p. 91 | Untitled article

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · March 23, 1893

The Final Record of the First Religious Congress of the United States.

The Congressional Record containing the proceedings of the House of Representatives for March 3, has the following in reference to the Sunday closing of the World's Fair. The amendment which Mr. O'Neil here gave notice that he would offer did not come before the House from the fact that the pending amendment to which he proposed to attach it was itself lost, leaving no opportunity to present the Sunday opening to the House for its vote. The House therefore did not recede from its previous position, and the Congress of the United States has assumed dictatorship in religion and closed the World's Fair Sunday, the first day of the week, on its interpretation of the divine law. The Congressional Record reads:—

Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker—

MR. POWERS.—Will the gentleman from Illinois in charge of this bill yield for a question?

MR. DURBOROW.—Certainly.

MR. POWERS.—I desire to ask the gentleman from Illinois if it is proposed by the friends of this appropriation to repeal the laws, now in existence, closing the gates of that Exposition on Sunday?

MR. DURBOROW.—That, I will state to the gentleman, is not a matter which the friends of this corporation have anything whatever to do with. It is a matter for Congress to deal with as it sees proper.

MR. DOCKERY.—I hope the gentleman will answer that question fairly.

MR. POWERS.—I desire an affirmative answer to that question, for my vote on this proposition depends on that answer.

MR. DURBOROW.—I decline to yield to the gentleman.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—I would like to answer the question if the gentleman from Illinois would yield to me.

MR. DURBOROW.—I will yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts for five minutes.

MR. POWERS.—I desire a distinct answer, if the gentleman pleases.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—I will answer the question of the gentleman from Vermont, that if I have an opportunity I propose to offer an amendment to one of these propositions opening the gates of the Fair on Sunday.

SEVERAL MEMBERS.—That is right.

MR. PICKLER.—And we will vote it down.

MR. MORSE.—The legislature of your own State of Massachusetts has unanimously resolved against Sunday opening.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—And Mr. Speaker, I desire to have the amendment read which I propose to offer at the proper time.

THE SPEAKER pro tempore [Mr. Richardson].—It will be read for information.

THE CLERK read as follows:— After the word “section,” in line 19, on page 44, insert: “Provided, That regulations shall be made by the proper authorities of said World's Columbian Exposition with a view to closing to the public on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, the general business of said World's Columbian Exposition, in the sense that all merchandising, unnecessary labor, and machinery shall on that day cease and be stopped, but it may be lawful for the legally constituted authorities to open the place of election here, in the City of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, and also the educational hall and horticultural hall and the art galleries of the World's Columbian Exposition located within the confines of said Jackson Park, to the public on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.”

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—I only had this read, Mr. Speaker, for information.

THE SPEAKER pro tempore.—The Chair so understands.

MR. PICKLER.—I would like to ask the gentleman from Massachusetts whether he proposes to charge for admission on Sunday?

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—I have nothing to do with that.

MR. PICKLER.—You have offered the amendment; you ought to specify whether you do or not.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—If the gentleman will let me have the floor for a little while I will be very much obliged.

THE SPEAKER pro tempore.—The gentleman from Massachusetts declines to be interrupted.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—Mr. Speaker, I have been told that if this amendment be offered it will kill all of the appropriations asked for this Fair.

MR. POWERS.—Every single one.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—I do not care if it does. I am in favor of having this Fair opened so that the working people of Chicago and the world, who visit that city, shall have a chance to get within the gates and have some opportunity of seeing the Exposition on that day.

MR. MORSE.—They have petitioned against it.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—I do not want to be interrupted by my colleague.

MR. MORSE.—But you misrepresent the State of Massachusetts on the subject of Sunday opening.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—Mr. Speaker, I repeat I do not want to be interrupted by any colleague of mine, especially when he states that I misrepresent the people of my State.

MR. MORSE.—I say you do on this question. You may represent South Boston, but not Massachusetts on the question of Sunday opening.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—I say that when I advocate this I am representing the best thought, and best sentiment of my State of Massachusetts, my native State, and it is not the native State of my colleague [Mr. Morse]. [Applause.] Why, Mr. Speaker, this is not the same old fight over and over again, when the mossbacks, who would prevent progress in this country, seek to retard every advance demanded by the people. You who live in the rural districts perhaps view this subject from a very different standpoint from what we who live in large cities view it. As this law stands to-day, you have closed up one of the great parks in the city of Chicago. If you will come with me to my city—and I represent that city, and when I say if you will come I will see that you are properly cared for, I mean it—I will show you there a system of parks upon which the city of Boston has expended ten millions of dollars; and if you will go there with me on a pleasant Sunday, you will find twenty and thirty thousand of the common people of the city seeking an outing and a breath of fresh air which they could not get before the establishment of those parks.

