*C- 2<* THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY From the collection of Julius Doerner, Chicago Purchased, 1918. 2 Alton R. R 90 (15) C. H. Hudson, General Manager East Tenn ., Va ., 6° Ga. R. R. . . ' 90 (16) Epes Randolph, General Superintendent Newport News 6° Miss . Valley 6° Ohio R. R 92 (17) C.. H. Platt, General Manager N. V., N. H ., &> H. R. R. 92 (18) Payson Tucker, General Manager Maine Ce?itraC RR 93 (19) F. W. Baldwin, General Superintendent Central Ver- mont R. R 93 (20) L. J. Seargeant, General Manager Grand Trunk R. R 94 (21) E. N. Brown, General Superintendent T amino De Fierro Nacional Mexicano R. R 94 (22) L. S. Coffin, Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen . . 95 (23) J. Weatherbee, Grand Secretary Order of Railway Telegraphers 102 vi. Sunday in the Industries of France. Ed Baumgartner, Rouen, France 105 vii. Sunday in Metal and Glass Works and Mines of France. A. Gibon, late Director of the Metallurgic Works of Com- mentry ( Allier), Paris, France 115 SOCIAL RELATIONS 127 viii. Effects upon Character and Habits. Rev. O. Prunier, Secretary of the Societe Fran^aise pour V observation du Dimanche , Paris, France 129 ix. Sunday Rest for Women and Children in Fac- tories, Stores, and Domestic Service. Alice L. Woodbridge, Secretary Working women’s Society, New York 138 x. Address. By Mrs. Florence Kelly, State Inspector of Factories , Chicago, 111 153 xi. Address. By Miss Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago . f ... 156 xii. Relation of Sunday Rest to the Home and to Family Life. Mrs. J. H. Knowles 158 CONTENTS . 5 PAGE POLITICAL RELATIONS 169 xiii. Should Sunday Rest be maintained by Legis- lation ? The Ground and Limitations of Such Interference. (1) William Allen Butler, LL.D 171 (2) Address, Henry Wade Rogers, President North - western University 208 xiv. Sunday in the Public Service. Major-General O. O. Howard, U . S . Army 21 1 xv. Sunday in the Postal Service. Hon. John Wanamaker 222 RELIGIOUS RELATIONS 227 xvi. Sunday Observance in its Relation to the Spiritual Life. Rev. J. W. A. Stewart, D.D 229 xvii. Place of Sunday Observance in Christianity. (1) Cardinal Gibbons 240 (2) Pastoral Letter of the Third Plenary Council 248 (3) Professor A. Spaeth, D.D., Lutheran Theological Seminary 252 (4) Rev. W. W. Atterbury, D.D., Secretary New York Sabbath Committee 255 xviii. The Sabbath in Judaism. Rabbi Dr. B. Felsenthal 266 MISCELLANEOUS 2 77 xix. Dangers which threaten the Rest Day. Rev. Wm. R. Huntington, D.D., Rector Grace Church , New York 279 xx. Recent Progress in securing Sunday Rest on the Continent of Europe. E. Deluz, Secretary of the International Federation for Sunday Observance , Geneva, Switzerland . . . . ' . . 289 xxi. Present Aspects of the Sunday Question in Great Britain. C. Hill, Secretary Workingmen 1 s Lord's Day Rest Associa - tion , London, Eng 302 xxii. What is Sunday Worth ? Joseph Cook, LL.D 308 xxiii. Sunday for All. Archbishop Ireland 31 1 APPENDIX 319 INDEX 329 INTRODUCTION. One of the most important features of the Colum- bian Exposition at Chicago was the series of con- gresses held in connection with it, under the general supervision of the “ World’s Congress Auxiliary.” Its motto was, “ Not Things, but Men.” Its object was to present the great moral, social, and scien- tific achievements of our age, and to give new im- pulse to all efforts for the well-being of man, by bringing together wise and earnest men from all parts of the world for the interchange of thought and knowledge. Among these conferences, it was fitting that an International Congress on Sunday rest should find a prominent place. For the weekly rest is intimately connected with the welfare of man and society, with the problems of productive industry and of political liberty, while as a religious institution it has still higher relations and uses. The idea of such a congress originated in Europe. In the great industries of France, Germany, and other Continental states, a large proportion of the working-people have been for years under the bond- age of uninterrupted toil. Thirty years ago there was started in Geneva, Switzerland, a movement to ameliorate the condition of the working-classes in this respect, and at the same time to rescue from the neglect into which it had fallen the religious observance of Sunday. The leader of this move- ment was Alexander Lombard, a banker of Geneva, 9 IO IN TROD UCTION. whose name should be held in lasting honor by all who are interested in the welfare of their fellow-men. The movement extended to the other countries of Europe. The Social-Democrats of Germany, at the reorganization of their party at Gotha in 1875, made it one of the articles of their programme that the right to rest on Sunday should be assured by the State. 1 Petitions in favor of laws to restrict Sunday work were presented to the German Parliament ; and it is of interest to note that these were advocated alike by the leading representative of Roman Ca- tholicism and by prominent Jewish deputies. An official inquiry instituted by the German government as to the extent of Sunday labor and its social and economic effects, showed that more than one-half of the manufacturing establishments worked on Sun- day,’ and in trade and transportation seventy-seven per cent of the labor was continued seven days in the week. In France the “ Workingmen’s Party ” made the legal prohibition of more than six days’ labor a week the first article of its economic programme. 2 Louis Blanc, in the French Chamber of Deputies, in 1880, in advocating Sunday rest, said : — “ The weekly rest has been consecrated by all religions, and nowhere is it more strictly observed than among Protestant peoples who are laboring peoples. The diminution of the hours of labor does not involve any diminution of production. In England a workman produces in fifty-six hours as much as a French workman in seventy-two hours, because his forces are better husbanded. No pains should be spared to make man more enlightened, better, and stronger. It is this which con- stitutes true progress.” An effective crusade in favor of Sunday observ- ance among the Roman Catholic dioceses of France was organized by Count Cissey, .under the special authorization of Pope Pius IX. } Mehring’s Deutsche Social-demokratie, Bremen, 1877, p. 228. 2 Paris letter of Theodore Child in New York Sun , Oct. 19, 1881. INTROD UCTION. 1 1 In 1876, at the invitation of the friends of Sun- day rest in Switzerland, an International Congress on this subject was convened in Geneva. It was a large and influential gathering. His Majesty, Wil- liam I., of Germany, who felt a deep interest in the cause, was represented in the Congress by his am- bassador to Switzerland. Delegates from the lead- ing railway companies of Europe, from chambers of commerce, and philanthropic and labor societies took part in its deliberations. This congress led to the organization of “ The International Federation for Sunday Observance,” and gave new impulse to the cause. In 1879 a second International Congress was held at Berne. Here again the venerable German em- peror, William I., was represented by a special dele- gate, and official representatives of several of the governments of Europe sat in the congress. In connection with the Paris Exposition of 1889, a still more important congress on Sunday rest was held, under the authorization of the French Govern- ment. Its attention was confined to the hygienic, industrial, and social aspects of the question. An eminent citizen of P"rance, M. Leon Say, member of the Institute, and member of the French Parliament, presided. Prominent men of Europe and America consented to act as honorary members. Among these were Mr. Gladstone, Ex-President Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison, then President of the United States, who was made honorary president of the congress. Publicists and philanthropists, leaders of trade and industry, representing different classes and faiths, took part in its proceedings. The proceed- ings of the congress were published by the French Government, and were reprinted, with an English translation, as an official document, by the British Parliament. Out of this congress grew “ The French Popular League for Sunday Rest, ,, with M. Leon Say as president and the distinguished 12 IN TROD UCTION. French senator and publicist, Jules Simon, as honor- ary president. In 1890 the present German emperor, William II., who, like his imperial grandfather, has taken a deep interest in questions affecting the interests of the industrial classes, convened a labor conference at Berlin, which was attended by representatives of twelve of the states of Europe. The Sunday rest was chief among the subjects considered by this conference. Under such influences, the subject of Sunday rest engaged increasing attention. The example of Great Britain and the United States was adduced as sup- plying arguments and encouragement. The impor- tant results which have already been achieved by this movement are given in detail in an interesting paper in this volume. 1 Meanwhile, there were evidences of new interest in the question in America. The Sunday observ- ance, maintained from the beginning of our history by the customs and convictions of the people as well as by the laws of the land, had been gradually yield- ing to the changing conditions of our civilization, the eager pursuit of wealth, with its intense and selfish competition, and the rapid infusion of the foreign element into our population, until the proportion of persons working under some or other plea of necessity for seven days in the week had become ominously large. This tendency arrested the atten- tion both of Christian philanthropists and of the more intelligent wage-earners, and numerous asso- ciations were formed for the better protection of the rest-day. The Paris Congress had voted in favor of another similar congress at some future time, referring to it certain aspects of the question which it had been unable adequately' to treat. So it came to pass that when announcement was 1 See page 289. INTRODUCTION. 13 made of the Columbian Exposition to be held at Chi- cago, it was suggested by the friends of the cause in Europe that an International Congress on Sunday Rest should be called in connection with it. The hope was expressed at the same time that, while it was understood that in America the religious aspects of the subject would not and should not be excluded from consideration, as was the case at Paris, the con- gress would yet be conducted on so broad and liberal a basis as to welcome the co-operation of all, of what- ever faith, who sought to promote the weekly rest. The suggestion was cordially accepted. Sunday rest, which might have been treated under other heads, was made a distinct department, so that all its relations could be discussed together and on the broadest grounds. The preliminary arrangements were intrusted to a Committee widely representative in character. An Advisory Council was appointed, composed of promi- nent men in Europe and America, interested in the cause. A carefully studied programme was adopted, and efforts were made to secure competent writers on the several topics to be discussed. The great number of congresses on all subjects called to meet in Chicago during the months of the Exposition, necessarily prevented some from contributing to the Sunday rest discussion who would gladly have done so had it not been for other engagements ; and the same reason diminished the attendance of delegates, who were unable to repeat their visits to Chicago. When the congress convened, after the divine blessing had been invoked by the venerable Dr. Robert W. Patterson, the oldest Protestant minis- ter of Chicago, an address of welcome was made by Mr. Bonney, president of the Columbian Congress Auxiliary. He clearly presented the importance of the movement as one which does not rest on a mere sentimental theory, but has for its aim and object the abolition of a vast and oppressive system of INTRO D UCTION 14 human slavery. He showed that it is a movement in the interests of civil and religious liberty, and the equitable distribution of the opportunities and fruits of labor. He then yielded the floor to the chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, who recounted the steps which had led to the calling of the congress, and called attention to the broad and catholic spirit in which the congress was to be conducted. The chair was then taken by the president, Major- General O. O. Howard of the United States Army, from whose right shoulder hung an empty sleeve, bearing pathetic witness to the part he had borne in the late civil war. In a brief address he expressed his warm sympathy with the objects of the congress, and his pleasure in taking part in its deliberations. The president was assisted by eminent vice-presi- dents, each of whom occupied the chair at some subsequent sessions. 1 Letters were read from various associations for Sunday observance in the United States, Canada, and Europe, announcing the appointment of dele- gates, and making report of their work. M. Leon Say, president of the Paris Congress, and now of the French Popular League, wrote that, as America in sending delegates to the Paris Congress of 1889 had expressed the community of interest which united the friends of the Sunday rest all over the world, it was with the same sentiments that the French Society delegated one of its members to bear to the congress the sincerest wishes that good re- sults might flow from its discussions to the cause of humanity everywhere. M. Henri de Vilmorin, the French delegate, was introduced by the president, and in a graceful and earnest address gave an account of the very encouraging work which is being done in France in promoting Sunday rest. A communication from Count Bernstorff of Berlin, 1 P'or the list of the officers of the congress, see Appendix. IN TROD UCTION. IS delegate from Germany, expressed his regret that, having been suddenly called home from Chicago by a death in his family, he could only thus briefly con- vey to the congress the sympathy and interest of the German friends of Sunday rest. The Netherlands Sunday Rest Association, in a letter from its president, M. Repelaer Van Driel, announced the appointment of M. George Brikoff, the Consul at Chicago of the Netherlands, as its del- egate. At his request, the Rev. P. Mayerdike, D.D., appeared for him, and read the report of the Nether- lands Society. A communication was read from the Royal Consul of Italy at Chicago, announcing that, at the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Signor Giovanni Florenzans had been appointed to attend the con- gress. In his absence, Cavaliere Matteo Prochet, D.D., of Rome, made an interesting address with reference to the cause of Sunday in that country. The International Federation for Sunday Observ- ance had taken a deep interest in the congress ; and its secretary, M. Deluz, did much to promote its suc- cess, besides preparing for it a very able report, of which as much is printed in the following pages as space will permit. The delegates appointed to rep- resent the Federation felt obliged to leave Chicago before the opening of the congress. It was regretted that no delegates were present to represent Great Britain. British sympathy and in- terest in the cause were, however, significantly ex- pressed by the many eminent names which appear on the list of the Advisory Council. To Mr. Charles Hill, secretary of the Workingmen’s Lord’s Day Rest Association, thanks are due for untiring efforts to promote the success of the congress, as well as for his able report, extracts from which are printed in the following pages. The Lord’s Day Observance Society of London, by its late secretary, the Rev. John Gritton, D.D., 1 6 INTR OD UC TION. rendered important service in the preparations for the congress. The Glasgow Workingmen’s Sabbath Rest Association sent a brief report of its work. The Canada Lord’s Day Alliance, besides a communi- cation through its secretary, the Rev. W. D. Arm- strong, Ph.D., was represented by the Hon. John Charlton, M.R, who assisted as one of the vice-pres- idents of the congress. The special relations of the Sunday rest to wage- earners of all classes naturally occupied a prominent place on the programme of the congress. Assur- ances of warm interest in the objects of the congress were received from prominent representatives of the labor organizations of this country. Mr. Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, who was finally prevented from attending, wrote : “ I am in entire accord with the purposes of the congress, and am pleased to learn that a number of men, leaders of thought in the civilized world, have promised their co-operation and participation in the congress for the advocacy of Sunday rest. ... I accept your invitation to attend. If I can be of some assistance to the congress, it will give me pleasure to do so.” The Labor Congress, which was held some weeks before that on Sunday rest, had drawn together many representatives of labor who found it impossible to come again to Chicago. The condi- tions of trade, moreover, were such as to prevent the attendance of many who would gladly have been present. An important feature of all the departments of the Exposition was the part taken by women. How well they were represented in this congress, the con- tents of this volume show. Mrs. Charles H. Henro- tin, who, as vice-president of the Woman’s Branch of the Auxiliary, had contributed largely to the suc- cess of the Exposition in several of its departments, presided at one of the sessions of the congress. In no way was the characteristic breadth and lib- IN TROD UCTION. 17 erality of the congress shown more strikingly than in its treatment of the relation of the Sunday rest to religion. The paramount importance of this rela- tion was recognized. As the different branches of the Christian church may be supposed to differ some- what in their views upon the religious observance of the weekly rest, this topic was treated by represen- tatives of different denominations. In view of the important place which the Sabbath has always held in the religious and social life of the Hebrew people, and of the relation to it of the Christian Rest Day, a distinguished Jewish rabbi was heard with interest in a paper on “ The Sabbath in Judaism.” It is greatly to be regretted that the limits of this volume compel the abbreviation of some of the papers herein printed and the entire omission of the reports presented from associations in this country. Among the latter is a valuable history of the movement for Sunday observance in America for the past half-century, by George S. Mott, D.D., presi- dent of the American Sabbath Union. Interesting and able addresses were delivered dur- ing the sessions of the congress by the presiding officers ; by Dr. Arthur Little of Boston ; by pastors Henson, Heilman, Bristol, and Goodwin of Chicago, and others. Want of space prevents a report of these. It should be added that each writer or speaker was at liberty to utter frankly his views, and for these each was alone responsible. The last address was by one of the vice-presidents, Archbishop Ireland of the Roman Catholic Church, who then, at the request of the presiding officer, General Howard, closed the sessions of the congress with prayer for the divine blessing. Among the results ‘which it is hoped will follow from the congress, and from the publication of these papers, may be mentioned : — i8 IN TROD UCTION 1. A more general and intelligent appreciation of the Sunday rest and of the duty of protecting it by wise and just laws : 2. A wider co-operation of Roman Catholics and Protestants in maintaining the Sunday rest : 3. A fuller recognition on the part of wage- earners of the efforts which Christian men and phi- lanthropists are making to secure to them, as far as practicable, their right to the Sunday rest : 4. A better understanding of the peril to the weekly rest from such use of it on the part of wage-earners as robs others of their equal right to its benefit : 5. The manifested agreement of Christians of different denominations as to the divine authority of the institution, and the duty of so using it as to promote the spiritual as well as the physical well- being of man and society. W. W. A. PHYSIOLOGICAL RELATIONS. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE SUNDAY REST. Samuel B. Lyon, Medical Superintendent, Bloomingdale Asy- lum for the Insane, New York ; N. S. Davis, M.D., Chicago, 111. J PHYSIOLOGICAL RELATIONS. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF SUNDAY REST. SAMUEL B. LYON, M.D. I T is eminently proper that the great question of a periodical rest from all toil, both mental and phys- ical, should be approached from a medical, as well as from a moral or social, standpoint, for without health no man can properly fulfil his purpose in life, or can discharge his duties to himself and to his fellow-men as we believe that he was intended to discharge them by his Great Designer. The professional man ought at all times to be the good citizen as well. He should view the great public questions of the day not only from the stand-point of his art, but should also see them in the light of his duty as a factor in the general prosperity. The doctor and the priest are £oth charged with the duty of restrain- ing man in his harmful tendencies, physical and moral, and of making him a healthier, and consequently a more useful member of the community. Overflowing vitality may lead to occasional sins of excess, and the ascetics have tried to suppress their humanity by lowering their vitality, and mortifying their flesh ; but we are forced to believe that the evils of exuber- 21 22 SUNDA Y REST. ant life, bad as they may be, are not a tithe of those of a depressed vitality, which seeks forgetfulness in mental and moral oblivion. Medicine is ceasing, to a large extent, to be merely an empirical art, and is becoming more and more a precise science, based on a growing knowledge of cause and effect in relation to disease. The recent discovery of the micro-organism as the potent cause, or as the associate of pathological conditions, is a grand advance, and marks an epoch in medical science. It has enlisted many eager investigators in this new field of discovery; and it seems not im- probable that the extent and limits of the responsi- bility of the disease germs for pathological conditions may be eventually known, and being known, may be counteracted by the application of wise methods directed to their elimination. The causes of diseases being known, a clew is fur- nished, not only to the treatment of maladies of this class, but also as to the means of their prevention, and thus Preventive Medicine assumes a position of the utmost importance. Throughout all the civilized world the best medical thought is now directed toward shielding all forms of beneficent life from their enemies. Micro-organisms are waging war not only against man and animals, but also against the plants useful to man. The animals which contribute to the life or comfort of humanity are, like man, sur- rounded by enemies, too minute for ordinary detec- tion, but potent for harm. Man himself seems not only to be surrounded, but to be constantly inhabited by myriads of organisms, which, unless kept in sub- jection, possess themselves of their host, to his destruction. PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 23 While quarantines and boards of health may per- haps bar out the great invading armies of cholera or typhus germs, they never can entirely protect us from the other forms of injurious microscopic life, which always surround and inhabit us, not always working ayr destruction, but always waiting for our moment of vulnerability to do so ; and the part of wisdom is to make all these enemies of man as little hurtful as may be. It may be asked, “ What bearing has the theory of germ diseases on the observance of Sunday ?” One theory of preventive medicine is that immunity from germ disease is enjoyed largely in proportion to the vigor of the individual. The vigor of man is depend- ent upon his enjoying hygienic conditions of life, among which periodic rest is most important. We increase a man's power of resistance to the inroads of disease by feeding him well, by giving him plenty of pure air, by providing him sufficient all around ex- ercise, in fact, by giving him his proper share of the blessings which Providence intends for all alike. The man who is exhausted by overwork, who is de- pressed by anxiety, or who is poisoned by bad air, falls the readiest victim to every form of moral or physical evil influence. When the disease germs find an overflowing vitality opposed to their attack they cease to flourish. They thrive best in a soil prepared for them by a previous lowering of the vital forces. As the plant does not take from the soil other vital elements, but rather subsists on the products of previous destruction, so disease thrives best on the products of disorganization and partial decay, due to impaired vitality in the human body. 24 SUNDAY REST. It has been said that “ there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance.” In pre- ventive medicine the contrary is true. There is more joy over the eversion of disease from ninety and nine well men by the enforcement of proper san- itary rules, than there is over the recovery of one unfortunate whose illness is the penalty of their violation. The functions of preventive medicine are not however restricted to combating and forestalling zymotic diseases, to nullifying the effects for ill up- on the human body which is discovered to be pro- duced by demonstrable entities. It has a much broader and more noble field of labor and good than these alone, important as they are. Its duty is not only to restore mankind to health, but to keep them well, and thus to increase their power for work, and their capacity for enjoyment. By exercising a watch- ful and shielding care over the public health, the devotees of sanitary science directly increase the sum total of good in the world. And we have good and sufficient authorities for our belief in the hygienic value of that periodical rest and recreation, which breaks the wearing monot- ony of ceaseless toil, and which gives the system a chance to recover itself. If I take the liberty of quoting somewhat freely from authors who have writ- ten on the subject of the Sunday rest, it is partly because they have not been translated to any extent, I believe. A long array of physicians have dwelt upon the vicious effects of unremitted labor where nature is sinned against, and man is ground between the upper PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 25 and the nether mill-stones ; where constant toil amid unwholesome aliments on the one hand, and the seamy side of life generally on the other, grind the grist so fine that it is doubtful if life is a beneficent gift from the Almighty, but if it is not rather a curse, which may be endured only while some faint illusions of hope^ remain. These medical authorities agree that constant labor, varied only by the often brief nightly rest, and unbroken by an occasional day of complete change and remission of the accus- tomed toil, robs men of their elasticity and aplomb, and makes them incapable of throwing off cares and troubles, and incapacitates them from coming fresh and vigorous to their several duties. Dr. Haegler 1 calls attention to the chemical facts of expenditure and repair in the constituents of the blood, as demonstrated by Pillerkofer and Voit, who showed that the nightly rest after the day’s work did not afford a complete recuperation of the vital forces, and was insufficient to keep the mind and body in tone ; but that if this reparation is not sup- plemented by an occasional longer period of rest, the system is subjected to a gradual falling in pitch* This continuous and progressive decline has been measured and pictured graphically by these investi- gators through instrumental means, and the resulting charts show series of zigzag lines traced upon them, which mark the limits of highest and lowest strength and vigor of the subject, on each day, for varying periods of observation. The observers alluded to found that on each suc- ceeding day the wave of strength failed a little of 1 Le Dimanche au point de vue hygienique et social. A. Haegler, doct. en med. Bale, 1879. 26 SUNDA V REST reaching the height of yesterday, and that during the six days of weekly labor a sensible decline in power was experienced by the subject, which was depicted upon the chart. If the subject, however, enjoyed a day of rest and change after the six days labor, he then returned to his work on Monday in as good con- dition as he had been in on the preceding Monday. Thus from week to week, with a day of rest between, his ability to work did not show any material decline. On the other hand, the same experimental re- searches showed that when the subject under obser- vation did not rest on Sunday, but continued his labor without intermission, he did not enter on the new week with his normal standard of ability to ac- complish work, but that his record as shown on the charts fell below that of the preceding week, and that a study of the observations taken for a succes- sion of weeks of continuous labor, with no Sunday rest, demonstrated that a progressive decline in po- tency had taken place from the beginning to the end of the series of instrumental observations. In other words, the man who takes a day of rest between his weeks of labor does not materially deteriorate in his strength, but week by week maintains about the same average capacity for effort, and observes the best conditions for a long life of useful work. But if the man, on the other hand, labors continuously day after day, taking the usual nightly rest, but taking no weekly rest, he pursues a course of steady decline in his strength, which must eventually incapacitate him for mental or physical labor. It is obviously as unwise to live upon our capital of bodily strength and nervous force, as it is to consume money capital in our daily expenses. The accumulation in each PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 2 7 case should be carefully husbanded as the source of revenue, which revenue, and not the capital, is to support us, if a course of life capable of indefinite extension is to be pursued. There are two ways in which a man may be submerged financially. He may assume too great burdens for his normal earning power on the one hand, and on the other hand his capacity to earn may daily diminish through bad habits and poor management. The result is equally deplorable in either case. The same is true in a larger measure of overdrafts upon our physical powers. Benevolence and charity may help us to bear, they cannot re-imburse, the loss of health and strength. Preventive medicine declares that a man must be the husbandman of his own health, the cus- todian of his own physical powers, the only almoner of his potentialities ; and that when he wears himself out with ceaseless toil, when he does not conserve his own powers, he is derelict in his duty to himself, and robs society of his effective service. But alas, how can a man take such prudent care of himself when he is driven by poverty or by necessity to ceaseless labor ; when the unwise customs of his environment force him to work week days and Sun- days, early in the morning and late at night, always spending, never saving, the precious treasure of his health and life. In a discussion of this subject at the International Congress on Sunday Rest, at Paris, in 1889, Prof. Raoul Allier called attention to the laws of heredity, and the sad consequences not only to the sufferer from his unremitting labor, but the disastrous conse- quences to his descendants, who enter life handi- capped with defective powers and low vitality. 28 SUNDA Y REST Heredity is a large element in disease, and the rela- tion of excessive and prolonged toil to transmitted mental and physical degeneracy" is as patent to medi- cine as to social or moral investigation of the great question before us. M. A. Hoffmann, pastor at Geneva, said that in an inquiry made by the German government in which a million and a half of laborers were considered, it was found “ in all the factories where the workmen, on account of the steam, smell, or other impurities of the air, suffered in their eyes, their lungs, or their respiratory passages, etc., it is absolutely necessary to limit the days of labor to six in the week, in order to assure the workmen an interruption of the bad hygienic conditions to which they are exposed.” M. L. Roehrich, President of the Executive Com- mittee of the International Federation at Geneva, said : “ It is not a question of simple pleasure, it is a question of the right to live, because repose is neces- sary to life.” M. Hanssen, pastor at Antwerp, who has labored among the sailors of the port, says : “ Among those on sailing vessels, who generally rest Sundays, it is easy to interest them in subjects outside of their ordinary life, as the amusements and art exhibitions, which are accessible to them ; but it is not possible to draw out of themselves and their mechanical con- dition of mind, the sailors on steamers, who have no Sunday rest. They are like logs,” he says, “ de- prived of their forces, corporal, moral, and spiritual.” Further, he says “that the sailors on steamers are the ones who frequent the saloons, who become most frequently the victims of alcoholism.” The first resolution adopted at the Paris Congress, PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 2 9 after an exhaustive discussion on the hygienic view of the Sunday Rest, says, among other things, that “ it is a condition essential to the ability to work and to long life. ,, Camille and Edouard Rabaud say, in an able essay , 1 which received the prize offered by the Societe gene- voise d' Utilite publique, in regard to the occupations which cause disease to those employed in them : — “ We may be asked, ‘ Would it not be better to suppress these causes of disease, these deadly occu- pations ? ’ But such suppression is not possible, while rest from them is perfectly practicable ; and it has a double action, first, to attenuate the morbid process, and second, to give to the organism the time to repair the damage inherent in the occupation. It permits the elimination of fatal and deleterious sub- stances absorbed by the organs ; it prevents their accumulation to a poisonous degree ; it compensates for the insufficient respiration, circulation, etc., due to the sojourn in damp rooms, bad air, exposure to infection, etc., and for the constrained attitude in which the workman is sometimes obliged to remain during ten, twelve, or fourteen hours.” These are old truths, which it is well to emphasize again, to the end that if we cannot change the ordi- nary occupations and surroundings of a large number of our less fortunate fellows, we may at least Try to dilute the pernicious conditions, to attenuate the poison they are forced by necessity to partake ; to insist that they be permitted to give a day at certain intervals to the breathing of pure air, to the taking of wholesome exercise, to a return to normal posi- 1 “Le Repos Hebdomadaire,” par Camille et £douar.d Rabaud, Geneve, 1870. 30 SUNDA Y REST. tions, and to an absence from the usual surroundings, to the end that when again forced into them, they may be to some extent fortified against them, and may bear with them to their work the consciousness that it is not continuous and without hope of release, but intermittent, and that ahead of them looms up the coming Sunday, as a lighthouse of hope and encouragement. Professor Niemeyer, the eminent hygienist, says : “We should treat properly, at all times and without partiality, all the organs ; as well those which do not manifest their needs by special sensations as those which do. It is incumbent on us always to consider that health is the result of multiple organs in harmo- nious action.” 1 No labor or exercise can be so well regulated, so perfectly systematized, that without occasional complete remissions or change in direc- tion, by which some organs rest and others are used, the proper harmony of action between all the organs of the body is preserved, in such manner as to give them each their proper relative activity, which the eminent professor says is essential to health, — “the harmonious action of multiple organs, which results in health.” There are no occupations in which some portions of the body or mind are not overtaxed, while other organs, or sides of the mind, lack their proper func- tional activity. A rest, an intermission of this unbalanced activity, is necessary, to prevent the tem- porary and accidental lack of adjustment between the organs from becoming permanent, and to allow it to pass away, in order that a normal condition of functional action may resume place. 1 “ Le Repos Dominical au point de vue hygienique.” 1876. Berne and Paris. PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS 31 Niemeyer again says *“ We see what damage may ensue in the professional activities, particularly of artisans and office employees, when Sunday repose does not intervene to remedy this abuse.’' To ex- plain and illustrate what might be considered by some a mere expression of individual opinion, arrived at perhaps from religious grounds only, he adds regarding the mechanism, of life, the recognized med- ical truths concerning the wonderful processes of assimilation, elimination, and nutrition, which are carried on through the proper oxygenation of the blood; whereby used-up and deleterious products of the chemical changes going on in the body are re- moved, and the blood is again charged with its oxygen in the lungs, and returns on its mission of cleansing and purifying the body. He says, “ The color of the blood, and from this the color of the skin also, the air of health or suffering, which we each one of us present, and which is remarked at the first glance, is due to the proper performance of its office by the blood.” But how is the blood to be purified and regenerated in an atmosphere exhausted of its oxygen, and contaminated by the dust or fumes of various manufactures, which are necessary to society, but injurious to the unfortunates engaged in them ? How can one thrive who breathes contin- uously an atmosphere which is contaminated by the exhalations of numerous people who are similarly occupied, and who pursue their work in crowded and illy ventilated shops ? It is obvious that such conditions are hostile to life, that under such circumstances the color of the skin will not bear the “hue of health,” but that we shall see instead the pallor and sallow aspect only 32 SUNDA V REST. too characteristic of the wholly or partially sub- merged ; that instead of the “ buoyancy and air of health/’ there will be the stamp of suffering, become habitual and hardly realized. His conclusion is that “the united effect of all the alterations in the blood supply, due to bad surround- ings, is that the elasticity of all the body is exhausted, and that the vigor and the aptitude for work are diminished, and the length of life is in general re- duced. It is an old principle in medicine that ‘what does not rest occasionally does not last long ; ’ liter- ally, ‘ he who is deprived of alternate repose cannot long endure/ ” A. Eschenauer 1 says, what is certainly true, “that continued or excessive labor, and this in the unfavor- able surroundings which are too often its environ- ment, is certainly one of the most frequent causes of perturbations in the physical and moral state of man. It is unfortunately only too easy to demon- strate this fact. The body, its senses, and its organs, are the instruments of the mind. If reason, if mod- eration, do not preside over their employment, the equilibrium is destroyed, the man suffers, his consti- tution is impaired, his nervous force is exhausted. After a time, he is not capable of the same activity. He has acquired a number of maladies. He has accelerated his death.” Again, contrasting idleness with protracted and unbroken labor, quoting the English proverb, “ It is better to wear out than to rust out,” he says, “while such toil is a hundred times more respectable than idleness, it is none the less ruinous to the human constitution, which is 1 Le Repos du Dimanche, Paris, 1876. PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 33 only preserved by a wise alternation of labor and rest, which restores the vital forces. This is true, it is undoubted, for all th.e professions, for all ranks of society ; it is most evident of severe labor, and for the classes so numerous and so interesting, whose ne- cessities compel incessant toil.” So speaks the ancient pastor of Strasburg, who draws his inspiration not only from religion, but also from science. My quotations, while not wholly medical, all con- cern the bearing of Sunday rest upon life, and are in the direction of the several lines along which each one’s special work has lain. Each man has a special and individual point of view of all social questions, which is influenced by his special study, which brings him nearest, to the subject; and in a body of intelli- gent observers, composed, as are these congresses, of men from many walks of life, we may be said to look all around the great question, each seeing a little farther around on his side than his neighbor, and all together getting a composite of the subject, which gives it a solid entity, with appreciable dimen- sions and a definite shape. The medical men have each viewed it differently. The physiologist has seen it on the side of biological chemistry, the sanitary expert from its bearing on the public health, and the general practitioner from his personal ob- servations among the victims of protracted labor. The weekly- rest also has its bearing upon the saddest, I might say, of all diseases, insanity. Rabaud 1 says: “ Persons of nervous temperament who find themselves marvellously well in a calm and sweet environment, become, in a life of agitation, ex- 1 “ Le Repos Hebdomadaire,” par Camille et fidouard Rabaud, Geneve, 1870. 34 SUNDAY RES 7: cited, irritated in a strange manner, if they are not driven into cerebral maladies or insanity.” Thirty years ago Dr. Ray wrote that “ A very im- portant condition of the highest state of mental health and vigor is that of a healthy and vigorous body.” “ The effect of bodily ailment is to embarrass the action of the mind, to enfeeble its conceptions, to diminish its powers of application, and to shut out the blessed sunshine, which never ceases entirely to gild the prospects of the mortal who rejoices in the buoyant sensations of sound health.” “ The lawyer, the doctor, the minister, the scholar, the merchant, the mechanic, all apparently act on the presumption that their brains are made of iron, which no conceiv- able amount of work can weaken or damage ; as a consequence of such habits, it is not strange that every description of mental infirmity should have increased among us of late, to an extent that has no parallel in former times.” If this were true thirty years ago, what must the fact be now, when the working pressure has everywhere increased. Any- thing which lowers the individual’s vitality has long been considered as a potent cause of insanity. The sufferers from this disease are often of naturally feeble constitution, but sufficiently vigorous to go on in a fairly equable state of mind, if the circumstances of their lives are favorable ; but with unfavorable surroundings, with too severe or protracted labor, in any circumstance or place where their general health is impaired, their 'weak resistance is broken down, and they become the victims of despondency, perhaps ever after their attack to remain incapable of self- support, and constant burdens upon the benevolence of the community. This is an indication for prevent- PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 35 ive medicine and good hygiene to act upon ; to apply treatment to these people before and not after the calamity of their lives has occurred. Six days’ labor a week may be too much for them, and a more fre- quent rest might perhaps keep the habitual strain of their lives below the breaking point. If so, would it not be wise economy to relieve the pressure before the explosion, and to abbreviate their days of labor, and lighten their severity ? Institutions for the insane all over the world are filled with people to whom the stress of life has come with a weight, not great in itself perhaps, not too much for you or me very likely, but to their frail natures a frightful over- strain, beneath which they have broken. Sometimes they only bend, and after a period of repose, and a hoarding of nervous energy, they return to life, and with care may afterwards carry their small burden again ; but too often it is a breaking, not a bending of their bow, which no skill can repair, which occurs, and they enter upon the lingering death of hopeless insanity. Is it straining a point to say, that if all the hard- worked and heavy laden were, by a common senti- ment, accorded even a day in seven, their lives would not only be fuller, happier, and generally better, but that a weight would be lifted from many a frail and feeble individual, whose frailty and feebleness are not of his own working, but the penalty of others’ sins, and the reproach of a cruel and selfish world? Altruism is written on the standards of civilization in these days. Where is there a better field for its display than in curbing the selfishness of the strong ; in convincing the unthinking employer, that the long hours of labor, that the unbroken succession of days 36 SUNDA Y REST of work, is a temporary gain, purchased at a fearful price of human sufferings ; that the apparent econ- omy is only apparent, and that the ultimate result of neglecting the laws of public health cannot fail to entail increased financial burdens upon the commu- nity ; that it is cheaper to support the poor and weak at work, than in hospitals and asylums? When these grand truths are realized, we may hope for an over- powering sentiment in favor of an intermission in labor. The physician may not, from his professional stand- point, say what particular day shall be observed as a periodical rest. He may not, as a doctor, declare that the one day of rest shall follow six days of labor. He may only indeed insist upon the great necessity of an intermission in labor, to regenerate the forces of the body and renew its power to work. If, how- ever, the physician and hygienist is also a student of social conditions, and a believer in the Mosaic dis- pensation and its Christian succession, he will join hands cordially with those who view the subject from these points alone, and say, by all means let the day of rest be the Sabbath ; the day which, by tradition in all the lands now interested in this great question, has been for time immemorial set apart for rest from labor, and for the worship of God. N. S. Davis, M.D. There are one or two points that are not fully developed in the able paper of Dr. Lyon, though alluded to. One is, that more evil PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 3 7 arises from the non-use, or inadequate use, of cer- tain organs during our various duties and labors, than from the over-exercise or wear of those we are using. Let me illustrate. A man who, mentally- occupied, sits day by day at his table or his desk planning some business undertaking, and studying the details, or reading, or writing, or book-keeping ; or the woman who is watching her needle and at the same time trying to co-ordinate the movements of her feet to run the sewing-machine, soon becomes exhausted. It is not the wear of the brain, how- ever, that is doing the harm, but deficient use of the lungs. For it has been ascertained by experiment that a person in breathing takes in from one to two cubic inches less volume of air when his mind is occupied intently than when the attention is di- verted. A man breathes eighteen times a minute, and there are sixty minutes in an hour, and say eight hours in a working-day ; and at the rate of one cubic inch less volume of air at each breath, you can figure out the result. Now, did you ever think why it is that everybody in close mental occupation, whether the woman at her sewing-machine, the student at his books, or the clerk at his desk, goes home at night feeling tired out ? Invited to go out in the evening, he answers, “ Well, I am tired out ; ” and he finds it a great deal more comfortable to soothe that tired feeling and dissipate it with a cigar than to go out and take a little exercise in the fresh air. But why is he tired ? It is not the wear of his muscles that has made him tired. It is a lack of a supply of oxygen through his lungs during the day ; and the man succumbs, and finally gets the credit of killing himself by his devo- 38 SUNDA Y REST. tion to business, not because his mental toil exhausted his brain, but because he did not use his lungs suf- ficiently to supply the blood with the necessary amount of oxygen, until disease supervened, and he was early laid on the shelf, or started out to travel to recover his health. It is the fashion of the day to think that every one can work, regardless of time or place or occupation, ten or eleven months in the year without a rest, be- cause he is going to have a month’s or six weeks’ vacation once a year. To hear people talk, you would suppose that there was a pocket or some place where one could store up health enough in four or six weeks of rest to draw on all the remainder of the year straight through, Sunday or no Sunday. Such is the almost universal practice. But where is the pocket or store-house to put health in ? Did you ever ask this ? The farmer has a cellar for his po- tatoes and meat ; but where is the pocket for health, in which to store it up to be drawn from as needed ? Health is simply the standard of regular, even action day by day, between the process of repair and those of waste. You must balance the ledger at least once a week. You ought to balance it every day if you would preserve exact health. If we should follow out that idea of the non-use of organs, we would find that in all the -various avenues of life it is the organs not used, or used in- sufficiently, that cause more harm than the wear of organs in most active use. One thought more. That it is necessary for the preservation of the race and its highest health, to have all the vocations of life arranged in such a way that at least every seventh day may be a day of gen- PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS. 39 uine rest, does not mean that all should go to bed and lie there from Saturday night to Monday morn- ing ; but it means absolute recreation and abandon- ment of the week’s toil, and diversion of the mind and thoughts heavenward, and the going where they can find plenty of fresh and invigorating air to re- lieve them from toil, and get a picture of joy before them which will tend to elevate and inspire them with new hope and courage and strength. While the day of rest is thus necessary to the preservation of the race and its highest health and happiness, yet, practically, with the seventh day of rest come pitfalls and temptations and snares to tempt thousands into fouler air and worse surround- ings ; to spend their day in an atmosphere impreg- nated with little else than the fumes of tobacco and whiskey, and to keep them there all the Sabbath day, so that Monday morning they are better fitted to go to a doctor’s office than to go to work. Every doctor knows that Monday is his most busy day; and from the employer of laborers we have the testi- mony that if he pays his men Saturday night, the following Monday is the poorest day for work in the week. Thus are pitfalls and snares laid in the track of the laborer to prevent his getting the Sunday, — that is, as a day of actual rest. And it is one of the highest duties of good government to remove these pitfalls out of his path. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. ECONOMIC AND ETHICAL VALUE OF SUNDAY REST. Geo. E. McNeill, Boston, Mass. SUNDAY REST IN THE OIL INDUSTRIES. W. J. Young, Vice-President Forest Oil Company , Pittsburgh, Penn. SUNDAY REST IN MINING. Thomas Weir, Superintendent of Mines , Monte Cristo, Wash. SUNDAY RAILWAY TRAFFIC. E. C. Beach, Agent Union Line , Pennsylvania R. R. Co. SUNDAY IN THE INDUSTRIES OF FRANCE. Ed. Baum- gartner, Rouen, France. SUNDAY IN METAL AND GLASS WORKS AND MINES OF FRANCE. A. Gibon, late Director of the Metallurgic Works of Commentry (Allier), Paris, France. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF SUNDAY REST. GEORGE E. MCNEILL, Boston , Mass . Introductory Note. Of the many Congresses, during the time of the Columbian Exposition, no one can be of more vital importance to economic and social progress than the International Congress on Sunday Rest. At the time of the acceptance of the invitation to prepare a paper, my thought was that I was to enter a field so rich in material, that I could not fail to gather something of value. The pressure of other duties has kept me on the outside, as we are all kept out of the fertile valley of truth by the poverty of our social and economic environment. Weighted with the responsibility and duty of giv- ing my testimony, I have attempted in the briefest time to state further something of the economic truth. It was impossible to prepare statistical tables, or to keep close to the economic method of treat- ment ; so if the economic and ethical are joined in close accord, it may be that it was because there can be no division of the two ; for it is said, “ Whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” It is the attempt to sunder the worker from his man- 43 44 SUNDAY REST. hood, the animal man from his immortal possibilities, that has caused that inhumanity to man for which the countless millions mourn. This paper is, then, but a plea of a human soul for the rest that comes with universal peace and pros- perity. That a great educational work is needed on eco- nomic lines is evident to all who see present condi- tions and weigh the present and past with man’s possibilities. But to some of us arguments seem vain ; interests control our acts, and so it seems that a hope of the salvation of society must rest in the awakening of a new line of interest. Self-interest is blind ; mutual interest has been given the prophetic vision. Self- getting is the economic way to the abolition of pov- erty ; self-getting erects its barriers between classes ; and even those who get are, by the process of the getting, made but the poor slaves of fear, folly, and fashion. Let no one charge us truthfully of Phari- seeism. Forced obedience to the bigot’s rule will not save the Sunday Rest-Day. The saloon, the concert hall, and the theatre are open on Sunday, because we have closed the avenues that lead to a more enjoyable and beneficent em- ployment of rest time. “ I had rather talk with you than go to the theatre,” said one well-known labor man to another ; yet both of these men are lovers of the drama. The Sunday meetings of labor men in their unions and central bodies are awakening anew line of attrac- tive interests ; and as men advance on the line of mutuality, and their aesthetic tastes are quickened through shorter hours and higher wages, the glitter INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 45 of the saloon will pale before the glory of the home circle, and the feast of reason and the flow of soul at the union hall will overcome the social attractions of the bar-room. Sunday is the barrier between mammon and hu- manity. Good generalship requires more than the strengthening of the fortification ; we must advance more and more upon the lines of the enemy, driving him back hour by hour, until the rest hours of the work days shall so equalize time and wealth, that the motive of self-aggrandizement shall give way to the higher motive of mutual helpfulness. W AGES are and must be at the highest point where the aspirations and motives, and the habits and customs of the wage-workers cause a progressive demand for the larger portion of time for intellectual and moral development. This pro- gressive demand will continue until the time is reached when the minimum of manual labor will produce the maximum products required. The animal man has few physical, and compara- tively no moral or intellectual, motives. His social wants and demands are the first manifestation of his superiority over the animal kingdom. The crudest social contact awakens aspirations and develops intellectual activities. The moral law is evolved out of the desire for improved societary conditions, and the intellectual activity called into play for their attainment. Society, from the time of Eden to the time of the Columbian Exposition, demands a release of time from the individual out-put of exertion in the form of labor, to the requirements of social life and en- 46 SUNDA Y REST. joyment. Protection in the enjoyments of society requires conformity to such mutual understandings and agreements as is necessary for their orderly conduct. The orderly conduct of society necessitates the ob- servance of moral law. Immoral control cannot be orderly. Excessive labor demoralizes the animal, so- cial, intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature of man. Excessive labor is therefore destructive to order. The hours rescued from the labor of working- days cannot be hours of rest in the fullest sense, because of the working-day environment. The res- cued hours will advance wages and improve the moral, intellectual, and spiritual man by the improve- ment of societary conditions.; but they cannot be restful except in the ratio of a general suspension of ordinary occupations and vocations. The rescued hours from week-day labor are prop- erly hours of new activities, either for the home or for social life, or for both. Holidays where labor is depressed are hollow days. When laborers and employers are one, these days re- leased from work will be holy days. The Sunday Rest-Day is holy to rest, and every in- road upon its observance as a rest day endangers the wages of wage-receivers. A Puritan Sunday is safer than a work-day Sunday. A work-day Sunday will mean a pauper Sunday. A Sunday Rest-Day means seven days’ living for six days’ working. It means Sunday clothes for the family ; Sunday clothes mean better furniture for the home. Sunday clothes with an uncarpeted floor will not harmonize. When men dress in work clothes every day, their INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 47 wages will fall or remain at the work-day clothes level. Good clothes and good furniture, resultant from the Sunday Rest-Day, provoke an appetite for books, pictures, musical instruments, and the other necessities of a higher development of manhood. A Sunday work-day is a reduction of wages, earn- ings, and products. Men who receive more than they can properly expend, will ultimately receive less than they can properly expend ; or they will acquire habits of extravagance and profligacy, and thus be- come a menace to progressive civilization. Misers are the exception to the rule, and they are a curse to themselves and society. The standard of moral attainments and intellec- tual activities fixes the standard of wages. Men contented with Sunday work and low wage conditions must be aroused to an honorable and ac- tive discontent. Every motive and act that increases production through the increased demand for more and better things, tends to a more equitable distribution of wealth. Sunday work and all over-work lessen the demand for the best, cheapen the worker as a man, and tend to an iniquitous distribution of wealth. The men, the corporations, and the habits and cus- toms that force Sunday work, fatten the treasury of those engaged in the most harmful business enter- prises, and lessen the consumption of those things that make men dearer. The full benefit of Sunday cannot obtain where the workers are not recuperated by daily hours of rest. The short hour and the Saturday half-holiday are a part of the Sunday Rest-Day movement. 48 SUNDAY REST. The man who is compelled to take extra sleep or extra stimulant, or both, on Sunday, cannot be eco- nomically benefited to the same extent as can the man who welcomes the Sunday sunrise with joy and thanksgiving. Sunday rest means more than a non-working rest ; it should mean a rest from the dull care for self, and the awakening of the joy that comes .from care for others. These are assertions founded on a world-wide and world-time experience. Those who are educated in the godless, senseless dogma that time is a commodity to be sold for hire, and that the more time you sell, the more wealth you will have, will take issue with the assertion that time is the soul of this life. It is economic blasphemy (if I may use the term) to say that the chief end of man is to sell the most of his time for the largest possible amount of mate- rial wealth ; and yet the whole mammonized system of industry rests upon this blasphemous falsehood. Sunday stands unique and alone as a protest against this, and every self-asserting, wealth-getting age. Wealth thus gained is a weight, a burden, a chain to hold down the immortal man to the grossest animal desires. It is the image of God in man that demands our homage, not the golden image of the calf upon the al- tar. The Mosaic seventh day sabbath, and the Chris- tian’s Sunday or first day, are one with the rest day of true science. The institution of the rest day is evidence to me of an all-pervading wisdom. It is not necessary, as of old, that a prophet declare a curse upon those who IN D US TRIAL RELATIONS. 49 set at naught this eternal law of rest, — the prophecy has become the fact ; the curse is here. Heaven is often portrayed as a place of rest, and we are bade to pray, “ May thy kingdom come on earth even as it has in heaven.” When that time comes, then the Sunday Rest-Day shall not be a day of idleness, but a day of activities for man’s sublimer part. But now in this day of unrest, this day of con- flicting interests, this day of insane greed for wealth, and lust for power and position, the Sunday Rest- day must be preserved, not only to manual laborers, but for all. The Sunday Rest-Day is in competition with the Sunday work-day. In the sweet name of pleasure, men are deluded into yielding, point by point, to the enemy, as clowns were wont to beguile the idle heads of kings ; and music has been made to lend her harmonizing and inspiring power to tempt the unwary into dangerous paths. As public carnivals and sensuous joys have been freely furnished to turn the people from their righteous anger, so, in the name of liberty and pleasure, have we been cap- tivated by the laugh of fools ; been tempted in our selfishness to forget that even our pleasures may be another’s pain. The shorter hours of work-days already gained are being robbed of their full beneficence by Sunday work ; and Sunday rest is robbed, in turn, not only by those who are forced to do Sunday work, but robbed by the increasing cares caused by the in- creasing wants and demands of the more active life. The economic law that governs wages cannot be violated with impunity ; and the inroads now made So SUNDA Y REST and being made upon the Sunday Rest-Day are con- sequent upon our failure so to reduce the hours of toil, that man’s capacity to consume the better things may keep pace with the productive capacity of ma- chinery. My plea for the rescue of the Sunday Rest-Day would be vain, as our united voices shall be, unless we lay the axe at the root of the evil tree. Make the animal man a social, intellectual, moral, human being ; then into the image of the living God will be breathed the inspiration of a glorified spirit- ual existence. SUNDAY REST IN THE OIL INDUSTRIES. W, /. YOUNG . I N relation to the oil industries, I can say that im- proved methods and close observation of the business have demonstrated that there is no neces- sity to pump oil wells on Sunday. In the early days of the industry it was thought that to stop pumping wells on Sunday impaired the production ; but, from close personal observation, I am prepared to say that if operators will stop the machinery from Saturday night until Monday morning, they will pump, in most cases, as much oil in six days as in seven, for these reasons : — First : Machinery used continuously will be more easily broken, and breaking machinery makes forced stoppage. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS . 