St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-04-25
THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER SIN.

The present system of issuing seven
daily papers week, involves of ne
ceSsity an enormous amount of Sab
bath labor, not only in printing the
Sunday papers, but in mailing them,
selling them, and often in distribut-
ing them over the land by special To-
cOmotives on the railways. To this
Sunday labor is also added the labor
of making up the Monday morning
paper, which is very often a meagre,
iIl-conditioned swindle in the guise of
a respectable journal. The policy of
many of the notwithstanding pa
pers is to make their Monday paper
as weak as possible, and to concen-
trate their resources on a huge Sun
day paper of immense dimensions
Into this they pour all the news they
can gather, all the political discus
sion, sporting intelligence, and cur
rent scandal that can be raked to-
gether. One device to which some of
them resort, is to send around their
reporters to prominent clergymen, to
gather their opinions on various
questions, and these are announced
as an additional "attraction of the
Sunday-morning press!" These mann
moth papers, which are distributed
on every Lords day morning by the
millions, are usually sold at an extra
price.
The common plea made for this
modern innovation, is that there is
a demand for a Sabbath newspaper"
So there is Il demand for whisky, and
plenty of grOg-SellerS to supply it.
So there is a demand for filthy "po-
lice" journals by a certain class of
people, and a demand for lewd plays
and ballet-dancing by a certain class
of thea tre-patrOns There is a de
mand for gambling-housesb by game
sters, and for race-cOurses by horse
jockeys. The vital question is rs
there an absolute necessity for these
Sunday-morning journals ?" To
this question such great commercial
cities as London, Liverpool, Glas-
gov, and Manchester answer ''No;
we get on very well without them"
So did New York and Philadelphia,
and all our American cities, get on
very well without them; and have
not been made any better cities since
the sinful innovation commenced.
The simple, honest truth, which all
the world understands, and which
the prOprietOrS of these Sabbath
breaking journals cannot deny, is
that these journals are issued solely
for pecuniary profit. Daniel Webster
in the famous Crowninshield case,
said, Gentlemen of the jury, this is
cool, calculating mOney-making
murder-the weighing out of so many
pieces of silver against so many
ounces of blood" The business of
issuing Sunday papers, is cool, cal
culating, mOney-making breach of
Gods commandments weighing
out of so many pieces of silver against
the sanctity of Gods appointed day
for worship and for rest. For six
days humanity tolls on with its care
for the ''bread that perisheth on
the one blessed day of rest, humani-
ty is reminded that it has a God and
soul and an eternity to prepare for,
and on that day it is invited to par
take of the bread OfeverlaSting life
But into these sacred hOurs-which
the poor laboring man holds as the
one barrier against the eXactions of
greedy mammOn-burStS this cove
tOus horde of Sabbath-breakers with
their wares to be sold, at whatever
cost of Christianity or the moral
welfare of the community. Destroy
the reverence for the Sabbath of the
Almighty God, and you aim a fatal
blow at the eternal interests of man,
and at the moral welfare of our ma
ton. Such blow the Sabbath-des-
ecrating press is now aiming; and
for this blow the managers of this
press will have to answer before the
tribunal of the great Day of Judg-
ment.- Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, in
the Evangelist.