THE SPEAKER pro tempore.—The time of the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. O'Neil] has expired.

MR. DURBOROW.—I yield to the gentleman five minutes more.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—Why, sir, when we tried for years to have our public library in that city opened as a reading room on Sunday, we were met by the same cry of a desecration of the Sabbath, and the protest of many of the religious people of that city; but now that it has been opened for years, you could not find a religious denomination calling for its close. We have our museum opened to the public on Sunday, and we had more people visiting that place on Sunday than on all the other days of the week put together. I want those who live in the rural districts to remember what I say, that the people who are hived up in tenement houses ought to have some place to go on a Sunday. You complain about the crowding of your tenement houses. You complain about corner loafing. This thing is asked in order to do away with that, and the history of the city of Boston has proved that it does away with it. These people must get air and must leave the rooms in which they sleep and live. When we ask you to give them a chance for an outing in the green fields, when we ask you to give them a chance to visit art galleries and educational institutions, when we ask you to modify this Sunday law in relation to the World's Fair, we are appealing to you in the interests of the working people, in the interest of education, aye, and I say in the interest of religion and morality, too.

MR. PICKLER.—Will the gentleman allow a question?

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—Will you let me alone? Let somebody alone if you can.

THE SPEAKER pro tempore.—The gentleman from Massachusetts declines to be interrupted.

MR. O'NEIL, of Massachusetts.—Now, Mr. Speaker, as I say, this House has been flooded with petitions from the working people of the country. You have been told by the president of the Federation of Labor that when the Centennial Exposition was held in Philadelphia, hundreds of thousands of working people, who could not spare a day during the week to visit that great educational institution, were unable to attend it at all. Now, we ask that the same thing may not be repeated at Chicago. We ask that the people who are obliged to work six days in the week may have one day in the week when they can see the sights that their more favored friends, relatives, and fellow-citizens have a chance to go to see during the six days of the week. I do not care whether this proposition jeopardizes the appropriation for the World's Fair or not. I offer it because I believe it is right and because I believe it is demanded by the great common people of the country; and when the time comes I will offer this amendment to the section of the bill which I speak of. [Here the hammer fell.]

MR. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR.—Mr. Speaker, I regret very much that the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. O'Neil] has seen fit to notify the House that he proposes to offer an amendment which provides that the World's Fair shall be open on Sunday. That question was settled during the last session of Congress; and I have been informed by the friends of the World's Fair that there is no disposition whatever on their part to reopen this question. The conclusion reached last session when two millions and a half of dollars were appropriated, with the understanding that the Fair should be closed on Sunday, should not be disturbed, and it is very unfortunate that this question is agitated just now. It is a question that was passed upon after full consideration, and all parties are bound by the conclusion reached. Great as this Fair is, I should prefer to see it abandoned a thousand times rather than to see the Christian Sabbath desecrated and discarded. Grover Cleveland, the President-elect, who will be inaugurated to-morrow, did a great thing last fall during the campaign when he declined the invitation to go to Chicago to participate in the dedication of the World's Fair buildings because the White House at that time was draped with emblems of mourning on account of the death of the wife of President Harrison. He did another great thing when he left his home in New York a few weeks since and went to Fremont, Ohio, to attend the funeral of ex-President Hayes. In both these instances he touched the hearts of the people, but he did a greater thing two days ago when he telegraphed to Secretary Noble to close the Pension Building on Sunday next and prevent the Sunday promenade concert that had been arranged for that day. [Applause on the floor and in the galleries.] No man in this country holds his hand closer to the pulse of the American people than Grover Cleveland, and we will do well to profit by the example he has set us. [Renewed applause.] The fact that Secretary Noble had previously issued a like order does not lessen the credit to which President Cleveland is entitled.

THE SPEAKER.—The Chair will state to the occupants of the galleries that they are here by the courtesy of the House; and that the rules of the House forbid any manifestation of approval or disapproval. The Chair hopes that this suggestion will be sufficient to induce the occupants of the galleries to refrain from any demonstration.