51 Second : A man who is required to work seven days in a week does it to hold his place, to support himself and family, but loses self-respect, and does not have the interest in the work he would have did he respect himself and his employer. The owners of land through Allegheny and Wash- ington Counties, Penn., were Sabbatarians from principle, and in many cases inserted a clause in the leases to operate their farms, to the effect that no work should be done on the Sabbath ; and although the operator might be willing to go into court and swear that it injured wells to stop pumping them on Sunday, yet, in order to get the lease, he would take it with this clause in, and live up to it too, because he knew the man who had the mind to put in the clause would also enforce it if it became necessary. Most of the Sunday work in the Oil Country comes from the same cause as other work on Sun- day, — “greed for money.” One person will not stop for fear his neighbor will get a little more oil than he, and the neighbor will not stop because the other will not. I am of the opinion that were it com- pulsory to pay to the churches or schools one- seventh of the product, when wells are pumped on Sunday, the churches and schools would not be enriched by their share, as the parties would run the chances of injury rather than give away one-seventh of their production. The point I wish to make from this is, that wells do not need to be pumped on Sunday, and can be shut down if the owners have the desire to do it, or are forced to by the conditions of their leases. During the year 1890, our company purchased the controlling interest in a large property. The prop- 52 SUNDA Y REST. erty had formerly been run seven days in the week; When we took charge we said to the minority inter- est that we were opposed to working on Sunday. They objected on the ground of injury. The prop- osition was made them, that they allow the wells to be shut down for the next two Sundays, and if the production of the two weeks to come would not equal the past two, the wells would be pumped on Sunday thereafter. They agreed to the proposition. They were furnished with the weekly production for the two preceding weeks. Then, as the property was pumped for the two succeeding weeks, the two weeks' production from the six days' pumping was more than that of the two weeks when they were pumped for seven days. It is needless to say that our partners consented to pump only six days per week thereafter. Until the past year our company (the largest oil producing company in the United States) has been pumping wells in what is called “The Hundred Foot District ” (so named because of the thickness of the rock in which the oil and salt-water is found). The rock in this level is always filled with oil and salt- water, or salt-water alone. Sometimes a well will produce one thousand barrels per day of fluid, of which salt-water will be nine-tenths, and oil one-tenth. The oil is saved, after being separated in tank, the salt-water being allowed to run off. The operators in this district pumped every day in the year. The man who would shut down his wells on Sunday was considered about ready to throw away the amount he had invested in the plant ; but our field superin- tendent, knowing the manager's desire to have no work done on the Sabbath, began experimenting, INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 53 and after some time announced to the men that they need not come back to work on Sunday. The next Sunday the minister in the small church, instead of having a few women and children for a congregation, had the little building comfortably filled with men, women, and children. After several months of cessation of Sunday work, we wrote for in- formation as to how the properties were producing, and how the men were pleased. I quote you the superintendent’s language : — “ One thing I am sure of, it has made quite a difference in the energy and cheerfulness of the employees. ‘ We can do more work in six days than in seven.’ Most of the men attend church or Sabbath-school, or both, on Sunday, and come out Monday morning prepared for a good week’s work. We also have the satisfaction of others following our example. The people living here say it looks more like Sunday than before they got oil.” Another instance may be given from the northern part of Pennsylvania, near the State-line of New York, where a rich field was worked by our com- pany. Being quite a distance from any town, the children of the workingmen could not walk to school. The company offered to build and heat a house, if the school directors of the district would furnish a teacher for the scholars. They did so ; and from this little school on week-days, a Sunday-school was started for the people of the neighborhood, after the Sunday-school a prayer-meeting, with a church service once a month on Sabbath, then a regular church. A letter from the superintendent of the farms said that quite a number of our men, and many of the neighboring employees, had joined the church. This was up in the Hemlock Forests of Pennsyl- 54 SUNDA Y REST. vania. A stranger, to drive through this settlement, would see a clump of neat one story rough board houses, a little patch of garden to each, a cow or horse, and sometimes both. These evidences of prosperity are accounted for by the fact that the people were under the influence of the gospel, were working for the family happiness and elevation of the children. The Sabbath to them was a day of rest and moral elevation, and resulted in a closer intimacy of parents and children. I think the foregoing has answered the inquiries as to Oil Industries and Sabbath Rest, and its bene- fits to the laboring class at work in the business. My own impression is, that if employers would look into their business, and take the trouble intel- ligently to investigate the work from week to week, they would find it financially a success to work only six days, and let their employees rest on the Sab- bath. This is a selfish way to look at it; but, as most of the Sabbath work is done for gain, I think it would pay to investigate this phase of it. I hold that an employer should be careful of the example he gives his employees. If the employer requires his men to violate the Fourth Commandment, by causing them to work on the Sabbath, he should not be surprised if the employee violates the Sixth or the Eighth Commandment. In proof of this, I make the assertion that most of the strikes in this country that have been accompanied by violence and blood- shed, have been where men were required to work on the Sabbath day. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 55 SUNDAY REST IN MINING. THOMAS WEIR . M OST of the work done in connection with min- ing, as ordinarily conducted, is out of sight of the average visitor or spectator. Mining formerly employed but few men. At present we have several States almost wholly dependent on this industry, and we have a large population in about twenty States and Territories following this occupation. It is interest- ing to note the large number of cities and towns which are dependent on the mining industry in their vicinity. Most of these places are in our young States and Territories in the Far West, which are only sparsely settled at the present time. The effect, socially and morally, of the customs now being es- tablished in these new settlements, will be far reach- ing in its influence on these communities. Mining in the Rocky Mountains is principally con- fined to the production of the ores containing gold, silver, lead, and copper. While the writer’s expe- rience and observation has been principally in con- nection with this class of mines, still, the conclusions arrived at should be applicable to the industry of mining in general. Right here it may be well to note some of the cir- cumstances and conditions relating to this business. First, we have the prospector, who roams from gulch to gulch, and from one mountain to another, in search of veins and deposits, which he locates or appropriates, under our mining statutes. He is 56 SUNDA Y REST in no sense a permanent resident. He does not often visit the same district two seasons in succession. Then we have the miner, who works in the tunnel and shafts and other workings that are driven, in order to develop these veins or deposits. Some mines are developed by tunnels, where very little or no machinery is required. Others are developed by inclines or shafts, or both, and require machinery to elevate the product of the mines. In most cases pumping machinery is required to keep the workings drained. Many mines have large plants of machin- ery for compressed air, electric power or light, and other useful purposes. A mining camp or town is usually a new settle- ment ; is born and reaches maturity in a remarkably short time. At first there are no families, schools, or churches. It is simply a community of men, and mostly single men. Almost every man has on his working clothes when Sunday comes. There is no religious service, and no place to go for rest or lei- sure which is open to the public, except the saloon or gambling house. The saloon-keeper, realizing this, is usually first on the ground. The prospector generally continues his prospecting on Sunday as on other days. The miner works because there does not seem to be anything else to do. The merchant keeps his store open because he gets as much busi- ness on that day as on other days, and “ because all the rest do it .” After a while a Sunday-school is started, and later a church is organized. The Sun- day-school is usually composed of one or two men, a few Christian women, and those children who can be persuaded to come. The church has a small mem- bership, mostly women. The attendance at service INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 57 is small, because the men work on Sunday as on other days. The financial support is poor, because so few are seeking spiritual blessings. They seem blind to their needs. “They love darkness rather than light.” The missionary minister is discouraged. He goes to the mining superintendent for financial help, and to plead that the miners be allowed to rest on Sun- day. He may get a semi-annual contribution, but usually the minister is told that the church is not doing much good, hence he (the mining superinten- dent) does not care to give anything. Regarding Sunday rest for the miners, the minister is informed that it is all nonsense to think of it, because the miners would all get drunk on Sunday if they were not working, and they would not be fit for work on Monday ; consequently, the miners are better off working than resting on Sunday. The mine could not stand the expense of keeping all the machinery in repair and the pumps running, with the miners resting and no work being done. The missionary then goes to the merchants, to see if they will not close their places of business on Sunday ; and they all with one consent begin to make excuse. They claim the Sunday trade is as good or better than that of other days ; that a good many prospectors come into camp for supplies on Sunday, and if they closed their stores they would lose this business ; and, in a very sanctimonious tone, they say, if they do not keep their stores open the men will spend their money in the saloons. Finally, the missionary .visits the miners, to see if they will not use their influence in favor of Sunday rest. A few, because of their early training, or con- 58 SUNDAY REST. victions, or other reasons, are in favor of Sunday rest. A majority are opposed to it. Some of them claim they have families to support (either in camp or elsewhere), and that they cannot support them without working on Sundays. Others say there is nothing to do in this town on Sunday but work, and they are unwilling to lose the day. But a great many miners claim (and truthfully) that their super- intendent is unwilling to close the mine on Sunday, and that they would be discharged if they refused to work. All this time we are in a “ Sunday work ” mining town, where the mining superintendent boasts that he does not mix religion with his busi- ness, and where the miners are being worked Sundays to keep them from drinking and gambling, and to reduce the mining expenses ; where the miners work Sundays in order to support their families ; where the merchants keep their places of business open on Sundays to accommodate their customers and to keep the miners from spending their money in the saloons ; where the number of saloons is much greater per capita of population than in Sunday rest communities ; where there is so little religion and so much dissipation that the fact is notorious ; where wages are highest and credit is poorest ; where morality is a crime and dissipation a virtue ; where evil is called good and good is called evil ; where men are continually boasting of their personal liberty. The above picture is not overdrawn ; and Sunday work, with its direct effects, is largely responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs. The general reputation of Western mining camps for immorality, where the miners have been doing Sunday work for years, is ample proof on this point. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 59 Bearing in mind the usual conditions under which drainage must be maintained and the machinery kept in order, it is evident that from time to time some work must be done on Sundays, as a matter of necessity. This is not the kind of work referred to as Sunday work. By Sunday work we mean such an amount and kind of work as is customary on other days. Let us investigate some of the excuses given for Sunday work. One reason is to economize mining expenses. It is a noteworthy fact that the leading copper and iron mines of this country (outside of Montana) observe Sunday rest. They have to drain and operate deep workings, still their expenses are much less per ton than those who require Sunday work. We never hear it suggested that Sunday work is going to be inaugurated to reduce the cost per ton. The average miner cannot do good work seven days in the week any more than any other class of labor can. He becomes tired out, and works like a tired man. The writer knows of several in- stances in the Rocky Mountains where mines for- merly operated seven days in a week, afterwards observed Sunday rest, and the result was a large saving in the cost of production, though depth and quantity of water increased. One case is a shaft that was sunk two hundred feet (below a depth of one thousand feet). The miners worked every day from the time the work was begun until it was finished. A few months later sinking was again resumed, and the shaft sunk a further distance of two hundred feet. While sink- ing the last two hundred feet the miners observed Sunday rest (by stopping work for twenty-four 6o SUNDA Y REST hours on Sunday). The same miners sunk the last two hundred feet that sunk the former two hundred feet. The rock showed no change. The progress per day was better. The total cost per foot was re- duced twenty-one per cent. The only work done on Sunday was to pump the water. Another example : a mine produced a certain amount of ore per week for several years, and prac- tised Sunday work; later, Sunday rest was observed: the same out-put in tons per week was maintained, with the same force that was employed when Sunday work was the custom. It is surprising that a mining superintendent should claim ability and efficiency in working a mine, and at the same time admit that his force is so worthless, that they would get drunk and be unfit for work on Monday if they were allowed Sunday rest. The re- fusal to suspend Sunday work is often made because of a disposition to entirely divorce from business any appearance of being religious. As to the claim of some of the miners, that they could not afford to lose Sunday wages, we will give one of many instances that we know of. A certain miner, whom we will call Scotia, worked over three years in a Colorado mine, where the custom of Sunday work prevailed. Scotia had good physique, was about twenty-two years old, and in good average health. He worked Sundays, and kept a diary which showed the actual time worked during the year. After Sco- tia had been working in the mine three years, Sunday rest was adopted. All other conditions remained the same, except that the depth and amount of water increased. When Sunday work was discontinued, Scotia was among the first of the miners to complain INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 61 that he would lose one day’s pay each week, and he asked to be allowed to continue Sunday work. His request was not granted. He continued to work in the same mine, and kept his diary as usual. One year after Sunday rest had become the custom, Sco- tia told the superintendent that he found upon ex- amination of his diary, that he worked more days and received more pay during the year of Sunday rest than during any of the years when Sunday work was the custom. Upon being asked for an explanation, he said, that while Sunday work was the custom he lost more time on account of sickness than offset the Sundays for the same time. This experience of Scotia was related eight years ago, and he has confirmed it many times since. Many others can testify to the same experience. “ He that earneth wages by Sunday work, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” In this connection it is worthy of note, that our savings banks show smaller savings in Sunday work than in Sunday rest communities, even though the rate of wages is higher in the former. Miners who work Sundays are always tired out. They have little time to cultivate the better part of their moral or social natures. If they have families, they only board with their families. They do not live and associate with the wife and children. It is useless for the father to tell the children to go to church and he will go to work. The mother must work Sunday, if the husband does, to a greater ex- tent than she would if he rested. Morally, the example of Sunday work is very injurious to the family. When Sunday rest is observed, the ordinary drudg- ery is dispensed with for the day. The parents and 62 SUNDA Y REST children are dressed in their best. The family affec- tions are cultivated and encouraged under the influ- ence of Sunday rest. The miners rest and are bet- ter able to do their work. As an example of this we will only mention one case of the many that we know of. The case is a foreman whom we will call Mason. Mason had followed mining for twenty years in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Montana, and New Mexico. In relating his experience and observation, he maintained that the force he had in a certain camp averaged twenty-five per cent better than the same number of men in any other mining camp in which he had ever operated. It came out that Sunday rest had been observed at the mine where he had such good results, and in all the others Sunday work was the custom. The illustrations given do not show that Sunday rest will make incompetent men, competent ; or worthless men, trustworthy ; or ignorant men, in- telligent ; or vicious men, moral. But they do show that, other things being equal, Sunday rest will im- prove the character and efficiency of the force em- ployed, and reduce the working expenses and also increase the actual savings of the men employed. The statement often made, and believed by many, that miners are a hardened, reckless, and dissipated class, usually comes from those who are largely re- sponsible for this condition of affairs, and who have used their influence in favor of Sunday work and the evils associated with this custom, and is simply an observation of the effects of this influence on men, when the custom is continued for a considerable time. The miner is human. He has a social and moral INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS . 63 nature. He has a soul. When his work and the influence around him make him forget God and home and all that is pure and elevating, he becomes like any other depraved specimen of humanity. But when his work and the influences around him make him think of God and home and that which is pure and elevating, he realizes his opportunities, and that he has a soul like other men. Under these circum- stances he is generous, intelligent, and faithful, and has few superiors as a citizen, father, or friend. Sunday work in mining is demoralizing, degrad- ing, and vicious in its influence on those employed. Sunday rest in mining is elevating, ennobling, and Christianizing in its effect. “ Ye shall know them by their fruits.” SUNDAY REST IN RAILWAY TRAFFIC. E. C. BEACH A D ISCUSSION of Sunday Rest in Railway Trans- portation will be profitless if a degree of tol- eration be not exercised. Due consideration must be given commercial and social conditions involved. A dogmatic and ultra position respecting Sunday observance may become a hindrance to practical and rational conclusions, and prevent adjustment to changing conditions. 1 The views presented in this paper have the approval, it is under- stood, of the managers of the Penn. R.R. Lines, and the writer appeared in the Congress as their representative. — Ed. 6 4 SUNDA Y REST. America’s social and political characteristics and her railway enterprises are correlated ; rightly to un- derstand the latter we need to give due consideration to the former. Honest investigation in the light of mutual relationship will lead to reciprocal confidence, promote mutual prosperity, and have a conserving in- fluence on both the body politic and railway interests. At the advent of the locomotive in 1829, and the completion of twenty-three miles of iron highway in 1830, our fathers were dependent upon the water-ways and turnpikes as channels of transit. The habits of the people were either determined by heredity on the one hand, or means and facilities of living on the other. Domestic affairs and intercourse were adjusted to existing facilities for travel, intercommunication, and commercial exchange. Sunday rest and observance at that time was not subject to the minimizing alternatives we meet with to-day ; yet it would be presumptuous to say that the old-time observance was attended with more reli- gious and physical benefits than are received under the liberal Christian practice of the present. Exi- gencies requiring the use of Sunday for travel and the transportation of commodities, existing in our day, were not encountered in their day, by reason of the non-existence of facilities. The introduction of new agencies was timely. Here were States whose material and moral devel- opment was being slowly and laboriously wrought ; vast territories, richer in soil and dormant resources, awaiting reclamation at the hands of civilization. But a potent agency had been introduced, which, employed by the energy and intrepid enterprise of her sons, was to accomplish more within a given INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 6 $ time than the most visionary advocates of railway construction had foreseen. The new medium of transit, however, was costly and beyond the financial ability of the infant Repub- lic. Whence should come the fabulous sums needful to construction in area of such proportions ? We may well be proud of the confidence in the stability of Our institutions and the integrity of the American peo- ple and the resources of our vast continent, indicated by the thousands of millions of dollars invested by our British cousins and the capitalists of Continen- tal Europe, in our railroads. It was necessary that capital be combined and applied by the exercise of functions and privileges conferred upon corporations under sanction of the federal constitution and by en- actment of the legislative bodies. These were the outgrowth of Christian civilization, statesmanship, and economics. The logical deduction is this : the failure of either railroad corporations or the people to maintain cor- rect relations and repress corruption and the misuse of prerogative, will react disastrously. If the body politic and its administration of public affairs be just, railway corporations will be likewise. During the first decade of railway construction and operation, the effect upon trade relations and social and domestic affairs was limited. In 1840 there had been constructed 2,118 miles, seaboard cities and immediate interior being affected thereby. But little change as to Sunday usage had occurred at the close of the second decade, 1850, when we had 9,021 miles in operation, notwithstand- ing marked changes had taken place in other partic- ulars. However, in the fourth decade, when railway 66 SUNDAY REST construction had reached 52,915 miles, and we had a line from the Atlantic to the Pacific, individual and public exigencies were more apparent, and demands upon railway management for increase of Sunday service for both passengers and freight became ur- gent. The use of Sunday as an operating day increased in extent, as to the number of employees involved, as the centre of railway mileage moved westward and population increased. According to reliable authority, the point of mileage equilibrity has been as follows: In 1840, at Mauch Chunk, Pa., with 2,818 miles; in 1850, at Williams- port, Pa., with 9,021 miles; in i860, at Mansfield, Ohio, with 30,635 miles ; in 1870, at Paulding, Ohio, with 52,914 miles ; in 1880, thirty miles north-west of Logansport, Ind., with 93,296 miles; in 1890, at Pontiac, 111 ., with 166,700 miles, having deflected north slightly. It is safe to say that with 196,000 miles, the centre of mileage is to-day in the imme- diate vicinity of Peoria, 111 . This demonstrates the magnitude of the railway system west of the Missis- sippi, the longitudinal extension of lines, and the extent of lateral feeders or connections. The urgency for quick transit to seaboard and interior markets increased with the distance to be traversed. Among the commercial changes evolved within the period covered, is one of peculiar significance; viz., railroad facilities reduced the time" required in reaching markets from weeks, if not months, to days, and enabled the mercantile and shipping public to do vastly more business on the same amount of capital. Merchants, instead of being compelled to lay in large I ND US 7 RIAL RELATIONS. 67 stocks of goods, could buy only what the immediate demands of trade required, as orders could be speed- ily duplicated. Shippers, instead of having large sums tied up in products for long periods, found quick re- turns. This factor in mercantile affairs lost none of its potency as railway development went on, and competition in trade increased, and profit margins measurably decreased. In this we find the prime cause of the demands for quicker freight transit, involving the use of Sunday. That railroad managers yielded to the pressure is not surprising, in view of the desperate character of competition at that time, due largely to adroit prac- tices resorted to by shippers for securing concessions from tariff rates, which caused such a degree of sus- picion and lack of unity on the part of carrying lines, as to render resistance ineffectual, if not impossible. Perhaps those making the demand did not consider themselves instrumental in depriving a large number of railway men of Sunday privileges ; in fact, may have been influenced by the fallacy that “ corpora- tions are soulless that consequently no moral re- sponsibility rested upon any one, unless it might be railroad employees, who were at liberty to refuse to do Sunday work. Evidently the companies are not entirely to blame ; indeed, they may claim that the burden of responsibility rests elsewhere, inasmuch as railroad corporations are created by the common- wealth, and are performing a service originally de- manded by the commercial public, from which no protest against the particular Sunday service referred to is had. There is a demoralizing tendency con- nected with continuous work seven days in the week in any capacity, especially in the operation of railroads 68 SUNDAY REST. and as to freight-train work. Not only does physical deficiency result, but moral depreciation also, as a penalty for the violation of nature’s laws and neglect of social ethics. The effect of this is to render men less hearty in the performance of duty, to impair judgment, to create a stolid and stubborn disposition and defective sense of moral responsibility and obli- gation, — a serious condition for men who are con- nected with the movement of trains and responsible for life and property. Railway management is substantially a unit re- specting Sunday work, claiming to do no more on that day than existing conditions absolutely require. But it must be said that Sunday train work, and other labor contingent thereto, may be much further limited, affording Sunday rest to thousands of men. Enginemen and trainmen being remarkably loyal to their families, who can determine the full signifi- cance of the recoupment by these men, resulting from a day of rest, worship in the sanctuary, and a Sunday dinner at home with the loved ones? To secure the desired curtailment, public sentiment and the moral attitude of shippers must be such as to warrant the action necessary on the part of railroad corporations. Particular attention has been given to men in freight-train service, for the following reasons : The greater number engaged, and the seeming practica- bility of further reduction of Sunday freight trains, and the remote possibility of any material restriction of passenger trains. Sunday rest is more important in relation to freight-train crews, inasmuch as they have no fixed tenure of rest during the week, the prevailing rule being, “ First in, first out,” and the INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 69 lay-over is contingent upon 7 the volume of business moving. The busy season with all our great systems is of long duration, and men are frequently taxed to the maximum of physical endurance. A certain extent of Sunday work being absolutely necessary, we have the following practicable mini- mum : — First : Trains for perishable freight, live-stock, and special shipments of urgent character, which, if stopped *en route, would cause loss ; and such addi- tional trains, at certain seasons, as may be necessary to prevent blockade of tracks at principal junction and relay points on the line. Second : Through mail service, and trains for the completion of interstate passage, and to accommo- date travel made necessary by individual exigencies. Third : Such work in the mechanical and main- tenance of way departments as cannot be done on a week-day without serious interruption to traffic. As already intimated, the demands of consignors and consignees for rapid movement, dictated by commercial considerations, has the effect, under the influence of sharp competition and the law of self- preservation, to cause railroad management to treat freight of no special urgency, other than additional profit to the shippers, as special, and give such prop- erty Sunday movement, to hurry it to destination. This hinders a close adherence to the' minimum. Though a manager may sin in this particular, is he the chief sinner ? He does not affect the attitude of the Pharisee, and thank God that he is not as other men are ; neither does he smite his breast in peni- tential emphasis, and go down to his house justified, as did the publican, but remands to the public its 70 SUNDAY REST share of guilt, standing ready to co-operate in mak- ing justification complete. If this seems paradoxi- cal, then why not say, “ The manager went down to his house justified by public judgment.” Thinking people will concede that Sunday trains carrying the fresh meats from Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City, that help supply the daily wants of millions of people at home and abroad, — trains for live-stock, and those transporting the early fruits and vegetables that supply our tables, are indispen- sable, and that abandonment of such service would be inhuman. The daily wants of our great cities in the East can no longer be supplied from contiguous sources ; the same is true of Europe and Great Britain. Therefore it is impossible to observe Sun- day to the same extent as in the primitive days of railway transportation. Admitting this to be at the moral, spiritual, and physical detriment of the men engaged, what means are employed by railways to retrieve these losses ? Upon all the great systems handling these perish- able products, there will be found at the principal centres and relay points, commodious and attractive buildings, containing reading, amusement, bath, and rest rooms ; in fact, a complete club-house, minus liquors, under the immediate supervision of a gen- eral secretary, and the administration of the Railway Department of the Y. M. C. A. International Com- mittee. The year-book for 1893, published by the Committee, reports 96 Associations, with a total membership of 22,562. Buildings valued at $261,- 000 are owned or set aside for Association work. These contain 74 libraries, with a total of 48,975 volumes. The sick and injured are not forgotten, as INDUSTRIAL DLL A LIONS. 71 12,898 visits were made to such. The religious and spiritual needs of men were not neglected, as the total attendance at men’s Sunday meetings was 96,055, and at Bible study 11,129. The social and intellectual side has been cared for, 312 sociables and entertainments, and 333 lectures having been given. Care of the bodies of railroad employees is provided for, demonstrated by 253,636 baths taken. These Associations are largely supported by railway companies. It can truly be said that the deterioration that otherwise would have resulted from the causes re- ferred to, has been in a measure stayed or counter- acted. Men scarcely dreamed of such facilities in the second or third decade of railroad history ; in fact, at that period there were very few men of ex- emplary character and professed Christians on any of the lines ; to-day they are numerous. In reference to the Sunday work minimum here given, it should be remarked that during certain periods, or when crops are moving, traffic becomes excessive, and a certain number of freight trains must be run on Sunday to prevent blockading at main points of relay and concentration. There is no apparent remedy for this, owing to commercial conditions attending the marketing of each recurring grain harvest in the great West. The state of the market, the ability and disposition of producers to sell at once, or hold their products indefinitely, are elements of uncertainty. The equipment necessary to fully meet the emergency and enable the lines to avoid the use of Sunday, would require an enormous expenditure, and the capital thus invested would be non-productive from six to nine months of the year, 72 SUNDA Y REST, \ as the equipment would be in excess of current needs, and, consequently, idle during that time. It is not impossible that there may come a change in trade relations, by which the movement of grain will be governed by the law of natural demand solely, and artificial influences eliminated ; in which case the handling would be more equally distributed in point of time. Such a consummation, however, at present seems remote. Another class of Sunday work is that performed in the yards of all our great cities and their immediate environs. Freight trains arriving on Saturday night must be taken care of, and the cars shifted to vari- ous sidings and places of delivery on Sunday ; other- wise the possibility of thousands of men being idle on Monday. The minimum provides further, as you will have noticed, for passenger trains carrying the United States mail ; also for travel dictated by indi- vidual exigencies. On each recurring Sunday, events of pathetic nature and unusual urgency, warranting travel on the Lord’s day, confront a certain number of our fellow-citizens. The failure to provide trains for the accommodation of such would be considered heart- less. Doubtless these trains are availed of by people who travel on that day for convenience, profit, and pleasure ; however, it would be a delicate matter to undertake to determine the ratio of these. Any at- tempt to ascertain the cause or motive for travelling on Sunday trains thus provided for, would not only be regarded as impertinent, but an interference with private rights, and an assumption of unwarranted authority. If any reduction in the number of Sunday passen- ger trains is secured, it must be by an awakening of INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS . 73 the public conscience to such a degree as to restrict travel to cases of extreme urgency, in which event, it might be ascertained that a less number of Sunday trains than are now scheduled on all the important systems would satisfy the needs of the public and the postal service. To the end that this paper might not contain state- ments unsupported by facts, and believing that the managers would cordially answer inquiries as to the practice pursued on their lines, a communication was addressed to such officer of each of the principal rail- ways of the country, asking a reply to the following questions : — 1. Have you in effect any regulations or rules respect- ing abandonment of certain trains on Sunday, and if so, on what date did they go into effect, and how regarded by employees affected ? (A copy of the rules would be appreciated.) 2. What is the approximate average per cent of trains moved on Sunday, to .the average handled on work days, and what number of employees, train- men, and those whose work is contingent thereto, are given Sunday rest ? 3. Does the rest thus available alternate in your train force irrespectively, or do you aim to lay off on Sunday only such men as seem to properly ap- preciate the same, and who have families ? 4. Have you observed any improvement in the physi- cal and moral condition of employees since receiv- ing a Sunday rest ? 5. Have you been able to move the heavy traffic of 1892-93, by using six working days, without your line becoming blockaded at some point ? 74 SUNDA Y REST 6. In your opinion, is it possible to accomplish cur- rently the movement of as much tonnage by resting one day in seven, as by the use of it as an operating day ? 7. Do shippers and consignees, respecting time allowed for the movement of products and merchandise other than perishable, concede one day out of seven for rest, without complaint ? 8. Does suspension of Sunday work result in loss or gain respecting operating expenses. 9. What do you regard as the most serious obstacle to a restriction of train movements on Sunday to the minimum above given ? The lines communicated with embraced one hun- dred and eighteen thousand of the one hundred and ninety-six thousand miles of rail line in operation. There was no apparent necessity for extending the inquiry to less important railways, inasmuch as by nature of position in the general system it could be assumed that no occasion existed with such for Sun- day work in excess of the minimum. Many of the managers have replied to these inquiries with candor and courtesy, imparting much valuable and interest- ing information ; the limit of this paper, however, compels the selection of such as from their geograph- ical and commercial relations to the continent will best convey the practice generally prevailing, and to present these in somewhat abbreviated forms. It is a great satisfaction to the writer that these replies not only accept and indorse the minimum presented, but even go further in the advocacy of Sunday rest in railway transportation. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 75 In these communications, the figures refer to the corresponding numbers of the questions as given above. Pennsylvania Railroad Company. S. M. Prevost, General Manager . (i.) Local freight trains, and work trains, except in case of emergency, are not run on Sunday ; a reduced number of passenger trains as compared with week-days are run on Sunday. Slow freight — i.e., all freight other than live-stock and perishable — is only run on Sunday to such an extent as to enable the crews to reach their homes, or to enable the lines to be operated without blockade. (2.) For nine months of the year the Sunday movement on the main line between Pittsburg and Jersey City is about twenty-five to fifty per cent of the average on work days ; a force barely sufficient to make the necessary run- ning repairs to locomotives is employed in the shops and round-houses on Sundays. (3.) The requests of employees to lay off on Sundays are cheerfully complied with when the movement over the road will permit. (4.) We believe that the condition of our employees generally is rather better when receiving Sunday rest. (5.) We were not able to move the heavy traffic during the winter of 1892 and 1893 by working only six days, and it was with difficulty that we avoided blockades on our lines by working seven days ; this was due to the severe winter and to its peculiar severity on our Penn. R. R. Division crossing the mountains. 1 1 The period referred to by General Manager Prevost, of the Pennsylvania Railroad and its system east of Pittsburg, and General Manager Wood, of Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburg, was the most remarkable in the history of railway operation in America, as to the volume of traffic and the congested condition of the lines. The Pennsylvania systems were not an exception, but all the trunk lines 76 SUNDA Y REST (6.) It is only possible to accomplish currently the movement of as much tonnage by resting one day in seven when all the conditions are favorable ; that is to say, when the weather, both inland and at our seaboard and lake terminals, is favorable, and the loading and un- loading of our cars and their movement over our lines are working at all points with about a uniform rapidity. (7.) I do not think that shippers and consignees are prepared to make any allowance for any delays in the movement of their products. (8.) Suspension of Sunday work is a gain in reference to operating expenses ; when it becomes necessary to run to a greater extent than fifty per cent on Sundays, it is done with the full knowledge that, so far as the movement itself is concerned, it is being done at a loss in economy. (9.) The most serious obstacle to a restriction of train movement on Sunday is the weather. On all of the lines, other than the line between Pittsburg and Jersey City, we are usually able to suspend the movement of slow freight throughout the year, with the exception of so much of it as will enable our train crews to reach their homes. As a rule, the employees on all of these lines, with the ex- ception of the main line above referred to, have an oppor- tunity for a reasonable amount of Sunday rest for about nine months of the year ; during the other three months their opportunities for rest are dependent upon whether the lines are crowded with freight or not, and that condi- tion of affairs which arises from the weather. were similarly affected. With the immediate connections of these, the situation west of Pittsburg and Buffalo was very serious. Thousands of cars loaded with various commodities filled sidings and yards at junction and relay points. More or less perplexity was caused shippers and consignees by reason of in- ability to realize on property thus delayed ; the railroads, also, had vast sums tied up in freight charges. The work of relieving the situation seemed a superhuman task, and its accomplishment with as little loss as resulted to the shipping public, should be regarded as an evidence of skill and an ex- ample of loyalty in the operating forces worthy of special notice by the public, as well as railway owners. E. C. B. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 77 N. Y. Central & H. R. R. R. Co. John M. Toucey, General Manager . There can be no Sunday rest for a railroad, any more than for a steamship going from New York to Liverpool. Freight starts from the West, destined for a foreign port, to catch certain steamers which start on certain days. If stopped on the way, the steamer is missed and damages for delay are asked for. All the local freight business upon the line ceases Saturday night, and is not taken up again until Monday morning, also the majority of our local passenger trains ; but a great many passenger trains have to be run at the demand of the United States Gov- ernment, most all of which carry mails. In regard to passengers upon through trains, it is a good deal like the freight on freight trains. When a pas- senger starts from his initial point, he may not be able to leave until late in the week, and is desirous of coming right through. Business calls him, for instance, in New York on Monday morning, and it would not be judicious to stop the train on the line at twelve o’clock Saturday night and hold it until twelve o’clock Sunday night. The majority of our freight stations, except the ter- minal ones, like New York and Buffalo, are quiet over Sunday ; but at large terminal points where freight is coming in to us, and freight is being urged for delivery to steamers, etc., it is impossible to suspend the work. The machine is wound up, and it must continue to go. I like rest on Sundays, and wish we could give it to every employee on the road ; but the demands of the public and the business are such that we cannot, only to a certain extent, which I have named. 78 SUNDAY REST. Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co. J. T. Odell, General Manager, (i.) We have certain trains that run daily, and others that run daily except Sunday. A majority of the employees prefer to labor Sunday and make the time; but of course there are a number who do not wish to do that, and in such cases they have no trouble whatever in exchanging duties with parties who do not object. (2.) The average number of trains run on Sunday va- ries upon different divisions in a large system like this. At large terminals business practically ceases at four o’clock Saturday afternoon. If the traffic be from Chicago, the haul over the Chicago division will be on Saturday night and on Sunday, leaving Monday on the Chicago divis- ion comparatively a light day and consequently a time wherein the employees take their rest. And the same conditions exist out of other large terminals, the move- ment being somewhat analogous to waves that, starting from either point Saturday, create a large flow for a time, leaving behind them a depression covering one day. (5.) It would hardly have been practical or economical to have moved the heavy traffic of 1892-93 in six working days, for the reasons that some Sundays we have had more perishable freight to move than on week-days, and the dead freight would accumulate to such an extent as to keep us busy the seven days of the week. (7.) Shippers do not concede any day for rest, or, for that matter, any hours ; whether their freight be dead or perishable, they ask despatch, (9.) The most serious obstacle to the restriction of train movements on Sunday to a minimum, is the pressure of the outside public for service ; and, so far as I have per- INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 79 sonally observed, it is as liable to come from the church- going class as any other. Were it possible, however, to practically arrange so that Sunday service should be reduced to the lowest minimum, and only those trains run that were indispensable to hu- manity, I am sure no one would more gladly acquiesce in the consummation than the railway management and em- ployees generally. Delaware, Lackawanna, & W. R. R. Co. W. F. Halstead, General Manager. It has always been, and is now, the policy of this com- pany to do as little work and run as few trains on Sunday as practicable. Our business is very largely the trans- portation of coal, and we run none of these trains on Sunday. We run no trains that can be termed Sunday passenger trains. Perishable freight, milk, and live-stock trains we do run. Penn. Lines West of Pittsburg. Joseph Wood, General Manager . (i.) All local freight and passenger trains, except church trains, which are run in and out of principal cities, such as Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Chicago, are sus- pended. On the main line divisions, only enough freight trains are run to clear all the yards ; this of course varies with the business. In some seasons of the year the busi- ness is practically suspended, while at other times there is a very heavy movement. Our experience is that em- ployees prefer to have their Sunday rest at home whenever it is possible. (2.) Percentage varies from month to month, and from week to week, depending wholly on the traffic. 8o SUNDA Y REST (3.) Freight-train crews all run first in, first out, and each take their chances of Sunday rest. (4.) So far as advised there is no special change. (5.) The traffic in the latter part of 1892 and early part of 1893 could not have been moved by working six days in the week ; and had this practice been pursued the situation would have been even more complicated than it was. The regular power and crews were working to their maximum for six days, and on the seventh, or Sunday, all of the local freight and work train engines, together with extra train crews, were utilized in moving traffic from one division to another. (6.) Were the business uniform during the entire twelve months of the year, it might be possible to arrange matters so as to accomplish as much in six days as is ordinarily accomplished by working the entire seven days; but, as stated in answer to previous inquiry, the business is of such a variable character, that it would be wholly impracticable, and in my judgment almost impossible, to attempt during the busy season to crowd the work of seven days into six days without very seriously affecting the movement and causing blockades. (7.) Shippers and consignees make no allowance in through freight movement on Sunday. (8.) The suspension of work on Sunday does not practically affect operating expenses, for the reason that all engine and train crews are paid by the trip, and the same number of trips would be necessary whether the business is done in six or seven days. (9.) The most serious obstacle to a further restriction of through train movement on Sunday is the variable character of the traffic. A rule that might be enforced during the spring months would not be applicable during the season of lake navigation ; and then, again, any rules that might be adopted for through train movement during the spring and summer would have to be entirely changed for the winter months. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS . 8 I On some divisions, other than the main line ones, the rule is to observe the Sabbath in respect to train service, and only such trains are run on these divisions as are necessary to handle perishable freight or to move power from one end of the division to the other, where it may be available for service Monday morning. C. C. C. & St. L. R. R. Co. J. Q. Van Winkle. (i.) We schedule only such passenger and freight trains on Sunday as are absolutely necessary to handle the business. There is no special order about it. We give as many of our employees their Sundays as possible. (2.) I can hardly approximate the average per cent, as we run more freight trains on Sunday during some periods than others. (3.) Sunday rest does not alternate from the fact that none of our local freight trains (and a great many of our local passenger trains), run on Sunday. These trains have regular crews, who get their rest every Sunday. In the through freight and passenger service, Sunday rest alternates irrespectively. Crews run, first in, first out, and get the Sunday rest whenever it falls to them. (4.) The practice of giving as many of our men as pos- sible their Sundays has been in effect so long, we have nothing by which to make a comparison. (5.) We have not at all times been able to move the traffic by using six working days ; on the contrary, there are periods when it is necessary to use every available engine and crew in freight service on Sunday, to keep our line open. (6.) I do not think it possible to accomplish as much work in six days as can be done in seven ; on the con- trary, when there is a heavy traffic the movement on Sunday is generally very satisfactory, as the local freight 8 2 SUNDAY REST. trains and some of the passenger trains are out of the way, and through freight trains make good time. Our employees do not object to such service in emergencies. (7.) Shippers and consignees as a rule concede noth- ing. An explanation that we laid their freight up on Sunday to give the men a rest would not be satisfactory. (8.) The operating expenses on Sunday are the same as on other days. (9.) The general public is exacting, and expects about the same service on Sunday as other days. Vandalia Line. Jas. Hill, Assistant General Manager . (1.) We have had for several years a general under- standing that train movement on Sundays shall be re- stricted in so far as it can be done and move the traffic satisfactorily. We have no set rules formulated, but the principle is observed in scheduling trains ; most of the local passenger trains and the larger proportion of freight trains being scheduled to run daily except Sunday. (2.) The percentage of train movement on Sunday to that on week-days depends upon varying circumstances. . . . On the main line there are eighteen passenger trains on week-days, six of which do not run on Sunday. Two of the twelve run on Sunday are local. All of the remainder are through trains running over other roads than ours. Of the total number of twenty-three freight trains on the main line, thirteen do not run on Sunday. On the T. H. & L. and I. & L. M. divisions there are four passenger and ten freight trains, none of which run on Sunday. On the Peoria division there are six pas- senger and four freight trains, none of them running on Sunday. (3.) Our train crews run first in, first out, and so each in turn gets the benefit of Sunday rest. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 83 (4.) I do not know. There has been some improve- ment in the men of late years, but is probably not due to any one cause. I think it is an undoubted fact that one day’s rest in seven is beneficial. (5.) Whenever it has been necessary to run freight trains on Sunday, we have always done so. We have never attempted to demonstrate whether the line would be blocked if we did not run trains on Sunday. (6.) Highly improbable that as much traffic can be moved in six days as in seven. (7.) Shippers and consignees expect their freight to be moved promptly ; and in the majority of cases I think that they would not accept as a valid excuse the plea that the longer time by one line than by another was caused by the observance of Sunday on the line taking the longer to move the freight. (8.) I cannot answer this question. I do not know. (9.) The most serious objection that occurs to me to prevent the restriction of business to the minimum named, is the necessity entailed by competition of moving our freight as promptly as other roads. The Wabash R. R. Co. Chas. M. Hays, General Manager . The three classes of work which you specify as what should comprise the maximum of Sunday work, constitute all that the interests of transportation require in this direction. (1.) Such trains as are not run daily are designated on the face of the time cards, and under the numbers assigned to such trains. (2.) Eighty-five passenger trains every day, and eighty- one daily except Sunday — an average of ninety-five per cent of passenger trains moved Sunday to the average of week-days. 8 4 SUNDAY REST. We move daily one hundred and thirty-six freight trains, and ninety-one daily except Sunday, an average of sixty- seven per cent of freight trains moved on Sunday to the average handled on work days. The average number of train men who are thus given rest on Sunday is eight hun- dred and sixty. (3.) The rest thus available alternates with our train crews, as they are run on the principle, “ First in, first out.” (4.) As before stated, the discontinuance of certain trains on Sunday has been in effect so long on this road as to make unnoticeable any improvement in physical or moral condition of employees. (5.) This company was able to move the heavy traffic of 1892 and 1893 by using six working days, without our line becoming blockaded at any point, although it is prob- able that during the movement of the heaviest traffic we ran extra sections of such trains as run daily. (6.) Ordinarily, I consider it possible to accomplish currently the movement of as much traffic under our present practice as if we ran all trains daily. (7.) We have never had any complaint in regard to the discontinuance of such trains as run daily except Sunday. (8.) The probability is, that suspension of Sunday work results in gain, by giving the men a greater oppor- tunity to rest, and keeping them in better condition for the exacting duties of train service. (9.) I do not know of any serious obstacle to restric- tion of train movements on the basis given. Illinois Central R. R. Co. S. W. Sullivan, General Superintendent. It is generally desired on the part of managing officials of American Railways to allow Sunday as a day of rest in all branches of the service, and this purpose is carried out IND US TRIAL RE LA TIOJVS . 8 5 as far as practicable, consistent with the necessities of the service. As a general rule, all railway shops are closed on Sun- day, such few men only being retained on duty as are required to guard the premises and perform such miscella- neous work as can only be done on that day. Track work and bridge work is in a similar manner sus- pended on Sundays, a minimum force of inspectors and guards being retained for duty ; occasionally a special force is employed on Sunday to perform work which can- not be done during the week without interruption to traffic. In the transportation department there is not the same opportunity for cessation of work upon Sunday as in other departments, for the reason that through train movements, both passenger and high classes of freight, such as perish- able, live-stock, and special shipments of urgent character, must be maintained. Local passenger and freight service, however, is generally suspended on Sunday. (i.) We have no rules or regulations respecting the abandonment of trains on Sundays, other than shown upon our time-tables by the words “ Daily ” where trains run every day in the week, and “ Except Sunday ” where trains run on week-days only. (2.) On an average there are a little more than one- half the trains run on Sundays, and about one-half of the usual force employed. (3.) With train forces employed in regular service, the endeavor is to alternate those employed in Sunday work, so that the men in the course of a year will have an aver- age amount of Sunday rest. With men employed in regu- lar train service the opportunities for Sunday rest come irregularly, according as they may stand on the list at the close of the week ; but it is quite an ordinary practice to excuse those who wish to lay off on Sundays, more espe- cially men of families, and allow others — generally single men — to run in their places, many of whom are quite will- ing to do so. 86 SUNDA Y REST. (4.) The practice mentioned in the foregoing specifica- tions has been the established rule for many years. It is considered as a general rule that employees who are allowed Sunday rest will do better work during the other days of the week, than if required to work continuously. (5.) During seasons of light business there is generally no difficulty in moving the traffic by using six working days ; but in the fall and winter seasons, when business is heavy, there is generally an accumulation .of business dur- ing the week, which is moved on Sundays. (6.) It is not practicable to move as much tonnage in six days as in seven days. (7.) The necessity for Sunday rest is generally con- ceded by shippers and consignees, where the character of the traffic to be moved will admit of such detention with- out loss or injury. (8.) Suspension of Sunday work results in gain with respect to operating expenses ; that is, the expenses are less when Sunday work is suspended; In many depart- ments of labor, one-half is allowed for Sunday work; that is, one and one-half hours of pay for each hour of work performed. This rule, however, is confined generally to shop work, and does not apply to train service. (9.) No serious obstacle to restriction of train move- ments on Sundays to the minimum which you have stated. Chicago &. Northwestern Railway Co. J. M. Whitman, General Manager . It is the policy of the management of this company, and has been for some time, to do no .more work on Sun- day than is considered necessary. This position is taken in recognition of what we believe to be best for our em- ployees. We consider that a break in their work occur- ring once in seven days, affords an opportunity for rest, and that the rest better fits them to perform their duties INDUSTRIAL R EL A 710 NS. 8 / on the remaining six days of the week. On account of the length of our lines, it is necessary that a considerable amount of live-stock, perishable property, and through freight should be moved. Also, that through passenger trains should be handled, and that there should be a cer- tain amount of local service performed, principally within surburban limits, to meet the demands of the public. We consider it necessary to do this amount of work on Sun- days, and particularly in the fall of the year it is necessary for us to transact a considerable amount of dead freight business, in order to keep traffic moving and to prevent blockades. Otherwise our Sunday service is confined to as narrow limits as we consider best. In our mechanical department and shops hardly any work on Sunday is ever done. In our road department it is sometimes necessary for us to do a certain amount of work that cannot be done while traffic is going on. Other- wise our work in track department is exceedingly limited on Sundays. Wisconsin Central Lines. G. Campbell, General Superintendent . There are no established rules which apply to suspen- sion of Sunday service ; but it is our aim to keep Sunday train service and other labor down to the minimum as far as possible, consistent with the demands. Our local freights are scheduled for week-days only ; and freight trains which are run on Sunday handle perishable freight, live-stock, and special shipments of important commodi- ties; and at times special Sunday service is given, to avoid yard blockades. Sunday passenger service is conducted for handling of Government mail, accommodation of in- ter-state passengers, and special service, to meet special emergencies. There is also special passenger-service con- ducted to accommodate the Sunday travel on the Chicago 88 SUNDA V REST division, such service being given between Chicago and various pleasure resorts on that division, for which there is a strong public demand, steadily increasing. No work is performed in the shops of the motive power or car department except to meet emergencies, or when necessary to prevent interruption to traffic; only a very small percentage pf the total number of men employed in the shops are kept on duty Sundays, which is necessary to attend to the regular duties incidental to preparing trains at terminal points. In the maintenance of way department, our employees are not obliged to work Sunday, except in the event of an accident, or when the safety of our trains are imper- illed by the elements. (i.) Telegraph operators, and agents performing the duties of an operator and agent jointly, are excused from Sunday duty as early as possible, consistent with the prompt movement of trains. Employees appreciate the rest given them, and the abandonment of local run on Sundays meets with favor. (2.) Sunday trains average seventy-five per cent pas- senger, sixty-nine per cent freight, of those moved on week-days. This allows a fair average of men in the train service to enjoy the Sunday rest. The round-house and yard force is but slightly affected, as nearly the same force is required on Sundays as on working days. (3.) Employees in both freight and passenger service (except local runs) run first in, first out, which affords opportunity for each train employee to enjoy an average amount of Sunday rest. No distinction is made between married and single men in this respect. (4.) Inasmuch as the above practice has always been followed on this line, it is difficult to determine relative to the physical and moral condition of employees enjoying Sunday rest, except those engaged in offices and clerical duties, where the privilege may be considered as benefi- cial, both physically and morally. