New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-04-07
A HISTORIC PARALLEL.

nature TO tax forhearance just beyond the limit
History and human experience are full OF eX'
amplcs OF it, Here's one right handy. ana I'M
der immediate observation. furnished by the
gentlemen engaged in a traffic which everywhere
and always has been subjected to special re-
strictiOns because of the universal conviction
that without such restrictions II Is detrimental
To public morals and fruitful source of crime
They became puffcd I'D with sense Of power.
They demanded not only that the restrictions
should be removed, but that special privileges
and immunities should be granted them. They
set on foot an agitation Of the question. They
got hot about 1t, and INDUCED in not only pro-
tests but threats Therein as the event proved,
they ovcrdid IT. And now many of them are
complaining that they are undone.
A similar thing happened in this country on
a much larger scale more than forty years ago.
An institution existed in this country which, in
the deliberate Judgment of a majority OF the
voters. was not only contrary to public morals,
like the aforementioned traffic, and like that
n fruitful source Of crime but was also Il con-
slant menace to the great mass OF citizens who
depended for their daily subsistence upon the
labor OF their hands. The men who were inter
ested in this institutiOn--who lived In the sweat
Of other mems faces. and held, by 80 much the
advantage over men who In their own sweat
earned their brcad-becamc puflel up ana AFRO
CANT. They insisted upon the practical repeal of
all the restrictions placed upon their special ana
local institution, SO that they might be permitted
without hindrancc to put the unpaid slave labor.
legalizcd and protected under local State laws.
in immediate competition with the free labor by
which the vast majority of citizens earned a
livelihood. When this resisted they. too.
cot hot about IT, They fumed In the forum ana
stormc1 upon the stump. II looked for Time
as II the stupcndousncss e their sc.fasscrtion
and the rage Of their rhetoric would carry all
things before them. and that a patient people
DESTROYS. above all things Of domestic pelcc.
would let them have their way. But they over
stepped the limit. Al the end Of a long war they
found that they had only awakened The moral
sense Of the majority of voters. whom they had
cxaspcratcd beyond endurance by the arrogance
OF their demands. and that The institution which
they could not bear 20 have restricted had been
utterly wiped ont. They had overdone IT and
were undoEe
So the gentlemen who are wruclng their
hands to-day over what they seem 20 consider
a serious blow 10 their business interests In the
stringent provisions ~ the excise law will do
well 10 stop and think that their present trouble
Is OF their own making. They began the agta-
ton which has resulted In putting them in their
present prcdicamcnt. When those eminent
Democratic Statesmen. Mr. Tckulsky and In
tcrnal Revenue Collector Crosse. together with
those no less eminent Gar00s. McSsrs Hansen
and Hoebcr and others II their kind rose mp In
anger last year proclaming that their personal
liberties had been infringcd by the unexpected
but simple and orderly process of enforcement
of the Sunday laws-when they began speech
making and letter writing. and Illuminating In
newspapers. and marching In procession. and
threatening and tearing passions 10 iatters. over
the simple circumstance that law. wcundcr-
stood statute law, WAS enforced honestly and
impartally why. then they set people think
ing And the more they thought the more the
conviction grew In the public mind that the
liquor traffic did not so much need greater i'm
munity as closer and more precise restriction
in the intercsts-as the Republican platform
siatcd-of labor and morality.
1t Is. TO be sure. a crude and loosely drawn
law All the same II contains some excellent
provisions. And not the least OF them IS that
which requires that every licensed saloon shall
have its curtains drawn and It's whole interior
hours II IS this provision that makes effective
the Warner Miller resolution in favor OF the
maintenance Of the Sunday laws. II makes an
end Of evasion. and shuts off the jugglcry Of
side doors. In so in" II Is effective. and ii il
wholesome. For one thing Is certain: that II
anything can De more dcmorallzng than an
opcn-saloon Sunday II Is Il sdc-door-saloon Sun
day, involving the infraction of statute law with
IL
asier upon the liquordcalcrs. they have only
themselves 10 blame for II. for they set on foot
the agitation which has brought about this re-
suit And they may rest assured that whatever
changes may be made In the law this will re-
main intact so long rs the Sunday laws are on
the statuteboOk. For with II those laws prac-
ticay enforce Themselves ON the whole the
liquor-dealers and saloon men buildcd better
than they knew when they began the agitation
Of this question last summer. They might have
taken warning from the fate of the advocates ~
slavery extension forty years ago. but they did
not