The record-union., 1893-09-14

wise compulsion of conscience. much less
as condition of physical relief to the
needy and suffering Such phase of
charity finds champions only among
those professed disciples whom the pro-
phetic word describes as having a form
OF godliness."
But the infection is spreading. Those
Presbyterian ministers have been rein
forced by some of other denominations,
! and the Christian Endeavor Union Of
Alameda County is being Joined in its
uncharitable and therefore unchristian)
crusade by fellow -EndeayoreTs through
out the State. By the way, this society
seems to regard the boycott as its special
aggressive armor. About the time of the
opening Of the Worlds Fair at Chicago
the following item appeared in the New
York 1fait and Express:
THE Executive Committee of the Ohio
societies is now in session in Cincinnati,
and on Monday morning will receive a
telegram from Chicago informing them
If the gates have been open on the previ-
GUS day. Every Christian LndeavOr So
ciety in the world will be notified, and
efforts viii be made at once TO carry the
/ boycott into effect. This will eX tend not
only to the several million young people
OF the society, but to all the persons
whom these members can influence.
This will doubtless seriously affect the
Worlds Fair gate receipts"
Other "Christian" associations and
/ temperance societies arc falling into line,
and the full strength of the avowed Sun
| day law element is to be brought into
| play to compel the management of the
fair either 70 close the exposition on Sun
| days or stand a religious boycott.
But the folly Of follies is exhibited in
the crusade for Sunday closing as a tenn
perance measure. With every avenue to
the fair grounds lined with drinking
u, i i
the week, Is 1t reasonable to suppose that
men must needs pay an admission fee TO
| the show in order to gain access to bar?
Ii drink be the object of Sunday attend
ance, hundreds would prefer to save the
gate money and buy the drink outside.
The park is open on Sundays now, but
men do not go there just to drink. 1t is
safe to say the drinking ones imbibe less
while viewing the attractions and ming
ling with the multitudeS within the in
closure than they do while on the outside,
albeit the opportunity is there. Hearing
some of these One-dayin -the-week tenn
perance agitators talk, one might suppose
that the exposition was to be principally
great drinking saloon, and that it would
be the only available drinking place on
the peninsula. If the logical conclusion
from their premises be anywhere in the
range of probability, consistency on their
part would Internationally discourage
Inc enterprise 3lJOg0Cn6r.
But there IS motive underneath all
this zeal for Sunday closing that does not
appear on the surface. This is simply
strategic move in the deep laid State Sun
day law game which has been on the board
1or several years. This spirit of compul-
sion, this innate desire for controlling
power, is characteristic of the Sunday law
principle. 1t was manifest in the coer-
cIOn of Congress, by threats of political
defeat, to add a Sunday closing condition
to appropriations for the Colum bian EX-
position. 1t was manifest in the dishon-
est manner of obtaining petitions
whereby actual petitioners numbering
but thousands were multiplied to repre-
sent millions. 1t was manifest in the
conspiracy, even before the action of Con-
gress, to boycott the Chicago Fair In case
the advocates of Sunday closing could
not carry their point. 1t was manifest
when the First United Presbyterian
Church of Boston appealed to President
! Cleveland to guard the gates of the
Worlds Fair on Sunday with United
States troops. II has been manifest in
our own State election campaigns for a
dozen years in attempts to secure, by
threats of church opposition, the pledges
of legislative candidates in favor of Sun
day legislation. 1t has been and is mani
fest in the assumption that Sunday law
abettors are 'the best class of people in
.
great majority of the people," notwith-
standing repeated defeats at the polls by
large majorities, and Notwithstanding the
fact tnat even ministers and churchmen
of eminent standing and ability oppose
the iniquitOus scheme to bind the con-
sciences of their fellowmen.
This effort to fOrestall the action of the
managers OF the fair, and to cripple their
efforts to procure means by exacting con-
dltlOnS favorable to an irrelevant rellg-
iOus project is but another link in the
chain of INSCRIPTIONS maneuvers for
legal control of the actions of the people
on Sunday. The present is declared an
oppOrtune moment for compellinga a popu-
lar work to yield to the demands OF a
wouldbe dominant class through fear of
damaging opposition. And, If success
ful, what next? The fact OF success will
be used as an argument that Sunday OBJ
servance is demanded "by the people,"
and weak-kneed politicians, with per-
haps not a shade OF religious scruple, will
be overawed by this grand spectacle of
power and be whipped into the traces in
the same manner as were many noted
members of Congress. 1t was publicly
boosted by leading champion of Sun
day closing that 'by writing letters
twenty ministers in Kentucky made the
Congressman from that State believe that
the whole State was in favor of the Sun
day closing of the " orld's Fair" And
others have boasted that the churches
hold Congress in their hand. This was
true to the extent that Congress, largely
through fear OF losing the church vote,
did establish the precedent of legislating
upon religious doctrine in violation of
the Constitution, and the result was
brought about by studied deception as to
the extent of the sentiment behind the
demand.
But those who have assumed the task
Of securing the Sunday closing Of the San
Francisco Fair are encouraging them
selves with the idea that what they call
christian sentiment has virtually over
awed the whole country through the re-
suits at Chicago. 1t is represented that
the people did not visit the fair on Sun
day on account of their conscientious
scruples against attending on that day.
| The fact is, the Sunday closers accom-
pllshed their purpose OF keeping the peo-
pie away from the fair on Sunday by in
ducing Congress to cover up the Govern
ment exhibit, and several of the State
Legislatures TO cover their State exhibits.
and so on till so much of the exposition
was invisible that people would not pay
their money to see only fractional part
on Sunday. Notwithstanding these we'll
known facts, the result in Chicago is be-
ing used here as a warning that failure to
yield to the assumed Christian senti-
ment' will mean disaster to the fair In
the language of a certain organ of the
Sunday law movement, 1T is not safe to
defy the church"
w hat Will be the outcome of the contest
III the matter of opening or dosing of the
Mldwinter FAIR, it is not the purpose of
this article to predict. 1t is merely in
/ tended TO arouse the people TO a sense of
the real issue before them, that thew may
/ be awake to the designs OF a certain class