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 89 (5.) It has been impossible to move the traffic during 1892 and 1893, and avoid blockades at terminal points, without Sunday freight service. It is not infrequent for a volume of business to reach one division from the con- necting division on Sundays as well as week-days, thus necessitating at times extra Sunday service. (6.) It is not possible to accomplish the movement of as much tonnage by excluding Sunday service. (7). Not as a rule ; but allowance for Sunday delays in transit is not considered by shippers and consignees any different than delays on other days. (8.) The suspension of Sunday work does not materi- ally change the operating expenses, as the majority of the employees in the train service are paid on a mileage or monthly basis. (9.) The main objection of restriction to Sunday ser- vice as referred to, is that it would create blockades at terminal yards, cause delay at times to important freight, and the public generally would not be satisfied unless their demands for special passenger service were granted by the company. Great Northern Railway. A. L. Mohler. This company runs no trains on Sunday that its busi- ness and the general public do not require. There are portions of the year when our business is excessively heavy, and the public requires us to ship grain and furnish cars without delay, at which time we run every day of the week ; but, where the business will permit, we aim to rest our trains on Sunday. (7.) The general public expects us to make as good time as our competitors, which means we must move such freight constantly after it is received. 9 o SUNDA Y REST The Chic. & Alton R. R. Co. C. H. Chappell, General Manager . (i.) We seek to abandon as many trains on Sunday as possible. This is regulated by the business handled, whether perishable or otherwise, and is not governed by any fixed rule. (2.) Not over fifty per cent of the trains are moved on Sunday that are moved on week-days, and a correspond- ing number of men are therefore afforded Sunday rest. (3.) The Sunday rest is alternated among the train force irrespectively ; but if any men object to Sunday work, we try to fix it so that they need not work on Sundays. (4.) We have not observed any improvement in the physical or moral condition of employees on account of Sunday rest. (5.) We would not be able to move the heavy traffic during the fall months of the year by working six days only. (6.) We do not believe it possible to accomplish as much work in six days as can be done in seven. (7.) Shippers and consignees expect all their business to be moved promptly, regardless of Sunday. (8.) The suspension of Sunday work would not affect materially the operating expenses. (9.) There are no serious obstacles to the restriction of train movements on Sunday to the minimum above given. East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway. C. H. Hudson, General Manager. (1.) The instructions to superintendents are that they should run as few as possible, taking care of the perishable and important business that must be moved. If a crew is away from home, and it is possible to run JND US TRIAL RE LA TIONS. 9 1 Sunday and get them back, then a train is run to take them. (2.) In Georgia we have a law preventing the running of trains from twelve o’clock Saturday night until twelve o’clock Sunday night; consequently, in Georgia we run no night trains. This in many cases works a hardship upon our men, as they reach the terminals away from home when they could be gotten home during the forenoon of Sunday if it were allowed. They therefore have to wait until after midnight Sunday night, keeping them from their homes and their families. (3.) We endeavor as far as possible to get our men home on Sunday, without regard to whether they properly appreciate the same or not. Doubtless there are some in each crew who will appreciate being with their families. Our officials are all agreed that to accomplish the best results for both the road and the men, the matter should be left in the hands of the superintendents, so that each Sunday might be taken care of by itself. (4.) No change observed. (5.) We have never been able to move our heavy traffic without blockades at some point, in territory where we cannot run on Sunday. (6.) No. (7.) Shippers and consignees, respecting the time al- lowed for the movements of products and merchandise, do not concede one day out of seven for rest without complaint. If a Sunday intervenes in territory where their freight is obliged to lay, there is great complaint. (8.) A complete suspension of Sunday work results in a loss, respecting operating expenses, because of block- ades at terminals, additional time, and additional switch- ing expenses. (9.) I regard all legislative restrictions objectionable. Work of all kinds, such as mechanical and maintenance of way work, is suspended on Sunday. With large movements of freight from the seaboard to 92 SUNDAY REST. the interior, or vice versa , there must necessarily be block- ades at the terminals reached at or before midnight Satur- day, if no trains run on Sunday. Newport News & Miss. Valley Co. & Ohio Valley R. R. Epes Randolph, General Superintendent. In respect to abandoning work on Sunday, we have no specific regulations, but it is our custom to perform only such work as appears to be absolutely necessary. N. Y., N. H., & H. R. R. Co. C. H. Platt, General Manager . (i.) It has never been our custom to run any large number of trains on the Sabbath, but since 1887 we have been governed by the following Connecticut statutes : — “ Sec. 3523. No railroad company shall run any train on any road operated by it within this State, between sunrise and sunset on Sunday, except from necessity or mercy ; provided, that before ten o’clock and thirty minutes in the forenoon, and after three o’clock in the afternoon, it may run trains carrying the United States mail, and such other trains or classes of trains as may be authorized by the Railroad Commissioners of the State, on application made to them on the ground that the same are required by the public, necessity, or for the preserva- tion of freight.” (2.) About one-fifth as many trains are handled on Sunday as on week-days, but this number includes trains reaching terminal stations early in the morning, and trains starting late in the evening. The number of trainmen employed is, of course, in about the above proportion. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 93 (3.) Trainmen run by the trip, and are afforded such opportunities for rest as they require. (4.) As above, no radical change has been made in our service. (5.) Our traffic has been quite heavy, but has been handled promptly under the arrangement stated above. (6.) We believe that men working six days per week can handle as much traffic and better, than required to work seven days per week. (7.) We have no serious complaint resulting from our practice of discontinuing trains on Sunday. (8.) We do not think the financial result is affected materially by the arrangement in force. (9.) We find no serious obstacle to carrying out our plans, except, generally speaking, competition with roads that perform Sunday service, and the demands of the public for transportation facilities on that day. Maine Central R. R. Co. (Operating 320 miles). Payson Tucker, Vice-President and General Manager . On Sundays we run only such trains as are necessary, and we practically conform to your table of a minimum of Sunday work. Central Vermont Railroad. F. W. Baldwin, General Superintendent. (1.) We have no printed instructions controlling Sun* day work. (2.) Freight trains have about ten per cent, and pas- senger trains about twenty-five per cent. Trainmen about same percentage. (3.) No discrimination is made in selecting men for Sunday work, unless on special request of the men. 94 SUNDA Y REST. (4.) I cannot see that any special change is noticeable. (S-) No. (6.) No. (7.) Yes, except in case of live-stock or perishable freight. (8.) Probably loss, resulting from blockade. (9.) This company has no difficulty in restricting the amount of labor to the minimum stated. Grand Trunk Railway Co., of Canada. L. J. Seargeant, General Manager . It has been our endeavor to limit the amount of Sun- day labor, in the belief that every man employed in rail- way or other pursuits should have at least one day per week during which he could rest and derive the advan- tages which Sunday is intended to confer. Unfortu- nately, however, we find that there are a great many works of absolute necessity to be performed on that day, as in the case of perishable and live-stock traffic, which must be forwarded to destination ; and it would be a very great hardship, and even cruelty, entirely to cut off travelling facilities, of which persons in affliction, # or travelling under urgent necessity, could avail themselves. During our experience we find that excursion traffic for religious objects are occasionally wanted on Sunday. What we have endeavored to do, is to bring down our travelling facilities on that day to the lowest practicable limit. (Mexico.) Tamino De Fierro Nacional Mexicano. E. N. Brown, General Superintendent . Our company does not take Sunday into consideration at all in connection with passenger or freight-train service. I am of the opinion that it would be quite problem- INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 95 atical as to what benefit would be derived morally by giv- ing our employees Sunday rest, for the reason that there are but a few resorts of a refining moral character at pres- sent which are accessible, and the tendency here would probably be to spend the day in dissipation. The conditions existing in this country are quite dif- ferent from those in the United States. L. S. Coffin . 1 I am authorized to represent in this Congress the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, who number an army of thirty-one thousand practi- cal, every-day railway men, and to say, through this Congress to the world at large, that they are unani- mous in their wish, as expressed by vote in their national convention, to have the Sunday as their rest day. This is the youngest among the railway organ- izations, and is made up of young men, mostly brakemen. I am also authorized to represent the Order of Railway Conductors, and to state that at their last 1 Mr. Coffin was for five years a member of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of Iowa. He was instrumental in secur- ing the enactment by Congress of the law requiring safety couplers and brakes on freight cars. He is also the founder of the Railway Tem- perance Association, which, called from its badge the White Button Movement, already includes in its ranks a large proportion of the rail- way employees of this country. — Ed. 9 6 SUNDAY REST. biennial convention in June of this year, they passed, unanimously, resolutions to the effect that they wanted the Sabbath for their own; they wanted a discontinuance of Sunday trains, so that they could be at home in their families. This order numbers about twenty-eight thousand. A speaker asked yes- terday why these laboring men were not here, and answered his own inquiry in a way that touched my heart, when he said that it is because they are confined to an eternal grind. They cannot leave to come here, as you and I do. Thousands have come here by proxy. I myself directly represent fifty thousand votes in the above orders. Not only that, but I have here resolutions passed by the Order of Railway Telegraphers in their convention last May. Their resolutions petition the railroad companies for the discontinuance of Sunday trains. Their number is about twenty-five thousand. Here we have about seventy-five thousand railway men asking this Congress to give force and voice to their resolutions and demands. One of the vice-presidents of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers has written to me stating that he hoped to be here ; and if not, he asked me to say to this Congress, that at their last biennial convention at Atlanta, May 1892, they unanimously passed resolutions regarding Sunday rest, which I lay before you. They also voted unanimously to ask the authorities of this great World’s Fair to close the gates on Sunday. This Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers numbers not less than thirty-five thou- sand. It is one of the oldest and most powerful, not only in numbers, but in intelligence, of the labor or- ganizations of America. I am authorized to repre- INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 97 sent them, and am proud of the opportunity of doing so. Here, then, practically are more than a hundred thousand of the railway employees of this country; and they say to this Congress, and through this Con- gress to the people of the United States, that they are united in wanting the abolition of Sunday traffic as far as it is possible or practicable. Let me take up for a moment several points that have come to my mind as I have listened to the papers. What are we going to do about it? It is good to come here and listen, but what are you and I going to do when we go away from here ? It seems to me that it demands immediate and earnest action. We talk about the demoralization of thought, of sen- timent, of respect for the Sabbath, — I say here on my candid judgment, there is no source of demorali- zation in regard to our Sabbath so great as that of the transportation companies, if allowed to keep on their work on Sunday; that unless we can arouse a public sentiment that shall crystallize into a na- tional law to abolish Sunday trains in this country, the Sunday trains will abolish the Sabbath. Now, the paper just read showed a little how the managers feel, how the corporations themselves feel about it. In my talk with some of these managers, especially with a very noted manager in this city, he said to me, “ I confess I do not feel right to go to my church on the Sabbath and listen to a grand ser- mon, and realize that out all over the land, through this great West, our boys are at work on Sunday ; but what can I do ? The pressure of the public upon me is so strong that I cannot resist it. You must go to the public and'arouse public sentiment.” That 9 8 SUNDAY REST. is true to a certain extent. Mr. Chauncy Depew said almost the very same words to me about a year and a half ago. I do not believe that the pressure for Sunday traf- fic is so great that the railway managers cannot resist it. Every man in the corporations would resist the application for Sunday trains if there were no profit in them. I do not agree with what is said about perishable freight. And I am not alone in this position. One of the ablest men in the railway work in this nation, Mr. Ledyard, of the Michigan Central R. R., stands with me here. Since the advent of refrigerator cars, perishable freight has, so to speak, dropped out of existence. There is no question about this. Let me illustrate. I am a raiser of fruits away down South. I send to Chicago a carload of strawberries. When that carload reaches Centralia I get a telegram from my commissioner here in Chicago that strawberries are “ away off,” that the market is glutted, but that there is a good market for them in Detroit. What do I do ? I telegraph to the company to put more ice in the strawberry car and send it another day’s journey to Detroit. Which is cheaper, a little ice, when God gives us such an abundance of it, or the demoralization of these railroad men by robbing them of the Sabbath ? Again, in regard to cattle. All my life I have han- dled cattle, and know the needs of stock. I make the assertion that whenever a car of cattle goes on such a journey that a Sunday must intervene, it is better for the men who own the stock, and better for the men who buy the stock, that the cattle be taken off a day, and rested and fed ; and so true is this, that we INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 99 have succeeded in enacting a national law that no car of stock shall have a continuous ride of over twenty-eight hours. The paper speaks of “ blockading.” This can only occur where the stoppage of trains is partial, where but a few roads stop on Sunday and others do not. Let it be understood everywhere that Sunday is a day that the trainmen shall have, and they will regu- late everything accordingly. There is no question about that. How do they get along over in Canada, in Toronto ? How do they get along in England, where it is said that there is little freight traffic on Sunday ? Now, what are we going to do about it ? The first thing is to see that the United States mails shall not be carried on Sunday. What right have you and I to say to these thousands of postal clerks that they shall lose their Sabbath ? Every man who asks me for my vote, or for my influence to put him in Con- gress, has got to say to me before I vote for him, that he will do his best to save to these railway men and these postal clerks their Sabbath. Let us take that position, let the church take that position, and the thing is accomplished. I wish I could better portray to you the real state of feeling of these men whom I represent. Four years ago I drafted a bill for our State Legislature, giving these men Sunday. It passed the Senate, but failed in the House. Incidentally, let me say here that some of our men have opposed laws for stopping Sunday trains, because every such proposed law un- wisely provided for the stopping of trains Saturday at midnight, and for their being started again at midnight of Sunday. The great idea is to get these IOO SUNDA V REST. men home on Sunday, and let them have their rest. Trains coming into a division Saturday night and go- ing out Sunday night, or coming in Sunday morning and going out Monday morning, would satisfy fully the requirements of this Act. One of the divisions of the Order of Railway Conductors at Des Moines, because I had interested myself in this matter, in- vited me to their meeting, and the question up for dis- cussion was Sunday rest. Every one in the meeting spoke his mind ; and then the chairman, the Chief of the Division, arose and said, “I want to give my ideas about it.” (I give you his own language. ) “For five years I have lived at Keokuk ; for five years I have been every Sunday in the yards, making up trains and setting in cars ; and for those five years I have not been inside of a church on Sunday. My wife, thinking that if I had to work it was her duty to stay at home and get me a good dinner, for these five years has not been inside of a church on Sunday. My children do not go to Sunday-school. And when I have been in the yard with those cars I have thought it over, and have come to this conclu- sion : ‘ It is the Almighty Dollar that everybody is after, and they don’t care a d for us ! ’ ” How I wish that every minister, that every legisla- tor, could have looked in the eyes of that man when he said that ! Do we realize that in this country these railway employees number nearly a million, whose bread and butter depend upon this industry? And when this great army of men get to thinking that the great public which they serve so faithfully and at such immense risk to life and limb, cares nothing for them, how easy it is for them to step over on the other side and care nothing for the public ! It is a INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. IOI great question of statesmanship, that should be con- sidered by the wise and good men of this nation. The paper just read is the best showing for the railways of this country that I have ever heard, but I am not at all in sympathy with some of its pleadings. It is the companies’ side of the question : most of them know that I have nothing but good will for them. This Sunday traffic can be stopped. Are we to suppose that the great Father of us all would plant in us a law, and then tell us by a command that he had planted that law, and yet place us in such cir- cumstances that we could not meet the requirements of that law ? That is nonsense. It can be done. The great trouble is greed. The general manager is not wholly responsible. He wants to keep his place and have his business prosper, and have a good showing in his annual report. What is wanted, to speak the plain truth, is this : a little more expendi- ture for motive power. There is hardly a road in the United States that is not to a certain extent poverty-stricken for lack of motive power. Take it right at this time. Here are thousands of men out of employment. Almost every railroad company has dismissed men, and are asking others to take less wages, and those men are grandly consenting. Let me say a word in confidence. I could have told the public at the first of the year that no matter how much pushing down and requesting to take less wages, there would not be a general railroad strike in any part of this nation, for that was decided upon by these men themselves. They are thorough Amer- icans, and they wanted to see the success of this Exposition ; and they will work night and day, and 102 SUNDAY REST. Sundays and week-days, and get so tired and sleepy that it may be the occasion for what has sometimes happened, accident or wreck because of overwork. Do you not know that we are working for public safety when we are working for Sunday rest ? How much better, how much grander, it would be, instead of dismissing men everywhere, to hire one- seventh more, and let them all rest Sunday. Would it not be better to put these men to work, instead of making tramps of them ? The resolutions adopted by the R. R. employees association, to which I have referred, are appended. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers passed resolutions to the same effect. ORDER OF RAILWAY TELEGRAPHERS. Whereas , The duties of the railroad telegrapher and despatches are such — involving, as it does, a great responsibility, both to the travelling public and the trans- portation companies — that it is absolutely necessary that men engaged in such work should not only be possessed of a high order of talent, but that they should at all times when on duty be able to use their abilities to their very best ; and Whereas , It is now admitted by all reasonable men that one day of rest in seven is a demand of our being, to enable us to discharge the responsible duties we have to perform ; therefore, be it Resolved \ By this Convention of telegraphers, assembled in Toronto, Ont., and representing twenty-five thousand working men, daily employed by the railroads of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, that we most re- INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 103 spectfully request the great shippers and travelling public, whom we are willing to serve to the best of our ability six days and six nights in a week, that they will not press and demand Sunday traffic on our railways. We believe one day of rest was ordained for the teleg- raphers and despatchers, as well as for the passengers and shippers, and we feel that we have the same rights to be at liberty and at home with our families as other cit- izens ; therefore, be it Resolved,* That we are in hearty accord with the efforts of all good people who may be laboring to shorten the hours of labor. “ Unanimously adopted by the Eighth Annual Conven- tion, Order of Railroad Telegraphers, in session at To- ronto, Canada, May 18, 1893.” J. Weatherbee, Grand Secretary and Treasurer . BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY TRAINMEN. Whereas , It is the universal belief that the one day of rest in seven is not only an imperative demand of the phys- ical nature of all men engaged in labor, but that such a rest day tends to the higher development of the social, moral, and spiritual part of our own being ; therefore, Be it Resolved, By the Brotherhood of Railroad Train- men in convention assembled, in Boston, Mass., October, 1893, representing thirty-one thousand men in this order, that we in this formal manner enter our earnest protest against the increasing demands of the public for Sunday trains. Resolved, second : That we most fully believe the “ Sab- bath was made for man,” — for the employee as well as the 104 SUNDAY REST. employer ; for the trainman as well as the passenger and the shipper ; that the hours of the Sabbath are a God- given blessing to the laboring man, and that when these hours are encroached upon by the greed of capital, that we would be less than the free men we are if we did not enter our earnest protest and defend our rights at all hazards. Resolved , third : That we, as practical railroad men, know from experience that, in order to be able to be at our best at all times, to meet the constantly recurring emergencies in railroad work, so as to give the best security to the lives and property entrusted to our care, we must have the periodical rest day so wisely ordained for us by the Creator ; and we do trust that a thoughtful and Christian public, and the corporations we are con- nected with, and whom we are willing to serve to the best of our ability six days and six nights in the week, will ac- cord to us this rest day, as our imperative need and our most sacred right. NATIONAL ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS. Whereas , We, as railroad men, are willing to serve the public to the best of our ability, willing to forego the pleasure of having regular hours for our meals with our families, willing to turn day into night, and night into day, in order to convenience the great travelling and ship- ping public, and enhance the interests of the railway com- panies with which we are identified : yet, believing that the one day of rest in seven is a demand of our being, and, when properly observed, tends to the highest good of all ; and Whereas , We, as railroad conductors, need always when on duty to be at our best at all times ; therefore, INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. io 5 Resolved , By this National Order of Railway Conductors, in biennial convention assembled, June, 1893, in Toledo, Ohio, representing not less than twenty-two thousand con- ductors in daily active, practical work in railroad service, that in this formal and explicit manner we appeal to the general public, whom we try to serve most faithfully, to de- sist from demanding of our managers that we should be compelled to be away from our families on the Sabbath. Resolved, That we believe that the Sabbath was made for man, — for the employee as well as for the employer ; for the trainman as well as for the passenger or shipper ; and we are in hearty accord with every effort of all good men to secure to labor this one day of rest in seven, as one of the best gifts of Heaven to man : and when so secured as every man’s right, to be observed as his own best good demands, it becomes the impassable barrier to the encroachments of capital upon the rights of labor. SUNDAY REST AND THE INDUSTRIES OF FRANCE. ED. BAUMGARTNER , Rouen , France. 'HERE are, perhaps, few countries in Europe 1 where the variety of industries is so great as in France, and that owing to the size of the country, the varied produce of its soil, the skill of its people, the pliableness of French genius which can adapt itself to the most diversified environments, and, finally, io6 SUNDAY REST. the geographical position of France. Its seacoast has a length of several hundred miles. The ves- sels finding shelter in the harbors of the Channel come from England, Sweden, Russia ; and in the Mediterranean, as upon the coast of the ocean, France is in constant communication with Africa and the Levant. Its frontiers hardly separate it from neigh- boring countries. Often the frontier is a line traced upon the map, rather than a natural obstacle. Thus in the north we find mines, glass and iron works, as in Belgium ; in the east, smelting furnaces and met- allurgy, as in Germany ; upon the borders of Switzer- land it is clock and watch making, which rival those of Geneva and Chau de Fonds ; in the south, it is the culture of silk-worms and the manufacture of silk fabrics, as in Italy ; and finally, upon the Spanish frontier and near the Pyrenees, the inhabitants de- vote themselves to works which recall those of Ibe- rian populations. In all these industries, with few exceptions, such as those fours a feux continus (furnaces with unin- terrupted fires), it is possible, at the cost of unimpor- tant sacrifices, and by skilful combinations varying with the nature of the work and with local usages, to observe Sunday rest. In an interesting report read before the Interna- tional Congress on Sunday Rest, of 1889, Mr. Jules Pagny, a manufacturer from Brussels, showed by facts gathered from a great number of industries, that Sunday rest was at once possible and desirable everywhere ; we see nothing to add to his work, nor to the conclusions which he reached. Are there causes peculiar to France which are hostile to Sunday rest ? Is not the work the same INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 107 in France, in England, and everywhere else? Why, then, is not Sunday rest observed here as it is there ? It seems to us that this is the important point to ascertain, and that to seek where the evil is, is the best and the most efficient way to overcome it. France has ever been an industrial country. “ Ag- riculture and manufacturing,” said Colbert, “are the two breasts of the country.” But manufacturing upon a large scale (la grande Industrie ) is rather of foreign importation. Manufacturing on a small scale (la petite Industrie'), that is to say, by an employer with a small number of men, and these often work- ing in their own homes, is still the type of work of a large number of manufacturers in France. The pivot of all manufacturing is the motive power. Now, before the introduction of the steam-engine, the arm of man was the principal, and sometimes the only motive power. Workingmen were not gathered into one large shop. The workman stayed at home, and from time to time brought back his work to his employer, taking back new material. He worked in the midst of his family and with it ; the father became in a certain sense the employer (patron) of his own children. Family life was not sacrificed. He did not work on Sunday unless he wished to ; as, for instance, a few hours to finish urgent work, and he still had the time to attend to his religious duties. The necessity for Sunday rest was less felt, because Sunday was less sacrificed. On the other hand, this method of labor was fraught with grave dangers. By working at home the workingman did not know his companions, could not agree with them, and thus he remained alone, face to face with his employer, to dis- cuss with him the conditions of his labor. In the io8 SUNDAY REST. industries where work is not regular, and where pe- riods of great activity are followed by long months of idleness, if the workingman declined to work on Sunday to finish pressing work, he would incur the ill-will of his employer, who would then decline to give him any work at all when the dull period of work recurred. Now, that which was once the gen- eral condition in France still survives, wherever manufacturing on a small scale exists. It will suf- fice to give as an example the work of tailors and ready-made clothing. One thing only could have protected the workingman against the exactions of his employers, and also, we must say, against the inevitable temptation to increase his own wages to meet the increasing demands of material life. It would have been the power of religion ( la puissance de Videe religieuse ). But, alas ! the deadly philosophy of the eighteenth century and the attacks of the encyclopaedists did their work ; and religion, attacked by some, poorly defended by others, materialized and degraded by those whose mission it was to make it honored, was powerless to make its principles re- spected ; and the workingman, losing all that could have saved him, became the easy prey of whosoever wished to dupe him, — the victim of an unrestrained competition and of the hard passion for gain. He lost his Sunday. It is in manufacturing on a small scale that the violation of Sunday rest is most fre- quent ; and this form of manufacturing still employs an immense number of workingmen in France. There exists in France, as in other countries, a natural motive power of great importance, scattered here and there, — that of the water courses. The use of this power can often be secured with little expense, IND USTRIAL RE LA TIONS. 1 09 especially if the old hydraulic motors are used. Wherever one finds water courses of regular action, — that is, whose variations as to its quantity of water are held within certain limits, — one also finds facto- ries that have taken advantage of this motive power, at once so natural and accessible. Whether these factories be managed by the proprietor of the fall, or whether they are leased to a second party, the fact remains that when the work of establishing the plant is once done, the motive power for Sunday does not cost anything, either to the owner or to the lessee. If he shuts down his mill on Sunday, on seeing the water escape over the fall, he says to himself with sadness : “ There is an unused natural power which I never shall see again.” Is it strange, if in these con- ditions he allowed his mill to run on Sunday ? It would almost seem wrong to do otherwise. It would be as if a farmer refused to pick up the fruit which the wind had blown from the tree. It takes a great faith in the sacredness and power of Sunday to resist this language of nature. Few there are who at such a time hear the word of divine wisdom. Accordingly, it must be said that, with rare exceptions, all small mills worked by hydraulic power, and having only two or three workingmen, run on Sunday. We may cite, as an example, flouring-mills having two or three sets of stones. They are very numerous in France. We may add the windmills in the north of France and the neighborhood of Belgium. What we have said concerning hydraulic power would apply still more to the windmill ; for the miller who does not use his water on Sunday is sure to have some on the next day ; but if he does not unfurl the wings of his mill on Sunday morning, when a good breeze is blowing, I IO SUNDA Y REST, it is not at all certain that the same breeze will come on Monday. Let us now consider the question in reference to manufacturing upon a large scale (la grande Indus - trie'). This form of manufacturing began with the steam-engine, of which it is, so to say, the necessary consequence. Indeed, as soon as man entered into possession of a motor whose power was unlimited, his immediate interest was to create those vast es- tablishments where the multiplicity of machines and the concentration of diverse manufacturing opera- tions has lessened the general expenses, lowering the cost, and giving thereby an uncontestable su- periority in the market. Again, around the steam motor, the new suzerain of modern times, — as for- merly under the shadow of feudal castles, — families grouped themselves. Here a new condition was created. The workmen had to leave their homes for the whole day. The wife followed her husband to the factory, the children accompanied their par- ents ; sometimes, even, they were separated for the whole day, as they did not work in the same fac- tory. Without Sunday the family life was com- pletely broken. It was absolutely necessary that the mother and the children at least should have a day of rest each week, — a day in which the children could go to catechism ; a day in which the housekeeper should put in order the home and the clothes of all. At the same time the master of the mill (we do not speak of the owner, but of the manager) needed rest from time to time. Especially in its early days, his imperfect machinery needed frequent repairs and minute inspection. Poorly taken care of, it would use more coal, and coal was dear. There was, there- IND US TRIAL /DELATIONS. I I I fare, a sort of unconscious accord between the rude machine with its iron muscles, and the weakest mem- bers of the working family, — the wife and the child; and Sunday rest was thereby restored. Restored, but in part only ; for if the operatives who have toiled during the week can enjoy the rest of the seventh day, the morning of Sunday sees the coming of a class of workingmen who can work only at that time, — men engaged in cleaning and repair- ing of the machinery, locksmiths, firemen, machin- ists, the carpenters, and other special workers, some- times the overseers, whom the manager compels to return to the mill. So that Sunday becomes a spe- cial day of work for a whole class of workingmen. There is another class of industries which do not require motive power, such as the manufacturing of gas to light cities, and building. In both, Sunday rest is little or not at all observed. It is the same thing with printing-houses working for the daily journals. There is another form of labor, — that connected with railway traffic, which, though extensive and im- portant, is not embraced in our present inquiries. It of itself offers a wide field of study. It follows from what we have said concerning man- ufacturing on a small scale, which is so favorable to Sunday work, and the condition of manufacturing on a large one, in which the exceptions as to Sunday rest are still so numerous and deplorable, that the work to be done in order to reach the end, — Sunday rest universally and joyfully respected, — is still im- mense, and needs nothing less than the efforts of all its supporters. The obstacles to a general observance of Sunday I 12 SUNDA Y REST. are complicated in France with prejudices which it is unfortunately very difficult to overcome. The natural defenders of the Sunday rest are the minis- ters of religion, who, in other nations, exert a great and legitimate influence. But it is impossible to deny the alienation which has taken place in our country between the representatives of the Catholic religion and a considerable part of the population, or ignore the disastrous consequences which it has had upon the question before us. The Catholic Church has ever professed to respect and to encourage Sunday observance. The knowl- edge of this fact, and that priests, reasonably enough, should have taken in hand the defence of this noble cause, has sufficed to make the radicals and the so- cialists of the workingmen’s party protest against appointing Sunday as a day of rest. An echo of these divisions has resounded in the chamber of dep- uties, and it has not dared to ignore the manifesta- tions of the radical party. The fear of seeming to yield to the injunctions of clericalism has paralyzed its courage ; and by its votes, it has not gone beyond indicating the legal obligation of one day of rest in seven, without being able to make up its mind to determine the day. A considerable and noisy sec- tion of the workingmen’s party refuse the day of rest for fear of falling back into the intolerance and fanat- icism of the past. Accordingly, in consequence of these differences, and of dissension among the very persons who have an immediate and personal interest in hastening a solution of the problem and in obtain- ing the freedom of Sunday, the work is retarded and endangered. Notwithstanding these deplorable hin- drances and misunderstandings, the question of Sun- INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. T 13 day rest has been forced upon public attention, and with unexpected power and success. The press has taken up the matter, committees of workingmen have discussed it. It is now a part of the claims of em- ployees of all classes; it takes hold of many minds strongly ; and this unexpected agitation, which might have been deemed impossible in our country, — too often, alas! indifferent to such problems, — shows a progress in public opinion which forecasts happy results. The Popular Sunday League has come at the right moment. Its influence is constantly in- creasing. Great corporations show themselves favor- able, and the managers of the vast works of private industries are generally animated with the best spirit toward their employees. Why is.it that at such an opportune hour, and when the best minds, scientists and thinkers, are unanimous in recognizing the necessity of a day of rest for the workingman, we should have to notice this deep- seated dissension among those who have most to gain by the ultimate establishment of Sunday Rest ? To all those who are still troubled by the recollec- tion of a past forever gone, and to the frivolous ones who see in this agitation but an occasion to protest against ideas that are not theirs, we would say : Legislators, who have the responsibility of social laws, workingmen, who bow under the yoke of cease- less toil, do not delay, by your divisions and your rancor, the advent of the day which shall restore freedom and rest to the oppressed multitudes. Do not add to the difficulties that arise from the nature of things, from the interests at stake, and from selfish considerations, obstacles created by your imagina- tion, troubled by phantoms of the past. The ques- SUNDAY REST. 114 tion is not to fight clericalism. The enemy is not there . The enemy is the weakening of your strength, worn out by a labor without end. The enemy is the destruction of your family life, which will exist only in name, if the father, the mother, and the children have no longer one single day in the week to see each other, to spend together a few hours free from daily cares. The enemy is drunkenness and dissipa- tion, which watch you, and from which you seek fatal pleasures, if by your fault you deprive yourselves of the pure pleasures which God and Nature have given you, and which you have voluntarily given up. But if certain leaders of the workingmen’s party have not hesitated to protest against Sunday rest, we must add that their number is very small, and that the immense majority of workingmen will accept legal Sunday rest. It is the duty of the employer, as having the responsibility of souls, to fight cour- ageously against the small encroachments of labor upon the day of rest. This task will not always be free from difficulties. There are the old habits and ways to be resisted. With a little perseverance this can be done. The French workingman has a quick intellect and good sense. He will recognize that the stoppage of Sunday work is not for the direct and pecuniary interest of the employer ; that it is a good way, morally profitable to all ; and when the usage shall have become general, the workingman will be the first to protest against any return to the old order of things. Sunday will become too precious to him for any one ever to rob him of it. It is toward this happy solution that the efforts of all must be directed who have at heart the regenera- tion of our society and peace between all classes. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. IIS Moral victories are bound one to the other, and good will not remain fruitless. A great blessing rests upon the nations which have submitted themselves to the beneficent and divine law of Sunday rest. Yes, “the Lord has blessed the day of rest and hallowed it.” SUNDAY REST IN METAL-WORKING, MINES, AND GLASS- MAKING IN FRANCE. A. GIB ON, Paris . The Metallurgic Industries. — In these indus- tries, which employ about one hundred and fifty thousand people, Sunday is generally respected. The work is healthy, although certainly very labori- ous, on account of the high temperature of the fur- naces in which the metals are smelted, and also on account of the heat of the molten metal when drawn for casting or rolling. The workman has to put forth great physical exertion, but his fatigue is largely due to the heat in which he works. The process of casting does not subject him to such a high tempera- ture, except at the times of tapping and working in the crucibles. This is also true of the making of steel into ingots ; but the operations which follow, the puddling, casting, rolling, and forging of iron and steel, are very wearing on the men, on account of the length of time required for doing them. But this is not the place to enter into technical details. Every 1 16 SUNDAY REST. one will understand that, by the very nature of the work, it is necessary that as far as possible the ma- chinery should be kept constantly running. Thus in the working of iron, Sunday rest is made absolutely necessary and indispensable, since the constant exer- tion and high temperature are causes of great fatigue ; and however perfect the machinery may be, the vast quantity of the metal handled greatly increases the strain on the men. I must not neglect to say that the weekly day of rest is indeed observed in the majority of our fur- naces, although it is not universal. The excuse that is frequently given for not observing Sunday, is the expense of building the fires and raising the furnaces to the working-heat. This excuse, however, seems to me open to discussion, and I, for my part, do not con- sider it sufficient. For the furnaces, on account of the intensity of the fires, are easily put out of repair, and hence the waste of fuel and metal is perceptibly increased. It is, therefore, necessary to have the furnaces in perfect condition ; and the repairing of the various parts every week is the best security for good work. It is also important that the powerful and complex engines which work and handle the heavy masses of metal, and make them into rails, locomotives, and wagon tires, plates for our warships, and cannon and shell for our army and navy, — it is important, I say, that all these steam-engines, boilers, rollers, stampers, crushers, etc., should be in a per- fect state of repair ; and a Sunday of rest permits the examination and refitting of all these, and secures their perfect working. One is bound to conclude from these explanations that the interests of all unite for the observance of INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. n 7 Sunday rest among the metal-working population of France. During my entire active career, both as director of the Company owning the smelting-works at Montataire, and as a director of the forges of Commentry, I have always observed this day of rest ; and I have done so with the consent of the ex- ecutive boards of both companies, and with the firm conviction that it was for the good of all concerned. However, I do not wish to give my opinion alone. In respect to the metallurgic industries, I have soli- cited the advice of my colleagues in various places ; as the north, the Champagne, the Loire, etc. In the north, among the great factories which surround the towns of Valenciennes and Maubeuge, Sunday rest is strictly observed ; and I shall especially men- tion Anzin, Denain, the steel works of the north and east, the furnaces of M. M. Sepulchre & Co., the blast furnaces of the north, and many others. In the furnaces of these regions, with the exception of blast and Martin furnaces, in which steel and castings are made, all labor is stopped from six o’clock Satur- day evening until six o’clock Monday morning; but in the Haute-Marne department, where large numbers of men are employed, I regret to say that but one day in fourteen is observed. This is the case in the process of puddling, which changes the crude iron into pig iron, and also in the rolling of the inferior grades of iron, in both which operations adult work- men are employed. In the mills where machine iron is made, boys of sixteen years and upwards are employed, and the law in regard to child labor prohibits Sunday work for children of this age. We heartily approve of the law, and it is a practical necessity ; but it is sad to see the ii 8 SUNDA Y REST, children enjoying a day of rest while the father is forced to work, by an employer who shirks his duty. But we find some employers who serve as examples ; as, for instance, M. Lemut, who manages the exten- sive works at Clos Mortier. For eight or ten years these works have been stopped regularly every Sun- day, at least from six a.m. until six p.m., and every fortnight the time is increased on account of repairs. It must be remembered, however, that although the works are closed for only twelve hours, the workmen have twenty-four hours of rest, because the force is divided into a day and a night shift ; and the day shift, stopping its work Saturday evening, does not begin again until Sunday evening ; likewise, the shift stopping work Sunday at six a.m. does not begin again until Monday at the same time. Thus there is a regular weekly rest of twenty-four hours for all the workmen, but not including, mark you, the force charged with overhauling the furnaces and machin- ery, which are examined and repaired during that time. In England and some other countries, in order to avoid keeping even these men working, some of the works close Saturday noon, and do not open again until Monday evening ; but the present state of affairs with us does not permit us to hope for a like period of rest. In concluding what I have to say concerning the Haute-Marne, I must quote from the interesting remarks of M. A. Saglio on Sunday rest. That gen- tleman, who is well informed concerning the methods of his friends in the metal-working centres of our country, speaks as follows : “ In the Centre the works at Chatillon and Commentry, and also at Com- mentry Fourchambault, give a rest on Sunday to all INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS . I 19 men employed in smelting and the puddling of cast iron, and in the rolling and construction shops, but the blast furnaces and steel works are kept running. These last rarely stop except for repairs. However, those in charge always strive to establish a rotation in the working forces, so that one Sunday morning in a fortnight is secured for rest.” Some very good measures have been taken in other establishments, and I will give two examples of these. Mr. Bathault, my successor at Montataire, suspended work at those steel works on Sunday, but this was not kept up after his withdrawal. Among the iron works of Audin Court, one Martin furnace, which has been in operation about eighteen months, closes regularly every Sunday ; and, as is not surpris- ing, the work turned out is of a superior quality, since the workmen, feeling fresh, are able to do good work. The iron works of Loire, Rive de Gier, Saint- Chamond, and the works at Larette and Etaings, all observe Sunday, and the work ceases from Sunday at six a.m. until Monday at the same time. But we had seen that a rest of twenty-four hours is not really sufficient ; and in the iron works of Alsace and of the Moselle, which, unfortunately, have been lost to France, the men were given thirty-six hours. This rule is also in vogue at Crenzot, not universally, but among a large majority of the works. So, upon the whole, the French metal works observe a weekly day of rest, the principal exception being the Haute- Marne, where but one day in fourteen- is kept ; and in most districts Sunday is fixed upon as the rest day, without the thought of any other. In my opinion, the period of rest should be at 120 SUNDAY REST. least thirty-six hours, and I do not think so long a rest would be injurious to the business of any firm. Still, we can hardly hope for a rest for all the men engaged in repairing, and those employed in the blast furnaces and steel works ; although, in the case of the steel works, the opinion has been expressed that it would result in better work, and we believe this opinion has a good foundation. The most active industrial countries, America, Germany, and England, observe Sunday rest, and the results show not only that it is possible, but that it is advanta- geous. Every effort should be made that the rest may become universal in our own France, and this great end may be accomplished by the union of all the mill masters. Mines. In the mines , and especially the coal-mines, Sunday work is the exception. From the north a miner writes, “ In the collieries Sunday observance is general. The only men engaged are those em- ployed in making the necessary repairs on the min- ing and draining machinery, and of the water and air pipes. . In some cases there is an exception in the drainage work, and generally the proportion of the force employed on Sunday is not more than one per cent of the whole. This question concerns us deeply/’ Another miner in the same district writes thus : “ I am very zealous for the cause of Sunday rest, and in our mines we observe it strictly. For a long time we have recognized the evils of Sunday, work from a moral as well as from a physical standpoint. Among us the rest is made as complete as possible, INDUSTRIAL RE LA LIONS. 121 the work being confined to those making necessary repairs.” In the Loire, the manager of one of the largest mines in the valley writes as follows in regard to this question : “ I have always enjoined upon my en- gineers not to have any work done on Sunday, except what was absolutely necessary. The work which had to be done was ascertained Saturday evening, and the men did not begin until 7.30 a.m. In our collieries the work is very much increased, since the seams are inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees. The lowering of the coal and earth is done by cars which move incessantly day and night ; and the force engaged in the repairs is six per cent of the whole, and in winter sometimes as great as twelve per cent. I have given my engineers the strictest orders to reduce this large percentage, and I hope for suc- cess.” This regard for the men subject to hard and dangerous labor is highly commendable. In closing he adds, “All the other mine directors and engineers use their influence with the managers of the com- panies of the Loire, in order to do away with all Sunday work.” So we see that Sunday rest is for the best interest of the coal-mine, and if other industries were exam- ined impartially as regards this question, we feel sure that it would be found advantageous for them all. Glass-Making. Sunday rest has its disadvan- tages in some industries, and especially is this true in glass-making. Here it appears to us that we have real difficulties, which have increased recently on account of the new appliances. Gas furnaces have 122 SUNDAY REST taken the place of fuel furnaces, and this has per- mitted a great increase in the capacity of the work. Immense furnaces, termed bath furnaces, have been constructed, in which many tons of glass are melted, and considerable expense is connected with the shut- ting down of these. These bath furnaces are used chiefly for making glassware. For the manufac- ture of window-glass large rooms are built, which are heated to a very high temperature for melt- ing the glass ; and although the shutting down of these is expensive, still, the expense is not so great as that connected with the stopping of the bath fur- naces. It will readily be seen that all suspension of work in this trade would be followed by a corre- sponding increase in the price of the finished article; and in order to secure Sunday rest it would be ne- cessary for all manufacturers to join in its obser- vance, as is done in the glass-works of England. These preliminary explanations are necessary in order that you should appreciate the letters received from. the most prominent men of this industry. One foreman of a glass factory in the Centre writes as follows : “ I am heartily in favor of Sunday rest, and of its observance by the children according to law. Many of the adults would be benefited by it. But as it is impossible to stop the bath furnaces, the men who handle the glass as it comes from the furnaces work every Sunday, and rest only while repairs are being made. On the other hand, the men who have charge of the furnaces have one Sunday in two; and for this purpose we have a rotation of the gangs engaged in keeping up the fires.” One of the best- known glass-men of the east, who tried the exper- iment of Sunday rest in his factory for several INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS . 123 months, writes thus : “ Sunday is not observed by the glass-making population. Four-fifths of the men who own factories regard it as a working-day. We for several months have tried to give our entire force a rest on Sunday, and kept only four out of three or four hundred at work, but the plan did not prove practicable. Our furnaces suffered more from the rest than they would have done from the work, and the expense of keeping them closed was very great. And what was more, the day was not kept as a day of rest ; for the men got good wages and spent them freely, so that Sunday was for them a day of debauchery, passed mainly in the tavern, and in many cases Monday was spent in almost the same way. In short, the financial results of the experi- ment were so disastrous that Sunday work had to be resumed. It is my opinion that glass-makers are a very difficult class of men to manage ; and the men themselves have on every occasion verified this opin- ion, as may be seen in the squares of Belgium, of Lyons, of the Gironde, in the north, and in the Allier.” A manager of one of our most important window- glass factories gladly gives us his views in these words: “The work of melting goes on Sunday as on other days. It would be possible to let the fires go down on Sunday, but as a result the out-put would be slightly diminished, and the prices would be correspondingly increased. Our company desires to keep the rest-day ; and to accomplish this end they think of doing away with the supplementary processes. The melting furnaces form only a part in the manufacture of window-glass. The processes of dressing, polishing, and the final operations, which 124 SUJVBAY BEST. are performed by special machinery, are not in operation on Sunday ; only the necessary repairs being made. It is proper for me to state here that the strict observance of Sunday is not the rule among glass-makers; but our company has decided to try it, and to undergo the necessary expenses.” The chief engineer of a mine, who is well versed in the manufacture of glass, and very zealous in the cause of Sunday rest, writes thus : “ The glass factories are generally, although wrongly, considered as not allowing Sunday rest. I do not share in this view, and recently the director of a glass factory as- sured me that there was no foundation for it.” The entire system, as I have said, and as this director has verified, hangs on the fact that the rest must be observed by all, or the few who persist in keeping it will invariably lose. The conclusions which we arrive at from the foregoing letters are that the glassware factories present the greatest ob- stacles to Sunday rest, and that the other branches of glass-making present gradually decreasing diffi- culties. In concluding what I have to say concern- ing these industries, allow me to bring before you the fact that the great factories at Baccarat carefully observe Sunday rest. These great establishments, which do honor to our country from an industrial point of view, are none the less remarkable for their care of the workingman. The few facts which I have presented concerning three great industries give proof that many of the employers are in perfect accord with our views ; and what applies to these industries may also be said of the building trades and commerce, and of the many smaller industries. Incessant labor is the worst INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. 125 kind of slavery, and it is frightful to see it in a coun- try whose boast is that it aids in all human progress. However important and desirable a weekly rest may be, we cannot hope that it will be easily accomplished by immediate and radical measures. The solution of this question rests largely with the executive boards of our great industrial companies ; but they are ever looking after the financial interests intrusted to them, and this is their excuse for continuing the abuse. The stockholders of the companies also have an important part to play : if they declare in favor of a day of rest, it will give a support and authority to their foremen that will accomplish their desires. It is necessary to study carefully the difficulties before attempting to solve them ; radical measures before a careful investigation would only increase the difficulties, and many times result in failure. Let all the factories co-operate, and let the mana- gers instruct their foremen to study into the effects of a rest day on the condition of the works. Co- operation alone can assure success, and the executive boards are sure to succeed if they co-operate. But why should we not consider the wishes of those who are the most interested, — the workmen themselves ? Do not their opinions and their wishes deserve a hearing in a question which interests them to such a degree ? In this way, and only in this way, can a day of rest become universal ; and it must be empha- sized that the day should not be spent in idleness, but rather in worship. You will permit me, in concluding this paper, to express my admiration for the manner in which you in the free land of America have learned to under- stand that Sunday work is contrary to divine law, — 126 SUNDAY REST which should ever be held sacred by all humanity, — as well as to all human civilization. The day of rest is most dear to the workingman, and we should do our utmost to have the thousand organs of the press proclaim its necessity. Ah ! certainly we must agitate ; but it is of great importance also that the disinherited, for whom we agitate, should co-operate with us. This cry for rest must arise from the very depths of our country, and hasten on the good time when all may join in rest and worship. Translated by H. A . Lip sky. SOCIAL RELATIONS. EFFECTS UPON CHARACTER AND HABITS. Rev. O. Prunier. Secretary of the Societe Fran^aise pour /’ observation du Dimanche . Paris, France. SUNDAY REST FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN FAC- TORIES, STORES, AND DOMESTIC SERVICE. Alice L. Woodbridge, Secretary W or king women' s Society , New York. ADDRESS. By Mrs. Florence Kelly. State Inspector of Fac- ioriesy Chicago, 111. ADDRESS. By Miss Jane Addams. Hull House, Chicago, 111. RELATION OF SUNDAY REST TO THE HOME AND TO FAMILY LIFE. Mrs. J. H. Knowles, Newark, N. J. SOCIAL RELATIONS. THE RELATION OF SUNDAY REST TO THE FUNDA- MENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE MORAL LIFE. BY O. PRUNIER . [We regret to have to abbreviate this thoughtful paper. Though occasioned by the condition of the working-classes in Europe, its argu- ment deserves the serious consideration of American workingmen and wage-earners. — Ed.] HE advocates of Sunday rest have ably pre- 1 sented the many beneficent results of its obser- vance. We propose to go farther, and to show that it is an institution demanded by the very principles of man’s moral nature, and bestowed upon him by the Creator for the purpose of securing the proper development of moral life. And in speaking here of the moral nature of man, we leave out of view the religious element. i. Nobody will contradict us when we affirm that the first and necessary basis of the moral life is the existence in man of those higher feelings and thoughts which raise him above the visible and narrow sphere of his physical life. The ideas of right and duty pre- suppose the elevation of the mind above external realities. A life entirely devoted to the satisfaction of physical wants, occupied only with material con- T29 130 S UA r DA Y REST cerns, and depressed by monotonous and unrelieved work, is soon closed against all moral development. The demands of material life have never pressed upon man so heavily as they do to-day. The prog- ress of civilization makes these demands every day more numerous and overwhelming. They impose their irresistible tyranny upon every class of work- ers, in every degree of the social scale. There is no part of our modern society which can claim to have escaped the terrible pressure to which the human soul is subjected by the necessities of existence. Working, eating, drinking, cares and pleasures both, incline man so strongly to earth and to things of the earth, that he finally loses power to lift himself above these things. He becomes unable to appreciate or even discern anything but what he can lay hold of with his hands, can buy or sell, can eat or drink. And if this evil is general, it is especially marked in industrial communities and among working-classes. Reduced most of the time to the part of a mere wheel of a vast machinery, fastened to a monotonous and disheartening task, the workingman finds himself ex- posed to a slow and almost inevitable materialization, in which is involved a corresponding demoralization. “ This our work is indeed a brutalizing work,” said a railway man one day to the late Alexander Lombard, the lamented champion of Sunday rest in Switzer- land. And have we not all heard similar expressions ? Men who are compelled to ceaseless and monoto- nous toil must be provided with a safeguard. For our part we do not know of a better one than Sunday rest. Sunday is the day that releases the working- man from the tyrannical power of material things, — the day when spirit and soul revive in him. Thanks SOCIAL RELATIONS . I3I to Sunday, for fifty-two days in the year man is not a mere money-making machine. Transformed for six days into pen, spade, hammer, beast of burden, he returns on the seventh to his true nature. Sunday restores to him an intellectual and moral life which enables him to resist the depressing influences of his outward life. Without Sunday, he remains an un- protected victim of the most formidable materialistic propaganda that has ever threatened humanity. If a man were a machine, which only needed to he kept in good repair for the accomplishment of its work, perhaps he might get sufficient rest by redu- cing the hours of labor, or, what is the same thing, lengthening the time of meals and repose. Being such as he is, however, he cannot satisfy himself with the unconscious rest which merely restores the muscular and nervous forces. He needs a rest which shall revive mind and soul, and strengthen the moral aspi- ration. In one word, he wants Sunday rest. 2. If the moral life thus requires, first of all, cer- tain higher aspirations and interests, without which it must soon die out in man and in society, it also requires not less imperiously the sense of personal independence and dignity. To fulfil his moral destiny man requires something more than vague spiritual conceptions and confused yearnings after higher states of being. He must be assured that he has a right to himself, and has the power of disposing of himself. In the conditions of existence at present imposed by the social order, how is the sense of self-posses- sion, of personal freedom, possible ? Some answer the question by proposing some social reform, or, if necessary the entire reorganization of the present 132 SUNDA Y REST. social order. We will not stop to inquire how far hopes or promises thus awakened are likely to be realized. However efficient such measures may be supposed to be, they are remedies altogether too remote and problematical for existing evils. All that is thus even doubtfully offered, involving per- haps the most dangerous social crises, and possibly bitter disappointment, we can secure from Sunday rest ; and indeed we already possess it, in proportion as we appreciate and utilize this institution. Sunday is already in the midst of our modern society — like a guardian angel spreading its tutelar wings over the classes whose rights and liberties are threatened by the hard exigencies of industrial life. Thanks to this day, the toilers, enslaved by the un- relenting necessities of the social organization, find liberty, on one day at least, to cultivate the conscious- ness of personal freedom and responsibility. When emancipation was to be proclaimed in the English colonies, the champions of slavery com- plained that the negroes were allowed the rest and other advantages of Sunday. In their judgment this institution was responsible for that emancipation of mind and soul which rendered inevitable the outward and legal emancipation of the slaves. They boldly said, that “ chapels and schools ought to have been proscribed ; we should insist on closing them even now. If we imagine it possible to keep men as slaves who can read, who are allowed to cultivate the higher nature, we are sadly mistaken.” An avowal such as this is too valuable to be overlooked. When a slave ceases to be exclusively a working machine ; when he reads ; when he becomes a moral being ; when his spirit and conscience are restored to life ; in short, SOCIAL RELATIONS . 