Untitled article

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · March 17, 1892

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 7, No. 11

SENATOR PETTIGREW, of South Dakota, chairman of the Select Senate Committee on the quadro-centennial, is quoted in the Washington Evening Star as having said to a reporter,—

“I have read about everything that has been published on this matter, and I fail to see why the Fair should be open on Sundays. This is a Christian Nation and so long as it remains so the sanctity of the Sabbath must be preserved; when we legislate in opposition to one of the commandments our title to the possession of Christianity will be difficult of maintenance. . . . If the Fair was opened on Sunday the railroads would bring from surrounding towns immense crowds of people; the day would be a holiday, and we, as a Christian Nation, would be a party to the abandonment of the Sabbath as a day of rest and meditation—reminder of the obligations of man to man.”

“The economical point of view must not be overlooked. Since the issue has been raised, and the question debated, I am satisfied that more people—two to one—will stay away from the Fair, if it is opened on Sunday, than the additional people who would attend on Sunday only. A Sunday Fair means decreased gate receipts.”

It will be noticed that although the Senator claims to have read about everything on the subject, he has absorbed nothing but National Reform theories. Not much can be said for the depth of thought shown by such a man, whose business is to understand the highest legislative questions that can come before the country, and yet who can see no distinction between “legislating in opposition to one of the commandments” and the pursuance of the proper neutral course of the civil authority in religious questions.