MR. BABBITT.—Mr. Speaker, The gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. O'Neil] sees fit to denounce all who differ with him on this subject, and they are classed as being bigots and witch-burners. He has stated here that he does not care whether this appropriation fails or not if the gates of the Fair be not opened on Sunday; and this, too, against the protest of over fifteen million of the citizens of the United States who authorized Congress to give the Columbian Exposition five million dollars on condition that the gates of the Exposition be closed on Sunday. And now he publicly notifies the House that he will insist on passing his amendment to repeal that part of the agreement, and I as publicly notify those gentlemen entertaining his opinions that if this appropriation

fails they have invited it by a cowardly disregard of a sacred contract. He has furnished us glowing descriptions of the parks in Boston, where, he assures us, the laboring man may go and worship with nature, but he does not inform us that these parks are free; there is no admission fee of fifty cents for each member of his family to interfere with the exercise of their religious impulses. How is it to be at Chicago? He claims to speak for the laboring man, but he does not represent him here or the noble lineage from which he sprang.

MR. LITTLE.—Mr. Speaker, I did not expect to take part in the discussion of this question, and had not the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. O'Neil] given notice of his intention to offer an amendment, relating to Sunday closing I should have kept my peace. But, I want to say a word upon that amendment, for I consider that of greater importance to the people of this country than these appropriations. Now, Mr. Speaker, in regard to the amendment that has been proposed by the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. O'Neil], nearly every one upon the floor of this House who undertakes to speak against the Sunday opening commences and closes his remarks with the statement that the working people of this country are opposed to Sunday opening. I want to say that during last summer, as a member of the Select Committee on the Columbian Exposition, I caused to be written to every national organization of labor where the membership reached nine thousand, a letter asking the opinion of the officials of these organizations as to what the desire of organized labor was upon this question. I received replies from the representatives of many hundreds of thousands of workingmen, and in only one instance was there a suggestion that the Fair should be closed on Sunday. That exceptional reply was from the chief of the locomotive engineers, Mr. Arthur, who stated that he did not consider that Congress had any business to deal with this question, but that very many members of his organization preferred to have the Exposition closed on Sunday because keeping it open would entail extra labor upon them. Now, when gentlemen rise upon this floor and say that the workingmen of the country are opposed to the Exposition being open on Sunday, I think they can not have looked into the question carefully, and I would ask some of them to state what means they have taken to ascertain facts to justify the statements they have made.

MR. DURBOROW.—I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Dickerson].

MR. DICKERSON.—Mr. Speaker, I am glad to avail myself of these two minutes, first, to state that I favor the amendment of the gentleman from Massachusetts. I do so, sir, because I want to protest against any sort of legislation by Congress looking to the recognition of the question of religion at all. That is a matter with which we have nothing to do, and the police regulation, the conduct and morals of people in the State of Illinois, is, by the Constitution and by every inherent right of citizenship lodged with those who are to exercise government control in local affairs. [Here the hammer fell.]

MR. DURBOROW.—Mr. Speaker, I hope the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Holman] will use some of his time now.

MR. HOLMAN.—I yield five minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Hooker].

MR. HOOKER, of Mississippi.—Mr. Speaker, with reference to the question of opening the Exhibition on Sunday, I had occasion to make a speech in the first session of this Congress, in which I said what I now repeat, that I think this great Columbian Exhibition ought to respect the Sabbath day and ought to pay regard to the popular sentiment as expressed in the numerous petitions which have come from the great body of Christian people of all denominations. If the spirit of the great discoverer of America could descend upon this House—he who when the bird lighted upon the masthead and (the perils of storm and tempest being past) the watch proclaimed, “Land ho!” dropped upon his knees, thanking the Almighty that his great efforts for the discovery of this continent had been realized—he would say that what the Christian world sanctions as the Sabbath should, out of respect for our great Maker, be observed in connection with this great Columbian Exposition. (Applause.) [Here the hammer fell.]

MR. MORSE.—Mr. Speaker, I rise to a parliamentary inquiry.

THE SPEAKER.—The gentleman will state it.

MR. MORSE.—Mr. Speaker, my colleague, Mr. O'Neil took exception to my saying he misrepresents our State on the question of Sunday opening. Would it be in order for me at this time to ask unanimous consent to have sent to the Clerk's desk and read, in answer to my colleague from Massachusetts [Mr. O'Neil], the resolutions unanimously adopted June 11, 1891, by the Massachusetts house of representatives against and denouncing the Sunday opening of the World's Columbian Exposition?

THE SPEAKER.—It would not. [Laughter.]

MR. WATSON.—(to Mr. Morse) That was well done.

MR. PICKLER.—Yes; it was. The fact is in the Record now, and you can not rub it out.

Yes, it is true, the facts of this whole matter are in the Record now, and they can not be rubbed out. Has it been well done?