The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-03-02
The Proposed Sunday Night Meet


The refusal of the Mayor to grant the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union the
use Of City Hall for temperance meeting
on next Sunday evening is made the subject
of adverse criticism in the Argus. The use
of that hall on Sunday evenings for political
gatherings has always been refused, and OF
late years it has been the rule not to open 1t
to any gathering not of purely religious
character During Mayor Chapman'S adj
mlnistration it has been opened twice II we
remember rightly-once on the occasion OF
the Centennial celebration and again to ac-
commodate some religious convention. 1t
has not been opened for any political gather
ing. Now this proposed temperance meet
ing was intended to influence the election
which takes place on Monday We do not
think any Of the promoters of it will deny
that. 1t was intended to assist in the election
of temperance candidate for Mayor.
That the ladies meant to make it what is
ordinarily known as rally" we do not
claim. They would say, doubtless, and
truthfully, that they intended simply to i'm
press upon the audience the evils of drink
ing and the dram shop. This they would
say, is simply moral teaching. That the re-
suit Of it might be to induce men to such POI
litical action as would tend to abolish these
evils did not make it political. That would
be perfectly sound if they had not commit
ted themselves to particular party, and,
therefore, to particular candidate; or. if it
was undisputed that that particular party
and that particular candidate stood for tenn
perance. while the other stood for the oppo-
site. But the Womqn's Christian Temper
ance Union, in its national convention, has
declared in favor of giving its influence and
support to the Third Party, and the Maine
branch of it, in State convention assembled,
at Lewiston. last October. also de-
clared in favor of the Third Party.
These facts are all we'll known. A temper
ance meeting therefore under the auspices OF
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
on the eve OF an election when there is Third
Party candidate in the field is something
more and must be something more perforce
of circumstances, than meeting to rouse the
moral sense Of the people on the subject OF
the drink evil 1t must be meeting to give
political direction to this moral sense. Now
If the correctness of the direction were
other words if it were agreed by temperance
people that the only or even the best way to
the accomplishment of the object the Tenn
psrance Union has in view was through the
Third Party then it might be argued that the
direction simply flowed as matter Of
course from the moral teaching. But thai
point is in dispute. The Republican party
which is largely made up of temperance men
dispute it. They.claim that their candidate
in the impending election stands fer temper
ance as well as the Third Party candidate
and that therefore meeting which, either
by virtue Of what is said in it or implied by
the well known views of the Association
under which it is held and the circumstances
surrounding it, shall influence citizens to
vote the Third Party ticket, is essentially a
partisan political meeting, and therefore an
improper meeting to be held in City Hall on
Sunday night. This seems to us to be the
correct view. The opening of the City Hall
on Sunday night to meeting that could
fairly be suspected of being for political
purpose would establish bad prece-
dent, which might cause good deal
of mischief in the future. Questions
bearing on the public morals fro
quently enter into political campaigns. and,
a plausible argument in favor of a Sunday
night rally could easily be constructed upon
them which, in the face of this precedent, il
would be difficult to ignore.
1t was clearly the duty of the Mayor, il
seems to us, to take heed of these objections
and refuse the hall, though looking at it
purely from the standpoint of its effect up
on his own political fortunes, as the Argus
intimates, it would have been wiser to let
the Union have the hall.
The Republicans had engaged the hall for
Saturday night and contemplated holding
meeting there. At the suggestion of Mayor
Chapman the use of the hall on that evening
has been rendered to the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union and accepted, land meet
ing will be held there under the auspices of
the Union ON that evening.