p. 515 | THEIR REAL OBJECT by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 33.

THEIR REAL OBJECT.

By Editor

WE learn from the Denver News of June 3 that an effort is being made to create public sentiment there in favor of Sunday laws, ostensibly for the purpose of closing saloons on Sunday. We are in full sympathy with any movement which will be effective in reducing drunkenness; but our observation has not led us to attach much importance to Sunday closing laws. It is probable that more people are idle on Sunday than on any other day of the week, and possibly some engage in drinking on that day who do not indulge to any great extent upon other days; but we believe it to be a fact that there is more drunkenness from six o'clock Saturday night until twelve o'clock than during the entire day Sunday. Moreover, we cannot forget that the repeal of the Arkansas exemption clause, some two years since, was in response to a demand for the Sunday closing of saloons. Neither can we overlook the fact that while the saloons were not closed under the law, and while no effort was made to close them, good, and otherwise law-abiding citizens were fined and imprisoned for doing ordinary farm and other quiet work upon Sunday, after having conscientiously observed the seventh day of the week according to the letter of the fourth commandment.

We cannot believe that the ministers of the various churches are as disinterested in clamoring for Sunday-closing laws as might at first sight appear. Our conviction is that their object is the exaltation of Sunday rather than the restriction of the liquor traffic. This conviction is strengthened by the history of events already referred to in Arkansas, and also in other places. It was only recently that a man in Jersey City was sentenced to five months in the penitentiary at hard labor, not simply for selling liquor in violation of the law, but for selling upon Sunday. We have no sympathy whatever with the liquor traffic, we believe that it is an evil, but we do not believe that it is proper and right for the State to say that a certain act is criminal upon Sunday, and that the same thing is proper and right upon other days. If the liquor traffic is wrong, if it entails evils upon the community, and should be prohibited, then

let the prohibition extend to all days of the week; but if it is a legitimate business, one which is demanded for the good of the community, then let it be placed upon an equality with other branches of business.

But that it is not liquor selling which they wish to prohibit on Sunday, but all branches of business, is evident from the fact that while in some places their main effort seems to be directly against the saloons, in other places candy stores and other branches of legitimate business are denounced in equally strong terms. For instance, the Philadelphia Inquirer of May 21 contains a report of a meeting of the so-called Sabbath Association of that city, at which a resolution was passed to prosecute, under the laws of the State, a man who sells candy on Sunday. There can be no possible physical or sanitary reason for wishing to prosecute the keeper of the candy store for selling on Sunday. The sole reason must be because those who desire to prohibit candy selling on that day regard it as sacred time; that is, they have conscientious scruples against doing business on that day, and they are determined to compel others to conform, at least outwardly, to their ideas in this respect.

Another reason for doubting the sincerity of these zealous Sunday advocates, who would have us believe that they wish Sunday laws simply to close saloons, is that whereas they brand as the allies of saloon keepers all who dare to raise their voices against Sunday laws, they have no word of censure for those who advocate Sunday laws but oppose prohibition. Several religious papers, notably the Christian Union, have taken decided grounds against constitutional prohibition, and it is stated by the Christian Union that a considerable number of the Chicago ministers are opposed to prohibition; but as yet we have not seen these ministers or these papers charged with being in league with saloon keepers; while, on the other hand, the advocates of Sunday laws do not cease to class us with saloon keepers and infidels because we oppose Sunday laws as a matter of principle. We can see no consistency in this; and it does seem as though the advocacy of Sunday laws is regarded by them as the sum of all morality. Practically it amounts to about this: that those who favor Sunday laws or who observe Sunday are moral, and those who do not regard Sunday are immoral. We are not, however, prepared to admit any such conclusion.—American Sentinel.