Acquittal of Saloon Men by W. A. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 13, 1908

“Acquittal of Saloon Men”

By W. A. C.

Under this heading, the following communication, addressed to the editor of the Chicago American, appeared in a recent issue of that paper:—

“There was a feeling of disappointment when the saloon-keepers arrested for selling liquor on Sunday failed of being convicted. And yet the jurors were men of intelligence, and unless they had some reason for their verdicts the findings would have been different. Here were the facts that confronted them. The defendant is on trial, charged with a misdemeanor. Had he done the same on any other day of the week, there would have been no cause of action. Then it is the day, and not the act to be considered. This changes the nature of the case. The defense is on trial, not as a saloon-keeper, but as a Sabbath-breaker. And here is where the jurors disappointed the prosecution. They could pass on the moral quality of an act, but that the same action should be justifiable one day and criminal another day is neither law, equity, nor logic. It was not the action, but the day, that was on trial. They refuse to consider a distinction of days as a matter within the jurisdiction of the courts.”

Will It Survive?

HERBERT BOASE, of Taylor University, says: “No nation, having been brought squarely before a great moral issue, and shrinking from it, has long survived. No great issue once brought before a people has been settled by compromise.” The great moral issue of choosing between the true Sabbath and the spurious sabbath, and of whether men shall be left free to observe whichever Sabbath they choose to observe, or be compelled, by oppressive laws, to observe the sabbath of human appointment, is now being brought squarely before this nation. Will it settle this question right, and survive? or wrong, and perish? Prophecy has plainly indicated the answer to this question. W. A. C.