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Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · January 7, 1892

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 7, No. 1

UNDER the title “Congress and the World’s Fair” the Mail and Express says:—

One of the most notable features of the Congressional Record of this session, up to the present time, is the very large number of petitions presented in the Senate—the House has done no business as yet—asking that an appropriation of $5,000,000 be made for the World’s Columbian Exposition, on condition that the gates be closed on Sunday. These petitions come from all parts of the Union, from religious bodies, from Societies, from private individuals. There are scores of them, and they represent tens of thousands of citizens. They represent, too, the religious feeling of the whole country, which would be outraged if the managers of the World’s Fair should abandon the recognized American policy and keep open the exhibition on Sunday.

This matter it is within the power of the Congress to control. At present the final decision rests with the Commissioners; but if an appropriation of $5,000,000 should be made, coupled with the condition that the Exposition shall be entirely closed on Sundays, that would settle it.

The different methods which have been devised in the past few years, by which to commit Congress to legislation upon re ligious matters, have all been examples of a certain political subtlety; but this last is a peculiar specimen of indirection, by which Congress is asked to interfere with the municipal regulations of the city of Chicago, and stamp upon a religious tenet the governmental sanction of the United States.