or foodstuffs related to the prosecution of the existing war between the United States and any foreign country, a permit for the transportation, loading, unloading or other handling of such supplies, materials or foodstuffs anywhere in the Commonwealth on the Lord's day.

The power and authority herein delegated to said Department shall be exercised only by the issuance of permits to persons who have filed written application therefor with the said Department and who have furnished to said Department such pertinent information as it may require. Such permits shall be issued for periods not to exceed four months from the date of issuance, but shall be subject to revocation by the Department at any time.

The authority herein conferred upon the Department of Public Utilities shall not be deemed to derogate from the powers conferred upon local authorities by the provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter 136, section 9.

Work lawfully done by persons working under permits granted pursuant to this order shall not be subject to the provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter 136, section 5, or to the provisions of any other general law prohibiting labor on the Lord's day.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-sixth.

By His Excellency the Governor,

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL

FREDERIC W. COOK

Secretary of the Commonwealth