133 when he becomes a man, slavery, so far as he is con- cerned, is at an end. But the reverse is equally true. The laboring man who toils on day after day, the whole week, the whole month, the whole year, and is thus deprived of the opportunity which Sunday affords for the cul- ture of his mind, his heart, his conscience, or his soul, is sinking into slavery. Gradually he loses the sense of his independence and dignity, and is thus without the indispensable conditions of moral devel- opment and even of moral life itself. The more uni- form and mechanical the labor, the more inevitable is this result. The growth of industries and the conse- quent minute division of labor, involving on the part of each workingman the constant repetition of the ' same movement, in which neither intelligence nor will has any part, literally reduce the workingman in our manufactories to the rank of a machine. Fatigue alone reminds him that he is a man. But one need not be a laborer in the ordinary sense of this term to experience the difficulty in maintain- ing this consciousness of personal freedom and dig- nity under the pressure of incessant and monotonous toil — to understand how Sunday rest tends directly to maintain and develop this consciousness. It is true of all who are in positions of dependency, involv- ing mere mechanical work, — office employees whose sole business is to add up figures, or to transcribe copies ; printing compositors, standing all day long at cases from which they pick incessantly the type to form words and sentences whose meaning they have no opportunity to comprehend; domestic ser- vants, humiliated not only by their peculiar task, but also by a style of dress, a conventional deport- l 34 SUNDAY REST, ment, and obsequious forms which are a constant proclamation of their condition of subordination ; soldiers, transformed into walking machines, bending the knees or the arms at word of command, forbid- den every spontaneous motion of body or mind — in- deed, obliged to act, see, or think through their superiors, crushing personal impulse by passive obe- dience. Many are they who are thus losing that consciousness of personal freedom and dignity, with- out which there can be no moral life. Every one of them would add his testimony to that of the young man who, speaking to us of the time he had just spent in military service, said, “ Never before had I so much appreciated Sunday. It was the only day that I felt myself still a man.” Such indeed is Sun- day to every worker whose toilsome and tedious labor through all the week is calculated to lower himself in his own estimation, even to make him weary of himself and his life. Sunday is the very day when, feeling himself to be master of his own person and of his own time, he again becomes conscious of his character and dignity as a man, thoughtful of his duties and responsibilities, and proudly accepts his privileges as husband, as father, as citizen. To one thus humiliated and depressed by the slavery of material life and the tyranny of the social organiza- tion, Sunday is the day of recompense. 3. But as this moral life is not possible without the higher thoughts and feelings, without the con- sciousness of personal freedom, neither is it attain- able without the suppression of individual selfish- ness. To become moral beings, our lives demand another end than self-interest and personal enjoy- ment ; we must accept responsibilities and duties SOCIAL RELATIONS. 135 that often require self-denial. We must admit that a life wholly occupied with material labor, a life with no Sunday, will inevitably drift in the other direction. Under such conditions, the feeling, in a sense true, that one must make his own way in the world, must earn his own living, becomes very often a hard, stern, selfishness, which presently destroys in one’s mind the very germs of the moral life. The excessive competitions, the tyrannical exigencies of the “ strug- gle for life,” make the danger more real and serious to-day than ever. But it also brings into clearer light the salutary effects of Sunday rest in our modern society. But yet more directly, Sunday observance counter- acts selfishness, and favors the growth of justice and charity, which are the highest expressions of the moral life. The man wholly absorbed with the one thought of self-support, living and laboring during the whole week as if he were the only person in the world, and had only personal needs and advan- tages to think of, discovers, thanks to Sunday rest, that there are around him things he is not justified in overlooking, obligations he cannot escape without harm to himself. Home, country, friends, and the church find and claim him again. Thus Sunday brings to man the inner life of self-ownership, and at the same time the outward life of self-devotion ; and this it is which constitutes pre-eminently the high morality of Sunday rest. But there is an objection sometimes urged against the arguments just advanced. “ Whatever your theo- ries,” we are asked, “ is it not true that the use of Sunday is decidedly different from what you have represented ? Is not Sunday of all the days of the 136 SUNDAY REST. week the one most used for drunkenness and dissipa- tion ? Are not the dangers to morality from unin- terrupted labor less formidable than those made possible by Sunday rest ? First of all we acknowledge the seriousness of this objection. We confess and deplore the habit of spending the day of rest so as to turn its benefits into evils, and make it a peril both to individual and to social morality. This is largely true in most of the countries of continental Europe. The numerous public festivals and the various opportunities for gambling and unwholesome pleasure certainly make Sunday for the masses of the people of those coun- tries the day least favorable to moral development. Sunday so spent, instead of contributing to a higher intelligence, only makes the mind emptier and more frivolous. Instead of lightening physical labor, it makes it more distasteful. On the morrow of such a Sunday the workshop seems darker and the task less attractive than ever. Instead of a day of rest, it is one of fatigue. Instead of a blessing, it is the workman's ruin, eating up his wages and de- stroying his love of economy and order. Now to these indisputable facts we oppose the following suggestions : In the first place, the liability to abuse of liberty is no reason for restraining its use. If Sunday rest is a man’s right, demanded by the wants of his physical and moral nature, no one is authorized to deprive him of it under the pretence that he might make a bad use of it. The advo- cates of slavery to whom we have referred had no stronger argument against the emancipation of the negro than this : “ What will they do with the lib- erty you propose to give them ? They will waste SOCIAL RELATIONS . 137 it iru idleness, and spend in debauchery the money they earn. They will perhaps abuse their strength, and, where they are a majority, be guilty of violence against the persons and property of their former masters.” These were possible results — yet they were not accepted as valid objections ; and, more- over, the abuse of Sunday is often due to the lack of regular Sunday rest — just as incessant toil incites to alcoholic drinking, the workingman imagining that the stimulant repairs his wasted strength, while in fact it gives him an excessive and morbid craving after unnatural amusements and unwholesome pleas- ures. Those especially inclined to abuse Sunday are generally those who are without the facilities for enjoying it regularly and profitably. It is with Sunday rest as it is with liberty. To make the right use of it, to secure its good fruits, one must become accustomed to it. The guaranty against evil results from a Sunday Rest-Day will be secured by making its observance more and more general and regular. To demonstrate this we may compare the countries where Sunday is generally observed with those in which it is neglected. Such a comparison would prove that the regular obser- vance of this institution is directly connected with the development of good morals. If Sunday rest were for the first time proposed to us, we would certainly all say : “ Here is an admirable institution ; we must put it in practice.’" Happily this institution is in existence : we already possess and know its advantages. It is not a question of finding it, or of creating it. The important thing is not to let it fall into disuse, but to avail ourselves of all its blessings. 138 SUNDAY REST SUNDAY REST FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN FAC- TORIES, STORES, AND DOMESTIC SERVICE. ALICE L. W O ODBRID GE. P ERHAPS there is no surer way of proving the necessity of Sunday rest for women in fac- tories, stores, affd domestic service, than by describ- ing some of the conditions under which they are employed. In treating the subject in this manner I do not wish to be understood as assuming a spirit of hostility to employers, as this is far from my pur- pose or position. Many years’ experience behind the counter and in the workshop has convinced me that there are thousands of just, kind-hearted, pure- minded employers in all branches of business, — em- ployers who take a deep interest in the welfare of those in their employ, who provide more than the law requires, who do this gladly, without supervision or request, and who study the comfort of their work people at great sacrifice to themselves. There are thousands of women who make all pos- sible provisions for the comfort of domestics, who provide proper hours of rest and recreation, and are most considerate of their interests. I will go farther, and say that I believe that the majority of employers desire to be just in dealing with employees ; and I will add that I know that many of the working people are utterly untrustworthy, and so indifferent to business interests that it is truly wonderful that any consideration is shown to them. But behind all this is the indisputable fact that conditions, not indi- SOCIAL RELATIONS . 139 viduals, are responsible. My sole object in presenting these conditions is to prove the need of absolute rest on Sunday. It is unquestionable that the most important factor in the production of all things necessary for the well- being of the human race is the producer, and that the quantity and quality of production depends upon the skill and intelligence of the producer. Animal life proves that physical labor, independent of intellect- ual and moral guidance, is always irresponsible. The human being is first and supremely animal until physical needs are supplied. Intellect is first called into action in supplying animal needs, and is utterly selfish in its character unless guided by a higher power. Morality is that higher power, that Godhood in man, which develops according as it controls physical and mental forces. When physical and mental forces are used only to supply animal needs, the moral force becomes dormant, and the human being becomes the irresponsible animal. Such is the condition of thousands of toilers to-day. I cannot, in presenting the proofs of this state- ment, overlook that prime factor in this great evil, child labor, — child labor, which, like an anaconda, winds its folds about the throats of nations, and slowly but surely strangles their moral life. In the United States alone in 1880, 1,118,356 children, between the ages of ten and sixteen years, were employed in mines, factories, and .stores. Think of it, 1,118,356 ! An army as vast as ever fell in the annals of history. An army which, marching eight abreast, and two feet apart, would extend fifty miles. A multitude on whose wee shoulders rests the life, the immortality, of the nation. 140 SUNDAY REST A million children, rising in the cold gray of wintry mornings, at the shriek of whistle, or the stroke of bell, snatch a meagre breakfast, and, shiver- ing in scanty clothing, hurry through the chill air. They rush along with hearts half numb with terror, lest they be too late for the clanging gates to shut them out of God’s air and sunshine, into a world of rush and hum, of sickening smells and stifling at- mospheres. All day long they run to and fro, or ply their busy fingers under stern taskmasters, not daring to lift their eyes, or let their tired hands rest. The weary hours lag, the tired heads droop, but they must work on. They drag themselves home through the darkness, only to drop down upon their pitiful beds to sleep. They have no recreation, no childish joys, no comprehension of life ; they know nothing but toil. In our great cotton, thread, and yarn mills, children walk twenty miles a day. Three-fourths of the yarn manufactured is spun by children under sixteen years of age. In the tobacco industry, and in sweat-shops, children as young as six years are employed. In button factories children eyelet thirty-six gross daily. Think of holding the hands in one position for ten hours ! Children, guiding dangerous machinery, do this. On fast express trains engineers can work but three hours daily, fifteen days in the month, because of the strain upon the nerves ; the weak nerves of children are taxed as much proportionately, and for ten hours daily. Is it any wonder that in childhood these little ones become eye-servants, careless, indif- ferent, resentful ? that they become entirely animal ? In our mercantile houses children are in even worse condition. Factory laws in twenty-one States SOCIAL RELATIONS. 141 have prohibited the employment of children under a certain age ; but in mercantile houses the youngest children are found. The restrictions placed upon them are as severe as those of criminals. They are fined for absence, tardiness, mistakes, and indifferent work. If their tired feet lag, they are rebuked. They are employed from ten to fourteen hours a day. In many stores they work until eleven and twelve o’clock on Saturday night. Their average wages are but $1.60 per week, running as low as seventy- five cents per week. Their work would break the strongest constitution. The ceaseless running to and fro bearing heavy burdens, the climbing long flights of stairs, — for they are seldom allowed to use the elevators, — the stern exactions, the harsh re- bukes, soon show the effect upon them mentally, morally, and physically. These children go home to sleep in the loathsome atmosphere of tenement houses, and when Sunday comes they seek relief in the streets. They are too tired to enjoy anything that is not of the most excit- ing nature. Their nerves are pitched at too high a key to enable them to appreciate the pleasures of in- telligent surroundings. If they read, it must be some blood-curdling tale or fevered romance pitched on the same high key. The significance of the Sab- bath is unknown to them. Often these children are the offspring of parents able to support them, but creatures like themselves, in whom the animal predominates. The slender wages of the child too often goes to supply the family beer. Statistics prove that child labor does not increase the family income ; on the contrary, re- duces it. They further prove that in communities 142 SUN DA Y REST. where child labor is abolished the population be- comes more moral, intelligent, and healthy. Among women equal conditions exist. While fac- tory laws have materially improved sanitary condi- tions and hours of labor, yet the circumstances under which women are employed are often barbar- ous. Work in the majority of factories is done under the piece system, the amount earned depend- ing upon the skill of the operator. In our large suit-houses women must make a dozen tea-gowns a day to earn $1.50; a dozen ladies’ wrap- pers, for from 40 cents to $1.25; three thousand paper bags for 90 cents ; a dozen children’s dresses for $1.50; stitch two hundred and eighty-eight pairs of shoes for $1.80; a dozen shirts, for from 40 cents to $ 1 . 20 . Who ever thinks of what it means to move the hands with lightning-like rapidity for ten hours ? Yet women running sewing-machines that take three thousand stitches per minute do this. Who thinks of what it means to handle iron bolts all day ? Women in bolt factories frequently have convulsions from hand- ling the cold iron. Who thinks of the terrible strain upon the nervous system from the noise and jar of machinery ? In many factories women stand all day, no seats being provided. In many dressmaking es- tablishments women are compelled to sit on chairs without back, employers claiming that they sew' faster. Although manufacturing establishments generally close on Sunday, this does not by any means signify a day of rest for employees. Thousands of families, parents and children, work side by side in factories, and Sunday to them means simply a change of work. SOCIAL RELATIONS. 143 The day is spent in washing, cooking, mending, and cleaning, and Monday morning finds them more tired than Saturday night. It is a frequent complaint among employers that the poorest work is done on Monday, and this is often due to the fact of the heavy toil on Sunday. There are in New York City twenty-seven thousand married women wage-earners, the majority of whom devote Sunday to household duties. Added to these are twenty-five thousand single women past middle life, who live in furnished rooms, and spend Sunday in a like manner. Women in stores are supposed to work but ten hours a day, but in busy season they often work until midnight without supper or extra pay. Many States have enacted laws required seats for sales- women ; but they are generally disregarded, and in some, women have been fined if found sitting. They are also fined for absence, tardiness, and mistakes. No matter how late they may have worked the pre- vious night, they are often fined if late the next morning. Investigation proves that the majority of women cannot stand for two years without suffering perma- nent physical injury ; yet they dare not acknowledge that they are suffering from impaired health, fearing dismissal. Posted in one of the largest mercantile houses in the United States is the following notice : — “We remind you that we keep an account of all your ab- sences, although only for a few hours, and every mark counts against your value ; if it is because of ill health, it may be un- avoidable, nevertheless, persons whose health enables them to be here all the time can make the best records, and others need not complain if higher salaries are refused when asked for. Do 144 SUNDAY REST. not get the idea that too much is required of you, or that you are required to attend too closely to business. You are employed to give yourselves entirely to your duties.” This firm gives two weeks’ vacation in summer, but it has a list of fifty-six mistakes, any one of which forfeits a day’s vacation. To this list is added the following : — “To secure fairness to all no excuses can be accepted for any of the above-mentioned blunders, nor for any others that may arise through failure to exercise forethought and reasonable judgment. Never say that you were hurried, for speed and ac- curacy are a part of business. Decision rests upon the simple question, did you make the blunder ? ” Who can comprehend the nervous strain upon women placed under such restrictions ? A physi- cian in a New York dispensary tells of twenty-five hundred cases treated from one store in two years, the direct result of nervous strain, long hours of standing, and poor food. Excessive fines are invariably the rule where the younger women are employed, merchants claiming that the young are so negligent and indifferent, that it is impossible to conduct business otherwise ; but they do not stop to think that long hours of toil under such restrictions weaken brain and body, and are the direct cause of careless and indifferent workers. They do not stop to think of what it means ,to measure ribbon for ten hours; of what it means to try on gloves for ten hours in succession. A woman behind a glove counter tells of trying seven- teen pairs of gloves on a customer without stopping. They were all of one size and line, but would be easier to put on when needed. The customer fainted SOCIAL RELATIONS. 145 at the end, but the saleswoman turned to the next one and tried on seven pairs. In many stores the cashiers and bundle wrappers are in basements utterly devoid of ventilation, or on platforms elevated to within a few feet of the ceiling where the atmosphere is insufferable. Sunday rest among saleswomen is as rare as among women in factories. It is too frequently a day of mending and making. Under such conditions the morals become degenerated, and employers too often take advantage of this. Many employers give women plainly to understand that they do not expect them to live upon the salaries offered, but must find other means of support. One of the largest cloak manufacturers in the country, when the women asked for a raise in wages from $3.50 to $4.50, said, “ Do you see that street' out there? if you do not earn enough here to support yourselves go out there and finish up.” It is a truth beyond question that many houses do not employ women unless they are lax in morality. But you will say why do these women submit ? Why do they not go into families where they can lead virtuous lives, have better homes, shorter hours, and better wages. I speak from knowledge when I deny this. Our foundling asylums and houses of ill-fame prove that the largest number of inmates from the working class are domestics. The average wages of domestics is but $11 per month. The domestic has no time to call her own. If arrange- ments are made at the time of engagement for cer- tain half-days, the mistress seldom hesitates to refuse this time, if it is to her immediate advantage to do so. This is not the case with other employments. The 146 SUNDAY REST. plea that the domestic has all the time after her work is finished is a hypocritical one. It is a fact too well known, that even the most extravagant housewives are economical with servants. They do not pay two for work which one can possibly do in sixteen hours. A domestic’s life is a dreary round of toil rendered yet more distasteful through lack of companionship. There is no diversion from the broom, the wash-tub, and the cooking-table. She is as completely ostra- cized from family life as though banished to a desert. Although she contributes most to the family comfort, her welfare is the last considered. Her room is gen- erally the poorest in the house ; if in the country, it is the coldest and most scantily furnished. In the city it is often an inside room in the top of the house, utterly deyoid of ventilation, or worse yet, a box, or closet, leading from the kitchen. Frequently the food is of poor quality, and even the privilege of the bathroom is denied her. When working hours are over, the domestic sits in the kitchen ready to run at the beck and call of the family. Instead of having time for rest on Sunday, it is the custom in many families to have an elabo- rate dinner on that day, and she rarely secures a mo- ment’s rest before four o’clock. I am sorry to add that society people devote Sunday more and more to entertaining friends, and thus increase demands upon domestics. Those who can afford to entertain can afford another day than Sunday. Those who must have more abundant dinners can see that they are pre- pared largely on Saturday, or assist in the Sunday preparation. With proper foresight the household SOCIAL RELATIONS. 147 duties of Sunday can be greatly diminished, and it is our duty to see that this is done. Many claim that work can be accomplished in less time than is generally taken, but the very fact of its monotony is sufficient cause for lagging hands and indifferent work. Responsibility rests alone upon moral force ; shut off all opportunities for its devel- opment, and mistress and maid must suffer the result. There is no dignity except in service, but that only is true service which tends to elevate the human race. Service becomes undignified, menial, when directed into channels which degenerate the mental, moral, and physical powers of any class. Idleness and overwork, excess and deprivation, have the same effect upon mankind : they deaden the moral powers, and reduce the human to the animal. In a night inspection of the sleeping apartments of women employed in hotels,, hundreds of women were found sleeping in basements and sub-basements, in rooms utterly without means of ventilation. ‘‘Why do you remain here?” I asked. “Why don’t you go into families?” “Oh, we have just as good accom- modations here as we would in most families, and we only work ten hours a day and have a half-day off every week.” The records of insane asylums show that the lar- gest number of women inmates are domestics, thus proving that those who work for the longest number of hours at employment from which the mind has no diversion are most subject to insanity. The largest number of women criminals are also domestics. The census of 1880 shows that while the increase of pop- ulation was but 30.23 per cent, the increase of defec- 148 SUDNA V REST. tive classes was one hundred and fifty-five per cent, and the greater part of these were the children of laboring people. It is not to be wondered at that our working women prefer other employment, and it should not be considered a discredit to them that they do. Is it not rather a discredit to the house- wife who first degrades household duties by consid- ering herself superior to their performance, and then renders them menial by shutting off all means of ad- vancement from those whom she employs ? We are too apt to think of the working people as of a differ- ent mould as well as class, but they are as surely God’s handiwork and possessed of the same capacities as the rest of mankind. It has previously been stated that conditions, not individuals, are responsible. ' It requires the co-oper- ation of all classes to create conditions. If attention has first been called to the customs of employers, it is not because they are the only selfish ones, but because with larger opportunities they should be the first to develop the nobler impulses. When a certain judge asked a Chinaman if he ever told a lie, the reply was, “ Oh, yes ; Chinaman lie just like Melican man.” Truth, justice, and selfishness are not confined to any class. The working people are selfish, and too often are their own worst enemies. No stronger proof need be given of this than the - fact that for four years past the Working Women’s Society have tried to secure a Saturday half-holiday for the saleswomen in the east side stores of New York City. Whenever the merchants are requested to do so, the invariable reply is : “ We should be glad to close, but our customers are all working people who are paid on Saturday, and who will persist in shopping SOCIAL RELATIONS . 149 on that day. We are obliged to keep our stores open to accommodate them.” This excuse is too true. It is a fact that women from the uptown stores where the half-holiday is given, resort at once to Grand Street to do their shopping. In many of the stores where these women are employed they are allowed no time to make pur- chases, and this may seem a slight excuse ; but the true reason is that working people are selfish, and the only reasonable excuse for it is that they are in the positions of hungry animals seeking to secure their share of a too scanty meal. It would take more than one full meal to develop generous natures in the animals, and it will take more than eight or nine half-holidays in a year to so far develop the work- ing people that they will consider the rights of their fellow-creatures. Said a wealthy merchant in Grand Street : “ My dear madam, if I grant a half-holiday to my employ- ees during July and August I shall lose seventy-five thousand dollars, which will go to the small dealers in this locality/' Said a bookkeeper in a wholesale house, “ If I do not do my shopping on Saturday afternoon I shall be obliged to lose an hour or two during the week." The merchant attended to busi- ness about five hours a day, the bookkeeper had her half-holiday. Both claimed their hours of leisure as a right : neither recognized that every right has its attendant duty ; that no human being should use his right or privilege to inflict a wrong upon another. The Saturday half-holiday is needed by employer and employee. It is needed as a time of recreation and preparation for a Sabbath of rest. All shop- ping can be done before Saturday noon. Women SUNDA Y REST 150 of leisure can certainly find time before that hour. Popular opinion has already closed the majority of our large stores at night, and customers who for- merly purchased during the evening have not suffered thereby. If working people must shop on pay-day, then let them unite in petitioning to be paid on an- other day. If a Monday pay-day were instituted, it would prove a benefit to all classes, and to all legit- imate business. Less money would be spent fool- ishly, and more would be wisely distributed for necessities, beside the gain of needed rest. The truth concerning our working people is that they need more rest, need time for recreation, time for moral development. The majority of the toilers are born tired because of the environments of parents ; they inherit an unnatural craving for rest, for nour- ishment, for recreation. They nurse it from the mother’s breast. Until this craving is appeased they cannot rise above the animal. The martyrs of eighteen hundred years ago are not looked for to-day. A higher state of enlightenment has taught us that a surer way of becoming images of God is through dealing justly with all our members. Wipe out the craving after animal needs by justly supplying them, and the thoughts turn naturally to higher, holier things. “ As the hart panteth after the waterbrook, so does my soul pant for thee, O God,” should be the psalm of the woman binding shoes as well as of the king of long ago; but she needs time to realize that she has a soul, time to comprehend its needs. The world to-day is advancing at so swift a pace, business is conducted under such exacting regula- tions, that it is impossible and unnecessary for the human being to endure the present strain. There SOCIAL RELATIONS. I 5 I is no need for the long hours of labor. Manufac- turers and merchants who have tried the eight hour plan agree that employees take more interest, do better work, and thus secure a surer market, and in the end accomplish as much. The housewife would secure the same result by curtailing the hours of domestics. If household duties cannot be performed in reasonable hours, it is a proof that more help is needed ; and the further expense would be amply compensated for in the more faithful performance of duties, and more harmonious workings of the household. We who are within the ranks of organized labor have inscribed upon our standard, “ Eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, eight hours for sleep,” and we also desire a Sunday in which to learn our responsibility to God and man. More and more the Sabbath is becoming a day of labor, or at least a day of recreation. Wider and wider grows the gulf between employer and employee, because weaker and weaker grows the sense of moral obligation be- tween man and man. It is time that we looked these matters in the face ; time that we acknowledged the truth that morality and spirituality do not consist in looking forward to a future when we shall be freed from the power of selfishness, but in learning to practise justice here, that we may be able to appreciate the justice of that future. It is the great and grand object of organized labor to rectify these evils, though but few seem to com- prehend this fact. We hear of contests between employer and employee, of strikes, sometimes of riots, and we condemn them; but we do not under- 152 SUNDAY REST. stand that the toilers are striking because it has dawned upon them that they have latent powers equal to those of any other human being, — powers which can be used for the elevation of mankind, and for the development of which God and man will one day hold them responsible. We do not understand that in striking for these opportunities physical force is sometimes used because it is the only means at their command. Let those of higher intellectual de- velopment extend a helping hand by showing a better method, if such there be. As it has required the co- operation of all classes to create present conditions, so it requires the co-operation of all to remove con- ditions which are impediments to the progress of any class. That the world is awakening to the needs of co- operation is shown through the international assem- bling of those interested in the cause of Sunday Rest. This seems an excellent opportunity to se- cure the co-operation of all organizations interested in obtaining a Saturday half-holiday, and it may not be amiss to suggest that organized efforts to secure a change of pay-day will greatly advance this movement. It is no doubt far nobler for the indi- vidual to learn to withstand temptation ; but under existing conditions we are insured against tempta- tion only through its removal, and a Monday pay-day would remove much of the temptation to purchase on Saturday. SOCIAL DELATIONS. 153 ADDRESS BY MRS. FLORENCE KELLY. It must be clear to every one who works that there is continual effort on the part of employers to get just as long a working-day and just as long a working-week, and just as short a working-year as they can. It is the ten- dency of every trade in this country to put into every work- ing-day, however low the wages are made, the maximum amount of toil that can be crowded into it ; and to put into every working-week, however low the wages are, the greatest amount of toil possible, and then to shut down work, and make the season as short as it can be made, and leave the working-people to take a long vacation at their own expense. Now, when work is carried on in that way there cannot be a Sunday of rest. I feel sure we shall never have a real Sunday of rest in this country until the whole working- class is organized as one body of people who stand for rest not on Sunday only, but on every one of God’s days through the year. I went yesterday to examine a stamping works, where are employed seven hundred men, women, and children. I looked through one branch of it yesterday, and there were sixty children employed under legal age. They were working in such noise that I had to ask a boy a question four times before he heard me. The atmosphere was such that during my stay of only three hours I had to go to the window again and again to get a breath of air. Not content with keeping the children in such a noise and in such an atmosphere as that, I found forty little boys lying on a shelf suspended between earth and heaven, to save space. In many places the machinery was crowded so close that I could not walk between the belting, but had to ask the foreman to stop the machinery while I passed ; 154 SUNDAY REST but they did not stop the machinery for the children to pass : they had to run between the machinery when it was in motion. On the upper floor they cut pieces of metal to be stamped into tin cans, and they had this shelf with forty little boys on it to save room ; and not one of those children could by any ingenuity work in a normal posi- tion : they were cramped into all sorts of postures, some lying on their stomachs because there was not room enough on the shelf, and there was not enough considera- tion for their comfort to allow them to sit comfortably. As I left the place I saw a notice on the door, “ Until further notice these works will run from seven a.m. till nine p.m. every day, including Sunday. Refusal to comply with this request will be ground for immediate discharge.” There is the kind of Sunday rest that that very poor example of the employing class is trying to force on his employees ! The excuse they gave me was that in two weeks the season closed, and after that comes vacation — at the employees’ expense. They get no Sunday’s rest now, and they could not get a restful Sunday after that until some other work is found. It is my duty to go evenings to look for working women and girls who are making clothing in their homes after working all day in a manufacturing establishment. They tell me, “ I do not want to break the eight-hour law, but I have got to break it or be fired.” I see where these people live after working ten and eleven and twelve hours in the day, — what is their reward for that sort of labor ? Often it is a miserable base- ment of one or two rooms. Their employers say to them, “ If you do not make money enough now, the season will end at Thanksgiving, and then you can rest all winter, and — starve.” It will be my duty to-morrow to break the Sabbath to that extent as to go and see men who are working at home. These are trades in which labor organization is SOCIAL DELATIONS. 155 very weak. The stamping trade might almost be called a scab trade. There is virtually no union in it. And the same is true regarding the candy trade. In every candy factory in this city you will find little children from ten to sixteen years old. Last Christmas those little children were at work getting the candy ready for other children’s happy Christmas Day. Those children work from seven in the morning till ten minutes past nine at night, with half an hour for dinner, and no supper, — a working-week of eighty-two hours ; and when Sunday comes, if it is a day of rest at all, it must be a day of rest in bed. Many of these children came to a school in which I taught. I had a roomful of them. They came to learn to read. They left after the first of November. I used to see those chil- dren after night school was over going home from the factories. That is a trade in which there is no union of labor. You will find the same is true of any trade you take up. If there is a body of strong working-men organ- ized, standing for their rights, those rights will be respected ; if it is a weak trade, and employers have everything their own way, then there is no rest through the week, and no Sunday worth naming for the men, women, and children employed. At the same time the legislature in Illinois has done more for Sunday rest than legislatures anywhere else in the world. It has enacted a law prohibiting women and children working more than forty-eight hours in the week. If we succeed in enforcing that law, the people can work even under rather unwholesome conditions eight hours in a day, six days in a week, and still have some vitality left ; but there is a very strong league of powerful men openly formed for the purpose of defeating that law. Employers say, “ Ours is a short season’s work, and the people want to work hard, and work long hours.” The working-people grasp very quickly the idea that, if the working-days are shortened, the season will gradually grow longer. Em- 156 SUNDA V REST. ployers realize that too, and they do not want it. They want their work done as shortly and cheaply as they can get it done, and with as little expenditure of fuel, janitor service, etc. If you want a real, quiet, restful Sunday for every one, including the working-people, then I think effort must be directed toward creating a public opinion strong enough to find out who are the employers who insist upon working at this fearful intensity, and refuse to buy goods of them. Then there must be a body of working-people strong enough to stand for reasonable leisure through the week as well as on Sunday ; for the weak trades and children and women must not be left to the care of twelve inspect- ors who have under their care sixty-six thousand rapacious employers. The outcome of a struggle of twelve against sixty-six thousand is practically decided in advance if public opinion is not strongly wide awake behind the twelve. I beg of you, if you care for Sunday rest, to watch who obeys the eight-hour law, and who works long seasons instead of short, and give your support to law-abiding peo- ple. Then the working-people will gradually come to have leisure enough, so that their Sunday can be a real Sunday of rest. ADDRESS BY MISS 'JANE ADDAMS. Perhaps there is another point of view which might be taken on the subject of more leisure for working-people. Any one who has lived among the working-people realizes that the great want is the want of imagination, the want of a higher life, — the sort of life which people take great pains to get ; for which they go to college ; for which they go to Europe ; for which they read and .study long and SOCIAL RELATIONS . 157 wearisome hours, — to get themselves out of the humdrum life, to that wider life we find in books. Hence the desire for righteousness, which I believe is stronger in the hearts of sturdy working-people than in any other class. I be- lieve it is a feeling after the higher and better life. It seems to me that the Sabbath is a sort of life-saving station for this higher life. The first thing that comes in the way when you try to educate these people is the lack of leisure, and not only the lack of leisure, but the lack of spirit, of energy. I am touched every night in the week by the fact that the people think it worth while to eat their suppers and change their clothes and come to the Hull House, — and perhaps they do not get there until eight or nine o’clock, — for the sake of the very meagre feast we are able to spread for them, — so very meagre that I am ashamed of it. They cannot come earlier, and when they do come they are often so tired that they go to sleep. This lack of leisure and lack of spirit come largely from ceaseless toil. We hear a great deal about the dignity and joyousness of labor, and no doubt labor is dignified and joyous when people are strong and have leisure. Perhaps the first four or five hours of work are performed with a great deal of pleasure, but not the twelfth hour. I once tried to find out how a man felt after working from six in the morning till nine and ten at night. He told me that after three or four weeks he did not feel at all. He could not remember what he had to eat; he could not remember anything except being aroused in the morning when he was too tired to get up, and tumbling into bed at night. . . . You feel a sense of chagrin, of deep indignation, when you find that the seventh day is fast going, and people are being compelled to perform the same kind of toil as on the other six. During the four years that I have had the privilege of living among the working-people, I find Sunday is going i 5 8 SUNDAY REST. very fast. There is less difference between the sort of toil on that day than four years ago. It may be that I know more working-people. I would like to say some- thing about many people who have lost to a great extent their old faith, and have not grasped a new faith, who still stand by the day of rest for the sake of the welfare of society, that strong feeling of brotherhood that willingly sacrifices wages in order that in the long run the working- people may come out better. We may call this the reli- gion of humanity. It certainly has much the same essence in it which the old religions have. I do not know if I have made my point clear; but I would like to impress upon all of you, that in order to get the nobler life we must have leisure for it. SUNDAY REST IN THE HOME AND FAMILY LIFE. MRS. /. H. KNOWLES . INTELLECTUAL, social, and religious ideals of 1 a high order are necessary to national prosperity and stability. The germ of the nation is in the fam- ily. In the formation of such ideals, therefore, the family life holds a place of first importance. The true home is so essential to the best forms of civil government, that it is impossible to conceive of any- thing worthy the name of a nation without it. In this, more than in anything else, lies the difference between barbaric and civilized rule. The facts pre- sented in human history furnish irrefutable demon- stration of this statement. The comparative strength SOCIAL RELATIONS. 159 of nationalities now existing gives additional proof ; for where the family in its highest type is held sa- cred, there the national bond shows firmness and fibre. The character of a people will always be the same in the main as the character of their homes. No better illustration of this has been given to the world than in the momentous years of our own coun- try’s history, from i860 to 1865. It was from the homes, both North and South, that the men truest to conviction came, to die for that which they had been early taught to believe was the right. It is said that after those terrible persecutions in Madagascar, when humanity was thrilled with in- stances of noble martyrdom, Christians sprang up in most unexpected places through all the realm. In family teaching and example the principles of their faith had been so deeply implanted that no storm, however fierce, could uproot them. This in- stitution, wielding such influence in the affairs of men, is not of human origin. It is God “who set- teth the solitary in families,” and who, in choosing the channel through which the highest blessings should flow to all nations, chose a man of whom he said, “I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” That the family lies at the basis of human prog- ress is no more clearly demonstrated than is this other essential truth, that family life itself depends for its integrity and perpetuity upon eternal princi- ples which originate with God. I am now speaking, not from the standpoint of any one form of religious belief, but from a broad and philosophical seat of i6o SUNDA Y REST. judgment, to which all human opinion may in fair- ness be brought. These principles are clearly and practically revealed, not only in the written word of God, but also in the constitution of things. It is, then, the highest wisdom to discover what these prin- ciples are. I believe that this discovery will be suc- cessfully made only through the Bible, which is more and more proving itself to be^a book, not alone of religious teaching, but of the purest ethics, adapted to practical living ; so much so that sooner or later all men will come to see that the righteousness which it teaches “ is profitable unto all things, having the prom- ise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.” It foretells a regenerated earth. It is like taking a breezy walk to a mountain summit, where every nerve is invigorated by the high atmosphere and broadened outlook, to stand upon one of the heights of prophecy and behold the days that are yet to be. In this rarified air, above the dust and din of the toiling earth, we “ catch the sweet, the far-off song, that hails the New Creation.” “ There shall be no more thence the infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days ; for the child shall die an hundred years old ; and they shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall not build and another inhabit ; they shall not plant and another eat ; they shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.” And the culmination of this promise is, “ It shall come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Here is the realization of the best hopes of the world, the fulfilment of its loftiest ideal;, a calm, prosperous, SOCIAL RELATIONS. 161 happy age of vigorous health, long life, business sta- bility, family life, and public worship, universal upon earth when men “keep his Sabbaths and take hold of his covenant.” Humanity is searching and hoping ever for the very state of things the Ruler of All intends shall be, while it tramples under foot, in its insane self-will, the only means of reaching it. It is evident, therefore, that side by side with the institution of the family, another foundation princi- ple has been laid from the beginning, viz., the set- ting apart of one day in seven as a time of rest for the highest good of man. As Jachin and Boaz stood at the entrance of the Temple at Jerusalem by the command of God, so these two pillars, the Sabbath and the family, stand also by his command at the threshold of human history. The pillar at the right of the Temple entrance signified Establishment ; that at the left, Stability. So, at the outer porch of the Temple of Humanity, in which God will show forth his glory through the ages, these two are placed for perpetuity and strength. The casting down of the beautiful pillars is especially mentioned in the destruction of Solomon’s glorious work ; pillars and temple stood or fell together. So will Humanity rise in beautiful proportions, the perfect outcome of the great De- signer’s plan, only so long as these towers of strength, the family and the Sabbath, remain, 'wreathed with chains of love and lily-work of purity, secure from desecrating hands. Ever in the present order of existence in the divine plan, Sabbath bells and marriage bells ring together, and the discordant world will never be in tune if it fails to strike the keynote of this, dual harmony. SUNDA V REST. 162 No command or plan of God for human conduct is purely arbitrary. In the nature of things we find the basal reason for all. His reason for setting apart the weekly rest day is “that it may be well with you and with your children forever.” It is not difficult to show how the one day of rest in seven, with its leisure and opportunities for men- tal, social, and spiritual culture, is a necessity for the perpetuation of a true home-life. Mr. Spurgeon tells of an English gentleman who was inspecting a house with a view of buying it. The landlord said, as they stood by an upper window, “ You can see Durham Castle from this window on Sundays.” “Why is this ? ” — “ Because on Sundays there is no smoke from the factory chimneys.” Let the smoke and toil of the six days hang alike over the seventh, and the beauty and comfort of the home-life will be out of sight behind the cloud. The mere change of every-day garments for the Sunday dress ; the possi- bility of unsoiled hands for twenty-four hours ; the rest to eye and ear in the cessation of trade and the noise of machinery ; the breaking in upon the dull monotony of life, — all this and vastly more that comes with the opportunity for mental and spiritual culture afforded by the weekly rest day, is of inestimable value even to those who fail to see that without these the home itself would soon be laid in ruins. Since the family is so dependent upon its kindred institution, the Sabbath, it becomes a most serious question, How shall the home perpetuate the right observance of the weekly day of rest ? It is sadly true that in many households no answer to this ques- tion can be found, because of poverty and sin. The responsibility, therefore, falls upon those whose con- SOCIAL RELATIONS. 163 ditions by birth and opportunity are more favorable. They must carefully consider the question, not merely as one of religious faith, but as involving the great social problems of the day, among which is the better- ing of these homes less favored than their own. To influence our children so that in later years they will perpetuate the Sunday rest day, it is ne- cessary to teach them : — 1st. The divine law of the Sabbath. 2d. Because it is divine it must be reverenced. 3d. That the law is beneficent in design, and was made for all ages and all people. 4th. That prosperity and hap- piness are the sure outcome of keeping it ; the re- verse, of disregarding it. 5th. That the keeping of it is not a burden, but a delight. 6th. That the way to keep it is : 1. To make the Sabbath a day of rest from ordinary work. 2. A day of religious worship. 3. A day of innocent social fellowship. 4. A day for the use and enjoyment of everything which tends to the best development of the perfect man in spirit, mind, and body, regarded in their true order of im- portance. How to teach them thus is a question worthy of careful study, with the frankest and full- est treatment we can give it, in the light of religion, philanthropy, and sociology. It is a matter of first importance to make the Sun- day “a delight” to the children, teaching them, not that God gives us six days and keeps the seventh for himself, but rather that he gives us all the days, and means that the seventh shall be for us the choi- cest of them all. While we owe much to the stern conscience of our Pilgrim fathers, we nevertheless rejoice in a broader liberty, through clearer light upon God’s beneficent will, than they possessed. 164 SUNDAY REST. Our danger is that we may use our liberty as a cloak for sin, and not, as it is intended to be, a garment of royal prerogative. The day set apart for our good ought surely to be made the best and brightest of the seven. To do this, it must be planned for care- fully. The father’s business* and the mother’s house- hold work must be so arranged as to give time to the children. Put the house in order, so that there shall be a bright Sunday-look about everything. Search out through the week some good and entertaining books for the older ones to read, and picture-books for the little ones. Make a distinction between the reading and the plays (for children must play) on Sundays and week-days. In a certain home, not imaginary but real, in which the day is truly a de- light, for each child there is a special set of Sun- day toys, books, dolls, — every one a little brighter and better than the week-day article. The Sunday dinner is not a feast burdensome to prepare, but it always has some pleasant surprise in a favorite arti- cle of food. The hours round the Sunday evening lamp, with books, papers, and music, and the big illus- trated Bible read and explained, will never be forgot- ten by the members of that household ; for of all the memories which “ crowd the chambers of the brain,” none hold such lasting influence over us as those linked with our childhood. They form the back- ground and give character to the life-picture in what- ever light we view it. We wish the hearts of parents might be stirred with this thought, while yet the golden hours are within their grasp, before the rush of time, so swift and silent, sweeps the little children beyond their reach in the busy whirl of life. Every day is pre- SOCIAL RELATIONS. 165 cious for its wealth of influence in the household ; but of all the days, God’s blessed Sabbath is the one most to be treasured amid the potent influences of the family circle. The President of the National Commissioners of the World’s Fair, in a recent address, said that he believed it was the power of early training in the home which led to the final practically unanimous vote in that body in favor of Sunday closing ; not- withstanding pressure in the opposite direction, and the personal preferences of some, they could not break away from that constraining force. The memory of some tender evening talk or hymn or prayer, may be like the restraining touch of “ the angel over the right shoulder,” in some hour of temp- tation to our boy ; and the remembrance of those blessed days in her early home will give strength to the daughter’s heart when she comes to meet the deeply freighted years of the future. The tides of godless sentiment bear down strongly upon us, and they will be harder still for our chil- dren to resist. By all we hold dear, we owe it to them to build within their impressible minds a bulwark against these encroaching forces, by good example, by wise teaching, and by remembrances of this cho- sen day, woven like golden threads through all the cherished recollections of the home. It is a peculiarity of good seed that careful plant- ing and assiduous cultivation are indispensable to *a large harvest. Weeds, briers, thorns, grow vigor- ously by letting alone. In the spiritual and moral world the same law holds. Truth must be sown with vigilant hand and cultivated with unceasing care, else tares spring up to despoil the wheat. In the SUNDA Y REST. 1 66 case of both wheat and tares, it is true that “a sower went forth to sow.” The influences that dominate men for good or evil have their origin with a person- ality. “ Behold I sowed good seed in my field. Whence then hath it the tares ? ” The answer is, “An enemy hath done this.” The sowers of evil are as busy as the sowers of good, with this advantage, that the present conditions of the soil are more fav- orable for the tares than for the wheat. Hence the need of more persistent sowing and vigilant cultiva- tion of the good seed. What better seed has ever been sown in the garden of this world than God’s thought of Sabbath rest ? It is a germ holding in its secret cells the promise of both flower and fruit, — the flower of man’s happiness, purity, and peace; the fruit, that ideal of character which his Creator intended he should reach. It is the mission of the home to cast this seed into the ground of the child- heart, and then to foster its growth by every adjunct at command. If it fails to meet this responsibility in the present emergency, we dare not forecast the perils of the coming generation. The immediate future of the world promises to be brilliant in in- vention and discovery ; whether it will have moral strength equal to its material progress, is a question for parents to consider. But if the seed is sown, while we may not order the process of germination, we may be sure the tiny blade will cut its way through the darkness out of sight, until by and by, under the influence of the Great Sun, the full, ripe harvest will appear. Fortunate is that one who, looking back to the years of childhood, can recall in the light of a happy memory a scene like this : — It is Sunday twilight. The evening star hangs SOCIAL RELATIONS. 167 low in the west ; the crescent thread of the new moon rests against the sunset tints, and beyond the sunset tints, and beyond the fields lying in shadow, circles the silver band of the river. The trees seem asleep, — not a murmur stirs branch or leaf. From the sycamores in the lane come the notes of the whip-poor-will, plaintive, yet in accord with the pen- sive hush of Sabbath evening. On the porch of the staid old homestead the household is gathered. The scene around them disposes more to thought than speech ; but presently one says, “ Let us sing,” and softly these words float on the rhythm of Tallis’ Evening Hymn : — “Glory to thee, my God, this night, For all the blessings of the light. Keep me, O keep me, King of kings, Beneath the shadow of thy wings. Lord, let my soul forever share The bliss of thy paternal care, ’Tis heaven on earth, ’tis heaven above, To see thy face, and sing thy love.” Again they sing in the stirring movement of “ Portland : ” — “The city so holy and clean, No sorrow can breathe on the air, No gloom of affliction or sin, No shadow of evil is there. By faith we already behold That lovely Jerusalem here; Her walls are of jasper and gold, As crystal her buildings are clear.” To the quick fancy of the child (from whose memory this picture will never fade) the sunset SUNDAY REST. 1 68 tints become the jasper and gold of the City Celestial. The holy day is gone, but its precious influences abide to bless and soften the spirit in later years. Many who joined in that evening hymn have long since entered the “ city so holy and clean ; ” but they seem not far away, linked as they are with that Sab- bath evening hour when the glowing sunset seemed to be the near, wide-open gate of heaven. Thus may the light shine from every fireside, like that of Liberty’s torch, giving warning and welcome to the voyagers of all nations ; and may the voice of every home be like the tones of our new Liberty Bell, proclaiming true freedom to all the inhabitants of earth. POLITICAL RELATIONS. SUNDAY LAWS. Wm. Allen Butler, LL.D., New York. ADDRESS. By Henry Wade Rogers, LL.D., President of North- western University , Evanston, 111. SUNDAY IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE. Major-General O. O. Howard, U.S.A. SUNDAY IN THE POSTAL SERVICE. Hon. John Wana- maker, late Post??iaster- General. POLITICAL RELATIONS. SHOULD THE SUNDAY REST BE MAINTAINED BY LEGIS- LATION ? THE GROUND AND LIMITATIONS OF SUCH INTERFERENCE. WM. ALLEN BUTLER , , LL.D. H UMAN rest no less than human labor is under the reign and compulsion of law. Nature, which imposes the necessity of toil, also by a man- date universal in its extent and uniform in its opera- tion requires of all men, savage or civilized, the taking of rest in sleep during a part of every day of twenty-four hours. The means of bodily sustenance and nutrition by food and drink vary in different parts of the habitable earth, and the conditions of human well-being in other respects depend upon place and circumstance, but the law of nightly rest is everywhere the same. The number of hours of sleep required in childhood is greater than in man- hood, and in manhood greater for some men than for other men ; but, taking these variations into account, nearly one-third part of every twenty-four hours is spent by the members of the human family, the world over, in sleep. The necessity of periodical rest is thus a part of the constitution of the human race, determined, pri- 1 72 SUNDAY REST. marily, by the alternation of day and night, and made obligatory as a condition of the continuance of life and reason. All human laws regulating the periods of labor and of rest from labor have their natural basis in this organic law of the nightly rest. The rule of nature which imposes cessation from toil by the recurrence of the hours of darkness, has been supplemented by the regulations of society, either customary or legal, which prescribe the hours of labor during each work- ing day. As labor is the basis of the prosperity and advancement of every organized community, and work and wages are the most important ele- ments in the social relations of its members, the fixing of a definite period for daily work, either by mutual contract between employer and employee or by binding statute, is necessary not only in the inter- est of the individual worker, to guard him against unreasonable demands, and in the interest of the employer to secure steadiness and efficiency in toil, but also in the interest of society, to protect its members from the undue exactions of taskmasters, to prevent overworked men and women from becom- ing prematurely a public charge, and to subserve good morals by promoting regularity of life and habits. The regulation of the hours of labor is necessarily arbitrary and artificial, except so far as natural con- ditions indicate the just division of the periods of work and repose. The noonday interval for rest and food is almost as universally established by a dictate of nature as is the nightly rest. This every one will attest who has ever observed the alacrity and unanim- ity with which a gang of laborers will drop pick and POLITICAL RELATIONS . 