Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-11-29
Miss Willard and the W. C. T. U.


tion Of the Woman's Christian Tenn
perance Union at Cleveland last Fri
day, was remarkable for its inclusive
ness. The W. c. T. q. is an out
growth of the Ohio praying bands of
1873. 1t has since split into two bod
les, one of which calls itself non-parti-
san, and seems to be of little import
ance comparatively, and the other
presided over by Miss Willard, and
interesting itself, if we may judge by
her address, in a number of subjects
that seem to have little or no connec-
ton with temperance. Temperance,
by the way, appears to be synonymous
| with total abstinence and liquor pro-
hibition in the vocabulary of Miss Will
lar1's society.
The most novel of Miss Wizards
suggestions was her proposition that
there should be new member of the
Cabinet, to oversee public amusements.
Miss Willard appears to overlook or
disdain the impossibility of submit
ting the recreations of the people to a
Government censorship and direction
without an extension of the powers of
the Government to a degree that
would be an intolerable paternalism,
and would revive the old tyrannies
and absurdities of the narrowest sump-
tuary and puritanical legislation A
Cabinet officer Eliminating against
living pictures or Autographs of the
almost '.altogether, Or suppressing
skirt dance, would be an absurdity
that would bring contempt upon the
Government. Miss Willard mentioned
with approval the course of Lady Hen
ry Somerset, Mrs. Ormiston Chant, and
the other enthusiasts that have found
the sum of all iniquities in the "prOm-
enade" of the London music halls. Ev-
identity a Secretary of Amusements
would have to be rigorous to suit her
notions of the proper discharge of his
functions. For the local supervision
of amusements she would depend upon
local committees composed in part of
women. It is not clear, from the re-
port of Miss Willard's remarks, how
compulsory the programmes of amuse-
ment adopted by these committees
should be. She desires that by their
means ssthe whole amusement ques-
tion should be lifted to the plane of
reason and ethics as we'll as art" We
don't fully understand what the amuse-
ment question is, perhaps, but part
of it seems to be the somewhat mex
plicable desire of some people that
other people shall not amuse them
selves in the way they want to.
Miss Willard holds that ''the saloon,
the gambling house, the haunt of
shame, are so closely related that no
reformer who studies one can fail to
see that all must be incorporated into
the same general movement" She
believes that labor reform must be in
cluded, and advocates a combination
of the Populists and Prohibitionists.
She believes in the single-tax gospel
and compulsory arbitration. and agrees
with the Hon. kodomonte Sovereign of
the KNIGHTS of Labor that the number
of State and Federal troops should not
be increased. She favors the nation
alization of call means of locomotion
and communication" and the owner
ship of the newspapers by the people,
that is to say, by the Government.
The Woman's Christian Temperance
Union means to cut very wide swath,
if Miss Willard represents the inten-
tions of that body. and not merely her
own opinions.-N. Y. Sun.