Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-06-09
THE WORKING
 MANS VIEW and Justice of Re- cent Action of Ministers Association Not Beyond the Realm of Controversy
NO HARM RECREATION
''Giye the Laboring Man a Chance"- Wide Difference Between the View Points of the Clergy and Plain Working Man-His Argumnt.

justice of the recent action of the Ministers Association of this city in
 demanding that all places of amuse-
 ment and refreshment be closed on
 the Sabbath day, is not beyond the
 realm of controversy. There is quite
 a wide difference between the view
 points of the gentlemen of the clergy
 and his less favored brother, the plain working man. The time of the former is almost entirely at his own disposal, save on Sunday when he is
 expected to expound the teachings of
 Holy Writ to his ostensibly receptive
 hearers who contribute to his liberal salary, and who listen with more ar less perfunctory attention to the elu- citation of profound theological doc trines-by each divine according to
 the creed taught by his particular
 church. It is very easy for him to sit in his cool and comfortable study,
 clad in a neat suit of clothes, and 1 formulate code of sabbatariaa ethics for the government of the Workingman when on Sunday he eln leave off his overalls, put on his best
 suit and enjoy the day in rest from la 1 bor and in the companionship of his 1 wife and children, and in innocent recreation. The gentleman of the cloth has six days out of the seven Co 1>;, 0f To mn
 ment he may elect. Some of them have a horse and vehicle-sometimes the gift of liberal and admiring par ishioners-in which to take wife and
 children out driving any day in the
 week, including Sunday. In the sum-
 mer time our minister can take va cation-without any loss of salary
 that he may get much needed rest" Few people are better paid than he for the hours of work actuai- ly put in. But how is it with the la
 boring man, the clerk, the bookkeeper and others who are paid salaries or
 wages for their time. They work from ten to twelve hours-sometimes
 
 more-every day in the week except Sunday. They do not control their own time, nor are they able to keep horses or vehicles. They are at la Dor in the morning before the minis
 ter is, by the necessities of his avo-
 cation, required to be out of bed. They have no vehicle of their own in which
 to take wife and children out for
 ride, so they have to give them
 ride on the street cars to Forest
 Park, and then let them enjoy 9 glass of soda and ride on the mer- ry go round. fail to see any harm in such innocent recreation, and if the hard working but less favored work ingman is denied the right of any kind of diversion for himself and fam- fly, he is condemned to 3 life of toll and denied the right of every man to choose his own means of recreation.
 This is the progressive twentieth century. We have long passed the narrow minded bigotry and intoler- ance of the darkened period which gave birth to the puritanical "blue laws" which forbade a man to kiss his wife on Sunday. So long as 2 man is guilty of no immortality, does not drink and carouse, and disturb the public peace, and 50 long as he recognizes and observes the rights of others and doec no violence .o the properties permit him as a free American citizen to decide for aim self how and where he will spend the day which God gave to him as day of rest. Many man has been alienated from the church and placed himself beyond it's beneficent infu- ences by a rigid an dharsh construc- tion of the Biblical Sunday in his childhood. The writer remembers case in point: A little tot of five summers was required to sit dressed up all day Sunday, and forbidden ro| play with her dolls. She threw her-