The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-01-25
THE SUNDAY SALOON.

! lluuOI SulOpiiN vi
IL Is difficult to see what more the
council can do In the matter, seeing
that both the state law and the city
ordinances do now forbid the selling OF
liquor on Sundays.
II the people really want the saloons
closed on Sunday they have simply
themselves To enforce the law. When
general public sentiment demands
that the saloon be closed, it Will be
closed. Even prohibition itself Will
not prohibit where the public sentl'
ment is not strong enough TO force
compliance with the law. In Maine,
IN Iowa, in Kansas, in many even OF
our own Illinois towns where local
option has decreed prohibition, the
law Is not enforced simply because
the majority of the people themselves
do not care enough about 1t, one way
or another, to force a compliance win
the law. So in ottawa, If the people
if the petitioners-really want the
saloons closed on Sunday, they can
very quickly do it, and do it so ef-
fectually that the saloons will stay
closed.
1t is probably the duty Of the police
to see that the saloons are closed.
They could, very likely, close them II
they would; but no one ever yet saw
city government that would close the
liquor saloons on Sunday, or stop
gambling or any other evil OF their
own motion, or without the aid and
endorsement Of the people themselves
actively expressed.
No saloon keeper will keep his sa-
Don open on Sunday unless ne can
make money by doing so. That he
does keep open is evidence that he is
making money by so doing. The nat
ural solution Of the. problem, then,
would seem to be: Make the Sunday
business Improbable. Repeated and
liberal infections OF fines would do
that. If the evidence OF reputable
citizens would back the police, the
police would soon be forced to back the
evidence and complaints OF the citi-
zen. AS matter Of fact, while
great many men know, or believe that
they know, the saloons are open on
Sunday, yet when called upon to give
testimony to that fact, very few really
are willing to do it, whether they
know the fact or not. They insist
that the police should do this work;
and that they ought not to be annoyed
In that way. But il the police won't
do it, how else can the saloon be
closed? If the people themselves are
apathetic or simply content them
selves with complaints unsupported
by facts or a willingness to prove their
allegations, how can they expect the
police or the administration to be
otherwise? After all, in this matter
of the Sunday saloon, Is 1T not as a
rule true that the administration in
any city is largely reflex of public
opinion itself?
The FREE TRADER is not an apOl-
Ogist of the Sunday saloon, or the
everyday saloon. If it believed that
prohibition would prohibit absolutely,
it would gladly welcome prohibition;
but, as before remarked, where the
people themselves are not active
enough to take the matter in their
own hands where the police fail to do
their duty. but rather insist upon
Sinking their duty to provide proof
they may know exists, there never
can be even Sunday closing, to say
nothing of prohibition.
If every man who wants the saloons
closed on Sunday would take it upon
himself to obtain evidence that they
were or are open to-day; and would,
on Monday or any other day, go into
the police magistrates Office and
make complaint founded on the evil
dence he could furnish, and would
keep on doing that as often as Occa-
sion required, the Sunday saloon
would go In very short order, because
the weekly intlictiOn Of good round
fine, such as the law prescribes for
keeping open on Sunday. added to his
other expenses, would soon drive him
out of the business. That the saloon
has never been closed on Sunday by
any Mayor or any body of Ottawa
police for a longer period than few
Sundays, 'tO keep up appearances"
Mayor Lynch in his time having eX-
hausted every device in the work and
failed to keep them permanently
closed), has been largely because rep
resentauive men and women who
would like to see them closed would
not, and will not to-day, probably,
take the trouble to tell to the proper
authority what he did or does actually
know about the matter. Every one is
willing some one else should make