The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04

downtown sweltering streets and many of
the saloons would close for lack of patron
age. What are the existing conditions,
when it comes to a question of Sunday law
observance, anyway? Every side door is
openi The click of the billiard ball is
alley is running, and out in the suburbs
the roadhouses are in full bla~st-everything
wide Open-except Washington Baseball
Park-a little concession, as IL were, 10 the
ministers of the city and those who are
supposed to be opposed to Sunday ball. 1t
nauseates one! The ministers can find
enough infractions of the law TO wage a
holy war on, if they choose, which exist
all the year round, without concentrating
their energies on an alleged evil that is
only carried on a few Sundays in the sum-
mer season. The jealous guardians of some
of the laws may also ponder over this hint
to advantage!
Let us consider for a moment the moral"
aspect of the question. 1t has long been
demonstrated that the blue laws that might
made practical in a cosmopolitan city. We
must choose the practical and sensible So
luton of the problem. Man is a nervous,
restless creature. and his taste for excite
ment and diversion must be gratified in the
most harmless way possible, considered
from the standpoint that we are. in a
measure, "our brothers keeper and re-
sponsible for the influences by which he is
surrounded. This will especially apply to
the man who is compelled to spend all his
time during the week. and perhaps part OF
0AAA1 . III NIC WI EAAOP VI - NHo OONAA
ter. Is ii not better that he choose the
lesser evil and go 20 a well-regulated, po-
Iced ball game, where no liquors are sold,
than TO make the rounds OF the saloons,
and possibly round up in some disreputable
resort? Would he not have a clearer head
and a more plethOric purse TO
the weeks duties with? Last Sunday there
We're games of ball on almost every open
lot around town, some Of them attended by
as many as five hundred people. None Of
them were under police supervision, and
- 11rE A-~ -. - ~Hn0rnzz
and 1.-The can" was rushed from the near
by saloons. Would it not be better If the
people who are baseball hungry were
permitted 10 so to a ball game where these
things would not be allowed?
There Is no effort 10 stop these games, or
that notorious resort, Brighton Beach,
where Sunday baseball has long been an
undisturbed feature. Why discriminate
against the cleaner. more legitimate sport
that is not an annex TO a drinkin placer
Why continually play into the hands Of
some place to go tor an outing-some
amusement. Let il be as armies and as
far emoved from these influences as pos
sible.
AS to the selfish or financial question, do
we ever stop TO consider the benefits de-
rived from a ball club?-the advertising
that a city gets that is represented with
other cities in a good ball league? Every
paper of any consequence in the country
publishes the results Of the games, and the
town is kept constantly before the people.
Can we afOrd 10 nave the great naIlOndl
game frozen out in this city in the interest
of evils that already flourish like a green
bay tree, that can do nothing but harm to
our morals at home and our prestige
abroad? / do not know Mr.. Watkins per-
sonally and have never received any favors
from the club, and have no AK to grind per-
~sonally. Mr.. Watkins has not tried to force
Sunday ball upon us. submitting as grace
fully as possible to the situation, and it is
not difficult to agree with him, under the
circumstances. that the time is not far dis
tant when indianapolis will be without a
ball club. We cannot expect some philan-
thropic gentlemen TO go down in their
pockets continually that we may be repre-
scented with other large towns with a win
ming ball team!
Sunday, April q. there was an unusually
large crowd of people on our streets, many
from out of town, and l have been in
formed by a citizen who has been in all the
large cities of the country that he never
saw so many intoxicated people in his life
at one time as were TO be seen from Wash
ington street TO the depot. An aimless lot
of people entering back doors, IL would
seem as if the law of restriction were re-
moved. In Cincinnati. after a League game
of Sunday ball, police statistics show that
there is a far less number OF arrests for
various demeanors than when there is no
Sunday game. / may be criticised for my
stand by a certain class of people who are
sometimes moved TO fight Sunday ball and
carry IL into the courts for the popularity
and advertisement that may be derived
from the agitation in the public press who
are less jealous on existing greater evils
that require less oStentatiOus prosecution.
At the risk of being considered pessimistic,
/ will assert, while on this line. that some
of our public parks are far from ideal safe
Sunday resorts for ladies. and especially
young girls. and should have better police
protection this summer.
EMERSON DRULEY.
Indianapolis, May B.