The San Francisco call., 1897-05-18
WOULD BLOW UP LOOMS FR|CK SUES McNEAR
Rev. Mr.. RAIDER Strongly Urges
an Explosive Temperance
Sentiment.
Considers the Sunday Dramshop Per.
fectly Expressive of Sabbath
Desecr alton.

OAKLAND, CAL, May 17.-Rev. William
RAIDER OF San Francisco made q sensational
address before the CONVEX ton of the Cali
fornia Sabbath Observance Association in
the First Congregational Church tonight.
He said in part:
No other institution in America more COM
pleteIy EN- bodies or more perfectly expresses
the spirit OF Sabbath desecrs ton than the
Sunday saloon. II the saloon is a social
nuisance on Saturday it is thrice a nuisance
on Sunday. 1t is secular in pro portion as SUM-
dsy 1s sacred. The community which lacks
sufficient public sentiment 10 close saloons on
Sunday is not politically Christian. Some
thing is radically wrong when full churches
and full saloons exist side by side in one city.
The open church and the open saloon ms Ike
social paradox. The closed saloon and The
open church is the ideal condition.
The ground of our opposition is not the in
f1uence of Sunday closing upon workingmen.
nor the historical Se bbath sustained BY proof
texts from Scripture, nor upon the fact that
in this State We have nc CIVIC Sab bath. The
open saloon on Sunday is q disgrace, whether
Ia Dor is profted or not The economy OF the
problem is subordinate 10 the rig ghteousness of
it. The open saloon is a menace to Sabbath
sanctity whether the Seventh-day Adve ntists
are right or wrong. No hair-splitting defni-
tions of the Sabbath materially affect the
broader basal principle underlying the whole
question.
1 have heard of but one saloon being sup
pressed in San Francisco, and that was by
dynamite. When public sentiment turns to
dynamite, when temperance sentiment be-
comes explosive and definite ana consolidated,
| then the suppression will go on.
Approached on any side a discussion OF Sab
bath deseeration opens up every living topic
agitating the public mind. 1t is hornet S
nest, which once disturbed brings out every
phase of the secular spirit and every form of
ma terialism. 1t follows therefore that the
matter OF Sabbath observance is logically in.
terwoven with the whole problem of the liquor
traffic.
In the city OF Oakland, within the past two
years, two magnificent attempts were made,
not merely for temperance reform, but for the
honor of the Lords day and the glory of God.
In bo Instances the people were practically
one. 1t is true that one sect, consistent with
its own views, took grounds Ggairst this move
ment and marched with the saloon power but
or the mist part the people were united. In
both instances, notably the first, The lee ders
fell, stabbed to the heart by the arrows of the
enemy poisoned with power. By one vote a
great victory for Sunday closing was lost by
one of your Representatives. rather misrep-
resen ntatives-a man who was solemn My pledged
to sustain the people, elected to the office of
Councilman on the non-partissn temperance
ticket, but who on two different occasions,
with apparent sincerity and with ali air OF a
martyr, fell before Richmond, stunned and
battered by the paper pellet OF political pop
gun.
Let US bring to this tattle the cannon of a
civic Sabbath law. In 1858 an act entitled
"An act for the better observance of the Sab
bath" passed The Legislature. man accused
of viola ting the law appealed to the Supreme
Court, which decided that it was unconstitu-
tional. In 1872 another law was passed. re-
manning in force eleven years. A political
party destroyed it, Since 1883 we have had
no civic Sab bath law. From our Legis latuTe
we have a right to expect an act that will
place California in the list of civiely protected
States on the Sab bbatn day.