SUNDAY CLOSING IS AN INDORSEMENT OF THE SALOON.
By W. N. G.
The saloon nuisance is a bald imposition upon the peace and civil welfare of any community every day and night that it continues. It is an assault upon the peace of the community, just as much as murder, theft, robbery, counterfeiting, etc.—in fact, it includes all of these and more in its results. Yet who ever thought of a law to suppress these crimes on Sunday only? A law closing saloons on Sunday is in no sense a temperance measure—it is a Sunday measure pure and simple. So far from being a temperance measure, it is a legal proclamation by the civil power, at the instance of Sunday adherents, that the saloon, in and of itself, is worthy of legal protection, and they are willing to extend to it the legal indulgence of six days’ freedom every week on condition that it will close on Sunday. Moreover, to emphasize this acknowledgment of the saloon’s legitimacy, those who advocate, its restriction on Sunday only will also call for the closing of every other business on that day whenever and wherever they have sufficient influence to secure such action. This of itself is evidence that Sunday closing of saloons does not spring from a genuine temperance sentiment, but is merely an entering wedge to further Sunday legislation. W. N. G.