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Show THE BLUEST OF THE LL IE SUNDAYS. The Ministerial Association of Charleston, W. Va., inaugurated a campaign which the newpapers entitled en-titled "the bluest of the blue Sundays," Sun-days," to "make the city a better place in which to live." They issued a statement that they wanted all place3 closed tight, with the exception of th.ue dealing in"absolute necessities". Th ultimatum included "drug stores, which were not to fill even prescriptions; prescrip-tions; gasoline filling stations, fruit stands, garages, confectioneries, news stands, cigar and tobacco stores, and "hot dog" restaurants. An opposition movement was started start-ed by citizens of Charleston. It was he-sided by the leading business men, who declared that they would swear out warrants for professional singers in the churches and have them "forcibly "forc-ibly removed from the choirs," if the Ministcr'al Association made good its thieat to stop the Sunday afternoon after-noon symphany orchestra. The Ministerial Min-isterial Association wanted the mayor of Charleston to forbid the Sunday rternoon musical concert given by the symphany orchestra of the city. It is a wonder they did not send a petition to the Ruler of the universe to stop the birds from singing on Sunday. The business men of Charleston organized or-ganized themselves for the contest. After many arrests .were made for minor offences on two succeeding Sundays, mostly for selling gasoline to automobilists, they held mass meetings meet-ings in the largest theater in the city, in opposition to the Sunday blue law crusade. The general secretary of the Religious Liberty Association, from Washington, D. C., spoke at the first mass meeting in the Strand Theater, The-ater, where every available foot of standing-room was taken up, and hundreds hun-dreds of people were turned away for lack of room. The interest and enthusiasm en-thusiasm of the audience was unbounded. un-bounded. Two other mass meetings followed, crystallizing the sentiment into an oganization which resulted in a complete vindication of the cause of human freedom and in a retreat of fanatical religious zealots from the political arena. According to newspaper news-paper reports, the blue laws are not only held in derision, but the churches have lost much of their former prestige pres-tige with the public. The only solution solu-tion to this controverted question of religious beliefs is for the churches to stay out of politics and for the state to refuse to enforce religious obligations obliga-tions which are purely matters of eon-science. |