The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1889-04-18
THE SALOON ON SUNDAY.

THE SALOON ON SUNDAY.
The Rev. Father Albrecht is push
ing the claims for law and order il
Wahpeton on the Sabbath. Wher
the reverend gentlem came tx
Wahpeton he found st. Johns
church not in the most flourishine
of circumstances, now the large
church will scarcely hold the people
and on every hand is heard a good
word for Father Albrecht. He
teaches the simple doctrine of chris.
tianity without fear or favor, strik.
ing steady and hard blows at evil in
all its forms, and there being at
least a few liquor dealers in his
church, said to his congregation,
soon after arrival, that if the saloons
were conducted honorably and
quietly and free from evils which
often attend the business-and they
were closed on Sunday, he and his
people--especially in the saloon
business--would be friends, other
wise they would not be friends.
And latterly noticing the effects of
the saloons being open right along
on Sundays, the reverend gentle
man, it is said, opened up on the
question in very forcible manner,
last Sunday. lie explained that his
church could not and would not
stand the stigma Of tolerating open
saloons on the Sabbath, Gods laws
forbid it and that it must be
stopped. He could not afford to
have the whole town point the
finger Of scorn at him, his church
and his people for this evil. He
wanted his church to take higher
ground and that SD far as he and St.
Johns church were concerned,
cleared of this stigma, allowing the
responsibility to rest, if it must
exist, on other shoulders-on those
shoulders unable to appreciate Gods
blessings. among the unpretentious
and the deiiled. He considered it
his first duty to rebuke anything
which tended to keep his people
away from ale church wherein there
were services which they should
attend.
1t is we'll known that Father AL.
brecht is in no sense prohibitionist
has no patience with the doctrine,
nor is he an extremist in any way
except it be for right! And he
does insist on this with wonderful
tenacity and force. 1t does seem to
TIE TIMES that the saloon keeper
could Well afford to close his place
of business on Sunday with the
balance of the business houses of a
given place. They should take a
little higher ground than the claim
that if livery stable be open, or a
confectionery and fruit store, or a
bakery and restaurant, that they
(the saloons) have a right to be
open. These former places, it may
be claimed are open from necessity
from an accommodation to the
public, while it is hardly so with
the saloon. There would be very
little Of Sunday and very little of
the worship of God in the world if
all business men looked at this mat.
ter as do many of the saloon keepers,
not to mention the fact that the law
Of the land forbids their being open
on Sunday. While the Sunday
is by no means the worst
feature Of the saloon business, it is
a feature which gives the law and
order people, church people and
prohibitionists their claims against
the business, which claims urged in
the aggregate constitute the pro-
cause affords the imprac-
idea Of prohibition weight
with the people. 1t is the abuses
of the liquor traffic which bring it
into i'll repute. Eliminate the many
features which so
largely attend the business, upon
The whole, and the men in the busi-
ness Will make enough money, the
prohibitionist will have lost his ar
Father Albrecht nor any
other religious teacher would ever
feel the necessity Of severely rebuk-
ing it from the pulpit.
What would u little city like
Wahpeton, which is, by the way,
very much like other little cities of
her size, amount to without
churches, without schools, without
law-abiding business men and with.
out a christian sentiment permeat-
ing it throughout. We imagine not
very much. The liquor dealers
know these facts, they know that
even they with other peonle could