It is reported from Mankato, Minn., that the ministerial association, composed of the leading Protestant ministers, has put a stop to Sunday performances at the theater. A DRUGGIST of Portsmouth, Ohio, was recently fined $50 and costs in the mayor's court for selling beer on Sunday. A SUNDAY-OBSERVANCE society has been organized at Washburn, Wis., with over a hundred members. Of course it is political, and the purpose is to sound candidates for municipal office, as to their positions on enforced Sunday observance. AN Evangelical Conference at Easton, Pa., February 24, adopted a resolution upholding the so-called "Christian Sabbath," and condemning those corporations that conduct business on that day. FOR years theaters have been closed in Duluth, Wis., excepting for concerts and lectures. But one manager has recently defied the ordinance, with the intention to test its validity in the courts. THE board of public safety of Louisville, Ky., having issued an order to close theaters on Sunday, arrests of managers and actors of three playhouses followed, on February 25. At two of the places, ticket-sellers and door-keepers were arrested, as well as the actors and managers of the houses and companies. In the police court the next day Judge McCann dismissed the cases, holding that the singling out of three theaters was discrimination. The judge stated that he was not passing upon the validity of the Sunday-closing law, as that question was not before him, but that if it was to be enforced, there must be no discrimination against a certain class of alleged offenders. THE absolute enforcement of the Sunday law was recently inaugurated at Oxford, Ohio, by the mayor. Druggists, confectioners, restaurant-keepers, and hotels were notified to sell no cigars, nor anything save necessities. Liverymen were forbidden to rent vehicles on Sunday, news agents were told to bring no more Sunday papers to Oxford, and even the postmaster was cautioned against opening the post-office on Sunday. Thus the executive of a little city assumes authority above that of the federal government. But that is the spirit ever engendered by religious legislation. It is the same spirit that actuated the Papacy to assume superiority over kings and emperors. Religious legislation by a civil power is always the fruit of religious bigotry, and must ever result in more assumption, as it is an aggressive policy that knows no limit, save as its opportunity is limited by public sentiment. A RESOLUTION asking the mayor to enforce the Sunday law was adopted by all the ministerial associations of Philadelphia on February 26. This action was taken at the instance of the Philadelphia Sabbath Association, which prepared the resolution and sent representatives to the various ministers' meetings to secure its adoption. The resolution was passed by the Baptist ministers at their meeting in the First Baptist church only after considerable opposition, the ministers not desiring to endorse a movement for prohibiting the sale of necessities. When Rev. A. F. Williamson had finished reading the resolution, the expressions of opposition were strong. Questions as to whether the sale of ice would be prohibited on Sunday and trolley cars stopped, and other forms of necessary labor interfered with, were asked. When it was explained that no such radical steps were intended, a resolution was finally passed adopting the paper from the Sabbath Association. Evidently the Philadelphia Sabbath Association is moving in the direction of another such Sunday-enforcement campaign as it waged in Philadelphia two years ago, when it hounded and persecuted the small dealers until public sentiment compelled a cessation of the crusade.