The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-10-21
Held at the Rooms on Merchant
Street Yesterday.
INTERESTING REPORTS READ.
Paper Read by the President. Mrs. j. M.
Whitney-Financial Condition of the Or
ganizatiOn-UpS and Downs in Bringing
the Society TO its Present Standing.

The regular annual meeting of the
w. G. T. U. was held yesterday after
noon in the lunch room of the Wom-
ans Exchange. Fifty ladies and a few
gentlemen were present.
The meeting opened with devotional
exercises, which were conducted by
the president, Mrs. J. M. Whitney.
After prayer by DR.. Bingham, the min
and approved.
Mrs. E. w. Jordan read a letter from
Miss Ethel Castle, a granddaughter of
Mrs. S. N. Castle of this city, of Stan
stead, Quebec, giving an account of the
society there.
The annual report of the secretary,
Mrs. r. ]. Greene, was very interest
ing. The treasurer's report showed
deficit for the year of $3.50, which the
auditor, w. A. Bowen, had kindly
made up.
Mrs. Jordan's report of the ''Y's"
showed that only three meetings of the
society had been held, but that the
society was in good condition.
Miss H. S. Judd reported on the
Loyal Legion, and Miss Mary Green,
the missionary of the society, gave an
account of her years work. The prin-
cipal work of the Union has been the
Woman's Exchange.
The report of the president, Mrs. j.
M. Whitney, is given in full below.
The following officers were elected
for the ensuing year:
Mrs. J. M. Whitney, PRESIDENT Mrs.
P. G.. Jones, Mrs. H. w. Peck and Mrs.
W. c. Weldon, vice presidents; Mrs.
r. ]. Greene, recording secretary; Mrs.
e. w. Jordan, corresponding secretary;
Mrs. L. b. Coan, treasurer
After the business part of the meet
ing the ladies sat down and enjoyed
some coffee and cake.
PRESIDENTS REPORT.
AS a benevolent enterprise, the
Woman's Exchange is a very recent in
stitution. AS early as 1888 an organ-
ization with a somewhat similar object
was started in Philadelphia, called the
Ladies' Depository Association, whose
benefits were limited to those who had
"seen better days" It's aim was stated
to be to enable educated, refined
women who hadssuffered financial re
verses to dispose of their work with
out being exposed to the often rough
handling of the shopkeepers, or to the
mortifying admission of their fancied
humiIiating condition" A similar La
dies Depository was established in
1856 in New Brunswick, n. j., and like
the other, was designed to help only
those women who had suddenly been
reduced from affiuence to poverty.
1t was not until 1878 that the Wom-
ans Exchange, with it's present broad
er aims, came into existence, as the
natural outgrowth of modern philan
thropic methods The Christian world
has within the last fifty years been
slowly evolving the principle that the
true way to help men and women is
to help them to help themselves. True
charity, which is or should be the out
ward expression of Christian love, can
no more be satisfied with dispensing
! to the needy cold victuals and old
| clothes, nor even the coin which may
| supply temporary needs, but is quite
as likely TO find its way into the rum
| sellers box. While individual charity
| of this kind is still often demanded,
| the temptation on the part of the
giver is too often to be idly satisfied
with relieving the present need, while
the real destitution is unreached
To provide some means of self-help,
even though though more money may
be spent in the machinery than can