Respectable Saloons by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 26, 1883

"Respectable Saloons."

By Editor

Under this head the National American makes a strong point against high license, or any other kind of license, in the following ironical style:—

Why should a person sign a saloon petition who would be ashamed to keep a saloon himself? Why should a Christian ask the State to license a man to keep a saloon when he belongs to a church which would expel the man for keeping the saloon? Is there a church member in St. Louis who would consent that his pastor should take out a saloon license and become a silent partner in a saloon? Why not? It would be perfectly proper for a minister to have an interest in any "respectable" business which would not interfere with his duties as a pastor. If we have a right understanding of the high license theory, we are surprised that its Christian advocates do not try to get their pastors into the business. It pays well, can easily be run by proxy, and if it needs to be made "respectable," as we are told it does, by putting it into the hands of respectable, sober men, a sprinkling of ministers in the business would materially aid in gaining this object.

We know that there are Christians in St. Louis who prefer high license to prohibition, and who do not want liquor sold on Sunday or to drunkards. There is no other class of people who would be so likely to observe these provisions of the high license law as the ministers. Another plan which has occurred to us is this: Let every church in this city take out a saloon license and run the saloons on Christian principles. In England a number of coffee-houses have been established by the churches. Why should not the churches go into the saloon business? What is there in the business to hinder the ladies of a church from running a few saloons? Nobody wants any but "respectable saloons." The object of high license is to make them "respectable." If high license does make them respectable we see no impropriety in ministers, churches, or women going into the saloon business. If one saloon to every church could not "accommodate the bibulously inclined," let two, three, or more be opened by each church. There can be no more objection to four "respectable saloons," or to 1,800, than to one. What we want is to have them "respectable." Let our logical high-license friends think of this.