173 shovel at the stroke of twelve. The midday rest has its bright place in art and literature, and in all the associations of honest toil in field and farm, in coun- try and city. While great divergence of opinion may exist as to the proper length of a working day, the difference between the maximum and minimum time, claimed by the respective advocates of the longer or shorter day, is not so great as to break in disastrously upon the solid day, during which the world’s work goes steadily forward. Longer or shorter, no one doubts the power of the State to determine what the length of the working day shall be. Nature and necessity in this, as in many other spheres of human activity, have compelled customary rules according to existing conditions ; and these, in every community, are gradually moulded into statutes, not so much by the wisdom of legis- lators as by the demands of society. Gradually mankind became habituated to the idea of a weekly day of rest, an idea so universal that it has been said that every day in the week is the Rest- Day of some one of the peoples of the earth. Be this as it may, the only conspicuous and controlling instance of a Weekly Rest-Day as connected with a system of law, is found in the theocracy of the Israelites, where it was grounded upon a divine com- mand, declared to be in accordance with a principle entering into the constitution of things as first estab- lished by the will and power of the Supreme Being, and in its establishment as a rule of conduct made a part of the moral law which has come to be accepted by civilized society as the basis of social order. 174 SUNDA V REST. REST-DAY LEGISLATION; JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN. The Weekly Rest-Day, as a social institution en- forced by statute, thus appears historically to owe its existence to a law which meets, as customary laws do not, Blackstone’s famous definition of law, as the rule of a superior which an inferior is bound to obey. The law given by Moses to the people of Israel introduced the statutory observance of the day with the peculiarity in the enactment, that it contained not only the rule enjoined, but also the reason of the rule, placing it upon a twofold basis, thus stated by Dean Milman in his History of the Jews: “The double sanction on which the observ- ance of the day rested, reminded every Israelite of his God under the twofold character of Creator and Deliverer. All creation should rest, because on that day the Creator rested ; Israel more particularly, be- cause on that day they rested from their bondage in Egypt.” The law of Sabbath observance by religious rest entered into the whole civil and political life of the Jewish people. Next to Monotheism, which was their first distinguishing characteristic, the observ- ance of the Sabbath was the most marked feature of their life as a nation, and their repeated and fatal lapses into idolatry were accompanied by concurrent violations of the Sabbath laws. After their captiv- ity and dispersion and the extinguishment of their national existence, this institution survived ; and as the restored temple at Jerusalem under the Roman rule attested the return of the Jews to their faith in POLITICAL RELATIONS. 175 one God, the observance of their Sabbath, in the synagogue worship and in the rigid cessation from work, declared their adhesion to the law of Moses, which commanded them to “ remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” We are not concerned with the question of the permanent obligation of the rule of Sabbath observ- ance as prescribed by the Decalogue, nor with the question when and to what extent that rule was ap- plied by the Christian Church to its observance of the first day of the week, celebrated as the Lord’s day in commemoration of the resurrection. The point of interest in the present inquiry is as to the historical connection of the law at any period of time with the Weekly Rest-Day, and in respect to this point there is no difficulty or confusion. The Jewish Sabbath, as a civil institution, disap- peared with the extinction of the Jewish nation as a political power; and the Romans, while tolerating the religious customs of the Jews, borrowed noth- ing from Jewish Sabbath observance. Constantine, whose coins during a part of his reign bore on one side the name of Christ and on the other the image of Apollo, the Sun God, by an imperial edict in the year 341 a.d., decreed that the “ venerable day of the Sun” should be observed as a day of rest, in respect to judicial proceedings and customary trade, with a special proviso that it should not interfere with agricultural work. The Romans had already adopted the weekly division of time, probably from the Egyptian calendar ; and Saturday, the festival of Saturn, on the day corresponding to the Jewish Sab- bath, had precedence over the other days in popular esteem. The edict of Constantine had the effect of 176 SUNDAY REST. shifting this pre-eminence to Sunday ; and, by a strik- ing coincidence, the day consecrated to the pagan worship of Apollo, the first day of the week, was also the day consecrated by the Christian Church to the worship of its Founder, who had declared him- self to be the Light of the world. Christianity was established in the Roman Empire in the reign of Theodosius II.; and from that time, until the fall of the Empire, and during the Middle Ages, Sunday was made the subject of regulation both by the ecclesiastical and secular power, by de- crees of councils, edicts of popes and emperors, and canons of the Church, or by means of the civil law administered mainly by ecclesiastics ; in all cases the underlying motive and principle of regulation being the sacred character of the day, while its pre-emi- nence over the other festivals or holy days of the Church gradually gave it prominence as a civil insti- tution. The Reformation made little change in Sunday le- gislation or usage on the continent of Europe, where the civil law prevails, and where, without conflict with it, ecclesiasticism gives the rule of observance. In France, the spasmodic effort of the National Conven- tion during the Revolution to de-christianize the Rest-Day, by abolishing its weekly recurrence and sub- stituting one-tenth instead of one-seventh of secular time as the stated period of cessation from labor, stands as a typical memorial of the folly of attempt- ing to dislodge and destroy by legislation the settled order of things as established by religion, morals, and custom. In England, compulsory Sunday laws, originally promulgated and enforced by ecclesiastical authority. POLITICAL RELATIONS. 1/7 gradually became a part of the common law. The Reformation worked no practical change in the rela- tion of the State or the people to the customary Sun- day rest, except that as many of the holidays of the Romish calendar were abolished, a stricter observ- ance of the Sunday rest obtained, and was enforced by Acts of Parliament. In the fierce struggle for religious liberty which led to the downfall of Charles I., the question of the Sunday laws became a politi- cal one. The substitution of the word “ Sabbath ” for Sunday was a distinctive mark of the Puritan party, whose ascendency brought with it legislation which revived in express terms the obligations of the Jewish Sabbath, not only in the spirit, as the stand- ard of Christian practice, but also in the letter, as the law of society. The union of Church and State in England, and the supremacy of Parliament, exclude any question as to the power of the Imperial legislature to make and enforce Sunday laws. Acts of Parliament regu- late Sunday observance ; and while the existing stat- utory requirements in England do not perpetuate the Sabbatarianism of the Commonwealth, they suffi- ciently accord with the sentiments of the English people to secure the removal of the Sunday question from the sphere of politics, and to maintain, without undue exaction, the general observance of the weekly day of rest. In America, the early colonial legislation on the subject of Sunday substantially followed that of the mother country. In New England, the Sunday was regulated after the pattern of the Commonwealth and on the basis of the Sabbatarianism of Cromwell’s time. After the independence of the States had 178 SUNDA Y 'REST. been secured and the Federal Constitution had been adopted, the English common law still held its place and power as the rule of society, except as modified by local statutes ; and Sunday, as an institution, as we have already seen, was recognized' by the Com- mon Law. The absolute divorce of Church and State in the United States, and the freedom of religious opinion and religious worship guaranteed to all citizens by the Federal Constitution and by the State Consti- tutions, brought our legislatures and courts face to face with the questions how far the observance of Sunday as a day of rest can be compelled by munici- pal law, and whether the enactment and enforcement of any Sunday laws are consistent with the consti- tutional rights of American citizens, seeing that the origin of the day as an institution, whether Jewish or Christian, is purely religous, associated with the worship and doctrines of Judaism, or of Christianity, or of both, and wherever regulated as to its observ- ance by statute law, governed by rules mainly derived frpm ecclesiastical canons and decrees. The practical solution of these questions has been reached by dealing with the Day of Rest as an ac- cepted and essential part of the established order of Christian civilization, demanded by the physical, moral, and social needs of men, and requiring the exercise of the power of the State to protect its citizens in its enjoyment, and to compel its observ- ance so far as may be necessary to that end, wholly aside from any attempt to enforce its religious ob- servance. The foregoing brief review will serve to show that while in its origin and primary establishment the POLITICAL RELATIONS. 179 weekly day of rest was based on religious obligation, and has always had a sanction and rule of observance, as sacred time, which enters into the faith and prac- tice of Christians of all creeds and denominations, it has also been adopted and established not only by custom, but also by law, as a civil institution, not in- dependently of any religious character or sacred as- sociation, but concurrently with both of these original and permanent elements. TWOFOLD BASIS OF REST-DAY LEGISLATION. Assuming that there would have been no Weekly Rest-Day but for the Jewish Sabbath or the Christian Lord’s Day, and no secular assignment of any period- ical time of rest from labor as a law of general obli- gation, it by no means follows that the adoption of both the Jewish and the Christian rule of assigning one-seventh of time to rest from labor carries with it the obligation to perpetuate either the Jewish or Christian designation of the day, or the Jewish or Christian rule of its observance. 1 Legislation, which must concern itself with things as they are and with society as it exists, and whichq in all free States, must conform to the popular will, takes note in respect to the weekly day of rest not of its Jewish or its Christian consecration, but of its existence as a constituent part of the customary life of civilized mankind, accepted and upheld all the more tenaciously because of the double support it derives from the twofold basis of social requirement and of religious obligation. This twofold basis in social institutions of the religious and the secular is not peculiar to the case of Sunday. All contracts were originally identified i8o SUNDA Y REST. with religious sanctions. The researches of explo- rers in the field of archaic law, correcting the earlier conclusions of Sir Henry Maine, the foremost leader in the study of ancient jurisprudence in this regard, show that contracts were at first religious acts, and that both in the Roman and Greek law they were enforced by purely religious sanctions before they were taken under the protection of secular law. While society has dispensed with the religious ele- ment in respect to contracts in general, it retains it in respect to the marriage contract, which in the larger part of the Christian Church is still held to be a sacrament, and according to the customary order of social life it has need of a continuing religious sanction. We still retain the oath administered with the Bible as the medium of binding the conscience in courts of justice, and in the enlistment of soldiers, and in the assumption of civic trusts ; and while any one who chooses is free to reject this method of at- testing to the obligation to speak the truth or to act with fidelity, and to adopt such other form as he pre- fers, so long as his conscience is bound by it, no one can fairly question the right of society to uphold the religious element, which thus enters into the secular administration and secures the ascertainment of the truth in aid of justice, which is the corner-stone of the whole social fabric. As legislation regulates marriage on its civil side by laws of dower and statutes, protecting and en- forcing the marital relation and the rights it involves, without in the least infringing upon, but directly maintaining, its religious side, and the obligation of the oath in civil affairs ; so in respect to the weekly day POLITICAL RELATIONS. 1 8 1 of rest, the law, while not ignoring the sacred char- acter belonging to the day historically, and in the religious faith and practice of a large part of man- kind, finds a sufficient basis for its protection in the general consent and acquiescence of the community in a weekly rest for the common benefit, and in accepted facts which establish its necessity. REST-DAY OBSERVANCE BY CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENTS. In fact, so far as English speaking people are con- cerned, and largely throughout all countries where constitutional methods exist, the question of the maintenance of the Sunday rest by legislation is not an open one. Outside of any distinct or separate element of religious observance, but simply as a recognized factor in the general movement and con- duct of affairs, it has become incorporated with all the great departments of government, — the Legisla- tive, the Executive and the Judicial. Whatever may have been the custom or practice elsewhere, the Parliament of England, the Congress of the United States, and the Legislatures of the several States, have uniformly observed the Sunday rest. The occasional exceptions in which a legisla- tive session has trenched upon the hours of Sunday, under circumstances seeming to require such unu- sual action, only serve to prove the rule. Lord Mans- field said in a case reported in 1764 (Swann v. Broome, 1 W. Black, 495), “ I myself have sate in Parliament on a Sunday.” It appears by a note of the reporter that this was on the occasion of the sudden death of King George II., when both Houses of Parliament met at two o’clock on Sunday, October 26, 1760, “ pursuant to the Statute of Queen Anne, 182 SUNDA Y REST but the Lord Steward not appearing to administer the oaths, they departed without proceeding to busi- ness or making any formal adjournment/’ Parliament is restrained by no law, being itself su- preme ; but the Sunday rest is observed by it accord- ing to the unwritten law of custom, and such is the practice of all our legislative bodies, National and State. In the Executive Department of our National and State governments, where written constitutions are the organic law, the Sunday rest is recognized and guarded by express constitutional provisions, Sun- days being excepted from the period after which a bill, if not returned by the Executive to the Legisla- ture, shall become a law without his signature. The framers of the Constitution of the United States cannot be regarded as having had an undue reverence for sacred things, or as having framed the provisions of the Constitution upon a religious basis. Their failure to insert in it any recognition of a Su- preme Being has been the source of much adverse criticism, and of serious efforts for an amendment to rectify the omission ; they looked with disfavor on Doctor Franklin’s earnest effort to provide for the opening of the daily sessions of the Convention with prayer, but they adopted, without dissent, the pro- vision contained in Section 7 of Article I., that “if any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.” This was a plain recog- nition, in the organic National law, of Sunday as a POLITICAL RELATIONS. 183 day of rest, and with a very few exceptions the exist- ing Constitutions of all the forty-four States of the Union contain the like exception of Sunday from the days allowed to the Executive for returning a bill to the Legislature. This uniformity of Consti- tutional recognition of Sunday as a day of rest, man- ifestly has reference solely to its customary observ- ance by the people in general, and not to the degree of sacredness attached to it by any of the people in particular. In the Judicial Department, alike in England and in the United States, and largely throughout Chris- tendom, the Sunday rest is established. It is a maxim of jurisprudence and of judicial administration that Sunday is a dies non juridicus. In the case al- ready referred to, where the question was whether a valid judgment could be given upon a common re- covery if the writ of summons was returnable on Sunday, and the party to be bound died on that day, Lord Mansfield said that the single question was, “ whether the court can sit on a Sunday and give a valid judgment;” and he says that “the history of the law and usage as to courts of justice sitting on Sundays makes an end to the question.” After stating that in the early days of Christianity the law days included Sunday, he goes on to show that the non-judicial character of the day had become a part of the common law of England. Doubtless the 'common law followed a rule which had its origin in religious authority ; but it was made a part of the customary law because it was in accordance with the general sentiment of the people. Certainly the administration of justice by an es- tablished course of procedure is the first and most SUNDA Y REST 184 important of social functions ; and if on Sunday the courts of Christendom are closed, except for cases of such urgency that the interests of justice permit of no delay, this fact itself sufficiently warrants the aid of the law in enforcing its rest for the general good. A judge may, if he please, spend the entire non-juridical day in considering the cases before him for decision, or in writing his opinions, but he may not do his judicial work in court as a minister of jus- tice save as emergency may require. If the machin- ery of the law is thus brought to a stand-still, and suitors, witnesses, court officers, and judges must alike suspend their labor even where the pending issue may involve a question of life or death, it is fit and proper that a like abstinence from secular labor in less serious callings should be enjoined; in fact, the judicial rest is only an incident of the general rest, and the same basis which underlies the special instance holds good in general. REST-DAY LEGISLATION JUSTIFIABLE AND NECESSARY. But the discussion in this general Congress of the whole range of subjects relating to Sunday leads to a field of inquiry which embraces the ground upon which Sunday laws have been based, and to the question whether, irrespective of existing legislation, such laws can be justified on principle, and at the bar of Reason. In other words, should legislation for a new, self-governing community include laws for the maintenance of the weekly day of rest ? Manifestly, if the experience of mankind has de- monstrated that a weekly rest day is a necessity for the physical, moral, or social well-being of civilized communities, its compulsory observance must follow, POLITICAL RELATIONS. 18 5 and be enforced in the exercise by the state of its power to subserve these necessary ends, leaving wholly out of view the question of the origin or the permanent obligation of the day. It is on this basis that all laws for the compulsory education of chil- dren, for the sanitary needs of the community, for the regulation of the traffic in intoxicating liquors, and the entire department of legislation which im- poses restraints and prescribes limitations in the use of personal or property rights depend, not because the acts prohibited or regulated are criminal or are in themselves wrong, but because experience has shown that the general good of the community re- quires the restraint or regulation of law. The grounds of the maintenance of the weekly rest as a civil institution have been often and ably set forth. They are stated and illustrated in a long line of judicial decisions in many States, and have been made the subject of treatises, prize essays, ser- mons, addresses, reports of societies, magazine arti- cles, and other publications, constituting a great body of modern literature on the Sunday question. The supporters of Sunday laws unite in asserting the right of the working classes to the Weekly Rest-Day, based on the accepted truth that the rest it furnishes is necessary to man’s physical, mental, and social well-being: they insist on the right of worshippers to the undisturbed use of the day for their religious worship ; the admitted advantages and necessity of the weekly rest for the promotion of good morals; the equitable application of the Golden Rule by Sun- day laws which lighten the burdens of toilers by the enforced co-operation of those for whom they toil; the absolute right of the government to restrain and SUNDA V REST. 1 86 prohibit on the day of rest whatever is in itself in- jurious, demoralizing, or a source of temptation to evil ; and on the conceded fact that, independently of any religious obligation, society has an interest in the maintenance of the weekly rest so obvious and so paramount that it should be protected and upheld by law. Without repeating the arguments in support of these propositions, it may not be amiss briefly to advert to the views which are mainly urged in oppo- sition to them, and which deserve a fair and candid consideration. I. Is the Weekly Rest-Day a physical necessity ? This is a question of fact — debatable and much debated. It has its place in the discussions of this Congress, and will doubtless be fully and ably treated in the papers which relate to it. Here it is only per- tinent to point out the relation of the question to legislation, not as existing, but as we may suppose it to be in contemplation, by legislators representing the people and called to frame for them a code of laws for a new State. If the weekly day of rest is a social need on purely physiological grounds, the appeal of a French publi- cist, “ Let us observe Sunday in the name of hygiene, if not of religion, for Sunday is the best friend of the workingman,” is a valid plea for Sunday legis- lation to secure the rest which for the wage-earner cannot be had without it. Against this plea it has been urged that there is no established physiological need of a weekly rest. The opponents of Sunday laws take issue on the fact, and point to the patriarchs of the Old Testament, in POLITICAL RELATIONS . 18 7 respect to whom there is no evidence that they ob- served a weekly rest, or that their longevity was in any way attributable to it ; to the ancient Greeks, to whom the week was unknown, but whose physical development was of the highest type, as exhibited by their statues, which are the perpetual models of manly strength and grace ; to the Romans, who con- quered the world without a Sunday rest, and never observed it until the period of their decline and de- cay, and only then under the compulsion of imperial edicts; to the American Aborigines and the Poly- nesians, and the Chinese and Japanese, whose capacity for labor is claimed to equal, if not exceed, that of the workingmen in Sunday-observing countries. They also point to the thousands of persons in such coun- tries whose callings deprive them of the Sunday rest, and who yet do a full share of the world’s work, and live to a good old age ; and on this basis it is claimed that there is no evidence to show that there is any- thing in the laws of Nature or in the constitution of man which requires abstinence from work on Sun- day, or any other day of weekly rest, as a condition of physical well-being; and, finally, it is contended that the assumption which has been made in judicial opin- ions and decisions upholding existing Sunday laws, that the Weekly Rest-Day is an established physi- cal necessity, is without warrant in natural science or in vital statistics, and is in reality a judicial after- thought, resorted to by the courts in order to main- tain a purely religious institution upon a secular basis. It is quite true that the question of fact whether a weekly rest is so far a universal physical necessity as to impose upon the State the duty of enforcing SUNDA Y* REST 188 it by compulsory laws has never been tried out in any forum, or established by any absolute judgment, nor is the question one which is capable of such a solution. The inquiry as to how long a healthy man could live if deprived of sleep might be answered by experts, and their conclusions demonstrated by exper- iment ; but the question of the amount of periodical rest, outside of nightly slumber, required by civilized men in general, is something as to which a consensus of enlightened public opinion, so far as it can be reached by a consideration of the customary actions and habits of men and the accepted results of ex- perience, is all that can reasonably be expected by way of a verdict or judgment. If American Indians, Polynesians, and ancient Greeks and Romans have lived and died without a weekly day of rest, and if the Japanese and Chinese of to-day toil on with no weekly intermission, these facts are competent proof that such a rest day is not one of the universal requirements of human exist- ence under all circumstances ; but they are not proof that, under its existing conditions, the civilized and Christianized portion of the race do not need such a day of rest, even if the need involves the admission of a lower standard of physical vigor than that of the aboriginal savage or the athlete of the Olympian games, and an inferiority in the power of continuous drudgery to that possessed by the Japanese or the Chinese. It may be granted that, in its claim for a weekly rest, the civilized world has borrowed from Judaism and Christianity an idea and an institution of which paganism gave no hint, and which, like many other beneficent ideas and institutions, were unknown outside of the Jewish or the Christian POLITICAL RELATIONS. 189 Church. The world of the ancients were strangers to very many of the simplest methods by which humanity is aided to-day the world over ; and in noth- ing is the wonderful change which has been wrought more marked than in those methods which relate to the care of human life, the conservation of its vital forces, and the mitigation of the hardships of enforced toil. As a matter of fact, the Romans had many inter- vals of rest from labor. It has been said that their holidays, like their gods, were innumerable. In the course of time the number of days on which, out of reverence to the gods to whom they were conse- crated, no trials could take place at Rome, became a resource by which wealthy criminals could stay pro- ceedings indefinitely. To correct this abuse, and to increase the number of working days, the Emperor Augustus revised and reduced the number of holi- days. As to clergymen, physicians, and other classes of men in modern society whose callings require them to work on Sundays as well as week-days, there is no more evidence that this circumstance deprives them of rest on other days, or during other periods of time, than there is as to persons who have to work at night, or as to other persons who consci- entiously observe a Rest-Day other than Sunday, and whom the law exempts from its compulsory rest. The clergyman’s Monday rest is generally, and by common fame, supposed to be a customary sequel and set-off to his Sunday labors. The physician’s self- sacrifice in the pursuit of his profession extends to the nightly rest as well as the weekly rest, and is one of the hardships of a calling which, when rightly exercised, commands admiration and homage for its SUNDAY REST. 190 members, because it requires them to forego the rest which for other men is an admitted need. The physical need of the weekly rest may also be placed on a basis which takes it beyond the mere laws or statistics of hygiene and physiology. One main difference between Pagan and Christian civili- zation is the increase of that sympathy between members of society which we call humanity ; a devel- opment, only too feeble and imperfect as yet, of that idea of the brotherhood of man which is a central doctrine of the Christian religion. It has no more serviceable ally than the weekly day of rest. If wage-earning men and women the world over were without its benign protection, the result would be a destructive competition between those of their vast number strong enough to work seven days of every week and those too weak for such continuous labor, and, as always in such a struggle, the weaker would go to the wall. This would not be due to the selfish- ness and greed of the employer, but to the operation of a natural law, beneficent in principle, but baneful in its practical application, because turning the desire to excel in lawful competition into a source of injury and ruin to others. Here the weekly rest interposes its salutary restraint ; but if its observance were left to the mere choice of employer and employee, with- out the aid of positive law, or of a custom equally binding, where would be the protection of the wage- earner? Nature might demonstrate that work with- out cessation will wear out the worker in a longer or shorter time, according to the ratio of his power of endurance, but it could not enforce the weekly rest as it does the nightly rest by any withdrawal of the light of day ; science and the results of experi- POLITICAL RELATIONS. *91 ence might furnish data to prove that such continu- ous labor was surely wasteful and destructive, but these would be feeble barriers against the forces of selfish interest and competition. The weekly rest is a necessity, not only against capital, so often aspersed as the foe of labor, but as against labor itself when arrayed in opposition to justice and humanity. II. Is the Weekly Rest-Day a necessity in the interest of good morals and as a means of social benefit ? Here the opponents of Sunday legislation can hardly urge the argument from, savagery and hea- thenism in support of the uselessness of the weekly rest. In the domain of morals there is no valid claim of superiority in favor of Pagan over Christian nations. But it has been asserted that the weekly rest is based upon a supposed divine precept com- manding men to be idle one day out of seven, — a precept continued in force by Christianity, and so interwoven with the course of legislation and judicial decision as to set up as a rule of society, habitual and compulsory idleness on the first day of every week. The State, it is said, has no right, without constitutional warrant, to enjoin a religious observ- ance of the day ; and if, in the exercise of its police power, it compels all men, without reference to their views as to its sanctity, to abstain from labor, it is simply making idleness, which is the parent of vice, the duty of every citizen. This, it is claimed is not in aid of, but against, good morals. “ Idleness,” says Dr. South, “ offers up the soul a blank to the Devil for him to write what he will upon it.” Shall society conspire together in this votive offering to evil ? 192 SUNDA V REST There has been much vigorous denunciation of Sunday legislation on the score of its aiding and abetting vice by putting a premium on indolence, and requiring men to cease from honest toil. The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Cali- fornia, in considering the Sunday law in force in that State in 1858, delivered a trenchant opinion against its constitutionality on various grounds, and among other things declared that “we have heard in all ages of declamations and reproaches against the vice of idleness, but we have yet to learn that there has ever been any general complaint of any intemperate, vicious, unhealthy, or morbid industry, ” and he held that the assumption that men work too much and thereby entail evil on society, and will not without compulsion seek rest, is a new theory, contradicted by the history of the past and the observations of the present, and that men would seek and obtain all the rest they require from the natural influences of self-preservation. One of his associates on the bench concurred with the chief justice, and the law was declared void; the remaining judge dissented, and in an able opinion re- viewed the grounds on which the statute ought, in his judgment, to be upheld. “ The legislature/' he said, “ had the right to make laws for the preserva- tion of health and the promotion of good morals, and so to require periodical cessation from labor, if of opinion that it would tend to both,” and in reply to the reasoning of the chief justice, that mankind will seek all needed rest from labor as a means of self- preservation, he showed that all men were not inde- pendent and at liberty to rest or work as they chose, but were largely dependent upon the will and power POLITICAL RELATIONS. 193 of others in this regard, and must have the protection of a compulsory law. The antagonism of judicial opinion thus recorded in the earlier annals of California, finds a strange sequel in the fact that the chief justice came to his death by being shot and killed by a deputy United States marshal acting in defence of the judge who dissented from his associates in the case referred to, and who is now the senior justice in years of service and of age of the Supreme Court of the United States. The California decision itself was expressly overruled by the Supreme Court of that State in 1861, and the validity of the Sunday law established. (Ex parte Andrews, 18 Cal., 678.) The argument that compulsory Sunday laws pro- mote vice instead of virtue by enforcing idleness as a social obligation has not, except in the instance above cited, and one or two other instances, com- mended itself to the judicial mind, and must fail of acceptance as a sound conclusion; It would hold good equally against the nightly rest, compelled by nature, as against the weekly rest, compelled by law ; for the hours of darkness are the opportunities of crime, and the perversion of the kindly provision of nature for repose to the base uses of vice is a stand- ing reproach of civilization. That the weekly rest may and will be similarly abused, as everything good and beneficial is apt to be abused, is no reason why its benefits should be denied to the great mass of the people who are neither criminals nor idlers. Nor is it true that rest is the synonym of idleness or includes in its true signification the pernicious element which inheres in idleness. Disputants whose minds are so constituted that they are unable 194 SUNDAY REST or unwilling to distinguish between the peaceful in- terval separating periods of wage-earning labor which the nightly rest is meant to secure to the laboring man, and the vacuity or viciousness which idleness involves, cannot be safe or wise guides in sociology or morals. The idea of rest from labor is to the common understanding, experience, and appreciation of man, as far removed from mere indolence and the vices it engenders, as are the peaceful associations of night and sleep from midnight orgies and crimes. The pretence that the Sunday rest, if based on a divine sanction, involves a commandment to be idle, which by a process of judicial legerdemain has been incorporated into the civil law, hardly calls for seri- ous comment. That the law of rest viewed from the religious, side does not enjoin idleness, but rather the highest ideal of service, was the precise point of the reply by which the charge of Sabbath breaking in doing good was broken down and refuted, when brought against Him who declared Himself to be “ Lord even of the Sabbath.” The charge of a new departure by American judges in their maintenance of Sunday laws, on the ground that as a civil institution, aside from its religious character, the Sunday rest requires the protection and enforcement of the law in the physical, social, and moral interests of society, may be admitted. Where Church and State are united there is no need of discriminating between the sacred and secular character of the day. But in a government which tolerates no such union, and guarantees absolute free- dom of religious opinion and worship, such a discrim- ination must be made ; and the effort of the courts has been to find a sufficient warrant in physical, POLITICAL RELATIONS. 1 95 moral, and social needs, for the maintenance of the Sunday rest. “Judicial after-thoughts” and “Judge-made law” are standing terms of reproach on the part of the opponents of progress by means of new advances in the law made by the men who administer it. The judicial after-thoughts of Lord Mansfield adapted the common law of England to the needs of its expanding and world-encircling commerce ; the judge- made law of Chief Justice Marshall, in his interpre- tation of the Constitution of the United States, set that instrument in the clearest light of reason, and gave a new sanction to its behests. Judges are often able, in the case of legislation which is grounded on universal fact and truth, to give it meaning and added force commensurate with the whole range of the facts and truth which relate to it. On the social side the question of the need of a Weekly Rest-Day as a physical and moral necessity, wholly apart from its religious character, and existing as a civil institution adapted to the general wants of mankind by taking into secular use a day originally observed only for religious ends, must be determined, as already seen, upon the broadest grounds of public policy. The advance of science in every department affecting the physical, moral, and social conditions and the evolution of morals through the Jewish, Pagan, and Christian eras, are trying and testing everything which enters into the structure of social life and the needs of the race for its better develop- ment. If the weekly rest were cut away from the Church and from religion would the working world part with it ? Certainly the legislators who would venture to-day 196 SUNDAY REST. to leave any community without protecting for its working classes the rest day which belongs to them by prescription and use, would be bolder than the French Assembly which, while obliterating the reli- gious Sunday, retained the day of rest, on the basis of a changed ratio to secular time, admitting the principle while varying its application. The law is a science which seeks to apply the prin- ciples of justice to the affairs of men. It deals with existing conditions of men and things as they are in fact, not as they might be in theory, or even ought to be in an ethical view, and finds, if it can, in the unwritten rules of civilized society or in the express laws on the statute book, a basis of legislation which shall subserve the highest needs of the community. It finds a weekly day of rest established and in- trenched in the organic life of Christian civilization. It finds a recognition of its beneficence so universal as to make it matter of judicial cognizance and judg- ment. It finds, that while the legislation of centuries has enforced and protected its observance as a day of religious rest, with varying degrees of strictness in the rule of observance, society has claimed and taken the benefit of the day as a day of rest, inde- pendently of adherence to its religious character, for the sake of its physical rest and refreshment and its moral and social benefit ; and finding all these ele- ments of necessity and advantage, the sense of jus- tice responds to the call of humanity, and the rest demanded by a common need is made compulsory by law. In order to give point to the objection against bas- ing Sunday legislation on supposed secular needs, it has been shown by the opponents of Sunday laws POLITICAL PEL A TIONS. 1 97 that in the vernacular of the courts it has been im- possible to avoid the use of terms which imply the sacred character of the day : violation of its rest is characterized by learned judges as-its “ desecration,” and its observance as “religious,” and the day is even defined by some judges, and is designated in some statutes, as the “ Christian Sabbath ; ” all which, it is claimed, clearly shows that the effort to support compulsory rest on Sundays, purely on the civil or social side, is impossible, and that, in fact, all Sunday legislation proceeds upon and perpetuates religious obligation, and is, therefore, against that freedom of religious opinion and that untrammelled right of person and property in conduct and life, which, within the bounds of good order and public decency, all men should be at liberty to enjoy. The claim that Sunday laws infringe the rights of conscience or the freedom of religious opinion and worship, has been too often refuted and too authori- tatively overruled to require attention. The princi- ple which applies here, and which is recognized by our Republican constitutional government, is liberty of individual conscience and opinion as opposed to any compulsion by law infringing upon the right to hold or exercise any form of religious belief or opinion or worship. This secures men against the interference of the State in matters where their con- sciences or their opinions give them the rule of action, but it does not tie the hands of the State so as to make it powerless to regulate the relations of men to each other in matters which concern the com- mon good of all. No Sunday law lays any burden on any man’s conscience, or prescribes any form of ob- servance of the day of rest. It protects the day for 198 SUNDAY REST. the benefit of the community, just as it protects other property rights and regulates their use. It carefully regards the rights of those citizens who, instead of observing the first day of the week, have another day of rest ; and no citizen can truthfully claim that in their practical operation he is hindered in the free exercise of any religious opinion or of any form of religious worship. It is within those proper limits which the consent of the governed marks out by custom and usage and a general acquiescence that legislation in aid of the maintenance of the ^ Weekly Rest-Day falls within the range of civil government. It is not necessary to claim that it is a Christian institution, and that Christianity is a part of the law of the land and therefore the law must enforce its observance ; or that it is a civil institution apart from its Christian sanctions, and that therefore it is expe- dient to compel its observance. The legislator who is called upon to act in regard to its relations to society must accept it as it exists, as the result of a complex growth and organism which has become so inter- woven with the interests of society, and so essen- tially a part of the habitual life of civilized mankind, as to compel its maintenance as a necessary provis- ion for a universal need. LIMITATIONS OF LEGISLATIVE INTERFERENCE. Assuming that the Sunday rest should be main- tained by legislation on the grounds already indi- cated, what are the proper limitations of legislative interference ? Manifestly, if a weekly rest is to be maintained by law, it must be by compelling the cessation of all POLITICAL RELATIONS. 1 99 ordinary trade and labor, with such exceptions as shall not defeat the purpose of the law. Discrimination between what shall be prohibited and what shall be permitted is as difficult here as it is in many other cases where conduct must be regu- lated by rule, whether the rule is given by the indi- vidual conscience, or in the family, the school, the dealings of trade, the organizations of labor, or the affairs of society. No standard can be applied so uniform and exact as to reach every case, any more than an absolute standard can ever be set up in the domain of morals which shall meet all the exigencies of life and satisfy all moralists and casuists. But while it is impossible, from the nature of the case, to formulate or enforce a law which shall define the meets and bounds of prescribed Weekly Rest, and the particulars of permitted labor and recreation, it is quite practicable to reduce the area of the debata- ble ground, and to establish some general rules suf- ficient to insure the maintenance of the rest-day itself in its integrity as an institution, leaving the details of regulation to that general common-sense and accepted idea of justice which the people are apt to possess in as large measure as their lawmakers. First. If the Sunday rest is to be maintained by legislation, it is obvious that the principal object of such legislation should be to secure during its hours the maximum of rest and the minimum of labor. If this plain principle embodied in the law of compul- sory rest were at once honestly applied everywhere and by everybody, it would furnish, to a large extent, a solution of all questions of Sunday observance ; and its imperfect application, notwithstanding the very 200 SUNDA Y REST. divergent views in regard to it, is to-day the most potent ally of the Sunday laws. Second. If the Sunday rest is to be maintained as a part of the administration of government, it is also obvious that the work of government employees must cease on that day, as far as consistent with the needs of the community. This, as already seen, is the general rule in all the departments of the public service. Third. If the Weekly Rest is to be maintained, those trades and callings which exist and are carried on only under the license of the law, are proper sub- jects of regulation, in such manner as to secure the main purposes of the Sunday rest. Theatres, shows, games, and the sale of intoxicants, and everything else which depends upon the permission of the law, are of course subject to its absolute control ; and this control should be rigidly exercised. Fourth. To maintain the Weekly Rest-Day, busi- ness and work should be prohibited, except as to works of necessity and mercy to the extent requi- site to make the rest a reality for the great mass of toiling men and women. Fifth . The maintenance of the Weekly Rest by law includes protection for the undisturbed exercise of the freedom of religious worship for all Christian churches and worshippers. These are the main elements entering into the ex- isting laws of England and of the United States, with more or less particularity of prohibition and require- ment. The practical difficulty which is encountered in regard to them is not as to the rule they impose, POLITICAL RELATIONS . 201 but as to the exceptions to the rule ; and it is at this precise point that the problem of Weekly Rest regu- lation becomes most intricate and most difficult of solution. Sunday laws as now existing, while they do not infringe on individual freedom of conscience and liberty of opinion and worship, prescribe regula- tions which, as they stand on the statute book, per- petuate a principle and rule of observance which public opinion to a large extent ignores and rejects as “putting too much Sabbath into Sunday.” This results from the fact that the statutory law, modelled on the English Acts of Parliament, has taken the phraseology which belongs to the regulation of the Weekly Rest-Day on its religious rather than on its secular side. The exception of permitted labor is expressed in the descriptive formula of “works of necessity or mercy,” pointing by the terms of the exception to the religious character of the rest en- joined, and allowing no exception in favor of anything recreative. Hence these laws are a dead letter as to the mass of the community, so far as their use and enjoyment of the day are concerned, and the violation of them is not enforced. Occasionally, when some private advantage can be subserved by invoking the penalty of prohibition of the law it is pleaded, and the time of judges and lawyers and jurors em- ployed in determining questions such as that arising under the Massachusetts laws, where, in an action against the city of Boston for damages for an injury occasioned by a defective highway, the defence was that the injury was incurred by the plaintiff while driving on Sunday, in violation of law, to which the plaintiff replied that the driving was a work of neces- sity on his part, to visit an invalid sister ; and the 202 SUNDA V EEST. defendant then raised the question whether the sister’s illness was serious enough to warrant the brother in claiming the benefit of the exception. As might be expected, the decision at all stages was against the city of Boston. Aside from such very infrequent instances, the practical operation of the Sunday laws is limited to securing the general cessation of labor, leaving the question of personal conduct as free as on other days, save as to places of resort or amuse- ment, which, under the control of the law, are shut instead of being open. It can hardly be questioned that while in theory this is an unsatisfactory condi- tion of things as to the complete enforcement of the law, it is the only condition compatible with any enforcement of it at all. It would be impossible to frame, and equally impossible to execute, a law which should deal in detail with the particulars of what is permissible in the way of work or recreation on a day of rest. The quiet and repose of a secluded English hamlet or New England village cannot be imposed on a metropolis such as London or New York or Chicago; and the regulation of private con- duct, within the bounds of order, has never been suc- cessfully attempted by legislation. This being the case, the question is, whether any better way is open than that which thus far has been pursued, by sub- stantially enacting the original law of compulsory rest, not because of its consonance with the religious obligation it was primarily meant to enforce, but in aid of the ascertained and recognized natural wants of men, and their moral and social welfare, coupling with the rule of rest an exception which embraces whatever is most beneficial to the individual and to the community, and leaving the whole range of par- POLITICAL PE LA TIOHS. 203 ticular conduct to the private judgment and con- science of the citizen. MAIN OBJECT OF REST-DAY LEGISLATION. In respect to all legislation, the main object in view must be upheld rather than its minute applica- tion pushed to an unwise extreme. Sunday laws are meant to secure the cessation of labor, the preserva- tion of the day from such interruptions as will pro- tect the enjoyment of its rest, and the prohibition of such occupations, amusements, and activities as are deemed to be inconsistent with these objects. Further than this they have no proper place in legislation. Society, which will tolerate neither a repeal of its existing Sunday laws, nor their enforcement accord- ing to their letter or the spirit in which they had their origin, is content with the existing system; and if it were to be proposed for a new State, the only practical question would probably be, not whether there should be a rule of compulsory rest, but whether exceptional work or play should be per- missible by an administration of a strict law, or by exceptions so broad as to break in upon the vital principle of the rule and destroy it altogether. The main support and safeguard, in any community, of the Weekly Rest-Day, is the moral support it derives from that class of people with whom religious convic- tion is the rule of life — a class without whose aid no system of government can long contend against pauperism, vice, crime, and selfish greed. That the Christian Church, however divided as to doctrine or form of government, is united in upholding the sacred character of the day of rest as commemorating the central fact of Christianity, whether the observance 204 SUNDA Y REST. is of a festive or of a serious sort, is the guaranty of its continuance and a main ground of its universal claim to support by legislation. Christianity here as everywhere strikes hands with every true interest of society. Without asserting any demand for the acceptance of a creed or a form of worship, it has demonstrated, in the eyes of men and in the light of experience, the humane and beneficent influence of the Weekly Rest as adapted to the wants of man. Especially to those who labor and are heavy laden, the Weekly Rest has its invitation of cheer : — “ Six days may Rank divide the poor, O Dives ! from thy banquet hall; The Seventh, the Father opes the door, And holds His feast for all ! ” And in every department of social activity the unanimity of the Christian Church in aid of the Weekly Rest finds a ready response. The whole body of officers and employees in every department of the public service, wherever Sunday gives an interval of rest, are always ready to avail of the entire or partial exemption from labor which it affords ; while the great army of wage-earners regard the Sunday rest, without thought of any sanction or guaranty by legislation, simply as an established part of their relations to society. If the general sentiment of the laboring class was that of hostility to the Sunday rest, and of organized opposition to its compulsory enforcement, or if any body of men combined against it for the purpose of advancing any real interest or redressing any real grievance, such agitation would soon show its effect on the legislation which it attacked. Ex- perimental laws in the interest of supposed popular POLITICAL RELATIONS. 205 rights are too much in vogue to leave room for any apprehension that legislation really inimical to the rights of working men or working women will be long left on the statute book. In respect to the Sunday rest, as in every department of affairs, the power of final decision must reside somewhere ; and with us, as to every law, organic or legislative, the people not only have the last word, but know that they have it. It is claimed that the sentiment of the present day as to the observance of the weekly day of rest is greatly changed from that of half a century ago, and that public opinion no longer favors its compul- sory observance. It is doubtless true that a great change has supervened in the general current of thought and opinion in regard to this as to many other kindred subjects. There is a reaction from the extreme views which were held fifty years ago in many departments of religious thought. Whether society has gained or lost in particular departments and provinces of belief and practice, it is not need- ful to inquire. We may lament as to some of them, that they live no longer in the faith of reason. But the retrospect which confines its view to the single point of a supposed lapse in regard to Sunday observ- ance, and overlooks or fails to see the marks of progress in all directions in the practical beneficence of Christian methods and the sure growth of Chris- tian morals, is superficial and imperfect. Christian people differ as to the details of a due observance of the Lord’s Day, and it is wholly impossible and im- practicable to compel acquiescence in any rigid stand- ard of such observance. 20 6 SUNDA Y REST. SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. To summarize the grounds on which, according to the views already expressed, the Weekly Rest-Day should be maintained by legislation and the limita- tions of such legislation, the root of the Weekly Rest as an institution is found not so much in natural law as in moral obligation. Its incorporation into the general order of society is a result of civilization, aided by Christianity, both combining to give to its support, as a secondary basis, the consent of the communities, and establishing it as an institution favorable, if not indispensable, to the physical, moral, and social needs of mankind. It is therefore alike the province and the duty of the government to main- tain it for the public use and enjoyment. The acquiescence of communities in existing Sun- day laws is not because, in the main, the people accept the doctrine of the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath, on which those laws are largely framed, but because they value, and mean to secure and pre- serve for their own benefit, the Sunday rest ; and so long as they are permitted to observe it as they please, within the bounds of good conduct, they are unconcerned as to the statutory terms of prohibition or permission. Therefore it is the part of wisdom to accept and to retain the existing system of Sunday legislation without relaxing the strictness of its pro- hibitions, and without infringing on the freedom of the individual conscience. The most zealous advo- cate of the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath, while justly charging all classes of modern society with POLITICAL RELATIONS. 20 7 dereliction in its observance according to the stand- ard which he upholds, must admit that the Sunday laws of England, and of most of the United States, are stringent enough as they stand on the statute book. A recent writer, who strongly supports the literal observance of the Christian Sabbath accord- ing to the Mosaic Law, including in his list of pro- hibited acts the use of horse-cars or electric cars even for church-going purposes, and the writing or mailing or receiving of letters, pays this tribute to the Sunday legislation of the United States : “ Every lover of good government and good society must rejoice that the different States and Territories of this great Commonwealth stand solid, with only three exceptions, for the proper observance of the Lord’s Day.” 1 This being the case, it would seem that the way is open for the education of the public conscience in regard to the obligations of Sunday observance, and for all lawful efforts to promote increased rev- erence for it as a day of religious rest and worship, and increased appreciation of its inestimable benefits as a civil institution. The just and indisputable dec- laration of Blackstone that the observance of one day in seven as a day of rest “ is of admirable ser- vice to a State, considered merely as a civil institu- tion,” has been applied and enforced in legislation and jurisprudence with a degree of unanimity which attests the power of the moral sentiment which has been the source of their inspiration and strength. Civilization, as it moves forward along all the lines of progress in advanced thought and the researches 1 The Hallowed Day. Fletcher Prize Essay. Rev. George Guiry. 1893. Pp. 33, 217. We believe there is now but a single exception. 2 o8 SUNDAY REST of science, is still as much within the domain of moral law as of physical law, and can no more dis- sever the religious sentiment of mankind from the order of society than it can dethrone Reason from its supremacy among human faculties. The Weekly Rest-Day properly has the sound support of publi- cists, jurists, and scientists, as a civil institution ; Sunday laws are properly made and maintained as civil regulations, governing men as members of soci- ety ; obedience to such laws is properly claimed and enforced by penal sanctions as a part of the police power of the State ; while the underlying principle which gives strength and stability to the World’s Day of Rest, at once the pledge and the guaranty of its perpetuity and its beneficent power, is the faith of Humanity that is a gift of God. ADDRESS BY HENRY WADE ROGERS, LL.D. The question under discussion hardly seems to me to be an open one. The question is no longer open either in the forum of public opinion, or in that of the courts. Who is asking for the repeal of the laws which have been enacted in the interest of Sunday rest ? What State legis- latures are proposing to hold legislative sessions on Sun- day ? Who among the lawyers and judges are asking that the courts may be permitted to transact judicial busi- ness on that day ? Are the men who toil in the mines, or who work in the factories, clamoring to have the Sunday- rest laws repealed ? If they are, I am not aware of the fact, and the clamor of their demand has not fallen upon my ears. But while the question is not an open one, the idea of holding a Sunday-Rest Congress was wisely conceived. We POLITICAL RELATIONS. 209 may reasonably expect that good will come from a consider- ation of the arguments upon which this legislation rests. The public sentiment of the country on this question is sound: to the core ; and a statement anew of the reasons which underlie such legislation will intensify the sentiment in favor of the laws, and will eradicate certain false no- tions which even some good people seem to hold on this subject. The Sunday-rest laws are supposed by some people to violate in some way the constitutional provisions relating to religious liberty. Some one in the audience has handed to the chairman a question asking whether this legislation did not imply a union of Church and State. As well might one inquire whether the opening of a legislative assembly with prayer meant a union of §tate and Church, or whether the principles of religious liberty are violated when the President of the United States takes the oath of office on the Bible, or issues a Thanksgiving Proclamation calling on all the people to give thanks to Almighty God for the blessings which they have received. The ideas which some people hold on this question of religious lib- erty appear to be exceedingly hazy and nebulous. They imagine, or profess to believe, — so sensitive are they on this subject, — that any legislation which in any way recog- nizes the existence of God, or the cause of religion, tends to a union of Church and State, and violates the funda- mental law. The Constitution of the United States sim- ply provides that “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exer- cise thereof. 5 '* The State Constitutions also contain pro- visions on the same subject. Now, these constitutional provisions mean : — First : That the lawmaking bodies of this country shall never be permitted to establish a state or national church. Second : That they shall not be permitted to extend to any one religious denomination privileges which are not granted to every other. 210 SUNDAY REST. \ Third : That no citizen of the republic shall ever be required by law to support by taxation any religious establishment. Fourth : That no citizen shall be compelled by law to attend religious services. Fifth : That every person shall be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. Such is the meaning of these provisions. They do not mean, and never were intended to mean, that religion was not to be in any way recognized or encouraged by law- making bodies. If such were their meaning, then the statutes in our several States which exempt houses of worship and religious corporations from taxation are un- constitutional and void ; for they have certainly been enacted for the encouragement of religion. I cannot help stopping here to recall what was said by Macaulay in the House of Commons, when he said that speaking merely as a politician, not as a churchman, but as a statesman, he was compelled to say that any man who undertook to dethrone the Christian religion was guilty of high treason, not only against the commonwealth, but against humanity and civilization. I recall the words of Washington’s Farewell Address to the American people, in which he declared that religion and morals could never be divorced, and that they were essential not only to the happiness of mankind, but to the perpetuity of the State. Now, do you suppose that the American people in form- ing their fundamental law ever enacted and provided that the lawmaking bodies of this country should never be permitted to enact legislation the tendency of which was to encourage that which, in the minds of most of the men who sat in that convention of 1787, was essential not merely to the happiness of the people, but to the per- petuity of the Republic ? There is not a court between the Atlantic and the Pacific which declines to day to rec- ognize the constitutional right of lawmaking bodies to declare that all labor shall cease on Sunday. The chair- POLITICAL RELATIONS. 