p. 592 | THE PURITAN HAS WON by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 24, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 37.

THE PURITAN HAS WON.

By Editor

THE contention for open gates at the World's Fair on Sundays has not been based upon the real principle of the thing. That was shut out during the discussion of the matter in Congress by Mr. Duborrow, who had charge of the bill containing the Sunday-closing proviso. The only true principle on which the entire question should have been decided was that of religious liberty and constitutional guarantee. But the friends of Sunday opening, and the directors especially, who were longing for the fifty-cent admission fees, refused to adopt these principles; or if adopted, they refused to advocate them. They have tried to make it appear that it was more religious to allow the Fair to remain open than to close it. The whole fight has really been between the Puritan Sunday and the Roman Catholic Sunday, so far as religion is concerned. The directors really, it appears, have been controlled by a desire to make money. They yielded to the Puritan side first on the promise of the souvenir half dollars. They broke their agreement when they had obtained a part of the money, believing it would pay better so to do. They have on account of reduced Sunday receipts succumbed to the Sunday boycott and decided by a vote of twenty-four to four to close on Sunday after July 16. The Puritan, through the greed of the directors, has won. Upon this we will have more to say next week.