The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-08-26
THE LOCAL UNION.
BY MRS. FRANCES sEABURY.

more microscope aud less telescope"
seems 10 be the general cry. Let US
focus attention and fostering care upon
the local union. We propose 10 Go this
the coming year, and to begin by
department in THE UNION SIGNAL
devoted to a careful study OF the hub
of that great wheel whose rim is now no
less than the equator. The local union
it's, officers, methods, departments with
histories, with plain accounts from ex-
pert local workers relative to their
success and failure.
FRANCES E. WILLARD.
Perhaps the necessity OF local unions
is not apparent to partial observers, but |
if we give the matter careful study We |
may be able to see the need of such |
organic atoms. If we as individuals or |
communities, carried ont the Divine |
will, our prime object in life would be to !
serve God, who created us in His own |
image, and the question uppermost in
our minds would be-"Ho8 can | serve
Him." We are prone to think oil God
as afar OF in heaven as his throne, earth
is His footstool, and He is not as far as
suppose. In order to serve God we
must love Him and be so in touch with
His divine love and will that we realize
humanity needs our service. II we keep
our minds steadily to this point and
examine society at large, VIC shall find
| it in demOraliZed condition, and II We
| study departments of social life We find
that all need more or less reform. But
we say, "My influence is so small"
| Perhaps the influence of any one of us
alone is not great, but if we could unite
it with others like it, aud ''hitch it to
tho great driving wheel of Gods power
it becomes strong like a great cable
or like the coral reefs is cemented into
| an extended barrier against which
". cAing tides beat but to break. In
@. der to have our influence count for
much it must be cemented, ana concen-
trated, and in order to best do this We
must organize. In the Bible we read
that Que can chase thousand and two
put ten thousand to flight which is proof
positive that in union there is not only
strength, but multiplicity of strength
ing local w. C. T. U. Unions every.
where.
| Do some of our brothers say that we
neglect cur homes for this work. We
answer that we do not neglect the
necessary things but admit that We
leave uudoue some of the unnecessary
things We used to do. l know one
woman who does not get down on her
hands and knees twice a week after
hopping ard clean out the corners with
cloth and a halrpin; she does not
spend her time on crazy quilts or much
fancy work, but she uses it in those
matters that do not perish with the
using.
Some one has said it is shame that
women have been forced from the
seclusion of home into the more public
work that their brothers ought to have
done. That may be true; but it is an
honor to women that they have nobly
met the demand. Il the local work we
see such small results from our labor
that we are sometimes discouraged, but
when we realize that there would be no
county union were it not for the locals,
and no state organization were it not
for counties, we may take courage and
feel that the locals do amount to much
for our state union depends upon them.
But there is a more important reason
for the organization of locals than any
yet mentioned. They are the pledged
enemy oil the liquor traffic, (which is
the prolific mother of crime" aud which
is rapidly increasing in cur midst. The
use of alcohol as beverage has in
creased per capita from seven aud sixty
nine hundredths gallons G:69) in 1870
to fifteen aud fifty one one hundredths
gallons 1851 in 1890. In the United
States, as a whole, statistics show that
a saloon lives on two hundred aid fifty
persons; and in our great Empire State
thirty three (33) voters support saloon
What the W. T. C. U. stands for is
the total prob bition OF the manufacture,
sale or importation OF intoxitants and in
order to have this we must have righte-
Gus laws and righteous men to enforce
them. When local union is organized
i5 means, first; to the United States
government-we protest against this
Christian government being a partner in
the "liquor business"-He profess
against every distillery, every brewery,
| every wholesale liquor house, against
every place where liquor is sold as a
beverage. Isn't it worth something for
the womanhood of a community to SO
protest? To be sure it is Il pity that
this is all they Can do, bnt with this
little leaven of protest the whole lump
| may be leavened.
| Hoo to keep up an interest in locGL
unlOns is question Of importance.
| Perhaps the best way Is to give as many
as possible something to do. Each
| superint rndent of a department. should
| have the entire charge of that depart
| ment, she should solicit discussions and
| influence members Of unions to write
articles on the department subjects,
| also procure literature best adapted to
| her department. Let each member of
| union feel responsible for the interest Of
| union, let Eer feel that unltss she is
| there to do her part The meeting will be
| a failure; let the me mbers bring articles
| from papers aud clippings that will keep
the minds of the members awake to the
great scourge that is destroyit G our
people, and let them bear in mind that
there is 10 lying up ill quarantine. Let
them call attention to the fact that the
secular press is silent Gu this subject
and also large proportion of the
religious press. Two general directions
cover the VIII ole ground for the local..
/. Organize.
2. Do something against the liquor
traffic every day-and interest will not
flag.