211 man has referred to the opinion of the Supreme Court of California, in which at one time it was decided that the legislature of that State had transcended its constitutional rights in undertaking to formulate such legislation ; but, as was explained by the distinguished gentleman from New York, that decision was subsequently overruled ; and it may be said to-day that in every State in the American Union the laws throw the aegis of their protection around Sunday, and the courts, without exception, sustain their right and their power to do so. I would like, if time permitted, to go into the reasons for this legislation, but there is no necessity for it. The reasons have been presented to you by others. All I wish to say is to repeat what I stated when I began, that this is not an open question. It is not open in the forum of public opinion ; it is not open in the courts. But God save the Republic! and God save humanity! if the time should ever come when the' people of this country consent to the repeal of these laws, enacted not only for the en- couragement of religion, but for the protection of the individual against himself. SUNDAY IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE. MAJOR-GENERAL O. 0. HOWARD. I N order to maintain the Sunday rest for its offi- cials and employees of every grade, the govern- ment of the United States has always from its beginning enacted laws and formulated regulations of binding force, and put them in operation in every department of its administration. 212 SUNDAY REST. The several States also, with a very few excep- tions, have laws on their statute books which have more or less protected and secured the same observ- ance. With a view to a brief inspection of such laws, with the orders and rules which have sprung from them, so far as the general government is concerned, let us take the divisions of administration somewhat in detail. There are three places wlyere Sunday rest in the military service has been made prominent ; to wit : — FIRST. The Regulations of the U. S. Military Academy, where young men are employed by the government to fit themselves for the responsibilities and duties of army commissioned officers. CADET REGULATIONS REGARDING OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY. “ 125. — It is earnestly recommended to all officers of the Academy, and to all cadets, diligently to attend divine service appointed on Sunday at the chapel. Officers will be excused by the Superintendent from such attendance upon their declaration in writing that they cannot con- scientiously attend. Cadets will in like manner be ex- cused who make a similar declaration, with the written approval of their parents and guardians, such approval having been obtained by application through the Super- intendent. But in all such cases the Superintendent may prescribe such regulations as may be deemed necessary and proper to insure on the part of those excused a decent observance of the Lord’s Day during the hours of attend- ance at the chapel. Cadets will at all other times during POLITICAL RELATIONS. 213 the day conform to the study hours prescribed by the Superintendent. “ 126. — Any cadet who shall behave indecently or irreverently while attending divine service, or shall pro- fane the Lord’s Day, shall be dismissed the service, or otherwise less severely punished.” SECOND. The Army Regulations, intended for the govern- ment of officers, enlisted soldiers, and employees : — ARMY REGULATIONS. “ Article 52. — It is earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers diligently to attend divine service. Any officer who behaves indecently or irreverently at any place of divine worship shall be brought before a General Court Martial, there to be publicly and severely repri- manded by the president thereof. Any soldier who so offends shall, for his first offence, forfeit one-sixth of a dollar ; for each further offence he shall forfeit a like sum, and shall be confined twenty-four hours. The money so forfeited shall be deducted from his next pay, and shall be applied, by the captain or senior officer of his troop, battery, or company, to the use of the sick soldiers of the same.” THIRD. The various orders issued from time to time by the President, the Secretary of War, and the com- manders of armies and geographical divisions. These three places, which are, indeed, the sources of dis- cipline, instruction, and government, belong to the army proper. The Navy has corresponding regulations for its cadets and for its Naval Establishment ; for ex- ample : — 214 SUNDA Y REST. NAVY REGULATIONS. “ 843. — Sunday must be observed on board all vessels of the Navy, and at all stations and navy-yards, in. an orderly manner by officers and men. All labor or duty will be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. The religious tendencies of officers and men are to be encour- aged, and suitable times and places be assigned to divine worship.” Without going too much into detail, we may call up the practical results which have followed these regulations and orders. At the Military Academy at West Point the sun- day rest has always been carefully observed. The Sunday morning inspection was thought to be- an exception ; but the intention of that inspection was to see that each cadet was properly dressed and had his room and equipments in perfect order at an early hour of the morning. The fatigue of the formal military inspection of the battalion was relieved by some appropriate music by the academic band. The evening Sunday parade of the cadets simply brought them together for a few minutes in undress uniform, as a test of their presence and good be- havior. Only the necessary guard and police were required : a tour of this duty seldom returned to an individual, on an average, oftener than once in two months. In the army at large , at all the garrisons through- out the United States in time of peace, the result of the law and regulations has been to stop all work in the Quartermaster’s, Commissary’s, Medical, Pay, Ordnance, and other departments which involved POLITICAL RELATIONS . 215 the labor of officers, enlisted men, employees, or contractors, excepting always the necessary guard and police of the post. With reference to Sunday morning inspections and the evening parades, the same custom has pre- vailed in the army as at West Point ; but both at West Point and in the army at large, President Benjamin Harrison at last forbade the Sunday ex- ercises, inspections, parades, and drills ; though in fact the drill could not under the old rules have become customary : there were only a few officers ever who desired to make a Sunday exhibition to abundant sight-seers, crowding their garrisons near sundown for public entertainment, and who occa- sionally lengthened their parades into show-drills. DIVINE SERVICE AND SUNDAY OBSERVANCE. Again, at West Point the cadets were always re- quired to be present during divine service; and it has been, and is to-day, customary for the four cadet companies to march to the chapel and attend the morning worship, though a part have been allowed to go to church elsewhere at the request of parents and guardians. The Saturday evening the cadet ha- bitually took to himself for friendly visiting, writing letters home, or reading, or for simple rest. Sunday evening, after call to quarters, a part of the cadets had generally recommenced their studies, prepara- tory to the Monday morning lesson ; but very many took pains to abstain from study on Sunday even- ings — sometimes using recreation hours to forestall the necessity of any study on the rest day. Some years ago the Board of Visitors to the 216 SUNDAY REST. Naval Academy at Annapolis, in their report to the Secretary of the Navy, called attention to the fact that the students were obliged to conform to re- quired hours of secular study on Sunday ; and they added, “The judgment of the wisest physiologists, as well as the moral and religious sense of the country, requires that Sunday should be a day of rest from all unnecessary labor. We do not believe that this infringement of the rule finds compensation in the additional progress made in study.” The recom- mendation of the Board was disregarded for the time, and the students were virtually compelled to pursue their studies on Sunday. At length a law was finally passed by Congress (Army Bill, Section 21, July 15, 1870) which provided that the Secre- taries of War and the Navy be, and they are hereby, authorized and directed so to arrange the course of studies and the order of recitations at the military and naval academies, that the students in said in- stitutions will not be required to pursue their studies on Sunday. In the army at laige the habit of attending divine service, recommended rather than enjoined by the Army Regulations, has varied among army people as in other communities in our republic. At many posts there are regular services. I have noticed that the Roman Catholics have, as a general rule, been more careful to attend divine service than others, where- ever from the circumstances that privilege could be accorded them. The social feature more or less affects public worship in the army. Enlisted men seldom gather largely with the officers and their families ; but an able clergyman at any frontier post or garrison distant from cities will usually draw to- POLITICAL RELATIONS. 21 / gether large numbers. Near the cities the privilege of church-going is very little restricted. In connection with the navy, my experience has been very limited ; but I know that similar laws, regulations, and customs prevail. The government affords to its naval officers and men the Sunday rest, requiring only a small portion to perform such func- tions as are necessary for a proper guard and a proper police. Before closing these 'glimpses into the theory and practice of the army and navy, it may be well to remind ourselves that under the operations of active warfare, in our case during the Civil War, necessity often prevented the Sunday rest ; it was, however, a soldier’s proverb, that the attacking force on Sunday would be defeated. As the war progressed, greater and greater carelessness had crept in, till in the fall of 1862 there was a widespread disregard of the Lord’s Day in all the armies, — bivouacking, march- ing, or actively engaged. “THE PRESIDENT’S ORDERS.” It was at this time of need that our good presi- dent, Abraham Lincoln, reminded us of our his- tory, and of our duty in relation to Sunday rest, and proper observance of the day, by issuing the follow- ing general order respecting the observance of the Sabbath day in the army and navy : — Executive Mansion, Washington, November 15, 1862. The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval SUNDA Y REST. 2 l8 service. The importance for man and beast of the pre- scribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine Will, demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be re- duced to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperilled, by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High. “ At this time of public distress” — adopting the words of Washington in 1776 — “ men may find enough to do in the service of God and their country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.” The first general order issued by the Father of his Country after the Declara- tion of Independence, indicates the spirit in which our in- stitutions were founded, and should be defended. The General hopes and trusts that every Officer and Man will endeavor to Live and Act as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the Dearest Rights and Liberties of His Country. Abraham Lincoln. Twenty-four years after the close of the war, President Harrison, as we before said, added another important order as follows : — Executive Mansion, June 12, 1889. November, 1862, President Lincoln quoted the words of Washington to sustain his own views, and announced in a general order that : — “The President, Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath bv the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast of the pre- scribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers POLITICAL RELATIONS. 219 and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine Will, de- mand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.” The truth so concisely stated cannot be too faithfully regarded, and the pressure to ignore it is far less now than in the midst of war. To recall the kindly and considerate spirit of the orders issued by these great men in the most trying times of our history, and to promote contentment and efficiency, the President directs that Sunday morning inspection under arms will be merely of dress and general appearance, without arms ; and the more complete inspec- tion under arms, with all men present, as required in par. 950, Army Regulations, will take place on Saturday. Benjamin Harrison. By the President : Redfield Proctor, Secretary of War. THE GENERAL'S ORDERS. A year before Mr. Lincoln’s instructions, General George B. McClellan, at the time Commander-in- Chief, issued two excellent orders, practically enfor- cing the same noble lessons. The first was as fol- lows : — Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, Washington, D.C., Septeinber 7, .1861. General Order : — The Major General commanding desires and requests that in future there may be a more perfect respect for the Sabbath on the part of his command. We are fighting in a holy cause, and should endeavor to deserve the benign favor of the Creator. Unless in case of attack by the enemy, or some other extreme military necessity, it is 220 SUNDAY REST. commended to the commanding officers that all work shall be suspended on Sabbath ; that no unnecessary move- ments shall be made on that day ; that the men shall, as far as possible, be permitted to rest from their labors ; that they shall attend divine service after the customary morn- ing inspection, and that the officers and men alike use their influence to insure the utmost decorum required on that day. The General commanding regards this as no idle form. One day’s rest is necessary for man and ani- mals. More than this, the observance of the holy day of the God of mercy and of battles is our sacred duty. George B. McClellan, Major General , Commanding . Official : S. Williams, Assistant Adjutant General. The second is in substance to wit : — November 27th, 1861. “ General McClellan issued orders from the headquar- ters of the army of the Potomac, at Washington, D.C., directing the Sunday morning services to be commenced at 11 o’clock, and all officers and soldiers off duty to at- tend divine service. The orders give freedom of camps, quarters, and hospitals to chaplains, who are also released from attending reviews and inspections.” IN RESPECT TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS OF ADMINISTRATION. It has been my privilege to correspond directly and indirectly with the several departments at Washing- ton. Another pen than mine has sketched the facts of Sunday observance in the immense Post-Office Department , which extends its sway in postal matters from Washington to the extremities of the Republic. POLITICAL RELATIONS. 221 As there we find only the necessary operations, so it is in the entire Department of the Interior , which in- cludes the huge Pension Office , the vast Patent Office , the Indian Bureau , and other divisions. The doors of their offices are not only closed to the public, but substantially to all officials on Sunday. In the War Department , which includes the Adjutant General’s, the Judge Advocate’s, the Engineer’s, the Ordnance, Medical, Pay, and some other bureaus, with all their subdivisions, the Sunday rest is carefully observed. A small detail of messengers and watchmen perform the duties that are essential to the receipt and trans- mission of despatches, and to guards. The same principles, leaving every employee to worship according to his own conscience, are carried out in every department of the government, both military and civil. Nothing but an evident necessity or a compelling mercy puts constraint upon any offi- cial or workman whom the government employs. I have met with a few exceptions to this statement, but these have been so rare as to make them re- markable. It is in accordance with these principles that the representatives of our government at the Interna- tional Exhibition at Paris, in 1 88 1 and again in 1889, were instructed by the Honorable Secretary of State in their official capacity, to pay that respect to the Sunday observance which is paid to it by our national and state governments at home, and which is in ac- cordance with the customs and convictions of the American people. The Government of the United States, THROUGH ITS EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS, THEORETI- CALLY AND PRACTICALLY PROTECTS THE SUNDAY Rest. 222 SUNDA Y REST. SUNDAY IN THE POSTAL SERVICE. BY JOHN WANAMAKER. I AM asked to prepare for the Sunday-Rest Con- gress a brief report on “ The State as an Em- ployer in the Postal Department,” of course in its relations to the matter of employment on Sunday. As Postmaster General for the four years from 1889 to 1893, this subject was frequently presented to me for study and action, and I am therefore prepared to briefly state what I know of it. The problem is one which appears to be easy of solution to inexperience, but which presented many difficulties from the standpoint of a government officer who is obliged impartially to execute the law for all sections, classes, and beliefs. I first sought for the facts ; and in the first year of Mr. Harrison’s administration, I sent a letter to a hundred of the largest post-offices, with a view to de- termine the relative importance of the receipt and despatch of mails at post-offices, and the delivery therefrom to the public on Sunday, as compared with the same work on the other days of the week. Questions were asked as to the amount of stamps sold on Sunday, the number of callers, the number of mails despatched and received, the number of letter-carrier collections, the amount of mail matter collected, and the number of employees on duty each Sunday, with the hours of service. I also asked these one hundred experienced postmasters for sug- gestions as to the means and mode of reducing Sun- day work in post-offices. POLITICAL RELATIONS. 223 The reply showed that the sales of stamps on Sun- day were comparatively insignificant; that the callers at the post-office comprised a very small number of the patrons ; and that the letter-carrier work was practically reduced to a minimum, deliveries being suspended, and the work confined to service for an hour or two at the post-office waiting upon callers. Furthermore, the consensus of opinion among those one hundred men, many of whom had man- aged large post-offices for years, seemed to be that so long as a railroad service is maintained on Sunday for the carriage of the mails, there must be kept up a corresponding local service for the handling, care, and protection of the matter so carried, or else there must be a very general accumulation for the first business day of the week, resulting in derangement and delay of business. These briefly are the actual facts and conditions which it is necessary to confront. As a general proposition, it is the rule of the post- office department to discourage Sunday work for men notoriously already overworked. One of my first acts as Postmaster General was to sign an order forbidding the clerks and employees of the department at Washington from entering the building on Sunday. There was nothing to hinder the making of such a regulation. The building is entirely under the control of the head of the de- partment. But it is a much broader matter to attempt to deal with all the railroads, all the great post-offices in the great cities, and the sixty-five thousand smaller ones in the towns and villages. There has been for many years a standing regula- tion of the post-office department, which prescribes 224 SUNDA Y REST. the business hours for post-offices. It directs that when the mail arrives on Sunday the postmaster will keep his office open for one hour or more after the arrival and assortment thereof (if the public conven- ience requires it) for the delivery of the same only ; and if it be received during the time of public worship, he is directed to delay opening the office until services have closed. The postmaster need not open his office at all on Sunday if no mail arrives after the closing hour on Saturday and before six o’clock Sunday afternoon. Neither registry nor money-order business is transacted in any post-office in the United States on Sunday. Substantially nothing is done except the work barely necessary to prevent a blockade of mail matter, otherwise sure to occur, and which would paralyze not only commercial interests, but the busi- ness of the post-offices themselves. Our British cousins, I believe, naively state in their postal publications, that any person may prevent Sunday delivery of his own mail by addressing to the postmaster a written request for the retention of such mail in the post-office ; and in the town districts there, if the people desire the discontinuance of the delivery of letters on Sunday, their application must be supported by the local town authorities, and they must furnish satisfactory evidence that the people are unanimous, or substantially unanimous, in desir- ing the change. In the British rural districts, the signatures of those persons who receive two-thirds of the letters must be obtained in order to bring about the discontinuance of Sunday mail. I am informed by the courtesy of Mr. Blackwood, Secretary of the British General Post-Office, that POLITICAL relations. 225 these regulations are the outcome of a Royal Com- mission appointed to consider this question in 1871 ; that a select committee of the House of Commons also considered the question in 1887, but that no material alteration in the arrangements resulted. In 1890 I gave public notice in the Annual Report that every citizen could stop Sunday delivery of his own mail if he chose, and that a petition from any community, signed by a considerable majority of the patrons of the post-office, requesting the closing of an office on Sunday, would be regarded with favor by the department, as a means of ascertaining by practi- cal experiment just what the effect of Sunday closing would be. The department's records show that pursuant to this publication some thirty requests were made fora discontinuance of the Sunday mail service. The postal officer having general charge of the transportation of the mails informed me recently that as a rule there is a growing desire to have Sun- day mails ; so that while there has been a discontinu- ance at thirty or more offices, there undoubtedly has been increased inquiry for daily exchanges, especially for the outgoing mails Sunday evening, rather than for an incoming mail Sunday morning. His belief is that in nine out of ten cases in towns where the mails arrive Sunday morning by ten o’clock, and leave not earlier than five o’clock p.m., the patrons of the mail service prefer to have the Sunday accommodation. In considering the question of how far the State in any department may remove the compulsion to Sunday labor, there must always be borne in mind the important distinction between what seems desir- able and good and just, and what is practicable to be 226 SUNDAY REST. done by a public officer sworn to perform his duties impartially to all people and in conformity with the laws of the country as they are placed before him for his guidance. The Postmaster General is the chief postal officer of the Christian and of the Jew, of the Presbyterian and of the infidel, if they be citizens of the United States. He is also bound to see that the mails are handled and carried with certainty, celerity, and security. The utmost that seemed possible was to reduce Sunday labor to a minimum. I have seen numerous letters of remonstrance from individuals, and resolu- tions from religious and humanitarian organizations, urging entire cessation of the mail service on Sun- day, but no one provided a fair way to do it. It takes but a moment’s reflection to determine how wholly impracticable it would be'to stop instantly at midnight of Saturday the machinery which it takes over two hundred thousand people to operate, and the work of perhaps half that number in service at that moment, in a hundred thousand places, in city and country post-offices, on railroad trains travelling be- tween points thousands of miles apart, and moving in a thousand directions. It seems, however, worthy of serious consideration whether communities may not be granted by act of Congress the privilege of local option as regards their mail service ; since the railroad companies might be required to hold and be responsible for the mails for places where by vote of the people the post-office is closed over Sunday. The power for the accomplishment of such a meas- ure rests with the people, who by their votes elect members of Congress to represent them in the national legislature. RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. SUNDAY OBSERVANCE IN ITS RELATION TO THE SPIRIT- UAL LIFE. Rev. J. W. A. Stewart, D.D., Pastor First Bap- tist Church , Rochester, N.Y. THE PLACE OF SUNDAY OBSERVANCE IN CHRISTIANITY: I. James Cardinal Gibbons, Baltimore, Md. II. Prof. A. Spaeth, D.D., Lutheran Theological Seminary , Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Pa. III. Rev. W. W. Atterbury, D.D., Secretary New York Sab- bath Com?nittee. THE SABBATH IN JUDAISM. Rabbi A. Felsenthal, Chi- cago, 111. ' / RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. SUNDAY OBSERVANCE IN ITS RELATION TO THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. REV. /. W. A . STEWART , D.D. I T is not an uncommon experience for us, in our relation to an institution or command, whether divine or human, to pass through three distinct stages. And this is true of men, alike as individu- als and as a society. At first we yield unquestion- ing obedience ; later on we question and rebel : we regard the command or institution as a yoke, and we throw it off and assert our independence. Then lastly we learn better ; we reflect ; we see farther into things ; and we perceive that the institution or com- mand is the embodiment of wisdom, and is designed not to enslave but to bless ; that it ministers to free- dom. The first stage corresponds to the period of childhood, before either independence or wisdom has come. The second corresponds to the period of youth, when freedom has arrived but wisdom still tarries at a distance. And the last stage corresponds to the period of manhood, when at length wisdom is added to freedom, and when the man willingly and gratefully observes what the child blindly obeyed and the youth proudly scorned. It may be said that, 229 230 SUNDA V REST as to the institution of the Sabbath, the period of unquestioning submission has passed away. Alas ! for multitudes we are only in the second, the radical stage, — the stage of independence minus wisdom ; that is, the stage of license rather than of liberty, in which the one feeling is to deny the claims of the Sabbath, and to cast it off, so far as it calls for quiet and solemnity. But there are those who have reached the third stage, and who perceive that of all the institutions claiming our reverence and our obe- dience, the Sabbath is amongst the wisest and most beneficent. I am here to-day, not to assist in laying a burden upon men’s shoulders, but to add my word in the endeavor to make known to a thoroughly radi- cal and independent generation the blessings un- speakable which are bound up with a due observance of God’s holy day. Notice carefully, if you please, the limitation of my subject. I do not propose to inquire into the teaching of the Old and New Testaments on this question of Sabbath observance. Nor am I to say a word about State legislation with respect to it. Nor does it fall to me now to speak of the necessity of the Sabbath rest to all who toil. These three phases of the question lie outside the province of this paper. My arguments will be based, not upon a positive di- vine command drawn from the Scriptures, but upon reason and experience ; and my subject is, The Rela- tion of Sunday Observance to the Spiritual Life. My aim will be to show that this relation is one of necessity. I fully recognize that in limiting myself to this phase of the question, I limit also the number of minds to which I appeal. This paper is not ad- dressed directly to the unspiritual, the utterly secu- RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 231 lar man ; to the man whose horizon is bounded by time and sense, whose life is filled up, satisfactorily to himself, by business and politics and worldly com- forts and pleasures ; to the man, whoever he be, whether vulgar and grovelling, or intellectual and refined, to whom the spiritual life is unattractive and unreal, who gets on without religion, who possesses not faith or hope, and thinks himself none the poorer for their absence, who, as the Apostle says, is “ with- out God in the world,” the materialist, the practical atheist — to that man I do not now speak. If the aspiration after God and immortality, the life of fel- lowship with the Eternal, is to his mind a chimera, a paper treating of a necessity of that life can hardly be expected to interest him. I speak to the spiritual, the devout, the godly ; to those who aspire to walk with God,” to be “ the friends of God,” who “seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” who “ endure as seeing him who is invisible,” who “ look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” After making this one neces- sary distinction between the unspiritual and the spir- itual, I draw no other line ; but I appeal to all, of every name and sect, in every church, or, for reasons of their own, outside all the churches, to whom the spiritual life is the one great and blessed reality, the building in relation to which all else is the scaffold- ing, the kernel of which all else is the outer shell. Appealing to such minds, it may be assumed that there is such a thing as the spiritual life, consisting of the knowledge of God, in communion with God, in love for God, in holy aspiration. And of course if there is such a life, then, like all other life, it has its conditions and requirements ; and my contention is 232 SUNDA Y REST that the religious observance of Sunday is essential, in order that these conditions and requirements may be satisfied. i. The religious observance of Sunday is neces- sary to the spiritual life, because time is necessary. And time is necessary because the spiritual life must have its proper nourishment, and that nourishment cannot be had without the expenditure of time; just as in the physical life, time must be spent in partak- ing of food. I shall not speak now of the exercises of public worship, of the nourishment they afford, or of the time they demand. But I will speak of that spiritual food which the individual must secure for himself outside the public exercises of religion if he is to have an intelligent and expanding life of the soul. And this is to be had in reading, in medi- tation, and in communion with God. Before all else it is to be had in reading the Bible and in medita- tion upon it. Surely it does not need to be shown at this late date that the Bible is the great store- house of food for the soul. Knowledge of the Bible is strength ; ignorance of the Bible is weakness. Prophet and psalmist, evangelist and apostle, are our spiritual teachers. The man of God must make that book his life-long study and companion. He must know it as a whole ; he must know especially certain books of it, and certain chapters of certain books must be written on his irfrhost heart. Every Christian should have a Bible which is thumbed and marked, and is wearing out from constant usage. “ Like a diamond, the Bible casts its lustre in every direction ; like a torch, the more it is shaken the more it shines; like a healing herb, the harder it is pressed the sweeter its fragrance.” How it nour- RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 233 ishes the soul to think through and live over the thoughts and lives of this book! to go forth with Abraham, and journey with Moses, and sing with David, and be exalted with Isaiah, and be disciples of Jesus with Peter and James and John, and go through the doctrines of redemption with Paul ! And there is not the Bible alone, but there is the story of the church through these eighteen centuries, and there is the record of the church’s activity throughout the world to-day. And there are the “Lives of the Saints,” the biographies of men and women of God, so rich in spiritual inspiration. And there are printed sermons which are like the very voice of God. And there is all the wealth of religious poetry. And there are devotional books, of which I need only name “The Imitation of Christ.” Here, then, in reading, in meditation upon these, is the food of the soul. How any child of the Eternal Father can leave all this food which the Father has provided, and prefer “the husks which the swine do eat,” in the shape of the profitless reading matter which is often taken upon Sunday, is a mystery. And of course if this spiritual food is to be taken in, if this reading and this chewing of the cud of meditation are to be done, there must be the expenditure of time. And, in the way we live to-day, when this time is to be had, if not on Sunday, I know not. Oh, the value to the soul, who can estimate it, of that quiet hour which a man spends on Sunday afternoon with his Bible, with a good book, in holy meditation ? Because so few hours are thus spent, therefore is there such leanness of soul. Because so many professed Christians grudge to God and to spiritual things even the hours of Sunday, and think it a sign 234 SUNDA Y REST of their greater enlightenment and independence to trench upon these hours with their secular reading and worldly conversation and their recreations, there- fore is their religious life dwarfed. But to him who regards Sunday as the soul’s opportunity, how pre- cious its hours are ! And to glance in another direction just for a moment, how important to the spiritual life of the rising generation is that hour of the week when the godly mother gathers her children about her to read them a Bible story, or a chapter from the “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” and to talk to them as only a godly mother can ; or when the godly father takes his place as a true priest of God in his own home. Thank God, all such mothers and fathers did not pass away with the Puritans ! And when can such hours be had if not on Sunday? And so I think my first point is made. 2. The religious observance of Sunday is necessary to the spiritual life, because abstraction is necessary , — abstraction, withdrawal from secular concerns. And by this I mean not simply the cessation of bodily toil, but also the withdrawal of our thoughts from the ordinary, every-day business of life. If the soul is to prosper, there must be regular times when business and politics and society and recreations and purely intellectual pursuits, which so much absorb us six days in the week, are left behind and shut out, in order that the things of God may have a chance. Only on condition of this abstraction are we capable of viewing eternal things ; only on this condition will God unveil himself to us. If the eagle would soar into the sky on its mighty wings, it must first withdraw its feet from the earth. When Nature RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 235 would show us her loveliest scenes, she takes us far from the heated highway, and the crowd and bustle of men, to the quiet valley and the hidden lake. Only when “ the garish day” is gone, and the roar of the world is being hushed to silence, do the starry hosts of the heavens above us march forth in their pomp and majesty, and permit us to behold them. And listen to these words from that master in spiritual things, Thomas a Kempis : “ Seek a conven- ient time of leisure for thyself, and meditate often upon God’s loving kindness.” “The greatest saints avoided the society of men, when they could con- veniently ; and did rather choose to live to God in secret.” “ He that intends to attain to the more inward and spiritual things of religion, must with Jesus depart from the multitude and press of people.” “In silence and in stillness a religious soul advantageth itself.” “Whoso, therefore, withdraw- eth himself from his acquaintance and friends, God will draw near unto him with his holy angels.” “ Shut thy door upon thee, and call unto thee Jesus, thy beloved.” “ Stay with him in thy closet, for thou shalt not find so great peace anywhere else.” Need I remind you of those frequent withdrawals of our Lord from the multitude, that he might com- mune with the Father ? And the Christian soul, speaking out its most instinctive feelings, says : — “ Far from my thoughts, vain world, begone ! Let my religious hours alone.” In the very nature of things this abstraction from secular thoughts and secular affairs is essential, if the spiritual life is to be promoted. Drag politics and business and pleasure into the day set apart for 236 SUNDAY REST the things of God, and the things of God will take their departure from it. Always let your thoughts, by some means, be dragged down and tied down to earth, and they will never rise to heaven. Have no sacred hours and sacred days in your life, and there will be nothing sacred in your life ; it will be wholly secularized, materialized, “ of the earth earthy.” The blessings of home and of family life can only be known on condition of a certain seclusion and withdrawal from the gaze and rush of the world without. This is more emphatically true of the re- ligious life. Six days in the week tell me that I belong to nature, to the material creation, to time and sense ; that I have a stomach to be filled and a back to be clothed ; that I have much in common with the animals beneath me. One day in the week tells me I have a soul, that I am free, that I be- long to an eternal order, that I am a child of God. In the name of all that is sacred, let six days suffice to ding it continually in my ears that I belong to sense and to time ; let there be one day in which the “ still, small voice” may be heard, which whispers that I belong to eternity and to God. The spiritual man does not stop to ask whether the Sunday news- paper is a sin ; he instinctively says it is an imperti- nence. After he has given six days of thought and toil to temporal things, it comes and does its best to drown that voice which tells him of his higher des- tiny ; it comes to pre-empt his thoughts and his hours, and to drive away prayer and the Bible and holy meditation. I say to the spiritual man, it is an impertinence. That the Sunday newspaper can find its way into so many houses of church-mem- bers is no sign of greater independence, but rather RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 237 of less spirituality, of a growing inability to rise and soar with delight amid the things of God. Church- members will take their Sunday newspapers, and will tell you that they do not consider themselves tied down by the Sabbatarian notions of the Jews and the Puritans. Precisely. The period of inde- pendence has come to them, but wisdom still tarries afar. Perhaps the time may come when they will have advanced a little farther, when wisdom will be joined to independence, and when they, without be- coming one bit Judaic or Puritanic, in the full spirit- ual freedom which Christ has proclaimed, will at length perceive that after all it is worth while to keep one day sacred for God and Jesus Christ, and for the Bible, and for holy thoughts, and for the greater concerns of a being who thinks himself im- mortal. Meanwhile, the taking and the reading of a Sunday newspaper is a confession that in mind and heart there is a vacuum — a vacuum which ought to be filled with higher things, but which, not being so filled, invites the Sunday newspaper to dump its contents into it. Yes, the religious observance of Sunday is essential to the spiritual life, because with- drawal from the world, rest, stillness, the turning of the thoughts into other channels, is essential ; and it seems as if Sunday was made by a good and wise God for just such a purpose. That Old Testament picture of the godly man is still significant : “ If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a de- light, and the holy of the Lord honorable ; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words ; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” 238 SUNDAY REST. Indeed, if there were no Sabbath existing as a divine institution, the spiritual life would have to ordain one for itself, so essential is it. And it would be quite impossible to tell the value, the blessedness, of this day to the devout soul, standing as it does, a witness for God, telling us every week of our spirit- ual destiny, reminding us of our risen Saviour, and of our union with the faithful of all ages, bringing with it a thousand hallowed associations, and being a foretaste of eternal glory. 3. The religious observance of Sunday is neces- sary to the spiritual life, because in this stage of our existence external props and guards and helps are necessary. This is the first stage of our spiritual history. Here, all the way through, the animal and the spiritual are side by side. The problem is the enfranchisement of our spiritual nature, the victory of soul over sense. The spiritual life just gets a start here ; it just begins to grow; it is feeble, and sense is strong. It is not able yet to depend on its own strength and sturdiness. Like a young plant lately set out, it needs protection from frosts and storms. Like a young tree, it needs support. Like a child taking its first steps, it wants something to hold on by. In the future state all this may be different. There the spiritual life shall have attained its full development and its true place. No longer shall it contend with the world and the flesh. Everything shall be subordinate to it, in harmony with it. Re- deemed saints will live it by freely and constantly acting out themselves. And so external helps and reminders will be unnecessary. In a sense the Sal- vation Army song is true : — “ Every day will be Sunday by and by.” RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 239 But we have not reached that stage yet ; and our best life, if left to itself here, must soon be choked and overwhelmed by the multiplicity and the per- sistence of secular concerns. And so we need ever- recurring reminders ; we need times and places and institutions which speak for God, which command the world to silence, and summon us to holy thoughts and aspirations. “Lord with what care hast thou begirt us round! Parents first season us; then schoolmasters Deliver us to laws; they send us bound To rules of reason. Holy messengers; Pulpits and Sundays; sorrows dogging sin; Afflictions sorted; anguish of all sizes; — Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in ! Bibles laid open; millions of surprises; Blessings beforehand; ties of gratefulness; The sound of glory ringing in our ears; Without, our shame; within, our consciences; Angels and grace; eternal hopes and fears ! ” Yes, and we need them all ; and never were they more needed than to-day. It would seem to me almost an axiom that the greater our advance in secular life, in the accumulation of wealth, in the production of physical comforts, in the mastery of nature for man’s service, in the complexity and mag- nitude of commercial enterprise, — the greater also is the necessity for preserving more and more sacredly those institutions which bring it home to us that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” And of these institu- tions none is more beneficent, none is a better re- minder, none is a truer prop and help to the spiritual' life, than Sunday religiously observed 240 SUNDA Y REST. THE PLACE OF THE SUNDAY OBSERVANCE IN CHRISTIANITY. I JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS . HE custom of observing religious holidays has 1 prevailed, both in ancient and modern times, among nations practising a false system of worship, as well as among those professing the true religion. They have set apart one day in the week, or at least certain days in the month or year, for the public and solemn worship of their creator, just as they have instituted national festivals to commemorate some signal civic blessing obtained by their heroes and statesmen. The Mohammedans devote Friday to public prayer and special almsgiving, because that day is appointed by the Koran. The Parsees of Persia and India have four holidays each month consecrated to religious worship. The Hebrew people were commanded by Almighty God to keep holy the Sabbath Day, or Saturday, be- cause on that day God rested from his work. (Exod. xx. 8.) He wished to remind them by this weekly celebration, that he was their Creator and Master, and the Founder of the universe. He desired that they should be moved to worship him by the con- templation of his works, and thus rise from nature to nature’s God. The Sabbath was marked also by a beneficent RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 24I character, which admirably displays God’s tender mercy toward his creatures, and appeals with touch- ing pathos to the compassion of the Hebrew master in behalf of his servant and beast of burden. “ The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou, nor thy . . . bondman and bondwoman . . . nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. . . . Remember that thou wert also a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm.” (Deut. v. 14, 15.) The prophet Isaiah attaches abundant blessings to the due observance of the day: “The children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord to worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants ; every one that keepeth the Sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast my covenant, I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful in my house of prayer ; their holocausts and their victims shall please me upon my altar. For my house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations, (lvi.) The prophet Ezekiel declares the profanation of the Sabbath foremost among the national sins of the Jews, and the chief cause of their national calamities. “I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to disperse them among the nations, and to scatter them through the countries ; because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my statutes, and had violated my Sabbaths. It is the opinion of Grotius and of other learned commentators, that the Sabbath was held sacred for generations prior to the time of Moses ; and its ob- 242 SUN DA Y REST. servance, according to Lightfoot and other writers, dates even from the creation, or at least from the Fall of Adam. Hence they maintain that the Jew- ish lawgiver, in preserving -the Sabbath, was not enacting a new commandment, but enforcing an old one. This inference is drawn from the words of Genesis : “And He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (ii. 3), which plainly means that he then instituted it as a day of rest and prayer for Adam and all his posterity. It is manifest, also, from the significant fact that the Hebrew people, for some time before they received the law on Mount Sinai, were enjoined in the desert to abstain on the Sabbath Day from gathering manna, and to rest from all servile work. (Exod. xvi. 23.) The same conclusion is obvious from the very words of the precept : Remember to heep holy the Sabbath Day, by which God recalls to their mind an already existing ordinance which had grown well-nigh obsolete during their bondage in Egypt. There is evidence that the week and the Sabbath were known to the ancient Chaldeans. We are therefore justified in asserting that it was derived from the primitive law given to Adam. With what profound reverence, then, should we view an ordinance instituted to draw man closer to his Maker, and to inculcate in him humanity toward his fellow-beings and compassion for even the beast of burden ; an ordinance whose observance was re- quited by temporal blessings, and whose violation was avenged by grievous calamities ; which was first proclaimed at the dawn of human life, re-echoed on Mount Sinai, and engraved by the finger of God on the Decalogue ; an ordinance which applies to all RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 243 times and places, and which is demanded by the very exigencies of our nature. Sunday, or the Lord’s Day, is consecrated by the Christian world to public worship, and to rest from servile work, in order to commemorate the resurrec- tion of our Saviour from the grave, by which he consummated the work of our redemption, and to foreshadow the glorious resurrection of the elect, and eternal rest that will be theirs in the life to come. “We who have believed,” says the Apostle, “ shall enter into rest.” (Heb. lv. 9-1 1.) “ There remaineth, therefore, a day of rest for the people of God.” Yea, an everlasting day of rest and supreme felicity prefigured by the repose of the ancient Sab- bath. Most appropriately, indeed, has Sunday been chosen. If it was proper to solemnize the day on which God created the world, how much more meet to celebrate the day on which he consummated its redemption. As the worship of our Creator is nourished and perpetuated by religious festivals, so does it languish when they are unobserved, and become paralyzed when they are suppressed. Whenever the enemies of God seek to destroy the religion of a people, they find no means so effectual for carrying out their impious designs as the suppression of the Sabbath. Thus, when Antiochus determined to abolish the sacred laws of the Hebrew people, and to compel them to conform to the practice of idolatry, he defiled the temples of Jerusalem and Gerizim, he put an end to the Jewish sacrifices, and, above all, he forbade, under pain of death, the observance of the Sabbath and the other religious solemnities , sub- stituting in their stead his own birthday and the 244 SUNDA Y REST Feast of Bacchus, as days of sacrifice and licentious indulgence. (2 Mac. vi.) The leaders of the French Revolution of 1793 adopted similar methods for the extirpation of the Lord’s Day in France. The churches were profaned and dedicated to the Goddess of Reason ; the priests were exiled or put to death. The very name of Sun- day, or Lord’s Day, was abolished from the calendar, that every hallowed tradition associated with that day might be obliterated from the minds of the people. And it is a well-known fact that, in our own times, the enemies of religion are the avowed opponents of the Christian Sabbath. I have seen the Sunday vio- lated in Paris, Brussels, and in other capitals of Europe. And even in Rome I have seen workmen engaged on the Lord’s Day in excavating and in building, — a profanation which grieved the Holy Father, the Pope, as he himself acknowledged to me. Who are they that profane the Sunday in those cities of Europe ? They are men lost to all sense of religion, who glory in their impiety, and who aim at the utter extirpation of Christianity. A close observer cannot fail to note the dangerous inroads that have been made on the Lord’s Day in our country within the last quarter of a century. If those encroachments are not checked in time, the day may come when the religious quiet, now happily reigning in our well-ordered cities, will be changed into noise and turbulence ; when the sound of the church-bell will be drowned by the echo of the ham- mer and the dray ; when the Bible and the prayer- book will be supplanted by the newspaper and the magazine; when the votaries of the theatre and the drinking saloon will outnumber the religious wor- RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 24s shippers, and salutary thoughts of God, of eternity, and of the soul will be choked by the cares of busi- ness and by the pleasures and dissipation of the world. We cannot but admire the wisdom of God and his intimate knowledge of the human heart in designat- ing one day in the week on which public homage should be paid to him. So engrossing are the cares and occupations of life, so absorbing its pleasures, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to direct the thoughts of mankind to the higher pursuits of virtue and religious worship, unless a special time is set apart for these spiritual exercises. We have certain hours assigned for retiring to rest and for rising f from sleep, for partaking of our meals, and for at- tending to our regular avocations. If we attended to these ordinary pursuits only when inclination would prompt us, our health would be impaired and our temporal interests would suffer. And so, too, would our spiritual nature grow torpid if there were no fixed day for renovating it by the exercise of divine praise and adoration. We might for a time worship God at irregular intervals, but very probably we would end by neglecting to commune with him altogether. The Christian Sabbath is a living witness of Reve- lation, an abiding guardian of Christianity. The religious services held in our churches each succes- sive Sunday are the most effective means for keep- ing fresh in the minds and hearts of our people the sublime and salutary teachings of the gospel. Our churches exercise on the truths of revelation an influence analogous to that exerted by our courts of justice on the civil law. The silence and solemnity 246 SUNDA V REST of the court, the presence of the presiding judge, the power with which he is clothed, the weight of his decisions, give an authority to our civil and criminal jurisprudence, and invest it with a sanction which it could not have if there were no fixed tribunals. In like manner, the religious decorum observed in our temples of worship, the holiness of the place, the sacred character of the officiating ministers, above all, the reading and exposition of the sacred Scrip- tures, inspire men with a reverence for the divine law, and cause it to exert a potent influence in the moral guidance of the community. The summary closing of our civil tribunals would not entail a more disastrous injury on the laws of the land than the closing of our churches would inflict on the Christian religion. How many social blessings are obtained by the due observance of the Lord’s Day ! The institution of the Christian Sabbath has contributed more to the peace and good order of nations than could be accomplished by standing armies and the best organ- ized police force. The officers of the law are a ter- ror, indeed, to evil-doers, whom they arrest for overt acts ; while the ministers of religion, by the lessons they inculcate, prevent crime by appealing to the conscience, and promote peace in the kingdom of the soul. The cause of charity and mutual benevolence is greatly fostered by the sanctification of the Sunday. When we assemble in church on the Lord’s Day, we are admonished by that very act that we are all members of the same social body, and that we should have for one another the same lively sympathy and spirit of co-operation which the members of the RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 247 human body entertain toward one another. We are reminded that we are all enlivened and sanctified by the same Spirit. “ There are diversities of graces,” says the apostle, “but the same Spirit; there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operation, but the same God, who worketh all in all.” (1 Cor. xii. 4-6.) We all have divers pursuits and avocations ; we occupy dif- ferent grades of society, but in the house of God all these distinctions are levelled. The same Spirit that enters the heart of the most exalted citizen does not disdain to descend also into the soul of the humblest peasant. We all profess our faith in the same Creator, and we are all regenerated by the waters of baptism. We hope for the same heaven. We meet as brothers and sisters of the same Lord whose blood was shed on the cross, not only to cleanse our soul from sin, but to cement our hearts in love. We are, in a word, taught the comforting lesson that we all have one God and Father in heaven. “ One body,” says the apostle, “one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your vocation. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.” (Eph. lv. 4-6.) If, indeed, the observance of the Sunday were irk- some and difficult, there would be some excuse for neglecting this ordinance. But it is a duty which, so far from involving labor and self-denial, contrib- utes to health of body and contentment of mind. The Christian Sunday is not to be confounded with the Jewish or even the Puritan Sabbath. It pre- scribes the golden mean between rigid Sabbatarianism on the one hand, and lax indulgence on the other. 248 SUNDA Y REST \ There is little doubt that the revulsion in public sen- timent from a rigorous to a loose observance of the Lord’s Day can be ascribed to the sincere but mis- guided zeal of those who confounded the Christian Sunday with the Jewish Sabbath, and imposed re- straints on the people which were repulsive to Chris- tian freedom, and which were not warranted by the gospel dispensation. The Lord’s Day is a day of joy. The church desires us on that day to be cheer- ful without dissipation, grave and religious without sadness and melancholy. She forbids, indeed, all unnecessary servile work on that day ; but, as “ the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sab- bath,” she allows such work whenever charity or necessity may demand it. And as it is a day conse- crated not only to religion, but also to relaxation of mind and body, she permits us to spend a portion of it in innocent recreation. In a word, the true con- ception of the Lord’s Day is expressed in the words of the Psalmist: “This is the day which the Lord hath made ; let us be glad and rejoice therein.” [From the pastoral letter of the Third Plenary Council at Baltimore .] THE LORD’S DAY. There are many sad facts in the experience of nations which we may well store up as lessons of practical wisdom. Not the least important of these is the fact that one of the surest marks and measures of the decay of religion in a people is their non-observance of the Lord’s Day. In travelling through some European countries, a Christian’s heart is pained by the almost' unabated rush of toil and RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 249 traffic on Sunday. First, grasping avarice thought it could not afford to spare the day to God ; then unwise govern- ments, yielding to the pressure of mammon, relaxed the laws which for many centuries had guarded the day’s sacredness, — forgetting that there are certain fundamen- tal principles which ought not to be sacrificed to popular caprice or greed. And when, as usually happens, neglect of religion had passed, by lapse of time, into hostility to religion, this growing neglect of the Lord’s Day was easily made use of as a means to bring religion itself into contempt. The church mourned, protested, struggled, but was almost powerless to resist the combined forces of popular avarice and Caesar’s influence, arrayed on the side of irreligion. The result is the lamentable desecra- tion which all Christians must deplore. And the consequences of this desecration are as manifest as the desecration itself. The Lord’s Day is the poor man’s day of rest ; it has been taken from him, — and the laboring classes are a seething volcano of social discon- tent. The Lord’s Day is the home day, drawing closer the sweet domestic ties, by giving the toiler a day with wife and children ; but it has been turned into a day of labor, — and home ties are fast losing their sweetness and their hold. The Lord’s Day is the church day, strength- ening and consecrating the bond of brotherhood among all men, by their kneeling together around the altars of the one Father in heaven ; but men are drawn away from this blessed communion of saints, — and as a natu- ral consequence they are lured into the counterfeit com- munion of Socialism, and other wild and destructive sys- tems. The Lord’s Day is God’s day, rendering ever nearer and more intimate the union between the creature and his Creator, and thus ennobling human life in all its relations ; and where this bond is weakened, an effort is made to cut man loose from God entirely, and to leave him, according to the expression of St. Paul, “ without 250 SUNDA Y REST. God in this world.” (Eph. ii. 12.) The profanation of the Lord’s Day, whatever be its pretext, is a defrauding both of God and his creatures, and retribution is not slow. In this country there are tendencies and influences at work to bring about a similar result ; and it behooves all who love God and care for society to see that they be checked. As usual, greed for gain lies at the bottom of the movement. Even when the pretence put forward is popular convenience or popular amusement, the clamor for larger liberty does not come so much from those who desire the convenience or the amusement, as from those who hope to enrich themselves by supplying it. Now, far be it from us to advocate such Sunday laws as would hin- der necessary work, or prohibit such popular enjoyments as are consistent with the sacredness of the day. It is well known, however, that the tendency is to rush far beyond the bounds of necessity and propriety, and to allege these reasons only as an excuse for virtually ignor- ing the sacredness of the day altogether. But no com- munity can afford to have either gain or amusement at such a cost. To turn the Lord’s Day into a day of toil, is a blighting curse to a country ; to turn it into a day of dis- sipation would be worse. We earnestly appeal, therefore, to all Catholics, without distinction, not only to take no part in any movement tending toward a relaxation of the observance of Sunday, but to use their influence and power as citizens to resist in the opposite direction. There is one way of profaning the Lord’s Day which is so prolific of evil results, that we consider it our duty to utter against it a special condemnation. This is the practice of selling beer or other liquors on Sunday, or of frequenting places where they are sold. This practice tends more than any other to turn the day of the Lord into a day of dissipation, to use it as an occasion for breeding intemperance. While we hope that Sunday laws on this point will not be relaxed, but even more rigidly RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 2SI enforced, we implore all Catholics, for the love of God and of country, never to take part in such Sunday traffic, nor to patronize nor countenance it. And we not only direct the attention of all pastors to the repression of this abuse, but we also call upon them to induce all of their flocks that may be engaged in the sale of liquors to abandon, as soon as they can, the dangerous traffic, and to embrace a more becoming way of making a living. And here it behooves us to mind our workingmen, the bone and sinew of the people, and the specially beloved children of the church, that if they wish to observe Sun- day as they ought, they must keep away from drinking places on Saturday night. Carry your wages home to your families, where they rightfully belong. Turn a deaf ear, therefore, to every temptation ; and then Sunday will be a bright day for all the family. How much better this than to make it a day of sin for yourselves, and of gloom and wretchedness for your homes, by a Saturday night’s folly or debauch ! No wonder that the prelates of the Second Plenary Council declared that “ the most shocking scandals which we have to deplore spring from intemper- ance.” No wonder that they gave a special approval to the zeal of those who, the better to avoid excess, or in order to give bright example, pledge themselves to total abstinence. Like them, we invoke a blessing on the cause of temperance, and on all who are laboring for its ad- vancement in a true Christian spirit. Let the exertions of our Catholic Temperance Societies meet with the hearty co-operation of pastors and people ; and not only will they go far towards strangling the monstrous evil of intem- perance, but they will also put a powerful check on the desecration of the Lord’s Day, and on the evil influences now striving for its total profanation. . . . 