St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-07
WHY SUNDAY CLOSING FAILS.

4suSs Tie law lids DeeH ISIOIeu. In
gfoers wink at its violation. 1t is I'M
derstood that it was sop thrown to
the prohibitionists; a granting of
part, so that the whole of their de-
1nand could be refused. No
where is the law taken Sc
rieusly, and its only effect is to make
the traffic a little less open than on
week days. The closed front door
and drawn curtains preserve the APP
pearance of decorous observance,
While the side or back door opens
effect is that the saloonkeepers pre-
serve better order in their places on
that day.
But New York experienced a polit-
lcal change, and mayor sits in the
chair who regards laws as made to
be enforced. He is supported by that
very lively and persistent reformer,
Teddy Roosevelt, who, while
thinking the law is too stringent,
still believes it his duty as police
commissioner, to see that it is
obeyed. The result is an opposition
that is assuming formidable proper
tons. Delegations from societies, as
well as individuals, throng the may
or's office to make their protests
against both the law and it's enforce
ment, and the more impetuous speak
erS threaten political defeat if the
present course is pursued. To them
the mayor properly says that his
duty is to enforce the laws he finds.
that he believes the law to be unwise
! cannot make any difference with his
duty. If the law is bad one, the
best way to secure its repeal is to
| enforce it; and Commissioner Roose-
welt assured the crowd that the ;g-
noring of law was the cause of all
the corruption that had resulted in
the revolution last year. Obey every
law, but work for the repeal or
amendment of unsatisfactory ones,
was his counsel. And, OF course, the
mayor and Mr.. Roosevelt are right.
Nevertheless the result of the
strict enforcement of this law in AL
most any state adopting it would re-
suit in its repeal, and probably not
in the adoption of any sensible, wise.
regulative and restrictive law that
While admitting the individual
rights involved, would secure the
quiet and good order that is asso-
ciated with the day. This is because
IN every community there is a pre-
ponderating element to whom the
prohibitionist is an insoIuble conun-
drum. Between them there is ever
the clash Of hostile and irreconcila-
| bic ideas. The prohibitionist sees
what all admit to be a great evil:
and, mistaking the cause which, as
Holmes says, is in the drunken
/ soul, mot in my silver BOWL goes
with all the fierceness and narrow
ness Of the Puritan to the absolute
abolition Of the making of liquors
that may intoXicate.
The other element, seeing as clear
ly the evil, finds it's source not in
the use but the abuse; insists that
the use is beneficial; that the right
to the use is natural one; that it's
denial is a denial of personal free
dom, and that the remedy is not In
prohibition, but, as in other evils re-
sultlng from humanity's imperfec-
lions, in appealing to the individual.
While this element embraces every
shade of opinion in regard to Sun
day observance and non-obseryance
1t regards the law which denies to
men the facility of gratifying a
proper and natural appetite as too
rigid, and hence comes the sl1nnor+
Oh the more or less open violation of
1t. A very large proportion of this
element cannot comprehend the pro-
h1bltlonist at all. 1t cannot under
stand his sentiment that holds the
vendor of liquor in disrepute. 1t
cannot see why the selling of LIQUOR
is any more disreputable than the
! selling of meat Such a one cannot
see why man should not have his
glass of beer as well as his cup of
coffee, and why he should not have
a place to go to get the one as we'll
as the other. He regards those who
would deprive him of this privilege
much as native would regard a set
OF reformers who should begin cru
SADIE against the use of tea or cof-
fee. He takes it as an invasion of
his personal rights, an infringement
OF his freedom. He rebels against it:
defies the law where numerous
| enough, evades it where he is not.
and protests against it ever.
The reason is deep-seated in Gus.
toms inbred for generations. To a
| large portion of our population
drinking is not an end in itself, but a
means to an end. 1t is a social ad-
| Junct. Beer and wine to such are
| what the pipe or the cigar are to
'iiS PiOiIipIliOIlSt VINO uses them,
or the cup of tea to the woman of
that strenuous persuasion. Perhaps
| away out in the future, under the
dawn of the millennium, there NAV
live our posterity who will not look
on the wine when it is red or blow
| from their mugs the feathery froth
of the beer. 1t may be that then the
still will not distil, and the corn will
go to the stall or the stye, and rye
will find its only use in the brown
loaf of bread. Possibly then, too,
the Sabbath of the Puritan will be
restored, and men will again be fined
if they kiss their wives on that day,
| and from Saturday night until daY