do so in such ways as will not interfere with its own autonomy, it has tried to do its own work at home according to the calls and demands. made upon it, which are extending on all sides from year to year. If its friends would put it in such an independent and influential position financially, that its Secretary could give more of his time to its extending and pressing opportunities and less to raising money to meet its weekly expenses, its work might be largely increased.

Its daily unpublished and unheralded efforts, as a CENTRAL BUREAU of information, advice, assistance, and inspiration become more fully a necessary part of itself as the years go by. The thousands of letters written, the messages by telephone and by telegraph, the two million. pages of literature scattered annually in the DEFENDER and POCKET

schools, colleges, theological seminaries, in town and city churches and halls, or in rural churches, school houses and grange halls. While many of these gatherings are discouraging in character, and the efforts put forth do not seem to reach the people who need especially the message, still the work is a formative one. It must be done else our rural New England will decline and degenerate in the days to come even more rapidly than in the past. While we do not underestimate the pressing demands of the modern city, which claims more than one-third of our entire population, we feel that the cross roads and hamlets, the backwoods and hill towns of New England are the feeders of the cities. Urban conditions are greatly affected by rural conditions.

influence. Over a score of pulpits were supplied in Worcester and vicinity on the same day by League speakers, in connection with the thirteenth anniversary of the League. The theme on that Sunday in many other churches, Protestant and Catholic, was Sabbath observance.

In Rhode Island the call was made by representative men of all denominations, educators, labor leaders, and public officials in the interests of a Field Day on Lord's day Sunday, April 26. This call was sent to all pastors in the state, asking them to preach on the subject, or to open their pulpits to our speakers. The results were most encouraging, and the whole state seemed toned up. This has been followed throughout the year by several successful efforts to enforce the laws of the state by our forces and by the Civic League, under the able leadership of its Secretary, Mr. Christie. Through its influence, largely, an improper charity entertainment on Sunday night was recently stopped. May we not claim that the new law in

Rhode Island curtailing the number of licensed liquor places in the state received some impetus from the crusade in behalf of a better Sunday? May we not hope that the laws of Rhode Island and all the New England States, will be better enforced in the future, not only against Sabbath breaking, but also against liquor selling?

Keeping..

It is certainly a fact, Temperance which is generally admitted and Sabbath and which two prominent officials of the League used to emphasize, Honorable Neal Dow, and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, that the two reforms, Temperance and Sabbath Observance, and the two evils, intemperance and Sabbath desecration are twins. The friends and enemies of the one are, and should be, friends and enemies of the other. The open saloon, illegal selling and general demoralization go hand in hand with the secularized Sunday.

At the beginning of this year of our Lord 1909, when the curse of the saloon is more fully recognized than ever before in our history, and when the tidal wave of temperance reform has risen higher than in any previous age, it seems a proper time for the friends of the Lord's day to rise mightily, and "in the name of

our God (The Lord of the Sabbath)

to set up our banners."

Law

and Morals.

66

At this point the objection constantly meets us "You CAN'T MAKE PEOPLE MORAL BY LAW." Of course not. Neither can you make them healthy by law, but this is no argument against law. Laws are not designed to make men either moral or healthy, but to protect them in person and property. Doing this they promote morality by establishing better conditions and by punishing and restraining evil doers.

A pure-food law may not compel a man to eat healthful food, but it prevents men selling him, under false labels, what is unhealthful. A law against cigarettes does not take away a boy's appetite for them, but it prevents men selling them to him and protects other boys from temptation. A law against saloons may not make drinking men temperate, but it creates an environment favorable to temperance. A law against Sunday trade and sport will not convert a Sabbath breaker, but it does save workingmen from seven days of weekly toil, and it tones up the moral and spiritual life of all citizens.

President Mary E. Woolley, LL. D., Advisory Committee.

acknowledges God's right to our life and all we have, while ignoring the Sabbath rejects God and his right over us. Without such a recognition. of God's rights there is no safety of any rights. History proves that a misuse of the Lord's day sows the seeds of individual and universal anarchy.

But how is this day both man's right and God's right? As one might order the rent on a certain property given to the poor, so God having reserved for himself one day in seven, orders that it be given to man as his richest boon. Hence to deprive one of his Sabbath (rest day), is to rob both God and man.

Ceaseless Struggle.

To preserve for the toiler Labor's his rest day is a battle as old as man. As civilization becomes more intense and materialistic, the temptation to use the day of rest and worship, for toil, pleasure and games, increases. Here are a few modern instances from actual life, illustrating the terrible grind of modern conditions.

A street car conductor stated that he had had "no day off for eight years.' Another: "With two exceptions for over three years."

A railroad conductor said: "For twenty-three years I never had a run

Henry Abrahams, Advisory Committee.

one

without Sunday work." Another: speaking of the new law in Massachusetts giving railroad men day's rest in seven, said, "I have had more days for my family and the church in the last six months than in the previous six years."

One general repairer in a mill, "worked on Sunday and nights an average of eight days a week for the last three years."

A baker worked "for months eighteen hours a day including many Sundays."

A telephone and telegraph operator worked "seven days a week for several years with rarely a vacation."

A dry goods clerk worked "frequently till midnight on Saturday and several hours on Sunday."

Many foreigners in the Pittsburg mills work "twelve hours a day seven days a week, in intense heat, and several hundred die annually at their work. Frequent accidents occur to them from overstrain and

exhaustion. They have no more chance to develop their higher nature than a work horse, but sink physically, mentally and morally, and make the best timber for anarchists."

P. I. McArdle, President Amalgamated Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers said at the Pittsburg Convention: "UNLESS WE HAVE A STRONG NATIONAL LORD's day organizaton, little can be done to uplift humanity. He who calls Sunday law narrow, has never put himself in the place of his brother crushed in health, home, and manhood by seven days' toil. Sunday work wipes out worship of God to allow worship of mammon, and robs the poor man of the society of wife and children, of all that is best and noblest, to fill some rich man's pocket a little fuller."

This sounds very much like the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes:

"Yes, child of suffering, thou mayst well be sure,

He who ordained the Sabbath loves the poor."

Both Capital

and

Labor

Shortsighted.

Several hearings were held in 1908, in the State House of Massachusetts, on a Bill seeking to amend the Sunday laws so that every

toiler connected with transportation companies, etc., may have. one day of rest after six days of work. Several corporations in addition to almost all the transportation companies of the state, and quite an array of superintendents and workmen were present and spoke against the passage of the Bill. Their statements whether made voluntarily, or otherwise, were sadly short-sighted. Sunday toil means eventually to the capitalists inferior labor, increased accidents and expenses, hostility,

President W. F. Berry, Advisory Committee,
Maine.

hypocrisy and anarchy. To the toiler, long hours and small pay, degradation, oppression, destruction of limb, life, home and happiness. One illustration from experience is worth a thousand theories. Mr. E. A. Wilkie, a recorder of the New England Telephone Company, which was one of the corporations that cooperated with the weekly rest day feature in the Sunday law has stated: "Apart from any moral considerations and purely as an economic proposition, the greatest efficiency is secured by giving one day's rest in seven."

character. This is true of those legalizing games and sports on the Lord's day. They certainly were not in the interests of philanthropy,

for the "poor workingman,' although often so claimed, but in order to make money for dealers in that form of merchandise called Sunday sports and pleasures. The question was asked: "Why legalize this particular form of Sunday trade, rather than Sunday stores, shops and mills?" It was the claim of the