Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-03-08
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.

perance movement, at the last regular
meeting of the Woman's club. Miss
Frances T. Willard told the story of the
tirst temperance meeting held in
the United States. 1t was in 1903 and
VISA gathering of teachers and preach
or. ~ country school-house in II little
town near Saratoga. n. Y. OF course,
no woman was present and Miss Will
lard thought it doubtful if the gentle
men present even mentioned the subject
which they had under adviscment to
their wives and daughters. In 1856 a
national temperance convention was
held at Saratoga. At this convention
one woman was present Gov. Trum-
bel came down to attend the convention
and was accompanied by his yonng
daughter Eliza. She went with her
father to the convention hall, and. al
though when she discovered that she
was the only woman present she want
ed to withdraw, her father insisted up
on her remaining.
Miss Willard spoke of the Woman
Christian Temperance union as it now
existed. with state or territorial
union in thirty-three states and terri
tories, as the result of the sobc. sec.
ond thought of the crusade. She said
that the movement had been perfect
illustration OF the law of graduallsm,
and that the Woman's Christian Tenn
perantc Union had been obliged, as is
in, t,ln nj 10 l. 10
fence. Seeing the man in the gutter. it
began with this terrible object lesson,
and for years it used all its efforts to
raise such from their wretched. unman-
ned state. After working with all cOur-
age. zeal, and faithfulness for long
time in this direction they found. by
careful computation, that tho proper
ton of those who gned the pledge
who proved faithful to the obi cation
they had taken were only about five
Out of one hundred and fifty. 1t then
dawnod upon them that the work which
would be permanently eflectua must
be prevention rather than cure. They
s. then began systematic work for chill
dren. first in the Sunday schools and
later in the public schools.
In speaking of the early work of the
Nat onal union Miss Willard said that
the union then had but a few hundred
dollars per wear at its command. but
row it disbursed many thousand dol
lars year. and also had II large and
thoroughly equipped publishing house.
What has been done has been ac-
complished by wit, wisdom, good
will, and an earnest endeavor to show
why il WAS best TO do certain things,
and by asking people if they would not
like TO do them rather than by telling
them they must do them because of
their being right. Theirs had both
been in aim and accomplishment a
work, not of segregation but of unfica-
ton. And the organization, in advo-
eating uncompromising prohibition.
had been actuated by the knowed &C
which experience and actual observa-
ton had given them, and that this
knowledge had made it seem TO them
that prohibition was the only course by
which TO perform the duty of making
il easy for those about us TO do right"
Miss Willard further declared that she
. believed any righl-minded person, sub
iacted TO the same confluence of forces
which had operated upon them in their
work, would soon come TO the same
concluS on.
In response TO the standing query
does prohibition prohibit? she would
say does civil zat.On ciy.lzc; does edu-
cation enl ghten; does religion Christ
iaHze and does high license regulate?
To get at the correct answer of ques-
tions like these the trend of results
must be taken. and the trend of prohib-
ition was most decidedly and incompar-
ably an Improvement on any measure
In regard to intoXicants which had yet
been tested.
Miss Willard said that she was her.
self constantly surprised at her in
finite power of not knowing things
and she really did not see how it was
that It had taken her, and those work
ing with her, so long to see that the
powerful strenth of the whisky evil was
in its alliance with the government.
She had p uciased n paper us she was
coming to the club-rOoms to see the
price of whisky. If II year ago anyone
had told her that she would ever be
looking for the price of whisky she
would have replied: lis thy servant
ad & & q she should Go such Il thing?'
but that now she was very interested in
the price of whisky. and that she had
:. found that upon that day whisky was
81 o. per gallon, and that { was true
that the government received 80 cents
81 this amount. Here. then. was the
government. with an OVERLOOKING treas
ury, protecting and collecting an exor-
bitant tax on that which was not only a
deadly evil to its citizens, but was not
weaIth-producIug only an investment
M IS Willard approached the suffrage
question by saying that the National
union had not ut first supposed they
could touch political questions even
with the tips of their fingers, but in
their evolution they had become OBJ
struction SITS. Us it were, and they were
now looking forward to a more direct
Y line OF action in governmental affairs.
That they believed that nothing so
broadened and ennobled WON rs
taking hold If broad and ennob NC
subjects and that nationally entered
upon granting the suffrage TO women
would tend TO tho upI fling of the race.