The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-05
May Open Public Schools
 On The Lords Holy Day

ment. In fact. he looks upon 1t as an Important desideratum of good citb zenship. He also wants the fields open on Sunday, under such restrictions. Of course, as will insure order ana quiet. He has been making quiet canvass , of the forty-six members of the Board and finds that many of his confreres agree with him Apparently however. the trial of the experiment will depend largely upon public sentiment in the matter. If public sentiment is against the plan in spite of the precedent that the parks and museums are open, that will end the movement.
 In speaking of his plan for opening the athletic fields on Sunday, Gen. Wingate said:
 This must in no sense be misunder- | stood as any desire on my part to interfere with observance of the Sab bath by those who attend churches and frown. on any form of public re- creation on this day. But I do know that tens of thousands of young men not only do not go to church on Sun day. but actually spend the day in purposeless lounging on street corners, or in the atmosphere of the corner sa- loon. Largely, they do these things because they have nothing better to do. Why, they do not go to church is
 
 am concerned merely with the fact that they do not spend an orderly Sunday. and fritter away their time without physical or mental gain in surroundings morally dangerous. Rather than have these young men do as they are now doing, I should great ly prefer to have them out on our athletic fields. playing ball, running. Jumping, filling their lungs full of G1a0F1 aNr R1r aR ha,.er in the atmosphere of sour beer in the back room of a saloon. On our fields, they would be away from temptation to drink, and would be compelled as price for using the fields, to conduct their sports in an innocent. clean fash ion. At the end of the day, instead of being stale and unhappy they would have the weariness of healthy fatigue, and their bodies would have been the gathers by everys breath they took into their lungs and every mile they walked or ran. And on Monday. they would do their work better for these out ings.
 "of course. the people may nor agree with me in this, and theirs is the tnal say. as they own the fields. But I feel that public sentiment wlu sup port me. Certainly, that vast number of wealthy taxpayers who spend their ouAA0&SS hL BOlI ana country SluDS can raise no objection to the extension of these privileges of getting out into the sunshine, on the one weekly holi- day they have from factory and desk and counter. Moreover, I believe that many members of churches, and even ministers, will support the idea, as there is rapidly growing among tbem a sentiment that on Sunday the young man must haze a-cllanca ito amuse himself legitimately. or he will eeek the unlimited iiIegitimste opportunities which every great city affords"
 Whether this movement toward opening the school fields, on Sundays would eventually lead. if successful. to opening school playgrounds on Sum- day afternoon, so that tho children could play in safety, out of reach of motor cars and trolley lenders. and in clean places, rather than in the germ filled streets. General wingate did not know. That he said, wus the concern of other committees in Ihe Board of Education. He was interest ed solely in the plan to throw the athletic fields open to young men on Sunday instead of keeping Idle three hundred and fifty thousand collars worth of property for ffsy-two whoIs days of sunlight.