The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1897-02-25
Mrs, Hoffman's Lecture.
EDITOR Express:

| -----~
EDITOR EXPRESS;
| The lecture by Mrs. Hoffman last
| Thursday evening was well attended
and highly appreciated. We wish we
could give an abstract, but eau only
present some Of her thoughts as we re.
member them.
Her whole lecture was to answer the
oft repeated question, "What has the
w. G. I. U. accomplishment She con.
fined herself to actual facts within her
memory,
Socially, she referred to the time
when liquor was served at every gath
ering from christening to a burial,
and to its comparative disuse to-day; to
the former use of liquor in high life,
especially In Washington, and TO the
check 1t has received, mentioning us
influential In bringing about the
change, Sec, Window and wife, Pres.
Hayes and wife, and Mrs. Cleveland.
Industrially, she mentioned the fact
that formerly no temperance restric-
tions were made upon train men, tell
ing of an engineer who was helped into
his cab ITO sleep his drunk Off The
change in this direction is well known.
Within her memory all farm work
was done by hand, and laborers in
large bands worked long and hard to
harvest the crops, receiving their
liquor regularly in the field. Her
father at last refused to furnish the
customary liquor and found that better
work and less quarreling was done.
! She spoke Of the vote taken in the
house of representatives to abolish the
saloons in the capitol building
Religiously, she told Of the time
when church members and pastors
used liquor freely, when there were
spittoons at every pew and a larger
one for the pulpit. When she began
to lecture, there was great fear lest a
woman speaker, especially if she
should touch on politics, should con-
taminate the sacred edfiee-scented
with tobacco. Now a pastor or church
official who uses liquor or tobacco "has
not a heavenly time on earth, what
ever he may have hereafter
Referring to the time of the "Wom-
EMS Crusade she told OF the women
who went before congress in behalf of
the reformed men to whom liquor was
readily sold, and of their reception by
men who were "as sweet as honey and
as deeeitful as Satan.n
Convinced that the only practical
way is to train the children,
the women by their petitions
have caused scientific temperance
instruction to be given in the public
schools. Through their influence the
U. S. Naval cadets are forbidden the
use of liquor. They have also worked
to secure The cigarette laws that have
been passed. She suggested that our
own legislature might have done some
thing in the temperance line, if it had
organized in time.
BY petitions of w. G. r. U. workers
the unjust laws concerning the protec-
tion of girls have been amended. The
"legal age Of CONSENT is changed from
childheod to womanhood. Mrs. Hoff-
man would no sooner trust women
alone TO legislate for men than men
alone to legislate for women.
Defending herself for not attacking
the saloon keeper, she explained that
the saloon keeper is as good as
his saloon, his saloon as good as those
who license it, those who license it as
good as the law which permits them
TO do SO, the law as good as the legisla-
tors, and the legislators as good as the
| people who elect them.
! She spoke Of the legislative troubles
as tending to bring about the election
Of senators by the people directly, and
the system Of Initiative and referen-
dun.
The closing appeal was to help the
W. 9. I. U. workers and not to cow
ardly wait to see what they accom-
plished.
A HEARER.