ANOTHER SUNDAY VICTORY.
By G.
At last the Sunday institution is master of the day at our great national expositions. It has been a long battle, but politics in Congress settled it by making a large appropriation for the Jamestown Exposition in 1907 with an iron-clad Sunday-closing proviso. True, the decision has been made by the board of governors, whose legitimate province it was, but to say that the decision was not influenced by the conditions of the appropriation would be simple guesswork. Had the decision been made before the appropriation was voted, there would have been no question as to the volition of the board of governors of the exposition, and there would have been no call for a compromise of republican principle on the part of Congress in the way of Sunday legislation. But the organized forces that are working for the establishment of the principle of religious legislation will naturally esteem the action of Congress of far more importance to their cause than the voluntary closing of the exhibition by its local governors. As a matter of far-reaching results, the Sunday-enforcement legislation by Congress is a much more important victory for the growing cause of church and state union than the closing of the Jamestown Exposition in 1907. This action by Congress was brought about by the political influence of certain religious bodies, whose representatives are boasting of their ability to influence Congressmen—such Congressmen as can be coerced by fear of threatened defeat when they come up as candidates for re-election. Every victory in that line is encouragement for the forces who are using that means to clinch their religio-political influence in the government. And every such victory is another step toward church-and-state union—the establishment of the "image of the beast," as portrayed in Revelation 13. G.