252 SUN DA V REST. II. PROF. A. SPAETH , D.D. S UMMING up the statements of the Lutheran Confessions on the Lord’s Day, we find there the following principal points : (i.) The Jewish Sab- bath is abrogated under the New Testament, and there is no room for Sabbatarianism in the faith and practice of consistent evangelical Christians. (2.) There is no direct divine law as to the keeping of set days and the exact manner of keeping them. (3.) The Christian conscience, therefore, is not under any positive divine law concerning the specific extent of resting, or abstaining from labor. (4.) Seasons of rest are, however, absolutely necessary to man, as an inherent right and demand of human nature. They must be kept and guarded particularly for the protection of the laboring classes. (5.) The rest thus needed and gained from secular employment is to be devoted to the word of God, the means of grace. (6.) While Christian liberty is thus main- tained concerning the principle of appointing and keeping certain days, now that the church has in her freedom and good judgment selected the first day of the week as the Lord’s Day, the Christian is bound to observe it as a matter of good order and charity, and to avoid giving offence and creating a disturb- ance. (7.) The permanent moral law in the Third (Fourth) Commandment is strictly maintained by the Lutheran View ; viz., that the word of God and the preaching of the gospel, on which the salvation RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 253 of mankind depends, must be most conscientiously guarded and attended, and everything is to be avoided that might possibly interfere with the proper devotion to the means of grace. This Lutheran view of the Lord’s Day is in full harmony with the principles of the Lutheran system itself. Lutheranism is nothing but the restoration of sound Scriptural Paulinism over against the Juda- izing and paganizing influence which corrupted the mediaeval church. All the confessional statements and teachings of Lutheranism cluster around that great central doctrine and life-experience of Paul and of Luther, — that man is justified before God solely by faith in Christ’s atonement, and not by any human works or efforts of his own. The justified Christian is truly and fully the child of God, — free from condemnation, free from the law, free from any burden which men may attempt to lay upon his con- science. In this -Christian liberty the believer is, as Luther puts it (in his treatise on the Liberty of the Christian, 1520), “ By faith a lord and master of all things, and yet at the same time, by love, a servant and bondsman of all.” This liberty is not libertin- ism. For the Christians (says the Formula of Con- cord) are never without law, and yet they are not tinder , but in, the law, living and walking in the law of the Lord, and yet performing nothing through constraint of the law.” Standing in that centre of Christian knowledge and experience, justifying faith, the Christian learns to draw clearly and distinctly those Scriptural lines of demarkation between the Old Covenant and the New, between the Law and the Gospel, between Moses and Christ, on which so much depends for the purity, happiness, and healthy 2 54 SUNDAY REST. progress of his convictions and his life. He recog- nizes even in the Decalogue not the summary, pure and simple, of the moral law common to all mankind, but a summary and compend of Mosaic legislation in particular. There are certain Israelitic features of the Decalogue which were transitory, and came to their end when the whole Mosaic dispensation was fulfilled and abrogated in Christ. Only what is part of the natural law of man, and what has been reasserted and established in the New Testament, can be recognized as the abiding moral law, binding upon all mankind. Again, as the believing Christian exalts his justify- ing faith above everything that may be his, so he exalts the word of God and his ordinances above all the objective gifts of God. It is through these divine means of grace that forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are offered, conveyed, and sealed to him. Without the word there would be no Chris- tian faith at all, no personal justification or sanctifi- cation, no communion of saints, — that is, no church of Christ. Through the word the living God himself works upon us. Therefore we cannot possibly be indifferent to the seasons, the hours or days, set apart for this treasure above all other treasures. The Lord's Day is essentially the ‘ Word's ' day , — the day of planting, nurturing, and maturing true Christian faith and of resting from the dead works. Comprehensive, and at the same time Scriptural and evangelical, is the view of Sunday and Sunday rest contained in Luther’s popular verse : — “ Keep thee from thine own labors free, That God may have his work in thee ! ” RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 255 hi. REV. W. W. ATTERBURY, D.D . I N speaking of the place of the Sunday observance in Christianity, it will be my aim to present that view of the institution which is generally accepted by what may be called, for convenience, the Evan- gelical Protestant churches. I hardly need say that I do not speak authorita- tively for any of these churches. I shall not attempt to cite their confessional state- ments with reference to the Sabbath or Lord’s Day, but rather to exhibit the consensus of opinion on this subject as shown in treatises, sermons, addresses, and the current religious literature. Theoretically, at least, these branches of the Christian Church are, as it seems to me, in substantial accord in hold- ing the Weekly Rest-Day to be a divine ordinance, founded in the nature of man, consecrated by God at the creation of the race, formulated in the fourth com- mand of the Decalogue, recognized by Christ, and perpetuated in the Lord’s Day of the Christian Church. In further explanation, let me speak briefly (i), of the origin and authority of the institution; and (2), of the true spirit and method of its observance. 1. The origin and authority of the Weekly Rest. Divine law is an expression of the will of the Divine Lawgiver. In whatever way that will may be made known, whether in the pages of man’s nature and environment, or by a spoken or written revela- 256 SUNDA V REST tion, — once ascertained, it becomes law to man, with all the sanction of divine authority. As the divine will is ever at one with itself, the laws of Nature and the precepts of Revelation must mutually verify and explain each other. Each of the great moral precepts contained in the Decalogue, and whose authority is universally recog- nized, has its counterpart in a law back of itself, rooted and grounded in the constitution of man and society ; of which law of nature the written com- mand is the formulated utterance. Back of the commandment, for instance, which enjoins obedi- ence to parents, is that divinely appointed nature of the child and of the parent which ordains care and control on the one hand, and obedience on the other. It was the will of God manifested in the constitu- tion of the family, — in other words a divine law, — that the child should honor and obey the parent, before the precept was spoken on Mt. Sinai ; and it would have continued to be the law of God so long as the constitution of the family remained unchanged, even if the spoken command had never been given. The same is true of the other precepts of the Decalogue. Now, just as behind the written law which commands obedience to parents, or that which forbids murder, or adultery, or stealing, men have learned to recognize a previously existing natural law ; so back of this command of a weekly Sabbath would we expect to find, and we do find, a natural law of periodic rest of which this commandment is the formulated counterpart. I can only allude to the accumulating evidence which sustains this statement. The very fact of the RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 257 widespread and long-continued observance of such an institution would render it probable that this periodical rest meets a felt want of man’s nature. It involves so costly and constant an interruption of the ordinary habits of life, that otherwise it could never have maintained its place during all the ages and under such diverse conditions of man. But such a custom of periodic rest has existed from the earliest history of our race. Connected with the measure of time by the week of seven days, it has prevailed among peoples far removed from each other, and remote, as well as near to, the Asiatic centre whence the tribes of men radiated. The Chaldean inscriptions show that the weekly Rest Day was observed not only by the Assyrians and Babylonians, that Semitic race to which Abraham be- longed and from which he migrated, but by the ear- lier non-Semitic, aboriginal inhabitants of Chaldea, whose legends and histories have been so singularly preserved and within recent years deciphered. Beside the presumption thus established by its wide observance, we have other and more direct proof that the weekly rest is demanded by the wants of man’s nature. Long experience attests the fact that the rest of nightly sleep does hot adequately repair the waste of ordinary daily labor, — that a supplementary rest of one day in seven is needed to maintain man in a state of highest efficiency. A scientific study of man and his needs confirms the testimony of experience . 1 But man has a spiritual as well as a bodily and mental nature. It has its needs. There are condi- tions favorable or the reverse to its well being. The 1 See page 21. 258 SUNDAY REST. laws of man's spiritual nature plainly show the need of periodic rest. Is it true, as the Christian holds, that we are spiritual beings, — kindred with God, capable of communion with Him, having work to do for Him here, destined to meet Him hereafter? Then it must be beyond question that the claims of the spiritual part of man's nature must be held in supreme regard ; that life here must have constant reference to this higher relation, and should be so ordered as to promote its ends. Now, for this purpose it needs little argument to show the necessity of a Weekly Rest-Day. The in- evitable effect of daily contact with the world in meeting the wants of the body is to secularize the mind, to absorb it in earthly interests and cares, and to impair the impression which spiritual truths are fitted to make upon it. The diver, encased in his marine armor, may de- scend into the depths of the sea, and carry on his work a while there, because supplied by the vital air through the narrow tube from the air-pump in the boat floating on the surface ; but so partial at the best is the supply of air, that only for a little while at a time can he live and labor in these depths. Ever and anon he must come up, and, casting off his encasement, breathe without restraint the pure air of heaven. So the Christian, doing his Lord's will amid the distracting scenes of the week and of the world, may indeed maintain spiritual life through the imperfect opportunities of communion with God which the week-day affords him ; but what Christian man does not feel the need of at least one day in seven, when he can leave the distractions of the week and of the world behind him, and, throwing off RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 259 the burden of secular cares, breathe the atmosphere of uninterrupted communion with God. Said one who was regarded as holding far from strict views of the Sunday observance, the late Fred- eric W. Robertson of Brighton : — “ I am more and more sure by experience that the reason for the observance of the Sabbath lies deep in the everlasting neces- sities of human nature.” “The soul withers without it. It thrives in proportion to the fidelity of the observance.” Just as we need holy places, — the closet, the ora- tory, the church, the temple, — places not in them- selves holier than other places of daily resort for trade or pleasure, but holy because set apart from a common to a specially sacred use to foster reverence, to promote, by the law of association, the spirit of worship — so, I say, do we need separated times, a sacred day, not holier in itself than other days, but holy because set apart from common to special and spiritual uses. But not to dwell further on what has been more fully presented in other papers — I want you to look at the bearing of these facts upon our argument. Let us reverse the steps we have just taken. We find disclosed, with more or less distinctness in the complex nature of man, a law of weekly rest. Now just as the other great natural laws — that of the family, of life, purity, property, etc. — have each its counterpart in the written Word, are each formu- lated there with the explicit sanction of “thou shalt,” “thou shalt not,” should we not expect to find also this law of periodic rest formulated in the written Word ? If it is just as really a natural law as the other precepts of that written code which we call the 26 o SUNDAY REST. Decalogue, should we not expect to find it in place with them there, of equal authority because enunci- ated with equal distinctness — put there for man’s guidance, before he had learned by experience the natural law which is its counterpart ; just as other of the precepts, the seventh and eighth for instance, were given for man to obey before he was able to discern the laws of nature of which they are the expression, and needed for this reason to be told explicitly what to do and what to forbear doing ? And notice how simple and elementary are the terms of this as of the other precepts of this writ- ten law. As many commentators think, the Fourth Commandment, in its original form as spoken by God and recorded on the tables of stone, consisted like the others of a single phrase, “ Remember the Rest Day to keep it holy.” It simply prescribes a pro- portion of time to be set apart from bread-winning toil to other and, in some sense, sacred uses . 1 It is a precept which, like the others of the Decalogue, is applicable to all peoples, in all circumstances and conditions. Like each of the other great moral pre- cepts with which it stands associated, it was after- ward embodied in the municipal code of Jewish law, with provisions adapted and pertaining to the Jews alone. But its re-enactment in the municipal code of Israel no more disproves its original and universal application, than the re-enactment in the Jewish municipal code of the law forbidding adultery, with provisions peculiar to Israel, impugns the original 1 The Talmud, the traditional interpretation of the Mosaic law, re- ceived by the Jews as authoritative, says: “ If one is on a journey or in a desert, and does not know which day is the Sabbath, he is to count six days (as week-days), and keep the seventh day as a Sabbath.” — Talmud , Tract Sabbath , fol. 69, b. RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 26l authority and application of the Seventh Command- ment. Here, then, we find the origin and authority of the Sabbath or weekly rest : it is a law of nature ; i.e., a law of God, and as such it was formulated in the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue. The limits of this paper permit me only to allude to the relation of Christ to this institution. Neither by word or act did Christ deny the obligation of the Sabbath law ; but, on the contrary, in his defence of his conduct, he clearly assumes the obligation of the law rightly understood. He did not indeed enjoin it upon the Jews to keep the Sabbath. No such in- junction was needed. The time had not yet come to enjoin the keeping of the first day as the Weekly Rest-Day ; and as to the seventh day, a people who would not kill a flea or walk on the grass or minister to the sick on the Sabbath, who would stand still and be hewed in pieces sooner than violate the day, as they understood it, surely did not need to be told anew that they ought to keep it. But they did need to be recalled to the true intent of the institution, and this Christ did. He took great pains to remove from its observance the superstitious excrescences with which it had come to be deformed, to restore it to its true use, to illustrate its benign character. In the same way he treated the law of marriage, the law of the family, and the law of property. He did not in this way treat circumcision or sacrifices or other exclusively Jewish ceremonials. When one with great pains repairs and restores the house in which his forefathers have lived, it is not that it may presently be torn down, but that it may continue to serve its purpose as a home for the generations that should come after. 262 SUNDA Y REST Time will not permit me, nor is it necessary to the purpose of this paper, to trace the institution in the subsequent history of the Apostolic church, or to show how, side by side with the decaying Jewish seventh-day Sabbath, there grew up the Christian observance of the first day of the week ; how it gradually assumed the whole beneficent character and uses of the seventh-day observance, — casting off so much of the latter as was local and temporary, preserving its sacred significance as a memorial of the completed creation, while investing it with even a higher significance to the Christian as a memorial of his Lord’s resurrection, in token of which it as- sumed the new name of the Lord’s Day. 2. I come now to speak briefly of the other point which clain\s attention in considering the place of the Sunday observance in the Christian church, — and that is as to the true method and spirit of its ob- servance by Christians. * Turning to the New Testament for our guidance here, we are struck with the absence of specific rules on this point. Under the Jewish economy, the various laws of God were exhibited in minute details. God dealt aforetime with his people as a father with his little child. The father makes known his will by minute directions, which the child cannot mistake. But when the child grows to years of understanding, the father’s will is expressed in more general terms, to be interpreted and applied by loving and loyal in- telligence. Under the gospel, law is expressed more and more in the form of general principles. The law of the Sabbath, as formulated in the Fourth Com- mandment, is, as we have seen, very simple and ele- mentary in its terms. But the Israelite in applying RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 263 it was not left to his own discretion. He was sup- plied with specific rules. Now, in the absence of such specific rules under the gospel, have we any principle to guide the Chris- tian as to how he should observe the day in his new circumstances, in the midst, let us say, of our nine- teenth century civilization, and the complicated exi- gencies of our modern life ? We answer, Yes. Christ himself has given us just such a principle, and has taught us by his own example how to apply it. “ The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” — words often wrested from their true meaning, and made to sus- tain views, in opposite extremes, alike opposed to what seems to us their true intent. Fairly interpreted, these words mean more than that the man existed before the written command, before the institution. His well-being is the end and aim of the ordinance, and it must be so interpreted and applied as to secure that end. In other words, Christ refers for the interpretation of the written law to the natural law, which lies back of it and on which it is founded. For, as we had’ occasion to observe -at the beginning, the laws of Nature and those of Rev- elation mutually verify and explain each other. Here, then, is the practical principle by which we are to regulate our observance of this institution of the Weekly Rest. We are to use it in such a way as to gain from it the beneficent ends for which it was given. And Christ leaves it to the intelligent and loving loyalty of each Christian to apply this principle to himself. There is, for instance, the physical and mental rest and refreshment which come from the inter- 264 SUNDA Y REST. ruption of bread-winning toil and the turning of the thoughts and activities into such other than the accustomed channels as will conduce to this good end. Then there is the higher design and use of the day, to minister to the improvement of the Christian’s spiritual nature, to lift him into closer communion with God by thinking God’s thoughts, cultivating God’s spirit, doing God’s work. Further, just as around the sharp curves of a rail- way men put guard-rails, to keep the train true to the track, the New Testament gives us certain aux- iliary principles to help us to apply this, as other laws of God. There are two of these that specially apply to the case before us. The one is expressed in the words “look not every man on his own things, but also on the things of others.” This is not a new principle in its application to the Weekly Rest ; it was taught away back at the first giving of the command to Israel. “Thou, nor thy sons, nor thy daughters, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the stranger that is within thy gates.’.’ In other words, in our observance and enjoyment of this in- stitution we are to respect every other man’s equal right to its benefits. This is one guard-rail, and it protects a very dangerous curve in the track of many of us. Then there is another auxiliary principle, a guard- rail on the other side of the track, and that is the principle of Christian expediency — Christian mag- nanimity. “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.” In deciding to do or not to do things which are right enough in themselves, things which I have a right to do, I should have respect to the influence of these doings upon my RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 265 brethren — my weaker brethren, it may be. I do not yield — nay, if need be, I will resist their claim to judge me in things which my conscience assures me are right. But I will judge myself — I will ab- stain from doing that which I have a right to do, if my doing it is likely to lead others into doing what their consciences do not approve. I cannot close without one other thought, in showing the spirit of the Sunday observance, in Christianity. We call it the Lord’s Day because it commemorates the rising from death and the living again of him whom we worship as our Saviour and Lord. It is thus a day fraught with the gladdest associations to the Christian. If the ancient Jew, on returning to his home from the synagogue on the evening which ushered in the Sabbath, found the house lighted, the table spread, and the whole house- hold rejoicing as at the coming of a bride, much more does the Christian welcome the dawning of the Lord’s Day, in its significance so much higher and sweeter than the old-time Sabbath. It brings to him not bonds, but liberty. However it may be on other days, he stands on this day amid his house- hold, no man’s bond-servant, — a free man in Christ Jesus. If the Lord’s Day is something very unlike this with any of us who profess and call ourselves Chris- tians, is it not due, not to our Christianity, but to our want of it ? 2 66 SUNDA Y REST. THE SABBATH IN JUDAISM. BY RABBI DR. B. FELSENTIIAL . T HE Sabbath, conceived as a day of rest and of sanctification, is undoubtedly of Jewish origin, and to the Jews the Christian world is indebted for this grand institution. It is true that other Semitic nations, among them the Assyrians especially, cele- brated in their own way and manner one day in each week long before the Israelites did so. But with them the day wa^ not a day of rest, giving recrea- tion to the body ; not a day of pure and innocent joy, refreshing the soul ; not a day of thoughtful medita- tion, enlarging the mind. It was with them either a day of fasting, of wailing, and lamentation, or a day given up to sensual excesses and to low and degrad- ing revelry. And furthermore, it was dedicated to the god Saturn, whom the prophet Amos mentions under the name Kiyyun, or to some other of the gods worshipped by these heathen nations. From Western Asia the belief in the seven planetary dei- ties, ruling the seven days of the week, came to Egypt, — from Egypt to Rome, from Rome to Gallia, Germania, the British Islands, and other European countries ; and in the English language the name of the seventh day of the week, the name Saturday, still bears witness to the fact that the seventh day of the week was dedicated in ancient times to the god Saturn. While among the Assyrians and a few kindred nations the day celebrated in each week was devoted RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 267 either to fasting and mourning, or to sensual and dissolute pleasures, the celebration of the Sabbath among the Israelites was decidedly and essentially of quite a different nature. With them it was, or at least it became in the course of a few centuries, a day of joyful rest from wearisome labor, a day of holiness, of elevating the mind, of cleansing the heart, of purifying the soul. It became a means of lifting up the Israelite and placing him, religiously and morally, on a higher plane. In this connection it deserves especially to be noted that by the Sab- bath the Israelite was led to a humane treatment of all his fellow-beings, including the sorrow-laden stranger and the afflicted slave, and even the toiling and otherwise helpless cattle. For thus it is re- peatedly said in the. law, Thy man-servant and thy maid-servant shall rest on the Sabbath Day, as well as thyself ) and the stranger within thy gates also, and thy ox and thy ass likewise. And this day was not devoted to Saturn, or to some other pagan deity, but it was Shabbath la-Jehovah Elohekha , a Sabbath de- voted “to the Lord thy God it was Kodesh , sanc- tified, or set apart, to the service of the Lord, to the one God of Israel and of all the world, to the Ruler of all nations, the Father of mankind. In the first centuries following the time of Moses, the masses of the people had not risen to the heights of the pure and lofty conception of the Sabbath-idea as it was taught by the divinely inspired prophets. From the words of warning and admonition and exhorta- tion falling from the lips of several of these prophets, we must conclude that there were large numbers of people who disregarded or profaned the Sabbath, and who did not keep it in the sense desired by these 268 SUNDA Y REST. incomparable teachers, by these teachers who were teachers not only for their contemporaries, but for all subsequent generations, and not only for Israel, but for all the world. Still, nearly a hundred years after the return from the Babylonian captivity, Nehemiah bitterly com- plained of the profanation of the Sabbath ; and from the Biblical book bearing his name we learn how he insisted upon certain measures in order to bring about a better observance of the day. But in post- Nehemian times a stricter observance of the Sab- bath became general ; and from the fifth century, b.c., until the middle of the present century, the Jews, as a community, rarely, if ever, desecrated the Sabbath by physical labor or otherwise. On the contrary, a spirit of extreme rigor in the manner of keeping the Sabbath grew up rapidly, and a tendency prevailed to extend to the utmost limits the practice of abstain- ing from labor, and to follow the deductions from this law, and the ramifications of the same in all pos- sible directions. But there was a danger lurking in this tendency, — the danger that thereby the higher character of the Sabbath and its power for sanctify- ing the soul-life of the observant Jew might be for- gotten, or might at least be pushed into the back- ground. Happily — thus impartial history teaches us — these apprehensions proved to be groundless. The Sabbath retained its sanctifying power and in- fluence even among the extremest of the strictly law-abiding Jews, with whom each of the numerous precepts of the so-called Oral Law or Traditional Law was a noli me tangere. By a majority of the people, at least, the essence of the Sabbath was not considered to exist in the RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 269 observance of the innumerable Talmudical and Rab- binical prohibitions, telling us what a Jew must not do on the Sabbath ; and the higher character of the Sabbath did not disappear and did not become lost among the Jews. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the great teacher of Nazareth was perfectly cor- rect when he upbraided a certain class of his Jewish contemporaries for their laying the main stress and accent upon the negative side of keeping the Sab- bath. His words regarding the Sabbath were golden words. And he was in full harmony and accord with other Jewish teachers living in his time or soon after him, when he maintained that not in Sabbath cere- monials, and not in scrupulously abstaining from phys- ical labor, consists the holiness of the Sabbath ; and when he said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Rabbinical sayings which have come down to us from the apostolic age, and which are clothed almost in the very words in which the corresponding New Testament sentences are expressed, we meet fre- quently in various parts of the Talmudical literature. Ha-Shabbath mesurah lakhem veto attem mesurim la- Shabbath , — the Sabbath is handed over to yon, but you are not handed over to the Sabbath. Kolsaphek nephashoth do he eth ha-Shabbath , — if the remotest danger to health or life is to be apprehended, the Sabbath must be disregarded, and the Sabbath laws deviated from. These and similar sentences could be quoted from the Jewish literature of those times in large number. The regulations of the Pharisees in the time of Jesus, the laws laid down by the dia- lecticians of the Talmud and their followers in later centuries, by the casuists of the post-Talmudical 270 SUNDA Y REST period, — these could not and did not deprive the Jewish Sabbath of its higher and holier character. They contributed rather in a certain degree to en- hance the holiness of the Sabbath, and to give to the day a still greater power for sanctifying the in- ner and the outer life of the confessors of Judaism. But, in briefly outlining the history of the Sabbath institution among the Jews, should we restrict our- selves to merely looking up the old Jewish law-books ? No live institution can be fully understood if we study merely the written laws and ordinances con- cerning the same. The life of any great institution and its real character manifest themselves indepen- dently of the words of books, of the letter of laws, of the sayings of old authorities. And if we now ask history, we shall soon learn that the Sabbath proved to be an institution of the greatest blessing for the Jews. It was for them, in the first place, one of the means, and a very powerful one, by which the preser- vation of the Jews as a separate religious community was secured. The Sabbath endowed them with an unshakable confidence in a Divine Providence, and gave them every week new strength to withstand the almost unceasing cruel and pitiless attempts to exterminate the Jewish people and to extinguish the Jewish religion ; it kept them united as one religious denomination, in spite of their having been dispersed over so many parts of the world, and despite of their having no ruling hierarchy and no other centralizing authorities. The Sabbath, together with a few other strong bonds, effected this almost miraculous perpet- uation of Israel’s existence. And what great bliss and happiness did the Sab- bath bring to the family life ! The more the storms RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 27 1 raged outside, the closer and firmer became the mu- tual attachment of the members of the family to each other, and of the families among themselves. And while the Jews throughout the week had to go into the world to see where they could find the scanty bread for themselves and their families, and while in doing so they had to experience so much humiliation, and had to become the victim of so much malice and so much hatred, — when the Friday evening came, and they were again within the circles of their fami- lies, they were filled with joy ; they lighted the Sab- bath lamps ; they sang their Sabbath hymns ; they chanted their Psalms ; and they forgot, once in each week, all the sorrows and cares of their every-day life, and all the affronts and insults which, without pity and without mercy, were heaped upon them, and at least on the Sabbath Day they felt released in body and soul from troubles and burdens. The Sabbath proved, also, a great blessing for the Jews in another regard. To the observance of this day the Jews owe the conspicuous fact that igno- rance never spread among them so far as among many other nations and sects. With the Jews education and learning were at all times kept in high esteem. In addition to this came now the deeply rooted usage that in each city and town where Jews lived dis- courses were delivered and debates held on the Sab- bath Day in the schools, in the synagogues, in the meeting-rooms of societies of various kinds ; and in consequence of the instruction received by these dis- courses and debates the .audiences were more or less enlightened in the principles of their faith and in the doctrines and precepts *of their religion. And thus to the Sabbath, too, can we partly ascribe the fact 272 SUNDA V REST that in that period of history called the Middle Ages, a period which was characterized by deep darkness of ignorance and superstition prevailing almost every- where among Christian nations, numerous poets, philosophers, and scholars arose and flourished among the Jews. * We must, before we close, not forget to remark that the Jewish Sabbath had at all times the charac- ter of cheerfulness and delight. Even in the Old Testament we read the words of the prophet, by which he reminded the people to “ call the Sabbath a delight.” And in the post-biblical literature of the Jews we find evidence that the Sabbath was for the Jews a day of cheerfulness* and of sunshine, a hun- dredfold and a thousandfold. Other sources of Jewish history corroborate more than fully the fact that the Sabbath among the Jews had a serene and cheering character. On each Fri- day afternoon, when the Sabbath was approaching, — so we read in the Talmud, — Rabbi Hanina clothed himself in his festive attire and went into the fields with his disciples and friends, saying to them, “ Come, let us go to meet becomingly and in a festive mood the queen Sabbath.” Rabbi Jannai acted likewise ; and he was accustomed to receive the Sabbath joyfully by saying, “ Be welcome, O bride ! Be welcome, O bride ! ” Rabbi Josua, another great authority of the Talmud, said, “Let the celebration of the Sabbath be divided into two parts, one half to be devoted to God, the other half to your own enjoyment.” Rabbi Jose said, “Whosoever keeps the Sabbath in a joyous manner will be richly rewarded.” Rabbi Jehudah added, “Whosoever keeps the Sabbath in a joyous manner shall have all the desires of his heart ful- RELIGIOUS RELATIONS . 273 filled.” And how — -thus the Talmud continues to ask — is the Sabbath to be kept in a joyous manner? To which question one of the rabbis answers, “ By having better meals than usually, and the like.” Let it also be added here that it was a law antedating the rise of Christianity, to open the festive celebration of the Sabbath on Friday evenings by Kiddush ; that is, by praising God, the giver of all good things, over a cup of wine, and by the drinking of wine during the Sabbath meals ; and every one of the family partook of this wine-drinking. Without doubt, this law con- cerning Kiddush was piously observed by Jesus and his friends ; as he whom millions of our Christian brethren adore as their “ Master,” and as the divine founder of their religion, himself declared that he had not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. The law just mentioned is still strictly observed among so-called orthodox Jews, by those who have the means to do so. Sad and serious contemplations were not permitted on the Sabbath, nor fasting, mourning, nor supplica- tions in behalf of sufferers. While the reading and study of the sacred Scriptures and other good books was certainly highly recommended, the reading of certain parts of them, as, for example, the Lamen- tations of Jeremiah, and other portions of a similar character, was forbidden. For no gloom should fill the heart of the Jew on the Sabbath, and no other sentiment should dwell therein than pure joy. It is well known that the precepts of Judaism laid great stress upon the sacred duty of visiting the sick and consoling the mourner. While such acts of kindness, of sympathy, and mercy were not to be neglected on the Sabbath Day on account of the Sabbath, yet the 274 SUNDAY REST. Sabbath joy should be disturbed thereby as little as possible. Thus, when one visited on the Sabbath a sick person, he had to refrain from the common methods of consolation, and to say to the sick one and his friends, “ It is Sabbath to-day, and it is not right that on this day we should send up to God our supplications to restore the suffering brother ; but health and strength, let us hope, will speedily come, and you — you keep your Sabbath in peace.” Simi- lar words were spoken on the Sabbath to those who were in mourning for a dear departed one. Much more could be said on this subject. One thought, however, I cannot refrain from expressing before I close. We live, God be praised ! in the freest land in the world, — in the United States of America, where Church and State are entirely sep- arated, and where every one can follow the dictates of his own conscience and the precepts of his own religion, so long as he does not thereby infringe upon the rights and privileges of his neighbor. Let, now, the Jew who desires to keep his Sabbath in his own way have the undisturbed right to keep it when and how he wishes. And let no sacrilegious hand attempt to attack the sanctuary of American free- dom. May the dark day never come on which it shall be decreed by any legislative or executive power in America that one certain day for keeping the Sabbath, and one certain manner of keeping it, be forced upon unwilling minorities ! The Sabbath is a grand and sacred institution, — we all agree to that. But its celebration must be left to the individ- ual ; this belongs to the category of his eternal and inalienable rights. American liberty, I venture to say, is a still grander and a still holier institution, RELIGIOUS RELATIONS. 275 and the maintenance of it is entrusted to each and every American citizen. We praise the weekly Sab- bath; we are sure that from it immense blessings will spring forth. Blessings for the mental and for the moral life of individuals, of families, and of society at large. But what the law and statutes enacted or to be enacted by the legislative authorities of our American States can do for the Sabbath is this, and only this : They can protect, and ought to protect, every congregation assembled on their Sabbath for divine worship in a church, or a chapel, or a syna- gogue, or a mosque, or any other place, against being disturbed in their worship ; and they can guarantee, and ought to guarantee, to each person in our land, be he the poorest laborer, one day of perfect rest in each week of seven consecutive days. All further Sabbath legislation by the States, or the United States, is unnecessary, and would be un-American. But let us, let all the friends of the great and sacred Sabbath institution, trust in the power of public opinion. Relying upon this great power, and upon the divine blessings of our heavenly Father, we can all look hopefully towards the future, and can rest assured that the land in all times to come will have a Sabbath, — a real, genuine Sabbath. MISCELLANEOUS. THE DANGERS WHICH THREATEN THE SUNDAY REST. Rev. Wm. R. Huntington, D.D., Rector Grace Church , New York . RECENT PROGRESS IN SECURING SUNDAY REST ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. E. Deluz, Secretary of the Inter- national Federation for Sunday Observance , Geneva, Switzerland. PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE SUNDAY QUESTION IN GREAT BRITAIN. C. Hill, Secretary Workingmen' s Lord's Day Rest Association , London, England. WHAT IS SUNDAY WORTH ? Joseph Cook, LL.D., Boston, Mass. SUNDAY FOR ALL. Most Rev. Archbishop Ireland, St. Paul, Minn. MISCELLANEOUS. THE DANGERS WHICH THREATEN THE REST DAY. REV. WM. R. HUNTINGTON, D.D. HE question, How shall we keep Sunday ? is fast 1 acquiring a secondary signification. How to “keep” the day in the sense of sanctifying it was the old thought; how to “keep” the day in the sense of holding on to it is the new. Once the fear was that Sunday might be broken ; now the anxiety is lest it may be lost. In a word, we are threatened with the forfeiture of a costly franchise, the annul- ment of an ancient charter, and it is high time that we bestir ourselves. Waiving, for the moment, the question at issue between those who affirm and those who deny that a distinctively divine sanction attaches to the observ- ance of one day in seven, I desire to emphasize the point that here in the United States, from time im- memorial, the first day of the week has, as a matter of fact, been treated both by law and custom differ- ently from the other six. On this particular day certain things, permissible at any other time, are, presumably at least, out of order. The range of the restriction varies according to the special laws and usages of the several States ; 28 o SUNDA Y REST but, on the whole, there is sufficient agreement to warrant one in asserting that American civilization treats Sunday as a day distinctive and peculiar. When we inquire as to how this state of things came about, we learn that Sunday observance is a usage which the people who settled this country brought with them from Europe under stress, as they conceived, of an ethical obligation. They had been taught, in the homes from which they came, that to hedge about one day in seven with a certain amount of restriction was a duty owed to Almighty God ; and, desiring to found the State here upon the established principles of morality and good order, they tacitly agreed that among the social adjust- ments of the New World the observance of Sunday should have a recognized place. Thanks to this resolve of theirs, the institute known as the Lord’s Day even yet lifts itself in our social landscape like a great shade-tree in an open field. Some are saying, “It is less branchy than it used to be, and not so ser- viceable for shelter ; ” others, “ Lo, it is rotten at the core and will tumble soon ; ” still others, “ It is a blot against the sky ; it spoils our prospect : cut it down ; ” but nobody can say that the tree is not there, since for good or evil, whether men bless or curse, at pres- ent it stands up against the sky tough and stubborn: we still have a Rest Day. But let us study the assault. I make a point of distinguishing between those influences which si- lently and unnoticed have now for a long while been at work undermining the immunities of Sunday, and certain other forces of which it is not too much to say that they are avowedly and aggressively hostile. Against the former there is little or no protection ; MISCELLANEOUS. 28l against the latter we may guard ourselves if we will. Probably the most efficient of the underground solvents of Sunday observance has been the tacit understanding, so widely spread among our people as to be reckoned an “ American doctrine,” that the State has no business to meddle with religion, whether to mar or to mend. As a feature of the Hebrew civilization the Sabbath had the sanction of statute law. Gradually the early Christians shifted their recognition of one day in seven from the end of the week to the beginning of it ; but for a good three hundred years they had no backing from civil government in their effort to secure for the time thus segregated the necessary exemptions. Finally there came Constantine’s famous decree enjoining throughout the empire rest from labor on “the venerable day of the Sun,” a rescript far from stringent in its terms, and only moderately Christian in its tenor, but noteworthy, all the same, as indicat- ing the State’s readiness to lend the new religion a helping hand. Sunday laws, so-called, are the progeny partly of the Decalogue and partly of this utterance of Caesar ; but when our people decided to put into their Constitution the words “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” they, to all intents and purposes, gave warning to the Christian Church within the borders of what had been the Colonies, that from that time forth it must protect its immunities as best it could. That this wise pronouncement was not designed to work injury to Christian usages, least of all to strike a blow at Sunday, is sufficiently evidenced both by the words which immediately follow it in the Consti- 282 SUNDA Y REST. tution, and also by the fact that in all branches of the public service the United States Government has from the beginning recognized and safeguarded the day. Nevertheless, it was natural that so marked a dis- sidence on the part of the Republic from the at- titude which Christian nations had for centuries maintained toward the Church, should tell against anything and everything in the legislation of the several States that so much as seemed to suggest the statutory protection, in the name of religion, of one day in seven. And such has been the fact. Our Sunday laws have unquestionably been weak- ened, as respects the enforcement of them, by the general disposition on the part of the people as a whole to discountenance anything like a State pat- ronage of religion. Another unnoticed menace to the Sunday rest lies in the startling invasion of human life accomplished by machinery during the last half-century. The more complicated the wheel-work of our civilization becomes, the more difficult it is, for a temporary pur- pose, to bank the fires, or put on the brakes, or shift the belting to the loose pulley. Hence a tendency to let Sunday become as noisy a day as any of the other six, a result not indeed necessarily destructive of religion, but certainly, so far as public worship goes, prohibitory of '“the free exercise thereof/’ It is true that this mechanical breaking of the peace of Sunday is almost wholly confined to cities ; but when it is remembered how rapidly our popula- tion is becoming an urban one, this thought carries slender reassurance. A third of these comparatively unnoticed but most MISCELLANEOUS. 283 efficient causes tending to the detriment of the Rest Day, and the last of them which I shall mention, is the difference of opinion which prevails among the friends of Sunday with respect to the true sanc- tion of the observance. Not to mention the schism 'caused by the synagogue and by that one of the lesser denominations of Christians which maintains that seventhness, in contrast with firstness, is of the essence of the observance, — the differences of opin- ion even among those who are bent on upholding Sunday as it is are neither few nor inconsiderable. Time does not allow of my drawing out these diver- gences, but I should be justly chargeable with a lack of frankness were I to pass them by unmentioned. The familiar phrases, “a Continental Sunday,” “a Scotch Sabbath,” and “an English Lord’s Day,” sufficiently indicate what they are ; and to pretend that this dissonance has had, is having, and can have no unfavorable effect upon the fortunes of the weekly rest as a possession of the American people is vain. So much for the undermining influences. What of the open attack above ground ? This comes chiefly from three sources, — from the pleasure-lov- ers, from the money-getters, and from the avowed enemies of religion, more particularly of Christian religion. The argument of the pleasure-lovers may be better stated in substantives than by propositions. The Sunday newspaper, base-ball, lawn-tennis, the bicy- cle, these are the strong reasons, on the ground of which a certain portion of our people, and no incon- siderable portion, are willing to see Sunday go to wreck. It will last our time, for our purposes, they argue ; 284 SUNDA Y REST. what do we care whether our great-grandchildren have any such protected day or not ? Against this menace the ministers of religion are comparatively powerless. The fathers and mothers of families and the social leaders are the ones who really hold the reins. Only in so far as the pulpit reaches these can it hope to accomplish much towards saving Sunday observance from degenerating into a romp. Sunday dinner-parties, Sunday rehearsals, and Sunday games must be declared, by the women who rule society, bad form. Back of pleasure-seekers are the people who coin money by serving as purveyors of the material of pleasure. While “ Labor” is having its Sunday pic- nic, certain employers of labor are busy establishing precedents in favor of uninterrupted toil, which in due time will render holiday-making of any sort a difficult affair for all save the very well-to-do. To have secured the formal recognition of one solitary “ Labor Day” will seem to the wage-earners a small achievement when they shall have forfeited, through their own weak acquiescence, fifty-two days of rest. We hear much of the poor clerk’s need of an out- ing ; yes, that is all very well ; but sweep away every vestige of a law prohibitory of servile labor on the first day of the week, and where, twenty years hence, will you find the poor clerk ? — in the public library, poring over one or another of the best hundred books ? in the Art Museum, studying Etruscan pot- tery and arrow-head inscriptions ? in the park, trun- dling a perambulator and catching whiffs of fragrance from clover-blossoms and haycocks ? no, not there ; but precisely where many an avaricious employer would gladly see him to-day, — behind the counter. MISCELLANEOUS . 285 If the whole power of the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages barely sufficed to keep in force that beautiful usage known as the “ Truce of God,” is it likely that the disrupted Christianity of the United States will ever be able to win back a once forfeited Sunday ? The burning thirst for money is perhaps in our national character a stronger instinct than that lust of blood ; the tiger in our modern veins is giving place to the fox. We have a truce of God at present which, in a measure, protects all of us alike from the stern whip of the taskmaster — what fools we shall be if we suffer its sanctions to be dissolved ! Mingled in with the pleasure-seekers and the money-getters are those to whom Sunday is an offence most of all because it smacks of religion. They are content, they say, to have the State main- tain a fairly severe moral standard, for that is essen- tial to public decency and public safety ; but with ordinances of religion, our legislation should have nothing to do : whatever else we may fail of being, “ secular,” as good Americans, we are bound to be. But is “ secular morality” a thing that can be had for the asking ? There are moralities and moralities ; and every nation must decide which of many its own shall be. Mohammedan morality is one thing; Buddhist mo- rality is another ; Confucian morality is another ; Christian morality is yet another. We cannot jum- ble them together and say that we will live by the aggregate of the four, any more than we can insist on having our house built in Gothic, classic, and pah ladian architecture all at once; — choose we must. Practically, however, the thing has been done for us. 286 SUNDAY REST, The United States counts among the Christian na- tions of the world ; and what that means is that down underneath our Constitution and our laws lies bedded the Christian conception of what human life ought to be. The Ten Words of Sinai, as interpreted by the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, make the backbone of Christian ethics ; and in the Ten Words the law of periodic rest has a place just as emphatic as the law of monogamy or the law of property. Emerson was no apologist for Christianity, but he spoke true when he said of Sunday, “it is the core of our civilization. ” These, then, that I have named are the dangers that menace the Rest Day in America. Some will think that I have exaggerated them, and will account my utterance the message of the croaker, the song of the alarmist, the wail of a clerical Cassandra. But really nothing has been further from my mind than to suggest discouragement. No people is more rich in the genius of inventiveness than ours ; and when once a danger is discerned, schemes of defence are invariably forthcoming. What is wanted is a platform broad enough for all who believe that a protected Rest Day, however originated and by what- ever means thus far transmitted, is a possession too good to be lost. Simply as patriots we have much at stake. The philosophy of federal government presupposes a cer- tain magnetism of sympathy pervading and knitting together all the members of the one body. A fag- ot of sticks tied together by a single cord, labelled “common interest,” is a most unworthy emblem of our American national life. For if that be a true symbolism, you have only to draw your knife-edge MISCELLANEOUS. 287 across the slender strand of selfishness; you have only to prove to the East that it must have protec- tion, and to the West that it must have free-trade, and your fagot tumbles into confusion in a moment. National life, federal unity, means more than this; as, at the cost of rivers of blood, our people have been brave to prove. And yet what are the instrumentalities upon which we must rely to keep up the common consciousness of the national unity ? How are we to be constantly witnessing to the generations as they successively appear upon the scene that we are indeed a nation, and not a mere swarm of whites and blacks ? The task of keeping together a population so numerous, so varied, so widely scattered as our own, is one of unexampled difficulty. To perform it suc- cessfully we need every help we can possibly lay hands on. Unquestionably, material and mechanical agencies can do much. Railroads and telegraphs and great river bridges are potent instrumentalities in knitting the country into oneness. There can be no doubt of their value in this respect. And yet passion is stronger than iron ; and there are those of us who remember to have seen railroads torn up, telegraph wires cut, and costly bridges burned, all under stress of feeling. Are there, then, no other possible bonds of national unity than these perish- able things? Yes ; there is the appeal to sentiment, — and a very strong appeal it is. For a hundred years the memory of the common struggle against British tyranny did service as a cement of that sort. Varied as were the traditions of the several colonies, and diverse as, in many re- spects, their interests seemed, they had made com- 288 SUNDA Y REST. mon cause against the one enemy ; and in looking back to this conspicuous fact the children of the colonists for a hundred years found fuel for the flame of patriotism. And what was one of the most ser- viceable means devised for giving perpetuity and strength to this sentiment? It was nothing else than the appointment of a day to be the continually recurring memorial of the nation’s birth. A like instinct moved the President of the United States at the close of the Civil War to institute a national Thanksgiving Day. The idea was, and is, that when a whole people are keeping a common ob- servance, a certain measure of toughness is imparted to the ligaments that make the people one body. Just what and how great the increase of cohesive- ness due to such causes may be, no one would be rash enough to say ; but that there is, first or last, a real drawing together of the fibre of the nation’s life consequent upon such observances few would deny. Now, in the Sunday we have not a rare and easily forgotten, but a frequently and constantly re- curring, reminder of the fact that, as a people, we do still believe in one Lord God Almighty. Differ as we may, denominationally and otherwise, we can all of us still join in the invocation, “ Our Father.” As a nation we hold not to gods many or lords many, but to the “ One Eternal, Immortal, Invisi- ble.” Such a faith manv of us believe to be the j very strongest, and almost all of us believe to be one of the strongest, of the ties that are likely to make a federal union permanent. Sunday, as the outward sign and token, the visible emblem and pledge, of this underlying faith of the people in the one God, ought, therefore, to be unspeakably precious in the MISCELLANEOUS . 289 eye of a far-seeing statesman, whether he be per- sonally Jew, Turk, or Christian. So, then, let us be hopeful. Not seldom in this land of universal suffrage the “ common-sense of most ” has proved our safety. God can convert a menace into a shield ; and so far from fearing that our Sunday is destined to be swamped by some great in-rushing tide of popular hostility, I do verily be- lieve that, in our case, as in the case of God’s people of old time, the very waters that threaten our de- struction will at the critical moment become unto us a wall, on the right hand and on the left, and Israel see the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. RECENT PROGRESS OF THE SUNDAY REST QUESTION IN EUROPE. E . DELUZ. HE International Federation for Sunday observ- 1 ance, the seat of which is at Geneva, Switzer- land, has been the principal agent in the movement within recent years for the promotion of the Sunday rest on the continent of Europe. The progress of the movement at first and for several years was slow, attracting but little attention outside of the ranks of Christian people who deplored the decay into which the Sunday observance had fallen, and of the 290 SUNDA Y REST. groups of earnest labor-reformers who painfully felt the pressure of the uninterrupted toil to which the majority of working-people were doomed. The lead- ing politicians regarded it merely as a troublesome religious question to be ignored. In 1869 the Grand Council at Geneva, and in 1880 the French Parlia- ment, repealed with slight consideration, certain laws with reference to Sunday which it would have been better to revise. It was not till two important events had taken place that the question of Sunday rest emerged from the neglect in which it lay in several European coun- tries, and at last compelled the attention of the leaders of public sentiment. The first of these events was the International Congress on Weekly Rest held in connection with the Paris Exposition, September 24-27, 1889. This Congress, initiated by the Committee of the Inter- national Federation with the aid of the French Society for Sunday Observance, was held under the authorization of the French Government. It brought the cause of Sunday rest at once to public notice and compelled its discussion by the French political press. From the French press, the discussion ex- tended to the journals of other countries, and so at last the Sunday rest question awoke to new life. But there was need that the principles of Sunday rest should be proclaimed from a still more influen- tial platform than that of the Congress of Paris. The second event was the International Labor Conference convened at Berlin, March 15th to 30th, 1890, by the German Emperor, William II. In this conference, in which the representatives of twelve European states took part, Sunday rest occupied the MISCELLANEOUS . 291 chief place on the programme. Resolutions were adopted, recognizing not only the general usefulness of Sunday rest, but its absolute necessity for work- ing-people of all ages. The discussions by the Con- ference and in the public journals of Europe brought the question before the Parliaments of the various states represented. In the country where the strong- est opponent of Sunday rest, Prince Bismarck, had many a time insisted that if it w£re put into prac- tice the industry of the nation would be ruined, and that, in order to secure it, the workman would have to lose a seventh of his earnings, it was de- clared by the highest and best authority, that on physical and moral, as well as economic grounds, the Sunday rest should be secured by law to all working- people, both men and women. This, briefly, is the way in which the Sunday prop- aganda, started at Geneva in 1861, has extended with more or less efficiency to the different countries of Europe. Let us glance rapidly at what has recently been done in the several countries for the protection of Sunday rest. Germany. The principles of the Berlin Confer- ence were practically applied by the new Sunday law of June 1, 1891, which went into effect, so far as concerns trade, on July 1, 1892. In manufactures it is to be applied later on, the regulations for which are now being prepared. This law provides in general that clerks, appren- tices, and others employed in trade, should not be made to work more than five hours on Sundays and holidays, except as this provision may be modified 2 9 2 SUNDAY REST. by special cases. 1 Hawking of goods is not permitted on Sunday. Work is forbidden on Sundays in mines, manufactories, workshops, tile works, dockyards, and building yards. Shops must be closed during the hours of public worship ; exception is made in the case of bakers, butchers, beer-sellers, etc., and for certain kinds of work regarded as necessary. The law is by no means severe or excessive ; and while not regarded as wholly satisfactory, as it leaves em- ployees in shops five hours' work on Sunday, it is a great advance on the previous condition of things. This law awakened some opposition in the north of Germany, where the trade customs left more to be desired than in the south ; but the friends of the law far outnumber its adversaries, — workmen, clerks, labor-leaders, concur with philanthropists in desiring its strict application. In some towns numerous shopkeepers have taken advantage of the law to close their shops on Sunday for the whole day, to the great relief of their employees. Circumstances point to further progress in the right direction. In the German postal service there are but one or two deliveries on . Sunday. On the railways the freight depots are closed on Sunday; and, in order that the employees may be free one Sunday out of three or four, the freight traffic on that day is suspended on certain of the lines. Austria. The law of June 21, 1884, forbids, in a general way, all work in the mines on Sundays. Another law of March, 1885, forbids work in general 1 Very recently the head of a large commercial house of Berlin, which employs one hundred and twenty clerks, was sentenced to pay a fine of twelve hundred marks for having made them work too long on Sunday. MISCELLANEOUS. 