Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-05-22
THE STATE w. CT. U. CONVENTION
An Interesting Report of Its Meeting by
Miss Belle Kearney.
How the Suffrage Came up and How 1t
Disposed of.

"oN the up hho" a
was Disposed of
The best convention of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, in point
of numbers and system, that has been
held in Mississippi for several years
closed Tuesday night, May 8th, in Can
ton. There we're &C delegates present
of SO. An admirable program had been
arranged and was carried out very
closely. Addresses of welcome and
responses were given on Friday even
ing and the Convention opened form
ally next morning. The Crusade Pray
er-meeting and Love Feast Saturday
at the noontide hour was marked by a
wonderful demonstration of the pres
ence and power of God; also, the II
o'clock service Sunday morning, both
of which were conducted by Mrs. NJ
ton sermon in lieu of Mr. Mcintosh.
who was detained in Meridian. On
Saturday and Sunday evenings, Mrs.
Clara G. Hoffman, of Missouri, deliv-
cred strong addresses to enthusiastic
audiences. Her last subject was THE
Bible and Woman" Mrs. Hoffman is
a speaker of unusual strength; she is
an evangel of advanced thought and
radical reforms and never fails to i'm
press her hearers with the uniqueness
of her individuality, the potency of her
giant intellect and the greatness of the
cause she espouses. Many of our old
workers were with us and many new
disciples. The same State officers
were reelected with the exception of
Corresponding Secretary. Mrs. Nellie
Nugent Somerville, of Greenville, was
put in the place of Mrs. Mary Inge
Hoskins, of Corinth A Demorest Med
al Contest was held Monday evening.
Miss West, of Durant, won the hand
some gold medallion. After the con-
test, the delegates repaired to the SUI
perb home of Mrs Annie Davis Smith.
now Mrs. Cunning, where an elegant
reception was held i'll their honor.
During the Convention, business was
dispatched with celebrity. Plans were
effected for a closer organization. The
State was divided into districts and
presidents appointed over each. Mon
day was red-letter day. In the morn
ing, when the resolutions committee
was in session, the door opened and
Mrs. Smell entered holding a small
piece of paper in her hand. She said:
ladies, have resolution | would
like to present." and proceeded to read
the following which is given as nearly
as possible from memory:
"Resolved, That we re-atfirm our
loyalty to the National w. c. T. u, as
the only conditions are signing the to-
tai abstinence pledge and paying the
membership fee of 30 cents year into
the local treasury; but considering our
environments, we deem it best not to
adopt suffrage as department in the
Mississippi w. G. T. u
No definite action was taken on it
before the convention met and the
Committee rose. That day, Mrs. Mount,
Miss Shannon and Mrs. Hoffman dined
with me. In the course of converse
ton, the resolution that Mrs. Smell had
introduced into the committee was
mentioned and remarks followed in
which it was declared that we did not
want to repudiate suffrage, yet we did
not think it eXpedient or practicable
to adopt it as department of work.
AS soon as Mrs. Hoffman understood
the situation, she sat down and wrote
the following which is also reproduced
from memory:
"Resolved, That as this is govern
ment of the people, it is glaring in
the ballot from woman; but, in con
sideration of present conditions that
surround US, we will not adopt adopt
suffrage as a department in the Missis-
sippi w. c. T. u, but send hearty greet
ings to the States that have done So"
1t was agreed that | should intro
duce this resolution in the convention.
When the afternoon session met, Mrs
SHELLS resolution was read along with
the others that had been sent in by the
committee and | offered the one writ
ten by Mrs. Hoffman as a substitute,
making speech in its support, de-
claring myself an ardent suffragist
Then followed speeches in quick sue
cession for and against. A large ma
jority of the delegates announcingthat
they were suffragists, but standing to
the determination that suffrage must
not be adopted as department in the
State work Mrs. Smell opposed the
substitute strongly. Mrs. Hoffman