St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-05
SUNDAY REST.


cries comes revival of the Sunday
rest question, and those who advocate
suspension of labor on the Sabbath day
are now employed in directing public
attention to the manner in which Sum
day was observed in the early days of
the republic and how that the trainers
of the constitution, when guaranteeing
religious freedom and liberty of con
science to the newborn nation, sup
posed that the people would retain a
reverence for sacred things and that
they would not, under preteXt of lib
erty and conscience, trample Gods holy
laws under their feet. The fact that
the first congress bought 10000 Bibles
for distribution among the people is
cited as proof that this government was
founded in Christian conceptions. The
founders of the government were the
immediate descendants of those who
bad come out of the seething caldrOn of
persecution; the statutes of each col
ony provided for the StricteSt ObServ-
ance of the Sabbath day, and it is posi-
BILE that it never occurred to the fathers
of the republic that their descendants
would stray as far as they have done
from the spirit of the old blue laws, or
there would have been constitutional
recognition of the Christian Sabbath as
day of rest.
1t is curious fact in this connection,
that those who first established the SyS-
TEN of Sunday labor, under the plea of
q
prominent in agitating the question of
restoring the old-time observance of the
Sabbath as day of rest. We allude
to the railroad companies. The run
ming of Sunday trains was the begin
ming which led up to the now common
practice of utilizing Sunday as work
ing day. Just fifty years ago, the first
mail train began to run each way be-
tween Boston and Worcester. Pretty
soon certain well-to-do church men,
berS, who had moved out from Boston
to Brookline, and who desired to attend
church in the city, persuaded the rail
way management to put OH "a church
train on Sunday. Then it occurred to
these rich old blue-bloods that they
would like to have their mail on Sun
day. so special Sunday mail service
was established. Other roads followed
the example of the Boston & Worces-
ter, and by 1860 Sunday mail trains
were running Oh pretty much
all the roads in the country.
Then the war came on, and
military necessity required the running
of Sunday trains for transporting troops
and supplies: and when the war was
over the railroad companies had become
so habituated to the Sunday service that
it was kept up. Other industries adopted
the railroad idea of utilizing Sunday as
day for labor, until it is now estimated
that the number of persons engaged in
needless Sunday work in this country
exceeds 100000.
The labor organizations are inclined
to cooperate with the railroad COM
panieS in securing an observance Of the
Sabbath as day of rest. The working
men want the day more than the pay.
They want it for rest and forrecreation.
They want one day out of the seven for
a home day, to be spent with their fam
lilies in the enjoyment of domestic hap
piness. Leaving all religious consider
ations out of view and discussing the
Sunday-rest question purely in its eco
nomic relations, the arguments are all in
favor of a strict and universal observ-
ance of the Sabbath. If tree is to be
judged by its fruits, then our national
prosperity is an argument in favor of it.
These 100 years of independence with
the Christian religion attheir back have
placed this country in the foremost rank
of nations. That religion has taught us
that God has established the Sabbath as
the mighty landmark of His superb
benefcence, and our observations con-
firm the teaching, The laws that re-
quire an observance Of the Sabbath are
consistent with that liberty and con-
science guaranteed by the constitution,
because they are laws of national pres
ervation in that they are laws of health,
laws for harmonizing labor and capital,
laws for the protection of home, and
for the prevention of crime.