Making the Saloon Respectable.
Dr. Dille, of this city, in a recent talk on Bishop Potter and his saloon address, said:— No, the last thing we want to do is to make the liquor traffic respectable. The only thing that prevents it from spreading over our whole land like a rotting, blighting mildew, and devastating every town and village and school district and home is that the church has put the brand of infamy upon it, and taught that it was a frightful evil—that it is a sin to put the cup to your neighbor's lips, and a burning disgrace for a man to sell liquor or to get drunk anywhere. Good. But that is just the effect of Sunday-closing laws. They say in substance that liquor-selling is a great evil on Sunday, but all right six days in the week, and the respectable saloon closes on Sunday. All such arguments are childish sophistry.