The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-08
AS TO SUNDAY SALOONS
A GERMAN-AMERICAN CITIZEN SAYS
THEY ARE o WANTED.
Conditions I'm New York City That
Exist to some Extent in All other
Cfties-SurprisinE Statements.

I have been interested in the article
which you publish this evening saying that
Germans in New York want. Of course, a
liberal Sunday law" and quoting the pro-
prietors OF several drinking places con-
Quoted on the German plan" as favOring a
change in the liquor law by which saloons
may be legally opened on Sunday. You, in
turn. may be Interested in a conversation
which l have just had with a
American citizen, and which shows that
there is by no means unanimity among
this class Of our population in desiring a
liberal Sunday law.
1 had met my friend for the first time
since the overthrow Of Tammany, and our
conversation naturally turned at once upon
the great victory for reform. THE next
step. / suppose. will be 10 get a law allow
ing the Sunday opening of saloons I re-
marked. after we had exchanged ~felicita-
tons over the election Of Mr.. Low TO the
mayoralty. Il suppose you. as a German
American. are doing what you can TO bring
that about" I added.
you will probably be surprised at what
I am going 10 say" my friend replied, but
the truth is that am against any such
change in the law"
You do surprise me. You were born in
Germany. weren't you. and brought up in
German ways OF keeping Sunday? 1 sup
posed you would want German ways adopt
ed in New York"
Yes. I was born in Germany, and lived
there until L was a young man. When
i was a boy my good mother always took
US children 20 church Sunda morning,
and then, after dinner, the whole family
went TO a beer garden. where we listened to
the music, my father letting me have an
occasional sip from his beer mug and my
glass OF sweetened water. OF course. I was
shocked when l came TO this country and
found good people here who said that my
mother could not be a Christian if she went
TO a beer garden on Sunday afternoon"
PREFERS AMERICAN SUNDAY.
IT should think that would have set you
against the American Sunday
We'll, of course. it made me indignant TO
have such things said about my mother,
and 1 don't believe. now that 1 am a mid
~dle-aged man. any more than 1 did when L
was a boy. that there is the slightest harm
in a family's listening to good music on
Sunday afternoon and drinking beer at the
same time If they want to. And yet, of all
the American ways which 1 found so unlike
the German. the thing L liked best, after 1
came TO understand il, was your Sunday,
and / have liked il better all the time ever
since. It's right that Sunday should be diff
ferent from other days. the way il always
has been IN New York, and l hope 1t always
will be different"
But the saloons do business on Sunday
now. in violation of the law. through the
side doors. Wouldn't IL be better to have
them allowed by law TO open their front
doors. and do business legally?"
Il don't think so. As II is now, in most
cases the liquor traffic on Sunday is con-
Quoted quietly and without giving offense.
II you take a walk on a Sunday afternoon
and pass fifteen or twenty saloons on as
many corners, you will generally hear no
noise. either outside or inside. and all you
VIII see Will be a man, or perhaps two or
three men, going in or coming out of the
side door as quietly as though the object
had been a call on the family. Now, that's
q very different thing from having the
front door open and men coming in and go
ing out on Sunday afternoon and evening as
freely and as nOisily as they do on Satur-
day. / certainly don't want TO see such a
change as that"
But you think it's all right to go to a
beer garden on Sunday afternoon and drink
a glass or bSST when you go back to Ger
many for a visit. don't YOU? Why don't you
want to have the same customs prevail
here"
CONDITIONS QUITE DIFFERENT.
Simply because the conditions are so
different that you cannot make the beer
garden the same sort Of a respectable and
harmless family resort on Sunday after
noon and evening in New York city that 1t
is in Berlin or Lepsic- The prevailing SEN
$500 C*AANA - o6aAAAoA AHO sd
loon. and the beer garden. and any other
place where liquor is sold. a saIoon-keeper
in Germany is regarded as engaged in a per-
fectly respectable business. 1t isn't so in
the United States. People here. as a rule
look down on the salOOn-keeper. You know
that hquOr-sellilg is condemned by the
Protestant churches, and is under the ban
OF the Roman Catholic church. Think what
the influence of that church il and you will
see what IL means with German Catholics
and Irish Catholics to know that their
church dtsapproves the liquor traffic. It's no
use talking, you can't make fathers and mo-
theirs, who are bringing up children in this
country regard our saloons as fathers and
mothers regard the beer garden in Ger
many
But don't you think that a majority Of
the voters consider it right to sell LIQUOR
on Sunday, and so would vote that the sa-
looms might be legally opened on that
day"
Now, l shall surprise YOU more than T
have yet. l am perfectly conhden that if
the question is ever submitted the voters
OF New York city will declare against open-
Ing the saloons on Sunday by a great ma
JoTity. Moreover, 1 feel absolutely sure
that the majority would be against sun
day opening even in this borough of Man
haitian"
But how can YOU figure that ont -,
well. in the first place. all the tremen-
d0us influence or the Roman Catholic
Church would be against Sunday opening.
so would be nine-tenths OF the Protestant
clergymen. l know that "A few prominent
ministers favor the change. like Bishop
Potter and DIR. Parkhurst and DIR. Rains
ford, but you Will notice that the rank and
file or the clergy in every denomination. So
FAR as we learn their views. are against
Sunday salGons-and very earnestly against
them. In the second place, you would have
the influence OF the women almost unani-
Iaously against changing the law. and
Tammany has just found out what il
means 10 have that element against any
cause Then let me tell YOU that. If a
vote IS ever taken. there will be a LOT of
no ballots east by German-Americans
and and Americans who
are descended from other races in Europe.
CONSIDER THEIR CHILDREN.
These men would much rather have
their families live in a city where the sa-
looms are closed on Sunday than i'm one
where they are open. They don't want
10 have their sons and daughters com
PEELED TO pass saloons which are doing bus
mess as openly on Sunday afternoon or
evening as on Saturday. Let me tell Won
another thing, too. There would be lots of
votes against opening the saloon on Sun
day cast by men who patronize them.
through the side doors now. 4 good MANY
such men are half ashamed OF entering the
saloon anyway. and whether they are or
not, they feel that IL would be a bad thing
for the community 20 have the LIQUOR traf
hc allowed as much freedom on sunday
afternoon and evening as on Saturday.
There are other forces which would on
that Tammany would have 10 work Sc
Rrgflv AGAINST "a rhupga v~hf.R a..