293 in shops and factories, but subsequent regulations made a large number of exceptions in view of the customs of the people. So that on Sunday morning at Vienna there is little to show that the day is dif- ferent from other days. It is only in the afternoon that the employees get rest. Except in cases of necessity, house-building and several other kinds of work, formerly carried on on Sunday, are now dis- continued. Newspapers are no longer issued on Sunday evening or Monday morning ; and there has been much improvement in comparison with the pre- vious condition of things. There are only two deliv- eries of letters at most on Sundays ; the freight depots are closed, and it is proposed to diminish the number t)f freight trains. Hungary. A Sunday rest law was passed in 1868, but never carried out. Through the example of Austria, a special law was enacted April 9, 1891, which provides that persons employed in trade or factories generally should not work on Sunday ; but, as in the case of Austria, a considerable number of exceptions are allowed on account of the customs of the people. Yet the law is a great advance, and will prepare the way for future reforms. The association of newspaper editors and printers has maintained a severe struggle to bring to an end the printing of newspapers on Sunday. On Feb. 13, 1892, the Minister of Public Works made a noble appeal to all the religious denominations for their aid in carry- ing out the moral principle of the law, and in organ- izing lectures of a practical description on Sunday afternoon for workmen. Belgium. The Railway Congress, held at Brussels 294 SUNDAY EEST. in 1885, discussed the subject of Sunday rest for rail- way employees, and adopted resolutions in favor of giving them days of rest periodically, and, as far as possible, on Sunday. The Belgian government im- mediately undertook to apply these resolutions, and to permit persons in public employment, especially on the railways, to rest on Sunday. By 1889 between seven and eight hundred freight trains, which before had run on Sunday, were discontinued, and the sta- tion and freight agents enjoyed an average of thirty days’ rest a year, either on Sundays or during the week ; the postman and telegraph messengers had two days’ rest a month. The freight depots are now closed on Sunday ; fifteen hundred freight trains are stopped on that day ; thousands of railway porters have one Sunday for rest out of two or three. All of them get two hours free on every Sunday to go to church if they wish. Postmen are free every Sunday. There are half as many letter deliveries ’on Sunday as on other days, but these are made by persons specially engaged for that purpose. The hours during which the post and telegraph offices are open on Sunday are shortened ; government con- tracts for work exclude Sundays, except in cases of great necessity. A short time since a special post- age stamp was brought out, attached to which is a coupon, that may be removed, bearing the inscrip- tion, “Not to be delivered on Sunday.” Letters and parcels bearing these stamps are not delivered on that day. The issue of these stamps awakened vio- lent discussion in the newspapers, and attracted the attention of workingmen to the question of Sunday rest, of which most of them are deprived. Since then the printers, several classes of persons em- MISCELLANE O US. 295 ployed in commerce, and even the drug stores, have begun to make arrangements to have their Sundays free. A league has recently been formed to promote Sunday rest, and, in the absence of a law on the sub- ject, is doing what it can to bring about a change in the customs of trade and manufactures with respect to Sunday. Denmark. In 1884 the International Federation sent a delegation to Copenhagen to awaken public interest in the cause of Sunday rest. It met with great success. An influential Danish committee was organized, at the head of which is Count A. de Moltke. Since 1889 there is but one delivery of letters on Sunday in the towns, and in the country there is no delivery. April 1, 1891, a law was passed which for- bids shops to be open on Sunday after nine o’clock, with a few exceptions. Barbers must close at twelve o’clock. In workshops and factories work is forbid- den on Sunday after nine o’clock ; but where the work is necessarily continued, each workman is free at least one Sunday out of two. It is estimated that this law has liberated at least 100,000 Sunday slaves. The sale of spirituous liquors is not as yet placed under any restriction. Persons employed on the tramways have six or seven holidays during the month. Spain. The echoes of the Paris Congress and the Berlin Conference have somewhat affected the work- ingman in Spain, and petitions have been presented to the government asking for thirty-six hours’ rest a week. This was the origin of a law proposed in 1891, prohibiting work on Sunday in factories and 296 SUNDA Y REST. trade establishments for persons under eighteen years of age. In establishments belonging to the states, the provinces, and the municipalities, Sunday rest is obligatory, except in cases of necessity. This law, after amendments, was passed Feb. 8, 1892. France has derived most benefit from the Congress of 1889. A Popular League for Sunday Rest was founded immediately after the Congress, under the presidency of M. Leon Say, deputy, and has carried out with marked success the work set on foot by the Congress. The Catholics have become ardent friends of the cause, and, besides co-operating with the League, have organized a similar association. Special committees have been formed in fifteen of the principal French towns, and even in Corsica. In different districts the workingmen and clerks are forming themselves into groups to obtain Sunday rest. In some places the movement has given rise to some disturbances, caused by over-zealous parti- sans. In many of the larger towns of France, and in Paris, many shops have voluntarily closed on Sun- day. The large establishment of Paris, called the Magazin de Louvre, with more than a thousand em- ployees, not only closes on Sunday, but has ceased to deliver on Sunday goods bought the day before. Through the influence of the League, the govern- ment has closed its freight depots after ten o’clock on Sunday. The Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean Rail- way Company has led in this reform, and was the first to take steps towards giving to persons employed on railways more rest on Sunday ; for the situation of the railway employees in this respect is deplorable. Postal deliveries on Sunday in Paris, and several MISCELLANE O US. 297 other of the larger towns in the provinces, have been reduced by one-half. Petitions have been presented to the General Councils, asking that fairs and mar- kets which occurred on Sunday should be deferred to Monday, and in some instances this has been done. On Feb. 16, 1892, the Minister of Public Works restored a provision which had been practi- cally annulled in 1880, forbidding contractors on pub- lic works to compel work on Sundays and holidays, except in cases of necessity. A law of Nov. 2, 1892, guarantees to women and children one day's rest a week. The legislators did not dare to use the ex- pression, Sunday rest, as they were afraid to seem to be making concession to the Catholic party. In February, 1892, the Chamber of Deputies appropri- ated 600,000 francs, to allow the country postmen one free Sunday a month. In the French army, Sunday is kept strictly as a day of rest. After a struggle for a couple of years, the 700 workmen in the Paris sewers succeeded in 1892 in obtaining exemption from work on Sunday without any reduction of wages. The administrative authorities resisted this reform because it would cost 80,000 francs. Holland. The cause of Sunday rest is advancing in this country, and the government favors it. In 1889 a law was passed forbidding Sunday work for women and children in manufactories. No news- papers are issued on Sunday. Freight trains are less numerous, and the demand is being made that they should be wholly discontinued. Railway em- ployees have, almost all, more or less rest on Sunday, but they are seldom free for the whole day. Post- men and telegraph messengers are free, in some 298 SUNDA Y REST. cases for a part, and others for the whole, of Sunday. The elections do not take place on Sunday, and the civic guard is not drilled on that day. The Society for Sunday Rest and the Society for Sunday Ob- servance are both working vigorously to disseminate information and to enlighten public sentiment. Italy. As in other Latin countries, the Sunday rest is far from being properly appreciated. Spas- modic efforts have been made by workmen and clerks to obtain Sunday rest. In 1883 a popular impulse in this direction extended from Turin to Palermo; but the reform not being based upon the customs and convictions of the people, or any law, or any properly organized association, the impulse soon died away, and nothing came of it. A few earnest friends of the cause have sought to maintain it. The Paris Congress and the Berlin Conference did much to call the attention of the public press to the subject. The Pope has understood the advantages of the Sunday rest better than the Italian politicians, and recom- mended the subject in his encyclical letter of June, 1891. A league for rest on public holidays was formed among the clerks of Milan in 1891, through the influence of which, sustained by Mr. Rossi, sena- tor, some shops are now closed on Sunday. At Bologna and at Rome some movement has been made in the same direction ; at Travisa, a Catholic Committee recommended purchasers to abstain from shopping on Sunday, in consequence of which nearly all the shops are closed on that day. A Congress of Workingmen’s Societies, representing thirty-six towns of Italy, at Milan, Oct. 7, 1892, voted in favor of a law making Sunday rest obligatory. MISCELLANEOUS . 299 Portugal . It is said that in both trade and manu- factures there is less work done on Sunday than on other days, but there is no law on the subject. Russia. The government is preparing a law for rest on Sunday and certain official holidays, to be applied to trade, manufactures, and mines. It has been approved by the State Council. Post-offices are only open on Sunday from twelve to two. The Minister of the Interior has issued a circular, direct- ing the government to close drinking shops on Sun- day until eleven o’clock. It is due to petitions from clerks and workingmen in different parts of the empire that these steps have been taken by the government. Greece. The Metropolitan of Athens, and the Director of police, propose to introduce Sunday rest into this state, and, to this end, have recently con- voked the presidents of the different corporations. Norway. This is at present the first country on the Continent in the matter of Sunday rest. Shops and factories are closed on Sunday, the sale of alco- holic beverages is forbidden from five o’clock Satur- day evening, to eight o’clock Monday morning. It is even forbidden to make bread after six o’clock on Saturday, and all day on Sunday, much to the advan- tage of the bakers and their journeymen. Vessels are not loaded or unloaded ; tramways run only after twelve o’clock. Railway employees have one Sunday free out of three. There is no delivery of letters at Christiania and at Bergen after eight o’clock on Sun- day morning. Telegraph messengers are free for half the day on Sunday. 300 SUNDAY REST. Sweden . There are but one or two deliveries of letters on Sunday. A law passed in 1891 maintains the ancient custom of not requiring work from the crews of vessels on Sunday, except in case of neces- sity. A recent law provides that tobacco shops should be closed a part of the day. Public opinion has made great progress in this country and in Nor- way on the subject of Sunday rest. Switzerland. The International Federation above referred to, which has its seat at Geneva, is also the central committee for Switzerland, and has done a great work in awakening public sentiment by the distribution of literature, and in other ways. Nearly all the Swiss cantons have laws to protect Sunday rest. They provide for the closing of the shops, and oppose work executed publicly and with noise on that day. Newspapers are not printed on Sunday in Switzerland. In the army Sunday is ob- served as a day of rest, except in a few special cases. Federal laws guarantee to all workmen in factories rest on Sunday, except in certain cases, when they must have at least every other Sunday. The work- men are now asking that this law should be extended to the small factories as well. Postal and telegraphic services are reduced to less than one-half on Sunday, and there are no freight trains on that day. A rail- way recently built from Yverdon to St. Croix runs neither passenger nor freight trains on Sunday. The International Railway Conference, the regula- tions of which came into force Jan. 1, 1893, provide that for goods sent by slow trains, Sunday is not to be counted in the time allowed for delivery or for their reception, when the goods are brought to the MISCELL A NEOUS. 301 depots on Saturday. When they arrive at their des- tination on Sunday, they are delivered the next day. The stopping of the internal and interstate freight trains on Sunday is optional for each contracting state. These reforms make it possible to close the freight depots and to discontinue freight trains on Sunday in the nine central European states, which have given in their adhesion to the convention. The Swiss federal law of June 27, 1890, which went into force Jan. 1, 1891, gives to every em- ployee of railway, steamboat, tramway, and posts, fifty-two holidays annually, seventeen of which must be Sunday, under a penalty of from five hun- dred to one thousand francs ; and the persons em- ployed do not have the option of relinquishing these holidays. More recently a law has been passed, which guarantees the same advantages to the em- ployees of telegraph and telephone offices. More than thirty thousand persons employed in the public service are thus able to enjoy one day’s rest every week. Such an example is contagious ; and the In- ternational Congress of Railway Employees, recently held at Zurich, voted in favor of such a law all over Europe. The above facts show that the cause is making important progress on the continent of Europe, and encourages further effort. The Christian churches of the European Continent need to feel, like those of Great Britain and the United States, the urgent duty of promoting the sanctification of the Lord’s day, in order to obtain alike the security of the rest day and its highest uses. Especially is there felt to be need that the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sun- day must be forbidden or entirely restricted, or the 302 SUNDA Y REST Sunday will become more and more a day of ruin to the body, to the soul, and to the family. The International Committee earnestly appeal to the friends of the Sunday rest everywhere for aid in carrying on their important and costly propaganda. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE SUNDAY QUESTION IN GREAT BRITAIN. MR. CHARLES HILL. 'HE most powerful influence preserving the ob- 1 servance of Sunday in Great Britain is undoubt- edly the religious belief that it is appointed by God to be kept as a holy day, free from the toil and pur- suits which are lawful on other days. This belief is deep-seated, and it unconsciously exists in the minds of millions who have never considered the question of Sunday observance, and who would probably de- cline to be called Sabbatarians. The teaching of fifty thousand Christian ministers every Lord’s Day; the instruction given by half a million English Sunday-school teachers to about four million six hundred thousand children and young persons ; the growing habit of studying God’s word promoted by Scripture Unions ; the many Christian families where each day is commenced and closed by family prayer ; the circulation of God’s word in every home ; the diffusion of Christian literature by nu- merous societies and by Christian visitors from house MISCELLANEOUS. 303 to house, and by the wayside; and the reading of the Fourth Commandment in the moral law every Sun- day, — are amongst the powerful influences still pre- serving in Great Britain the religious observance of the Lord’s Day. In addition to the religious forces, there are also what may be termed the legal defences of the Lord’s Day ; and, in countless cases, a pound of law is more potent than a ton of moral suasion. But for the protection of English laws the trading classes would soon lay their grip on the workmen’s day of rest, for money-making purposes. The capitalists who work the amusement industry in England, an industry which gives employment to five hundred thousand persons, and calls into oper- ation many other trades as well, would soon open every amusement place on a Sunday, were it not for the Statute 21 George III., C. 49, which imposes a penalty of ^200 on those who open any place of en- tertainment or amusement for money, or for tickets sold for money, on Sunday. . . . The House of Commons is a most conservative body in respect to the preservation of the Sunday. At every division, for thirty-eight years, an over- whelming majority of its members have opposed the Sunday opening of the national museums and pic- ture galleries, on the ground that the Sunday should be kept as a day of national rest. The following have been the divisions on the subject : — 1855 For Sunday Opening. Against Sunday Opening. Majority against Sunday Opening. 48 237 189 1856 48 376 328 1874 70 273 203 1877 87 229 I42 1882 83 208 125 1891 39 166 127 304 SUNDA V REST The petitions to the House of Commons against the secularization of the Sunday also indicate very fairly fhe state of public opinion. From 1872 to 1891 there were presented to the House of Commons 5,620 petitions, with 719,258 sig- natures, against the Sunday opening of the national museums, etc. ; and 161 petitions, with 80,473 signa- tures in favor thereof : showing a majority against the Sunday opening of 5,459 petitions, with 638,785 signatures. The feeling of the working-classes is shown by the fact that 2,412 working-class organizations in Great Britain, having 501,705 members, supported Mr. Henry Broadhurst in his opposition to the Sun- day opening of museums. In London, in response to the efforts of three Sunday opening societies, sixty- two working-class organizations opposed Mr. Broad- hurst’s motion, and two hundred and ten supported him. At the Trades’ Union Congress, resolutions in favor of Sunday opening have been defeated on three occasions, and on one occasion only was a resolution in favor of Sunday opening carried. In 1892 over two hundred delegates to the Trades’ Union Con- gress signed a memorial to the commissioners of the Chicago Exhibition, expressing their hope that the Columbian Exposition would be closed on Sunday, in view of the importance of preserving Sunday as a day of rest for all classes. t Among the public men of Great Britain, the most eminent give their influence in support of the Sun- day rest. Mr. Gladstone, who has always opposed the Sunday opening of the national museums, etc., in a letter to M. Leon Say, the French Minister of Commerce, in September, 1889, said: — MISCELLANEOUS . 305 “ It seems to me unquestionable that the observance of Sun- day rest has taken deep root both in the convictions and the habits of the immense majority of my countrymen. If it appears to many of them a "necessity of spiritual and Christian life, others not less numerous defend it with equal energy as a social neces- sity. The working-class is extremely jealous of it, and is opposed not merely to its avowed abolition, but to whatever might in- directly tend to that result. Personally, I have always en- deavored as far as circumstances have allowed, to exercise this privilege ; and now, nearly at the end of a laborious public career of nearly fifty-seven years, I attribute in great part to that cause the prolongation of my life and the preservation of the faculties I may still possess. As regards the masses, the ques- tion is still more important ; it is the popular question par excellence .” Lord Beaconsfield, the Conservative Prime Minister, also paid an eloquent tribute to the Sabbath when from his seat in the House of Lords he said : — “ Of all divine institutions, the most divine is that which secures a day of rest for man. I hold it to be the most valuable blessing ever conceded to man. It is the corner-stone of civil- ization, and its removal might even affect the health of the people. ... It (the opening of the national museums on Sundays) is a great change, and those who suppose for a moment that it would be limited to the proposal of the noble baron to open museums will find they are mistaken. 1 ’ Lord Halsbury, the Conservative Lord Chancellor, and Lord Selborne, the Liberal Lord Chancellor, Mr. Broadhurst, the distinguished trades’ unionist, Mr. Benjamin Pickard, M.P., the able leader of the Eng- lish miners, and many other public men in England, raise their voices on the same side. The latest vote against the Sunday opening move- ment was taken in “ The House of Laymen ” of the Convocation of Canterbury, on July the 5th, 1893, when Sir Douglas P"ox, the distinguished engineer 30 6 SUNDAY REST \ and president of the Working Men’s Lord’s Day Rest Association, moved a resolution which was car- ried unanimously in favor of Sunday observance and against the Sunday opening of the national museums. The Sunday closing of public-houses is also meet- ing with more and more public support. At present the public-houses are open on Sundays from one to three and from six to ten in England ; but in Scot- land, Ireland, and Wales they are closed on the whole of Sunday, except in several great towns ; and the Local Option Bill for the regulation of the liquor traffic, brought in by Mr. Gladstone’s government, proposes to give local authorities the power to close public-houses on Sundays, and, if the ratepayers choose, to close them on week-days also. Another encouraging feature of Sunday observ- ance in Great Britain is the fact that throughout the length and breadth of the land not a single daily newspaper is published more than six days a week. There are on the Statute Books of England thirty different laws for furthering Sunday observance, dat- ing from 1448 to 1887; and it is an interesting fact that the laws made by King Alfred the Great were commenced by that noble monarch with the moral laws of the Ten Commandments ; and to this day the Decalogue forms part of the common law of Great Britain : and whatever hard names are uttered about these ancient laws, there can be no doubt that they have exerted a great influence in helping to hold up during many centuries that public opinion which still does so much to protect the masses of the people in the enjoyment of the day of rest. But while we rejoice that the Sabbath is still honored in Great Britain, while we can still say that MISCELLANEOUS. 307 our law courts and banking-houses, our great factories and warehouses, our offices and places of amusement and shops, with some exceptions in poor districts, are closed on the Rest Day, and that the great masses of our population experience the luxury of one whole day’s rest in seven, we cannot shut our eyes to the tremendous influences which are working against the Sabbath. First and foremost there is the commercial influ- ence, — the rush for gold, the intense competition for custom, blinding in many cases all moral convictions. Railway companies, steamboat companies, omnibus, tramway, and cab companies, amusement companies, brewery companies, publicans, and many others are all striving, pushing, fighting to be foremost in the race for dividends and gold. . . . There is, we fear, a growing tendency to make the Sunday a mere pleasure day. There exists what has been described as “a spurious liberalism,” an inclina- tion on the part of many to grant unlimited freedom on Sundays to all traffic which ministers directly or indirectly to the amusements of the people. . . . They are not agreed which portion of the day, they are not agreed how much of the day, shall be thus spent ; they differ immensely as to the kind of pleas- ures to be indulged and the kind of places to be opened; “they are,” as the late Recorder of London, Sir Thomas Chambers, once said at a great meeting, “ on a slippery inclined plane, and as soon as they begin to move they will be pushed right to the bottom.” The movement in England, pushed so persever- ingly by the various Sunday opening societies, for the opening of public libraries, museums, and picture gal- 30 8 SUNDAY REST. leries on Sundays, makes slow progress. There are upwards of five hundred of these intellectual resorts throughout the country. After an agitation extend- ing over thirty-eight years, Sunday opening has been tried in about thirty-six different towns. At eight or nine of these towns the movement has been such a failure that the museums or reading-rooms have been closed again ; and there is no stronger proof that the Sunday opening of these* places is not the result of a public demand than the fact that on Sun- day, when nearly the whole population is free and at liberty to visit these libraries and museums, the average attendance is less on Sundays , in many in- stances, than on the week-days, when the people are at their ordinary occupations and only at liberty in the evenings. WHAT IS SUNDAY WORTH ? JOSEPH COOK , LED. HE sound of coming ages is in my ears by day 1 and by night as I study the question, What is Sunday worth to liberty and religion ? By 1910 or 1920 the great majority of our population will be in cities of eight thousand or more inhabitants. The population in our cities has risen from about one- twentieth of the whole population to more than a fourth, very nearly a third. Within the lifetime of many there will be more than one-half of our popu- lation concentrated in cities — a portent in our future, MISCELLANEOUS . 309 especially as municipal government is undoubtedly the blackest cloud in our sky. One hundred millions I expect to see in this country, for we shall double our large numbers almost as quickly as we doubled the small ones. We shall never employ a standing army to keep our population in order. Shall we have educational and moral forces strong enough to resist the Huns and Vandals that threaten our civilization ? Not unless we maintain Sunday. Our barbarians come from within our own borders, — they that rav- aged Rome came from foreign lands. You say that Carlyle was pessimistic when he pre- dicted that just as soon as our population becomes as dense as that of European countries, our form of government will not protect life and property. At what were you alarmed in the railway riots of 1877, when ten American cities were kept in order by volleys of sharp shot ? Without Sunday there can never be a successful American republic. Give us a Parisian Sunday from sea to sea, and in three gen- erations you will need a Parisian army to keep the Republic in order. It was a famous saying of Charles Sumner, “ If we would perpetuate our Republic, we must sanctify it as well as fortify it, and make it at once a temple and a citadel. ” Voltaire said, “ France needs God.” The corner-stone of safe republican government is Lord’s Day loyalty. . . . There are millions of children and youth in this country who have never seen the inside of a church of any denomination, Catholic or Protestant. They are unchurched and without either Catholic, Protes- tant, or Jewish religious influence. They possibly may hold the balance of power in our politics when 3io SUNDAY REST. great national questions are decided. They are grow- ing up to make Sunday a holiday ; for if Sunday is not a holyday, it becomes a holiday. Used as a day of recreation, Sunday very easily becomes a day of riot, a day of plunder for those who live on the weak- nesses of their neighbors, a day in which the country or city raw youth degenerates more rapidly than on a day when he is obliged to labor. The church population of this country, I believe, is improving ; but the unchurched population who do not observe Sunday are deteriorating both in great cities and in the country side. . . . Look at the Fourth Commandment carefully, and you will find that it is a beam of light that may be separated into seven distinct colors. First, is the law of work : “ Six days shalt thou labor.” Next, we have the law of rest : “ The seventh day is the Sab- bath of the Lord thy God.” Third, we have the law of equality, or anti-caste : “ Thou shalt rest, thou and thy man-servant and thy maid-servant, and the stranger that is within thy gates.” An anti-caste law coming from Asia, the home of the caste. Yet here it is in the Fourth Commandment. I confess to being aston- ished that such an anti-caste law should come out of Asia. Then, in the fourth place, you have the law of commemoration, — a commemoration of the creation under the old dispensation and of the resurrection under the new. In the fifth place, you have the law of divine companionship. We are to rest because God rested. In the sixth place, we have the law of periodicity. This you shall do one day in seven. And last, we have the law of worship, of holy convo- cation. Here we have these seven colors in this one white beam of heaven falling upon the earth to be MIS CELL A NE O US. 311 admired or not admired. The more I study the Fourth Commandment, the more I find in it of un- fathomable wisdom. The Decalogue looks no more like human work than the sun itself. SUNDAY FOR ALL. BY ARCHBISHOP IRELAND . S UNDAY rest is a vital question from whatever aspect we consider it. As a Christian, I ask myself, What will become of fhe world if Sunday rest is obliterated from the land?- Christianity is not a mero profession, not a mere sentiment ; it is a rational adhesion to the teachings of ,the Saviour ; it is an act of worship to the Deity according to the laws laid down by the Saviour. There must be a time when we can learn his teachings, a time when we can worship as he has prescribed. Sunday has been marked out by the Christian world as the one day sacred to this noble purpose. Six days are allowed to toiling for a living : when the seventh comes, let us look upward to the Creator and Lord of all things, — worship him, remember whence we have come and whither we are going, and sit as humble disciples to hear the gospel of Christ. Blot out the Sunday, let people on that day, as on others, think of material things and be given to mate- rial toil, very soon Christianity weakens and disap- 312 SUNDA Y REST. pears. There are many causes at work diminishing the power of religion ; but one is assuredly this, — the loss of reverence for the Sunday. The Christian religion is well able to take care of itself in the pres- ence of any enemy when men are conscious of its power and know its truths ; but when the opportu- nity has not been given them to understand it, to listen to its precepts and its heavenly truths, it can- not live in minds and hearts. The obliteration of Sunday is the proclamation of materialism ; it is the making of man a mere machine to grind out material wealth. This is the latest dan- ger of our present civilization. Every one wishes to become rich ; and the richer one is, the richer he wishes to become, so that employers and employees seem to have but one purpose, — to gather as much as they can of the .dust of earth. This thirst for wealth hardens men. It takes away the spiritual and higher life, without which men are not mei>, but mere beasts of burden. It scatters to the winds the social virtues, without which families and nations are im- possible. It decrees, as the practical religion of all men, the survival of the fittest in the physical world, which means, — let men fight as best they can for life ; let them reign who grasp the most, and let the weak die. Especially in favor of the toilers do I invoke your aid to maintain Sunday rest. The keynote of the discussion of the papers to which we have listened is the relation of Sunday rest to labor. I am glad that the question of Sunday rest is placed so emphatically upon this platform ; because if we once have the toilers of the land deeply interested in the Sunday question, the Sunday is saved. It is by their own heedless- MIS CELL A NEOUS. 313 ness they lose it; and in saving themselves, by saving Sunday, they save society. I know well that we cannot ask the interference of the civil law for mere religion’s sake. This consider- ation is often urged against enactments of Sunday laws. But Sunday is more than a religious day. Sunday is the safety of society, the safety of the nation. Sunday is the inheritance of those who are disinherited from the wealth of the world. Sunday is the day needed by the masses of our people. On this ground I appeal to our lawmakers to aid us in preserving it from desecration. The opponents of the Sunday strive to have us be- lieve that the violation of Sunday rest is more or less in the interests of labor. When the question was agitated whether or not the Exposition should be kept open on Sunday, the chief reason put forward was the interests of labor. It turned out afterwards that sixteen thousand men were to be employed seven days in the week, so that other laborers could visit it on Sunday. Labor is most concerned in the sacred ob- servance of Sunday. What is the laborer? A mere toiling machine, designed for no other destiny on earth ? Has he no other purpose to serve than to twirl and twist the revolving wheels of the industrial machine in grinding out wealth ? Even if he were but this, rest is required ; for the physical forces of the laborer are diminished by constant toil, and the experience of the world shows that more work can be done with less hardship on each day when the laborer works only six days and rests one day in the week. The Creator of man has so fashioned him that he must from time to time recuperate his physical force. But the laborer is not a mere machine. It is not 314 SUNDA Y REST only his hands and his feet that toil. He has thought, mind, intelligence ; and if no opportunity is given for the development of his soul, his labor will -show the lack of the intelligence which stamps the fruit of human toil and gives it value. What is the laborer ? The laborer is a man, a child of God, an heir of the eternal Father. Man is God's rational creature, put upon earth for a high, divine purpose ; and whatever interferes with that purpose is a curse, and let it be anathema before heaven and earth. Labor as designed by Omnipotence is noble. It is the fulfilment of the divine law, “ By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread ; ” and he honors God and honors himself who works in one form or another, who makes in some manner two blades of grass grow where there was only one. He is a parasite on society, a useless creature, who lives on the toil of others, who works but to amuse himself. But God’s best things can be turned into evil ; and labor, honor- able as designed by God, becomes a curse when it interferes with the high purposes for which man was created. When the whole life is one of constant toil, when an interruption from toil is the signal of absolutely necessary physical repose, is that the life of a rational being ? Look into the factories where women and children of whom mention has been made toil from six in the morning to nine and ten at night every day in the week, and hardly take time to snatch the needed food and sleep ! The heavy hand of the em- ployer rests upon these laborers, driving them down into mere animalism, saying to the soul, “ Thou shalt not grow.” God has commanded the soul to expand MISCELLANEOUS. 315 in the open, clear atmosphere of intelligence and religion, as a rosebush expands in the springtime ; but no, — “ work, work, work ! Thou hast hands ; these hands thou shalt alone employ. As for thine intelligence, — what care we for it?” Here labor indeed is a curse. Time, then, must be given to men to know their religion, to practise it, and to prove themselves chil- dren of God. One day in the week is an absolute necessity for this. When society is so constituted and industry so organized that only the well-to-do are permitted to serve their Maker, that toilers must toil Sunday as well as Monday, and have no time for their spiritual and religious life, a crime is committed calling to Heaven for vengeance. Let the require- ments of industry be thoroughly considered ; let us recognize the importance of the employer’s interests ; but let us remember that nothing must be allowed to interfere with the moral and religious progress of hu- man souls. Our industries are too often organized as if religion were the duty only of the rich, as if the poor toilers, condemned to so much suffering here on earth, are to be excluded from heaven hereafter, — no happiness on earth or in heaven for them, nothing but constant, continuous toil ! The laborer has a God-given right, from which no one can exclude him, to gather around himself a family. It is a duty imposed upon husband and father by Almighty God, to give a portion of his time to wife and children in loving and caring for them. The father must have some time to meet and know his children. As things are, the laborer scarcely sees his children from the first day to the last day of the week, rising at six in the morning 3i6 SUNDA V REST. and coming home at nine or ten at night ; and then if you take from him Sunday no family life is possible. You destroy the family. When the masses cannot maintain family life in its integrity, society is in danger. We complain because the children of the laborer rush out into the streets amid all the dan- gers, because they are not instructed, because they have no example of virtue and intelligence, and at the same time we uphold an industrial system which compels the father to be almost perpetually away from his wife and children. Where the father has no Sunday to be with his little ones, to take them by the hand, to caress them, to bring them with him to church, to take them with him for a pleasant walk, what home-life can there be ? Give Sunday to the laborer, to make him feel that he is a man. He feels not his manhood while stoop- ing beneath the weight of machinery. The hard labor by which modern industries are supported is slavery. Let there be one day in the week the sun- rise of which says to the laborer, “ Thou art a free man ; thou art independent. To-day, at least, thou art the equal of thine employer, the equal of the highest and richest in the land/’ Let there be a day in the week when he puts aside the habiliments of toil, and with a vesture which, if it tells of the struggles with poverty, is at least neat and tidy, he goes out into the fulness of God’s sunshine, looks up to the skies, hears the birds sing, talks with his fellows as a free man ; so that when he returns to toil he will take with him the memory of a joyous Sun- day, and will in the midst of toil be a free man, own- ing his own soul, knowing that he is an independent child of God, and is entitled to the same immortal destiny as the highest and best of his fellows. MISCELLANEOUS. 3 17 It is said that the laborer will spend his Sunday in riotousness and in visiting saloons. This is calumny on the toiling masses. Some few may do it ; the great part will not do it. If some do sin, is it not because of the severe tension to which they have been subjected during the week ? Let toil be made a pleasure, let the toiler be not overburdened ; and if some would be disposed to spend their Sundays in saloons and in mere idleness, let us teach them to do differently. How many thousands there are to-day in the land employed on railroads and in factories to whom the minister of religion can never speak, and who con- sequently are cut off from the influences of religion. No wonder is it if to-day these laborers protest, even with dangerous methods, against the pressure put upon them. To-day there is danger abroad from anarchy, from lack of respect for law and for the rights of society. How are we to prevent all this ? By informing men ; by bringing lessons of divine wis- dom within the reach of all ; by having one day set apart when religion may fulfil its duty toward all. In America public opinion reigns. Employer and em- ployee of every condition, every man and woman, is a factor in forming public opinion. Let us speak and act ; let us not ourselves do anything which would encourage in any way Sunday desecration. Have we not heard of Sunday railroad excursions given by Christians for Christian purposes ? Do not many Christians think as little of travelling on Sunday as they do on Monday, forgetting that they are doing their part to make it necessary for a great many men to be employed on Sunday ? Let each one of us observe Sunday strictly, and do nothing 318 SUNDA Y REST that would impose a burden upon others. Let us do our best by word and by example to form public opinion in this country, and, public opinion formed, all will be well. Our American Sunday has been our boast. It has entered into the traditions of our people. We should all rally around our Sunday. We should stand guard in the temples of Sunday observance, and with God’s help the American Christian Sunday will remain undisturbed in its full force and spread its blessing upon the toiling masses, upon the families of the nation, and upon our glorious Republic. APPENDIX. APPENDIX, INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON SUNDAY REST. CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER 28-30, 1893. COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS . William Wallace Atterbury, D.D., Chairman . John H. Hollister, M.D., Vice - Chairman . William J. H. Niestadt, Secretary . S. J. McPherson, D.D., S. B. Lingle, Charles J. Holmes, F. C. Gehrke, P. S. Henson, D.D., Frank M. Bristol, D.D., Sartell Prentice, David F. Bremner, L. M. Heilman, D.D., Martin W. Kelly, Rev. T. N. Morrison, Charles L. Hutchinson, Franklin MacVeagh, Charles G. Dixon, J. V. Farwell, Jr. OFFICERS OF THE CONGRESS. PRESIDENT. Major-General O. O. Howard, U. S. Army. VICE-PRESIDENTS. Hon. James R. Doolittle, formerly Governor of Wisconsin and U. S . Senator , Chicago. Henry Wade Rogers, LL.D .,Pres. Northwestern University . Archbishop Ireland, St. Paul, Minn. Mrs. Charles Henrotin, Vice-Pres . Woman's Branch of the Colu7?ibian Congress Auxiliary . John Charlton, M.P., Canada. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE . W. W. Atterbury, D.D., Chairman . Rev. John P. Hale, Secretary. Otis McG. Howard, Treasurer. Martin Kelly, Franklin MacVeagh, S. B. Lingle, Sartell Prentice. 3 21 322 APPENDIX . ADVISORY COUNCIL . GREAT BRITAIN. W. Abraham, M.P., Pentre Rhondda Valley, England. Sir Charles Aitchison, K.C.S.I., London. W. A. Shepherd Allen, J.P., Stafford, Eng. F. A. Bevan, London. Sir Arthur Blackwood, K.C.B., London. H. M. Bompas, Q.C., London. Maj.-Gen. A. J. Bruce, London. Hon. Sir Gainsford Bruce, Q.C., D.C.L., Bromley, Eng., The Rt. Rev. Bishop of Liverpool, England. J. A. Campbell, M.P., Glasgow, Scotland. G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S., Eastbourne, Eng. Col. G. G. Channer, London. Sir Wm. T. Charley, Q.C., D.C.L. London. G. B. Clark, M.D., M.P., London. Earl of Courtown, Gorey, Ireland. John Corey, J.P., West Cardiff, Wales. Sir A. S. L. Campbell, Bart., 4 Edinburgh, Scotland. Rev. J. J. Cohen, M.A., London. Lt.-Col. Sir Frederick Carden, Bart., Berks, Eng. Capt. A. W. Cobham, Eastbourne, Eng. A. N. Campbell, Edinburgh, Scotland. Rev. Thos. R. Couch, London. Sir Joseph Devereux, J.P., Berks, Eng. Lord Ebury, P.C., London. Gen. Sir John Field, K.C.B., London. G. H. Finch, M.P., London. Sir Douglas Fox, K.B., Kingston-on-the-Thames, Eng. Henry John Farmer-Atkinson, J.P. Hastings, Eng. Sir William and Lady Farrington, Penhurst, Eng. Sydney Gedge, M.P., London, James Girdlestone, London. Vice-Admiral Henry D. Grant, C.B. London. Maj.-Gen. George Graydon, London. Rev. John Gritton, D.D., London. Frederick Howard, Esq., Bedford, Eng. Joseph Howard, M.P., London. Isaac Hoyle, M.P., Lancashire, Eng. Maj.-Gen. George Hutchinson, C.B., C.S.I., London. Col. A. M. Handley, London. Earl of Harrowby, P.C., London. Maj.-Gen. De Hoste, C.B., Brighton, Eng. Charles Hill, Sec. Workingmen’s Sunday Rest Assn., London. APPENDIX. 323 Sir W. G. Hunter, M.D., K.C.M.G., M.P., London. Maj.-Gen. A. H. Heath, Dover, Eng. William Johnston, M.P., County Down, Ireland. Henry Kimber, London. H. R. King, Sec. Bookbinders’ Society, London. Lord Kinnaird, London. Earl of Lindsay, Fifeshire, Scotland. George Livesey, C.E., Tunbridge Wells, Eng. Arthur Mills, Esq., London. Donald Matheson, D.L., J.P., London. Alexander McArthur, London. W. Lister Newcombe, Esq., Bournemouth, Eng. Joseph Polland, Esq., Hitchin Herts, Eng. Wyndham S. Portal, D.L., J.P., Hampshire, Eng. Sir John Puleston, M.P. London. Most Rev. Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland. Lord Robartes, London. James Round, M.P., London. Lt.-Col. T. M. Sandys, M.P., London. Samuel Smith, M.P., Liverpool, Eng. Alfred Sutton, J.P., Reading, Eng. James C. Stevenson, M.P., London. Sir Mark J. Stewart, Bart., M.P., Wigtonshire, Eng. Martin Hope Sutton, F.R.H.S., Reading, Eng. James Smith, Sec. Metrop. Tr. & Lab. Coun- cil, Middleborough, Eng. Lt.-Gen. John G. Touch, London. Rev. Peter Thompson, London. Isaac Wilson, M.P., Yorkshire, Eng. George Williams, Esq., President Y.M.C.A., London. Robert Mackintosh, Sec. Workingmen’s Sab. Assn., Glasgow, Scotland. Rev. Frederick Peake, LL.D., Sec. Lord’s Day Obs. Society, London. Benjamin Pickard, M.P., Barnsby, Eng. Rt. Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P., Pres. Board of Trade, London. Henry Broadhurst, J.P., Norfolk, Eng. John Hodge, Esq., Pres. Trades Union Congress, Sec. Smelters’ Amal. Assn., Manchester, Eng. FRANCE. Jules Simon, Senator, Hon. Pres. French Sunday Rest League, Paris. Leon Say, Deputy, Pres. Sunday Rest League, Paris. E. Cheysson, Inspector-Gen. of Roads and Bridges, Vice-Pres. Sunday Rest League, Paris. Jules Michel, Chief Eng. P.S.M. Railway, Paris. 324 APPENDIX. Louis Sautter/, Paris. L’Abbe Gamier, Missionaire Apostolique, Paris. W. de Nordling, Ex-Dir.-Gen. Austr. Railways, Paris. A. Delaire, Sec. Society of Social Economy, Paris. H. de Vilmorin, Paris. Dubois LeGentil, Pres. Sunday Rest League, Lille. Edward Monad, pastor, Marseilles. E. Baumgartner, Rouen. Edward G. Thurber, D.D., Pastor American Church, Paris. A. Gibon, Paris. A. Mettetal, Pastor, Paris. Courtois de Vicose, Toulouse. O. Prunier, Pastor, Sec. French Society for Sunday Observance, Paris. Jules Siegfried, Deputy, Paris. SWITZERLAND. Prof. Ernest Naville, Corres. Member French Institute, Geneva. Louis Wuarin, Prof, of Sociology, Geneva. Rev. A. F. Buscarlet, Lausanne. Fred de Perregaut, Deputy, Neuchatel. Dr. G. de Benoit, Pres. Sunday Committee, Berne. Dr. Dock, St. Gall. Rodolphe Sarasin, Mem. ot Chamber of Commerce, Basle. Col. Frey, Federal Counsellor, Berne. Dr. Adolphe Bieder, Basle. Ad. Haegler, M.D., Basle. L. Pestalozzi, Pastor, Zurich. L. Rod Ducloux, Lausanne. Johannes Ninck, Pastor, Zurich. Baron H. de Thieloue, Vevey. G. Roller, Berne. Dr. A. de Schulthess-Rechberg, Zurich. E. Deluz, Sec. International Fed- eration for Sunday Observance, Geneva. Prof. Ch. Galopin-Schaub, Geneva. Col. Count de St. George, Geneva. GERMANY. G. Petri, Pres. Superior Consistory, etc., Strasbourg. Gen. Count Von Bismarck-Bohlen, Carlsburg-Zussow. Pastor Weber, Munchen-Gladbach. Dr. E. Von Wittich, Prelate, Stuttgart. Th. Klunzinger, Stuttgart. Count A. de Bernstoff, Berlin. Rev. Dr. Stoecker, Ex-Court Preacher, Berlin. Dr. Gmelin, Stuttgart. APPENDIX. 325 Prof. M. Fischer, Miilhausen. Prof. Dr. Lemme, Heidelberg. Pastor Wagner, Lohrbach, Baden. Karl Mez, Freiburg, Baden. DENMARK. Count Ad. Moltke, Pres. Danish Society for Sunday Observance, Copenhagen. H. Westergaard, Prof, of Political Economy, Copenhagen. NORWAY. H. Lehmann, Secretary of State, Christiania. A. N. Kioer, Director of Central Bureau of Statistics, Christiania. CANADA. Rev. W. D. Armstrong, Ph.D., Sec. Lord’s Day Alliance, Ottawa. Prof. George Bryce, LL.D., Winnipeg, Manitoba. John Charlton, M.P., Ottawa. Rev. Dr. Canon Hole, Halifax, N.S. Hon. David Laird, Charlottetown, P.E.I. Sir Oliver Mowatt, Toronto. Rev. Dr. John S. Potts, Toronto. Sir William Dawson, Montreal. BELGIUM. Baron Prisse, Hon. Dir. Antwerp-Ghent Railway, Liege. M. de Naeyer, Brussels. A. Clermont, Director Liege-Maestricht Railway, Liege. Kennedy Anet, Pastor, Brussels. HOLLAND. Repelaer van Driel, Pres. Nether- lands Sunday Society, The Hague. Dr. Ph. H. Verbeck, The Hague. ITALY. Rev. W. Meille, Turin. Rev. Sciareli, Pozzuoli, Naples. Rev. Dr. Matteo Prochet, Rome. Chas. Zanini, Pastor, Florence. RUSSIA. Rev. Pastor Fehrmann, St. Petersburgh. Rev. Pastor Crottet, St. Petersburgh. Rev. Khorene-Stepane, Archimandrite Armenien, Stazy-Kzim, Crimea. 326 APPENDIX. HUNGARY. Prof. E. Balogh, I Prof. Louis Csiky, Debreczen. I Debreczen. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. P. M. Arthur, Brotherhood Loco- motive Engineers, Cleveland, Ohio. Col. A. S. Bacon, Pres. Kings Co. Sunday Pro- tective Association, Brooklyn, N.Y. Mrs. J. C. Bateham, Supt. Sabbath Rest Dept., W.C.T.U. Hon. John Bigelow, New York City. Edwin C. Beach, Columbus, Ohio. Hon. E. H. Bennett, Boston. E. W. Blatchford, Chicago. Robert Bonner, New York City. Edward Bright, D.D., Editor Examiner , New York City. Hon. Joseph D. Bedle, Jersey City, N.J. Rev. W. D. P. Bliss, Church of the Carpenter, Boston. James M. Buckley, D.D., Editor Christian Advocate , New York City. A. M. Burton, Pres. Law and Order League, Philadelphia. C. B. Botsford, Pres. Massachusetts Sunday Pro- tective League, Boston. E. F. Cragin, Chicago. Joseph Cook, LL.D., Boston. Rev. Wilbur F. Crafts, Editor Christian States7nan, Pittsburgh, Pa. Samuel B. Capen, Boston. Rev. J. F. Cannon, St. Louis, Mo. Hon. L. S. Coffin, Fort Dodge, Iowa. Rev. Henry K. Carroll, D.D., Editor Independent, New York City. Hon. E. L. Fancher, Pres. American Bible Society, New York City. Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, D.D., Philadelphia. T. A. Fernley, D.D., Sec. Phil. Sabbath Association, Philadelphia. Col. Franklin Fairbanks, St. Johnsbury, Vt. John Fulton, Mining Engineer, Johnstown, Pa. Samuel Gompers, Pres. American Federation of Labor, New York City. Hon. Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Ind* Maj.-Gen. O. O. Howard, U.S.A. New York. Rev. John Hall, D.D., LL.D., New York City. Rev. M. D. Hodge, D.D., Richmond, Va. Rev. S. E. Herrick, D.D., Boston. Prof. Alva Hovey, D.D., LL.D., Newton Centre, Mass. Rt. Rev. W. C. Doane, D.D., Albany, N.Y. Wm. E. Dodge, Pres. U.S. Evangelical Alliance, New York City. Rev. A. E. Dunning, D.D., Editor Congregationalist , Boston. APPENDIX . 327 Prof. Richard T. Ely, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. Prof. C. C. Everett, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, New York City. W. W. Hoppin, Chairman, New York Sabbath Committee. Morris K. Jesup, New York City. Hon. John Jay, New York City. Prof. Herrick Johnson, D.D., Chicago. Bishop John C. Keener, D.D., New Orleans, La. Rt. Rev. J. J. Keane, D.D., Catholic University, Washington. Rev. J. H. Knowles, D.D., Sec. American Sabbath Union, New York City. Judge J. W. Lapsley, Anniston, Ala. Rev. George S. Mott, D.D., Pres. American Sabbath Union, Flemington, N.J. Hon. Levi P. Morton, Washington, D.C. Rev. T. R. Markham, D.D., New Orleans, La. Hon. I. M. Martin, Little Rock, Ark. Thomas N. McCarter, Newark, N.J. R. R. McBurney, Sec. Y.M.C.A., New York City. Rev. R. S. MacArthur, D.D., New York City. Col. E. C. Mason, Fort Snelling, Minn. Hon. S. J. R. McMillan, St. Paul, Minn. Daniel R. Noyes, St. Paul, Minn. H. V. Ogden, New Orleans, La. Rev. S. A. Ort, D.D., Springfield, Ohio. Rev. A. W. Pitzer, D.D., Washington, D.C. R. I. Mallard, D.D., Editor Southern Presbyterian , New Orleans, La. Rev. A. L. Phillips, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Hon. R. F. Pettigrew, U.S. Sen., Sioux P'alls, S.D. Francis P. Patton, D.D., LL.D., Pres. Princeton College, Princeton, N.J. John E. Parsons, New York City. Robert Treat Paine, Boston. Prof. F. Pieper, St. Louis, Mo. Hon. E. T. Phelps, Burlington, Vt. Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, D.D., LL.D., New York City. General Theodore Runyon, Newark, N.J. Rev. M. Rhodes, D.D., St. Louis, Mo. Prof. W. C. Robinson, LL.D., Yale University, Pres. Sunday Rest Association, New Haven, Conn. E. P. Sargeant, Grand Master, Brotherhood of Loco. Firemen, Terre Haute, Ind. General Wager S wayne, New York City. William S. Stryker, Adjutant-General, Trenton, N.J. Rev. Chas. A. Stoddard, D.D., Editor New York Observer , New York City. Prof. Philip Schaff, D.D., New York City. William Strong, LL.D., Ex-Justice U.S. Supreme Court, Washington, D.C. Rev. James Stacy, D.D., Newnan, Ga. J. D. Severinghaus, D.D., Chicago, 111. APPENDIX. 328 Ex-Gov. E. S. Stannard, St. Louis, Mo. Samuel Sloan, Pres. D. L. & W. R. R., New York City. Russell Sturgis, Boston. Prof. A. Spaeth, D.D., Philadelphia. A. K. Smiley, . Lake Mohonk, N.Y. Manly Tello, Cleveland, Ohio. Ell Torrance, Minneapolis, Minn. Cornelius Vanderbilt, New York City. Rev. M. Valentine, D.D., Gettysburg, Pa. Hon. John Wanamaker, Philadelphia. John W. Woodside, Philadelphia. Joseph K. Wheeler, Philadelphia. Thomas Weir, Supt. of Mines, Monte Cristo, Washington. James H. Wade, Ann Arbor, Mich. Joseph D. Weeks, Editor American Manufactu- rers and Iron World , Pittsburgh, Pa. Prof. R. F. Weidner, Chicago, 111. Bishop Henry W. Warren, D.D., University Park, Col. Bennett H. Young, Louisville, Ky. W. J. Young, Vice-Pres. Forest Oil Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. INDEX, Accidents from overwork Activities Adjustment Agitate Administration Admirable Institution Altruism Alternations of labor and rest Alton R. R. Co. • * Alfred the Great American Indians Amusements, legal control of American Liberty American Sunday Anarchy . . . Army of children workers Art museum Army regulations Assyrian rest day, how celebrated Atmosphere insufferable Austria, Sunday law Blile Baths Bath furnaces Base ball Bathault Baccaret Baltimore and Ohio R. R. Co Basis of moral nature ......... Beaconsfield, Lord Belgium Sunday observance Bible, knowledge of Bill for State Legislature Blood, oxygenation of Blockades Blackstone Blunders Blanc, Louis, speech of Bonney, President Columbian Congress Auxiliary Boston Brakemen Breathing Brown, E. N., Gen. Supt. Mexican R. R. . . Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen Brutalizing work British Post-office Carlyle, pessimistic Causes of disease Camille Campbell, G Canada Cattle, transportation of Care for public PAGE 102 47 , 49 63 126 65 r 37 35 .33 90 306 188 . . . . 200, 202 2 74 3 i 7 317 I 39 “ 1 4 i 284 213 267 *45 292 25 7 i 283 XI 9 124 78 129 305 293 232 99 • • • • 3 L 32 , 38 80, 84, 87, 89, 91, 99 20 7 i 44 2 5 201 95 37 94 . • • 95 , io 3 > 104 130 224 309 21, 29 29 87 99 98, 99 100 331 332 INDEX. Catholic Church Centre of Mileage Chemical changes Cheerfulness Chicago and Northwestern R. R. Co Chicago and Alton R. R. Co Child labor Child abuse Children working eighty-two hours a week, 155; Church and state, union of, 177; separation . . Christ, teaching as to intent of Sabbath . . . Christian magnanimity Christianity touches every true interest . . . Chaldean evidence of Sabbath, 242 ; inscriptions Cities, proportion of population Cleveland, President Club House Clericalism not the enemy Candy factories Compulsory observance of rest day Competition Conductors, Railroad Co-operation Convulsions from handling ccld iron .... Constant toil Consumption of forces Constitution of United States Constantine, 175 ; famous decree of Continental Sunday Cook, Joseph Contrasts Constrained attitude Commercial changes Colorado mine Corporations Coal transportation Conscience, public Craving for rest Cromwell’s Sabbatarianism Dangers, dissipation Domestics Decalogue Deluz, E Denmark, Sunday observance Demoralizing Deterioration counteracted Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western R. R. Co. Depew, Chauncey Demands of material life Disease, cause of Disease, resistance Diversion Diary Dogmatic Despatch Economics Economic truth Economic blasphemy Engineers End of slavery Employers, kind, just Energy Eight-hour system Ethical truth Essential conditions Eccessive labor page 66 S3 86 9° X 1 7 , u8, 139-141 under age JJ* • . . 178 - • • • . 261 264 204 308 3 - * • • *55 185, 202 * * • 6 7 95* 9°, ICO * 103, 104 M3 25, 27 25 182 281 283 • • 308 52, 53, 59* 60, 62 29 66 60, 62 67 79 73 , 5° J 77 136 146, 147 256 289 295 63, 67, 68 7i 79 98 I 3° 21, 29 23 38 60, 61 63 78 65 43, 44, 47-49 48 96 132, 133 138 53 151 43, 44, 46, 47 29 . - 32 INDEX. 333 PAGE Elevation 54 > ^3 Extreme urgency 73 Exacting public 82 Eternal grind 95 Executive Boards 124 Extra Sunday work 143, *45 European Sabbath 249 Fashion *. 38 Factories 28, 31, 109, no, 117, 119, 122, 123, 124, 139, 141 Family, germ of nation 61, 158 Financial success 54 First in, first out 68, 81, 82, 84, 88 Fruits 58, 63 Freight, 70, 71, 75-81, 83, 84, 92 ; transit, 67;- perishable ... 79, 80, 85, 87, 98 France, 176; one day in ten of rest, 176; its failure, 176; Goddess of Reason, 244; progress of Sunday rest movement, 296; army, 297; deputies, 297; industries, 105, 106, 119; laborers, 107, 108, in, 114; Sunday league, 113; windmills 109 Furnaces 117 Fourth commandment 310 Greed, danger of 51, 101, 104, 108, 250 Grand truths 36 Gain 86, 91 Great Northern Railroad 89 Grand Trunk Railroad Company 94 Glass making 12 1, 123 Gibon, A 115 Guardian angel 132 Government labor 200 Grotius, opinion of Sabbath 241 Gladness, Sunday 265 Golden words of Great Teacher 269 Germany, Sunday law 291 Greece . 299 Gladstone, William E 304 Gompers, Samuel 8 Great Britain, 99; strong position for Sabbath observance, 312 ; religious belief, 302; capitalists, 303; statute of George III., 303; House of Commons, various votes on the question, 303 ; public house, 306; no Sunday news- papers . 306 Heredity 27, 28 Hanssen, M 28 Hays, Charles M 83, 84 Halstead, W. F 79 Half-holiday 148, 149 Harrison, President 3, 218 Health, 30, 38 ; harmonious organs, 30, 38 ; pocket 38 Hygienic views 29, 30, 36, 186 Heaven’s rest 49 Hemlock forests 53, 54 Heat for casting 1x5 Henrotin, Mrs. Charles H 8 History, Jewish, leading of 270 Hill, Charles 1502 Hill, J 81 Higher standards 157 Hoffmann, M. A 28 Howard, Gen. 0.0 6, 211 “ House of Laymen ” 305 Hostile conditions 31 Holidays 46 Hollow days 46 Household duties 148 Hudson, C. H 90 Hull House 157 Huntington, Rev. Wm. R 279 334 INDEX. PAGE Hungary, Sunday Law 293 Holland, Progress of Sunday Rest cause, 297 ; Railroad Employees, 297 ; Elections 298 Impaired Vitality 23 Improper Use of Sunday 136, 137 Illinois laws for women and children - 155 Individual freedom 202 Indian Bureau, Sunday Rest International Federation 289 International Congress, 27 ; on weekly rest, 1; growth, 2 ; Paris, 290; Berlin, 290; advisory counsel, 5 ; results 10 Italy, slow progress of Sunday Rest movement, 298; congress of workingmen’s societies, votes for Sunday Rest 298 Ireland, Archbishop 311 Insanity 33> 34, 35 Increased production Inspiration 50 Investigate 54, 59, 64 Interstate passage 69 Illinois Central R.R. Co 84 Incessant labor, slavery 124 Iron and steel works 1 17-1 19 Insults to wage workers 145 Inevitable drift 135 Independence ...... 13 1, 133 Jews, Sabbath keeping, 267 ; entire home life affected, 267 ; sanctifying power of Sabbath, 268; means of preserving the race, 270; Sabbath brought gladness, 271 ; Sabbath means of intelligence, 271; acts of mercy . . 273 Judicial afterthoughts 195 Judaism, Sabbath in 266 Joy 48 Keokuk 100 Law, rigor of, 171 ; Blackstone’s definition, 174; appeal to, 313; of periodic rest 259 Lack of adjustment 30 Labor day 284 Laborer, his rights, 313 ; calumny on . . 317 Lease 51 Lectures 71 Lighthouse of Hope V 30 Liquor, sale on Sunday 250 Lincoln, Abraham, 217; order for Sabbath observance 217 Legislatures, uniformity of recognizing rest day, 18 1 ; none would dare do away with rest day 197 Logs 28 Low wages 142 Lord Mansfield’s decision 183 Luther, teaching of 253 Lutheran confession 253 Maine Central R. R. Co 93 Manufacturing m Martin Furnace 119 Maximum of toil, 83, 87, 153 ; maximum of rest * 191 Machinery 50 Mason 62 Mails 77, 99 Madagascar 159 Marshall, Chief Justice ; his interpretation 195 Macaulay in House of Commons 210 Materialism, proclamation of . 312 Medical Science 21 Mechanism of life, 31 ; mechanical work 133, 134 Merchant 56, 57 Metalworking 115,119 Mines, 120, 12 1; mining, 55, 56-58 ; mining superintendent 57 Micro-organism 21, 23 INDEX . 335 ... PAGE Misers ,• Missionaries ’ ’ ZL Minority interest ] Minimizing alternatives, 64; minimum, 86, 90, 71, 72, 74, 78; force 85 * of 5 labor ’ . \ . iqi Military Academy, 214 ; Sunday rules, 2 14 ; Divine service, 215 ; report of Board 9 of visitors . , Mississippi Valley R. R Michigan Central R. R . ' McClellan, Geo. B., 219; orders . ... \ ' 2 Mohammedans 24° Moral support, 203 ; victories, 1 15 , nature, basis of . . jJ? Monday pay-day • 1 150, 152 Mohler, A. L. . , 59 ’ 87 Mosaic dispensation 36, 48 “ Must break the law or be fired ” Mutual helpfulness 45 Music 49 Navy orders 213 Nature and Revelation, agreement of 263 Nation days 288 New creation . . . • 160 Nervous force, 32, 34 ; strain 140,144 Nehemiah, complaint of 268 New settlements 55, 56 New agencies 64 Necessary work, 59 ; repairs 116 Nevada 62 Mew Mexico 62 New York Central R. R. Co 92 Nightly rest insufficient 25 Niemeyer, Prof • 30, 31 Norwav, first place in Sunday observance 300 North Western and Chicago R. R. Co 86 Obligations 135 Obstacles, silent and unnoticed, 280; State must not meddle with Sunday, 281 ; machinery, 282 ; differences of opinion 283 Odell, J. T 78 Ohio Valley R. R 92 Oil and salt water 52 Old truths 29 Overdrafts, overwork 27, 47 Oxygen 38, 39 Pauper Sunday 46 Paradox . . 70 Passenger trains 83 Pagan and Christian civilization 190 Patent office 221 Pastoral letter 248 Patriots, appeal to 286 Paulinism 253 Periodic rest 21, 23, 24, 36, 118 Personal liberty, 58 ; independence 131, 134 Perishable freight 69, 78-80, 87, 98 Pennsylvania R. R. Co., 75, 76; lines 79 Pension office, Sunday observance 221 Physiological need of the rest day '. . . . 20, 36, 186 Pharisees, regulations of 69, 269 Pillerkofer 25 Pitfalls and snares 39 Pleasure lovers, dangers to the Sabbath, 49, 283 ; resorts 88 Plenary Council, Third, 248; second . . .* 251 Poor man’s day, the Sabbath 249 Portugal Pope, grief of, 244 ; Pius IX 2 336 INDEX . PAGE Post-office, 222 ; hours on Sunday, 223 ; railroad service, 223 ; no Sunday regis- try or money orders, 224 ; clerks 99 Professional man, 21, 36; activities 31 Preventive medicine 24, 27 Progressive decline 25 Prosperity 54 Prospectus 55, 57 Primitive days ' 70 Prevost, S. M 75 ,76 Profit 84, 86, 91, 98 Protest * 103, 104 Petition 103, 105 Puritan Sunday 46 Pumping oil 50, 52 Publican 69 Public conscience, 73 ; exacting, 82 ; safety 102 Questions 73, 74, 100 Rabaud, Edouard 29, 33 Randolph, Epes 92 Railway trainmen, 95, 103, 104; conductors, 95, 96, 100, 103, 104; engineers, 96 ; congress, Brussels, 293 ; guard rails 264 Rabbi Felsenthal 266 Raiser of fruits 98 Refrigerator cars 98 Resolutions 102, 105 Recompense 134 Results of child abuse 141 Repairs necessary 116 Rest day, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 46, 90; salutary effects of, 135; of window-glass factories, 124; of furnaces, 117; observed, 116; to railroad men, 81, 82, 86; appreciated, 88; preferred, 79, 95; irregular, 85; regular, 104; metal works 119 Rest day legislation, 174; Jewish, 174; Christian, 174; Roman, 176; French, 176; English, 177; American, twofold basis, 179; recognized as a con- stituent part of civilized life, incorporated in all the great departments of government, justifiable, necessary, 184 ; enforcement not a new depart- ure, 194; based on religious obligation, 197; does not infringe on con- science or religious freedom, 197 ; limitations, 198 ; works of necessity and mercy, 200 ; freedom for all, 200 ; main object, 203 ; implies no union of church and state, 209; chart 25, 26 Reformation 176 Reason,, bar of 184 Recent progress in Europe 289 Resources 65 Restricted trains 80, 82-84, 92 Recoupment 68 Reciprocal confidence Responsible 58, 62, 101 Reward of Sabbath rest 52, 53, 59, 60, 62, 115, 119 Recreation 39 Rescued hours 46 Resistance of disease Right to live 28 Rochrich, M. L 28 Rocky mountains 59 Robertson, Frederick W 259 Russia : Sunday rest law, 299 ; post offices 302 Say, M. Leon 3> 6 Saturn 266 Sabbath a life-saving station, 157; vanishing, 157; needful to home life, 162; twilight, 166; for all, 311; observance, relation to spiritual life, 229; necessity, 230; time is necessary, 23; place of, 240; Protestant evangeli- cal views, 255; method of, 262; threatening dangers, 279; ethical obliga- tion, 280; loss of reverence, 312 ; appreciated, 134; salutary effects . . 135 Saloons 56 Saturday half holiday 47, 148, 149 INDEX. 33 7 PAGE Self-interest 44 Selfishness 49> I 34» 148 Self-respect 5 1 Self-denial of railroad men 104 Seargeant, L. J 94 Semitic rest day custom 266 Shops 31 Shaft 59 Snares and pitfalls 39 Scotia 60 Shippers 67-69, 76, 78, 80-83, 86, 89, 90, 91 Short season, long hours 155 Source of revenue 27 Social conditions 36 Special study 33 Speed and accuracy 144 Stamp of suffering 32 Strikes 54, 141 Stolid and stubborn 68 Stock 98 Strawberry car 98 Stamping works 153 Store women 143 Stockholders . 124 Striking toilers 152 Sunday rest, 90, 73, 118, 295; schools, 53, 56 ; work, 59, 61 ; salutary effects of, 135 ; appreciated, 134 ; dissipation worse than toil, 250 ; how keep it, 279 ; hedged about, 280; binds the nation as a unit, 288; not to be swamped, 289; progress of, in Spain, 295; in Sweden, 300; crime, 193; no longer an open question, 208; public sentiment sound to the core, 209; in public service, 21 1 ; mail delivery, how stopped 225 Spain 295 Sweden 300 Switzerland, laws of cantons, 300 ; centre of influence for Sunday observance, 300; federal law 301 Supreme Court of California, 192 ; decision overruled 193 Survival of fittest ...312 Sunday newspapers 237 Sumner, Charles 309 Talmud, 260 ; prohibitions 269 Tendency of every trade 153 Ten words of Sinai 286 Telegraphers 96, 102-104 Toleration 63 Toucey, John M 77 Toilers, appeal to 3x2 Turnpikes 64 Traffic, 69, 71, 80, 81, 85-87; can be stopped 93, 97, 101 Trade relation 72 Transportation, 96 ; of coal 79 Trainmen 95, 103, 104 Trying on gloves 144 Twenty-mile walk 140 Traditional law 268 Truce of God 285 Ultimate result 36 Uniform mechanical labor, 133 ; effect of 133 Utah 62 Unwise customs 24 Unthinking employer 35 Union of church and state 177, 209 United States Military Academy 212 Vacations, 38 ; forfeited 144 Voltaire 309 Voit 25 Vigorous vitality 23, 24 338 INDEX . PAGE ' Vital forces 23, 33 Vacations 38, 144 Vicious 62, 63 Vandalia Line 82 Van Winkle, J. Q 81 Wage earners 61, 204 Wave of strength 25 Washington’s farewell address 210 Wanamaker, John 222 Water-courses 109 Wetherbee, J 103 What to do 97, 99, 101 Weekly rest day and good morals, 191 ; social benefit, 191 ; duty and promise of government to maintain it, 206 ; origin 255 Wealth, thirst for 48, 312 Windmills 109 William I., Germany 3 William II., Germany 4 White Button movement 95 Workingmen of France 107, 108, 111, 1x4 Woodbridge, Alice 138 Working pressure 34 Women, standing, injurious 143 Women in factories 142 World’s Congress Auxiliary 1 World wide experience 48 World’s day, the 254 Worth of Sunday 308 Wound up 77 Way departments 69 Wood, Joseph 79 Wabash R. R. Co 83, 84 Window-glass factories 122, 123 Young Men’s Christian Association 70 Your enemy