Untitled article by W. H. M.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · January 19, 1893

Congress and the World's Fair Once More.

By W. H. M.

TO-DAY, January 10, the House Committee on the World's Fair gave the first of the four hearings to be held this week on the question of Sunday at the World's Fair. At the appointed hour there was present a committee from the common council of the city of Chicago, delegated to represent the city, in this matter, before the House Committee and Congress. There were also present a considerable number of representatives of the American Sabbath Union, and others.

Congressman Durborow, Chairman of the committee, opened the hearing by saying:—

I think it would be proper to state to the committee that the present case is somewhat different from the case as presented a year ago, and that the proposition before the committee, is to modify existing law—not create law, as was the case a year ago. Therefore the discussion before the committee, on this occasion, it is expected, will be held very closely within the lines of modification presented by the resolution before the committee, which provides for the modification of the closing of the gates of the Columbian Exposition on Sunday by permitting them to be opened under restrictions as stated in this resolution.

The resolution, copies of which were placed on the committee room table, was House Resolution 163, which reads as follows:—

To provide for opening the World's Columbian Exposition on Sunday.

WHEREAS, by an act of Congress approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, five millions of Columbian half dollars were appropriated to provide for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus by holding an International Exposition of arts, industries, manufactures, and products of the soil, mine, and sea in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, on the condition that the said Exposition shall not be opened to the public on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday; and

WHEREAS the World's Columbian Exposition was not authorized, nor has the work of preparation been prosecuted, for the promotion of local interests, but on the contrary is purely of a national and international character and designed to promote the best interests, not only of all the people of our own nation, but of all the nations of the world who are to take part in, and contribute to, said Exposition; and

WHEREAS within said Exposition there will be representations of all that is good and useful, beautiful and artistic, all of which will be object lessons in science, art, education, and history such as are not likely to be again offered to the present generation; and as said Exposition should be so conducted, managed, and controlled as will best promote the social, moral, and educational interests of all the people: Therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section four of "An act to aid in carrying out the act of Congress approved April twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety, entitled 'An act to provide for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus by holding an International Exposition of arts, industries, manufactures, and products of the soil, mine, and sea in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois,' and appropriating money therefor," be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

SECTION 2. That it shall be, and is hereby, made the duty of the World's Columbian Commission created by the act of Congress of April twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety, to make such rules or modification of the rules of said corporation known as the World's Columbian Exposition as will prohibit the use, on Sundays, of machinery, unnecessary manual labor, and all merchandising, and at the same time give opportunity for the study of the highest standard of artistic and mechanical science; that the art gallery, horticultural building, and all other buildings in which exhibits of mechanical art are installed shall be thrown open to the public on each and every day during the entire term of the Exposition, and that each employee of said Exposition shall be given one day of each week for rest, study, or recreation.

This, of course, ruled out entirely the question of the constitutional or moral principle involved. Nevertheless, Mayor Washburne expressed sound views upon this point in two or three terse and very effective sentences, as did also President

Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor. But when Mr. A. T. Jones addressed himself to that side of the subject, solely, he was listened to, although with consideration yet with evident dissatisfaction, and when he attempted to show the character and animus of the influence by which the passage of the present Sunday-closing proviso was secured, he was unceremoniously reminded that he was not addressing himself to the point at issue.

Mayor Washburne's address to the committee was prefaced with the reading by the city clerk of Chicago, who accompanied the delegation, of a memorial passed by the common council of Chicago, the pith of which was the petition to the committee and Congress:—

That the gates of the World's Columbian Exposition be not closed on Sunday.

That the buildings may be kept open, and that their exhibits may be especially accessible to all classes on the Sabbath day.

That suitable accommodations be provided within the Exposition grounds for holding religious services on the Sabbath day, to the end that all the denominations may have worship conducted according to their several customs, without obstruction or hindrance.

Mayor Washburne, after stating that he, and other members of the council, appeared not as individuals, but as representing the city of Chicago, then supplemented the memorial by an able and pointed address in which he said, among other things, that in this matter a constitutional principle was touched; that if this Sunday-closing legislation was had in order to testify to the world that this was the Government of a Christian Nation then it was not justified by constitutional principle; that religious belief as to days as well as to doctrines should be left untouched; that Congress has just as much right to say that the Mohammedan and the Hindoo should be barred out of the Exposition gates entirely as to say that those gates should be closed religiously on the first day of every week; when asked to close the gates on the first day of the week in obedience to a religious belief, Congress is asked to do that which is contrary to its required obedience to the Constitution.

Aldermen Madden and Sexton followed Mayor Washburne in short addresses in support of the memorial as read. President Gompers, of the Federation of Labor, then spoke at some length and with much force. Mr. Gompers denied the right of any one to count the wage-workers of the United States as desiring Sunday closing. He read a circular and petition in which it was asked that Congress should refrain from legislating upon this subject which was entirely foreign to it. To this petition nearly three hundred thousand wage-workers had signed their names. The National Convention of Labor at Birmingham, Ala., had been memorialized by the American Sabbath Union asking it to favor Sunday closing at the World's Fair, and the memorial had been reported and replied to adversely. In reference to a much-heralded plan to transport workingmen to and from Chicago between two Sundays, Mr. Gompers said, “Workingmen ask the favor of no patent processes by which they may be shipped to Chicago like cattle, but they desire to pay their own way and take advantage of the commutation which they may obtain through their own efforts, and have the opportunity to see the Fair on every day.”

Mr. A. T. Jones closed the hearing for the day with a scholarly and unanswerable plea upon the unconstitutionality of the Sunday-closing law as passed by Congress in the beginning, and arguing from that the necessity for its repeal. From the moment in the beginning of his discourse when Congressman Robinson asked Mr. Jones to what denomination he belonged, and Mr. Jones replied,—after saying, that was a matter in which the committee could properly have no interest,—that he was a Seventh-day Adventist, a growing spirit of derision arose among the listeners,—who were mainly members of the American Sabbath Union and their sympathizers—finally affecting some members of the committee even; and culminating, toward the close of the address,—when Mr. Jones referred to the meeting in Chicago when Sunday closing resolutions had been voted down,—in expressions of disapproval and derisive interruptions scarcely befitting the dignity of the place and occasion. W. H. M.

Washington, D. C.