The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-06-16
ALL FOR TEMPERANCE
THE WORLDS w. C. Il. L. CONVEX
TIoN ABOUT TO MEET IN LONDON.
Delegates from : arts of the Glos.
Brought Together There-pro-
grnmme Of the Congress.
New York sun.

New York sun.
AZ the present moment hundreds ~
women are travelling by land and sea
toward the city OF London, every one OF
whom IS delegate, representing in some
cases hity members OF her sex and in 9TH
ers hve thousand. Their objective point is
quaint and ugly church edif,ce known "a
MeihOsiai haH' on harrington street. Lon
don. ard they are going to the biennial
congress Of the Worlds Woman,s C.,,ri.t,a,
Temperance Union and the British Woman.s
Temperance Association Resides those
two powerful organizations. q Iarga nun
Der or associations which are affiliated or
are on friendly terms with either or both
VIII De represented There have been pre-
Vlous conventions OF both bodies. but never
before was there one so large, so composite
anu so remarkable as the one which will
meet in Memorial Hall on Friday. lime II
IL every organization associated with the
two societies is represented. the proceed-
ings will be conducted in thirty languages
The members will represent every civilized
country upon the globe and a corporaI's
guard of so-called semi-civlized and bar
barous lands. The dream of the British
Statesman Of confederation OF all the En-
E414A-"bGohAhS lldllOIS OF the world Is in
significant alongside of this woman's parlia-
ment. Such a gathering has never been
known in history 1t would have been i'm
possible nifty years ago-twenty years ago,
even ten years ago-for it's existence de-
pends upon tranScontincntal railways,
ocean greyhOunds, the telegraph and
above all. the New Woman Though held
In England, 1T is an American idea and an
American creation.
The story of it's birth is simple but in
teresung- There have been temperance so
cieties IN England and America as far back
as the memory of the oldest inaabitant
goes and as much further as he claims to
have heard about but il was not till 1874
that Miss Frances II. Willard. Mrs Louise
;. Rounds. Mrs. Mary Clement Leavitt
and a score OF other women conceived the
notion OF starting a temperance society
upon broad, nonsectarian Christian ba-
sis. The moment they put their idea into
practice it met with a success that was
was formed, until the whole country vas
dotted with societies like a country mead
9W Win danueEons IN the early spring
In 1870 the American system crossed the
Canadian border into the Land CT
northern neighbors, and with one spring
leaped across the Atlantic into Newcastle
on-Tyne. In Canada it preserved it's SIM
pie name OF Womens Christian Temper
ance Union: In England it took the title
ance Association. The reason of the diff
ference is obvious to any person who is
familiar with religious life in Great Erit-
ain. There are any number of small sects
there. each of which calls itself Chris
carnations The Word 'i union in in Eng England
Is used, if not in a sense different frcm its
meaning here, at least with a different ap-
plication. To one large class it is synony-
nous with poorhOuse or workhouse, and
with another even larger class il refers
20 labor organizations. On account of
these facts the philanthropic English wom-
en- who adopted the American system of
proselyting in the cause of temperance re-
Jected the American name and took the
one BY which they are known to-day.
UNITING FORCES.
BY 1882 all three organizations had grown
so great as TO be recognized factors in re-
ligious If not in daily life. There were
unions in every State and Territory of the
United States and even in far away Alaska;
there were unions in every province of Can
ada, including Manitoba. There were
branches OF the British Woman's Temper
ance Association in every county in Eng
land. Scotland and Wales, and not few in
the Emerald isle. Not alone were the
branches Of the three societies numerous
and we'll organized. but they also
prosperous and we'll Differed. Each had
money in its treasury, enjoyed an income
from its membership, and. IN general, was
led by women or more than ordln1cy ability:
The system pursued by the wonle.1 was and
IS whicn tends to make the members of
a club good speakers and debaters. Beyond
this the practice of having q literary Du-
reau and of publishing large quantities of
much better reading matter than The old
supply, made the more active members e3-
teremely we'll informed and prepared to adj
dress miscellaneous audiences. Th-se were
probably the chief causes or success, nut,
whether they were or not one thing IS GER
tain. the w. c. T. L. turned out some CAPT.
tai speakers and executive officers. Anyone
who has studied their work and attended
their larger meetings has had occasion 10
iesders and the forensic ability of sheir reg
are Miss Frances E: willard Miss Eliza
ter the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Kate
Lente Stevenson, Mrs. Clara Hoffman, Mrs.
Miss Jessie Alderman. Their admirers have
even gone so far as to declare that the nine
best orators in either the Senate or the
last House of Representatives would not
average so nigh as the women ramed-
In 1883 the leaders determined upon doing
regular missionary work, ana began by
sending organizers out into other lands, by
opening correspondence with friends and
believers in the common cause, and by
work succeeded from the first. and has gone
on ever since. The two greatest mission
aries are Mrs. Mary Clement Leavitt, who
is now the honorary president of the
Worlds ". c. T. T., and Miss Jessie
Alderman Boston girl. who is the
president OF the Austrian w. c. L. L.
fort has proceeded from the United states,
neither Canada nor Great Britain has been
endeavor is something amazing. There are
unions i'm the West Indies, Mexico, Central
America, and South America IneTe are
unions in every country in Europe except
Portugal and Turkey: there are unions
in Africa, and one has even been started
far up in Matabele. where two short years
ago poor King Dobengula reigned over his
savage subjects. There are unions in Asia.
I'm Malaysia. in Monaghan domains; in
India. in China. and I'm Japan. Mrs Leavitt
in prosecuting her work employed no fewer
than 90 odd interpreters and translat tors.
In this way both the idea and the organi-
cation have been carried into nearly all the
places of the earth.
The first suggestion that the ". G. I. T.,
then a very small and uninfiuential body.
might ever become an International.
worlds confederation, was made by Miss
Frances +. Willard in 1876 To most of her
hearers IL seemed beautiful poetic fancy,
but not a possibility in any way. Seven
years later the growth of the order had
been so great that when Miss Willard
suggested drawing up plans for a worlds
organization her proposal was accepted as
a matter of course. The plans were &C
corlngly prepared, and in 1885 a temporary
ORGANIZATION was effected by the election
OF AIRS Margaret Bright Lucas as the first
worlds president The choice was very
wise one for Mrs. Lucas was the sister or
John Bright the great commoner. and en-
joyed popularity and social prestige almost
as great as her brother she was on friend
" terms with all the leaders OF British
politics and possessed TO q rare degree
= H. o.