The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-13
The Princeton Taproom Again.

The agitation of the matter of the tap.
room of tho Princeton Inn, it now seems,
will be carried into the next General AS.
sembly, to be held in May, with results
of much Importance to Princeton Univer.
sity and the Presbyterian Church.
1t will he remembered that the applica.
tion for a license of this drinking place
was signed by the Rev. DR.. SHIELDS, one of
the faculty of the university and an or
dained Presbyterian minister. According
ly, he was summoned for discipline before
the New Brunswick Presbytery, on the
ground that he had violated a rule of the
General Assembly in assisting in the pro.
curement of a liquor license but he escaped
condemnation by announcing his with.
drawal from the Presbyterian Church. The
trustees of the university, impelled by the
agitation over the taproom, decided last
December to enforce strictly and literally
an old law Of the institution against drink
ing by the students. Subsequently, how
ever, at a dinner of the Princeton alumni
in New York, DR.. SHIELDS was made the
hero Of the evening, and President PATTON
said substantially that official efforts to en-.
force temperance in the university would
only result in al increased demand for
corkscrews;' in other words. the stimula-
tion of drinking in the students rooms.
On Tuesday, the whole subject came up
for formal discussion at a meeting at Pitts
burg of the Temperance Committee of the
Presbyterian General Assembly. A circu-
lar with regard to it was prepared and will
be sent to every Presbytery In the United
States, advising the creation of a temper
ance committee for every church, urging
the Importance of the temperance educa-
tion of the young, and referring specifically
to the need of warning parents of the
temptations that beset their sons as they
enter upon college life" The fact is recited
that one college. Yale being meant, is sit
uated in a nelghborhood "Infested with
many saloons, yet no effort is made nor
desire expressed to suppress Them The
Princeton Inn taproom Is described as "a
liquor bar maintained for several years"
close to the university, which could
only have secured license by the aid of a
number of the college professors who signed
Its petition" without any token of dis
approval of their act from the university"
wines are served at college %banquets,"
continues the circular, and "it is reported
that drunken orgies occur = ~"surely par
ents will try to find schools for their chill
dren where their sons will not be beset by
these alcoholic man-traps of Satan" Ac-
cordingly, the committee advises that "aid
to students in attendance ON colleges where
the influences are in a~ntagonism of the time
honored position of the Church should not
be given by the Board of Education"
The question of he propriety of taking
aggressive measures with regard to the
Princeton Inn taproom provoked 30 much
difference of opinion between the radicals
and the moderates of the committee that
it was referred to a special committee, to
report next Tuesday; but obviously the
general and the particular subject will be
brought up prominently and discussed
earnestly at the meeting of the General
Assembly in May.
The withdrawal of DIR. SHIELDS from the
Presbyterian Church solely because he in
sisted upon having liberty to assist In pro-
curing n liquor license necessarily forces
the question into u prominence. If he
is justified in his course, and the Princeton
alumni are justified In applaudlng his
conduct, and the university In retaining
him in it's faculty, the General Assembly
should repeal forthwith it's rule for.
bidding Presbyterian ministers to assist
In the setting up of liquor saloons, as
an un~warrantable interference with their
personal liberty. Logically, also. 1t should
withdraw Its whole opposition to the liquor