Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-07-10
Special to the Leader.

ford, pastor of the Universalist cAurch,
preached Sunday morning on the topic,
"Shall the State Fair Be Open on the
Sabbath" He held that it should. His
text was: Jesus said, "The Sabbath was
made for man and not man for the Sab
bath; therefore the Son of Man is Lord
also of the Sabbath. st. Mark ii. 27
A wide difference of opinion and of
policy, he said, has been developed of
late between the state board of agricul-
ture of Ohio and the Pastors union of
Columbus over the proposal to open the
forthcoming state fair to the public on
the Sabbath that must intervene be-
tween the beginning and the end of the
exposition. The controversy on the part
of the ministers, it must be confessed,
has not been altogether amiable. In
some instances it has been fierce and
denunciatory, accompanied by
THREATS OF BoYCoTTING
and determination to do all that can
be done to make the fair a failure il
the gates are opened on the Sabbath.
The proposal to open the gates has
been called IAN insult to our Lord"
even more aggravating than an insult to
ones mother" which any honorable
son would instinctively resent The
board of agriculture through it's secre-
tary, Mr.. Miller, in the mildest man
ner asked for the friendship and Coop
cation of the pastors, claiming that
the board was engaged in a common
cause with the pastors in building up
the intelligence and civilization of the
state. The secretary urged that the
board had accomplished certain great
reforms for the betterment of the peo-
pie, and instanced the removal of in
toxicating liquors from the various
county fairs and all games and devices
of chance-a reform which the minis
ters of the state and the w. G.. T. U.
had not been able to accomplish. 1t
was urged also that the State Board of
Ohio had taken the lead in abolishing
the Midway" feature. which some of
the states had regarded as necessary to
attract paying crowds to their fairs.
Ohio had demonstrated that these ques-
tionable and often
DEGRADING FEATURES ARE NOT
NECESSARY
to success, and it is quoted today by
other states as an example of success
on legitimate grounds. 1t was repre-
sented by the secretary that the men
composing the agricultural board are
cultivated and responsible men, who
would have no sympathy with saloon
lists and keepers of dives and other lewd
resorts,and in the main are members or
supporters of churches in their respec-
tive homes, and are as deeply interest
ed in the moral welfare of the people
as the pastors themselves, and they felt
that the moral and religious tone of the
state could not be lowered by the open
ing of the fair on the Sabbath. 1t was
represented that there would be no rae
ing on that day, and that no machinery
would be in action, but the fair would
simply be
A SPECTACLE REPRESENTING The
INDUSTRY OF THE STATE.
1t was further announced that the
board would be pleased to have relig-
ious service on the grounds in the af-
ternoon for the benefit of all that might
attend.
To all these representations there
came from the Pastors union an en-
phatic No" 1t was replied that THE
Board in proposing the open Sabbath
was simply tearing down what the
churches are trying to build up, viz, the
cause of righteousness" and to the pro
posed religious service it was an
swered by one of our leading pastors
that any Christian minister who Shout
NOiA9bhN " ~ NlNi bllNlN AilNAVl ouNll Nll
cumstances would "stultify himself
and bring reproach upon the cause o.
Christ. 1t was charged that the minis
ters lacked backbone" and another
said that it was one of the accusations
to be brought against the generation
that we are suffering from a fatty de
generacy of conscience and as minister
it was our duty to stand up and figh
this proposal of the open gate to tn
end. 1t was claimed that 80 per cent
of the people of Ohio would Drotes
against this proposed desecration of tn
Sabbath. And so after many heate
words
RESOLUTIOS WE'RE ADOPTED
to the effect that the Pastors union &
Columbus was unalterably opposed {
the opening of the fair gates on tn
Sabbath. | was the only member of tn
Pastors union who voted against tn