The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-11-04
FOR PUBLIC GOOD
PASTORS REASON FOR NO
SUNDAY SALOONS.
Not Question of Fourth Commandment,
Says Rev. DR.. Thomas, But Of
the Public Veal.

A further stand on the Sunday question
was taken yesterday by the Rev. DIR. John
M. Thomas. Of the Arlington Avenue Pres
byterian Church, East Orange, In a sermon
he delivered to a large congregation. The
last address by DR.. Thomas, when he adj
vocated allowing the people to settle the
question. caused considerable discussion In
East Orange. Dr.. Thomas had this to say
yesterday:
"A Legislature is under obligation to
pass such laws as will best promote the
welfare Of the people, subject only to the
restrictions of the constitution of the
United States and the particular State. II
cannot appeal to a religious teaching for
excuse from any measure which is Cor the
public veal. For a legislator to do so would
be to violate his ath
MY Judgment is that we weaken our
case for a closed Sunday, when We appeal
to the fourth commandment. The time has
gone by, for the great body OF the people
at least. when you could settle a question
by a text, even so emphatic q text az a
commandment. We have a better reason
for Sunday legislation, and that is the
practical utility Of it as an economic meas
ure. and to the appeal to the instincts Of
the people in behalf of sobriety, order and
talr pla TO wife and children. The Amer
lean people do not want the ordinary
' Ways ia AAO
week. The w~orkingmen do not want it
open; they believe In a day of rest. for
all classes OF labor. A great many men
engaged in the liquor business would be
glad or a closing law, enforced impartiaily
upon all. and upon soda water fountains,
100. which l think is only Just. We ought
10 trust the people In this matter. Our
whole theory of government is based on
confidence in the people, and we ought not
10 try. by some subterfuge or plot, to make
the people keep on their statute books a
h1phAr prnd a Af a,7npal1 4IaA to- - ---Tf~
inclined to. In the end we shall not sue
coed. for the will of the people ia event.
ually obeyed. But there is no reason why
we Should not try.
The great mass of our brothers want 10
do what is right and decent. what makes
Tor sobriety and good, quiet homes, and II
you put the case before them on the
grounds of public welfare there need be
NO fenr as to the result.
The question is not between the German
beer garden and no sale of liquor; 1t Is be-
tween the American saloon. open or shut.
We shall never have the German beer gar
den here, for America is not Germany; Its
people are different. its traditions are
mate are different You can't trans
plant German habits to America; you will
have worse ones, If you try.
quietly to enter the army for two years
military service, then you may expect to
see German drinking institutions natural
lied on American soil.
~ do not really expect to see the legal
ization of the opening of the saloons on
Sunday in New Jersey. As I understand
1t, that is entirely out Of the question, for
the presnt. at least. as a political posi-
billty. The present danger is lest we lapse,
through general Indifference, into the mis-
cradle condition of the acknowledgements.
or unequal enforcement, of the aw You
can leave a most excellent law on the
books, and yet through the sentiments at
tributed to men in b] eGIRTtrold perhaps g in
cura a practical Indifference to fragrant
violations. That, above all things, Is what
we do not want. Better anything than the
hypocrisy of a pious moral profession and
shutting the eyes to Its continued VIOLA
what we should aim for Is the uuie|
holding Of the excellent gains that have
been mad in recent years In excise regu.
lation. improvement not extreme, but
simply fair and ~reasonable; also a sentt-
ment at Trenton. In the Governor.s chair,
in the legislature, In every Sheriff's office,
and sb6Il %psPV obegsd the To tR Re0 lRetfer !n and 'f FURTHER iSM
the earnest endeavor still further to Inn
prove our excise regulations in the direc-
tons of sobriety and order.
New Jersey Is by no means at the
| front in temperance reform. Unduestion-
ably there has been a strong movement
toward better conditions. ~stricter regula-
tons. sweeping over the entire country
and we have not been at the front OF IL.
| which, perhaps, with our population, was
not to be expected. Massachusetts, Tor
example. limits the saloons 2 one 10 a
| have them in East Orange, except that N
buainess districts of cities of one to 800 Is
allowed. They have entire local option
not obliged to harbor a dozen road houses
simply because a county Board decides
that tnev must. hat ought to be the
case with us, and the will Of the peop,,ee,
In units small enough to carry public
sentiment into execution, ought 70 have
me fullest freedom TO declare itself"