Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-03-20

plea Of holiday Sabbath for the poor
workingmen. The workingman is not
clamoring for it. The others are, and
they are laying the charge at the in
dustrious mans door. Il will take the
side of the Industrious workingman. =
1t is well enough to see the country
and hear the birds, but not when the
seeing Of the one. or hearing of the
other, will necessitate association with
men Of the baser and more corrupt
sort, or by mingling in unlawful
amusements. / say walk out into the
country with your wife and children
on the Lords day. ! am liberal enough
for that, but l make my appeal to the
laboring man for the sacredness Of the
day 1t is his necessity, not mine. He
must see that the Sabbath is not bro
ken down. Liberty must not be con-
ruse on the part of the destroyers of
the American Sabbath to lay the clam
or for the continental Sabbath, at the
door of the workingman.
Where is there breathing spot
about Wheeling where workingmen can
go on Sunday, where they need not fear
to have their conscience hurt? The
law allows these resorts to be conduct
ed to the destruction of the day, and
the injury of the people. We are now
on the eve of what will prove one of
the most
FEARFUL EXPERIMENTS
this community has ever been called
to make. We are to have an improved
suburban traction service. The traffic
to the country on Sunday will be i'm
mense. We are to have cheap fares.
Where ten went last summer. hun
dred will go this; where hundred
went last year, this year there will be
a thousand. l am not here to speak
on the subject of street car traffic, how
ever.
Is it any wonder that we are on the
eve of a condition that ought to be set
tied by Christian churches and not by
men of the lower and baser sort, and
the few officials who cater to them?
hold base ball to be more demoraliz-
ing than anything else. I do not even
except horse racing. If were to be
permitted to choose between the two,
I would prefer the horse racing, with
its pool selling and gambling, to the
Interstate ball games, and the gambling
that accompanies them. I have come
in contact with them before, and
speak from knowledge of my subject.
In New Jersey, in Iowa, we had this
fight on, and l remember that at the
Gloucester race track, class after class
were literally destroyed in the Sunday
schools of that great city by the ball
games on the Sabbath day. They would
not have gambled, but they thought
Of the decency of the National game
l can recall five murders resulting from
the gambling connected with those
Sunday games.
Base ball is corrupt, demoralizing.
In the wake of it, gamblers go, and it
is an institution for
GAMBLING PURPOSES ALONE.
Do you mean to tefi me that these men
are paying such salaries in the National
league and the Interstate league simply
for our amusement? Do you mean to tell
me that the gate receipts are simply to
pay the expenses? 1 know better. 1t is
purely gambling scheme.
DIR. Sooy charged that the men who are
responsible for Sunday base ball are
criminals In support of his assertion, he
read an article from a local paper. in
which it was stated that the custom in
Interstate cities has been to pay nominal
fine for Sunday ball playing. He asserted
that the paper declares that the Interstate
managers are criminals.
There is somebody in Wheeling besides
officials and base ball managers. That
will soon be discovered. If this game is
attempted, whatever law there is on the
statute books will be enforced to the let
ter. They call such laws blue laws.
They are blue laws-true blue. If we have
to so back to the old English common law
itseh we VIII go there to prevent this
outrage 1t is time for some sentiment in
this community on this question. If men
allow this thing to go on until their boys
are corrupted, 1 very much mistake the
fatherhood of this community. The law
on the statute book does not amount to
much, If there be no
SENTIMENT BACK OF 1T.
T vo11Id much rather have ba MIGHTY in
tiuence of a public sentiment against this
evil, than all the laws that could be
crowded into the statute books
When we undertook to close the Glouces-
ter races, we learned the value of public
sentiment We closed the races, and we
put one base baM club out of the bust
ness inside of three weeks. The judge and
the prosecuting attorney were on their
side, and we found that the law was not
with us. But We found another and a
more powerful law-pubrc opinion. Then
we put that judge off the bench. and the
prosecuting attorney out of his office
and within seven months We had the right
law on the statute books.
If there is a man within this church who
has anything to do with the Interstate
league, want to declare tonight that We
will stop Sunday base ball playing. In
Gloucester we got our work in by arrest
ing the prominent citizens as aiders and