Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-26
WOMEN MAKE WAR
ON STRONG DRINK
AND OTHER VICES .
National W. c. T. u. Convention
Opens in Hartford. 1
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
Mrs. Stevens Talks About the Growth
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
Mrs. Stevens Talks About the Growth
of the Union.
AGAINST THE ARMY CANTEEN
San Francisco Cited as Evidence Of
How a Town Can Do Without
Intoxicating Liquors. ia

After its world session in Boston.
the national convention of the Wo-
mems Christian Temperance Union
opened its session in Hartford,
Conn.,, today. There were distin-
guished delegates present from all
over the globe, all of whom will re-
port on the progress of the work in
the foreign mission fields. The event
of the day was the address of the
president, Mrs. Lillian Stevens. She
told of the rise of the union from Its
small beginning. Particular refer
ence was made to the disaster in San
Francisco, where the last national
convention was held. Mrs. Stevens
called particular attention to the fact
that one of the first precautions
taken by the authorities when San
Francisco was stricken was to close
all of the saloons. She said that
the experience of those dry days
showed that city could get along
without liquor, and she thought it an
object lesson to all the rest of the
world. She spoke strongly also
against the attempt now being made
to re-establish the canteen in the
army posts, where it was abolished
two years ago.
HARTFORD, Conn, October 26.-The
thirty-third annual convention of the Nag
tional Women's Christian Temperance
Union opened here today at Parsons The
alter. Mrs. Lillian N. Stevens of Portland,
Me-, presided, and over 45O delegates from
all parts of the United States were present.
Delegates from Austria, Japan, England,
Greece and other countries also were on
hand.
Prior to the opening of the convention
proper the Loyal Temperance Legion as
sembled in the chapel of Center Church
for an hour Of prayer. A meeting of this
character will be held each morning before
the convention opens.
The executive committee, which had been
having busy sessions for two days, made
public to the convention that part of it's
business which it believed should be an
nounced. This was followed by the APP
pointment of certain committees and the
confirming of some of the standing bodies.
Committees appointed were on credentials,
kilograms courtesies, publications and sub
scriptions to the Union Signal and the
Crusader Monthly.
Some of the white ribboners who are here
from foreign lands and who expected
to tell of the work the great ssterhood
Is accomplish ng in the various fields OF
ett ral1 Of
Greece Madame Mali YAKIMA president OF
the Japan w. C. T. o.: Miss Amy Swankie-
Cameron of England, Mrs. Van Domese-
laar, president of the Uruguay w. G. T. u;
Miss Ina Rogberg of Sweden, Lady Dorothy
Howard of England and Lord Carlisle, DIR.
Matti Helenius-Seppoa of Finland, Miss
Kassowitz Of Vienna. and Mrs. Harrison
Lee of Australia.
Mrs. Stevens Speaks.
The feature of the morning session WAS
the address of the president. Mrs Ste
vens. who has been at the head of the orr
ganization since the death in 1888 of the
founder. Miss Frances Willard
Mrs. Stevens address was in part fol-
lows:
This is an extraordinary assemblage Of
elect women. 1t is not only a wonderful
fulfllment of prophecy, but it is also a
blessed and hopeful foregleam of the glad
loon shall be outlawed, and women, in
whose hands the conservative and
moral forces of the world shall have the
power to destroy the evils which corrupt
the nations and bring untold misery TO
thousands of homes.
We warmly welcome to this thlrty-third
convention of the National Woman Chris
tian Temperance Union our white ribbon
comrades from other lands and other
chimes We know you will be an inspiring
presence in our convention and we humoly
trust that in some degree, in some way,
the convention may be helpful to you. Our
star-spangled banner is dearer to us today
because mingled with its folds are the hags
Of other countries-countries closely bound
to ours in the comradeship of sacred work.
We are met once more In historic New
England, well termed by a woman of poetic
vision "holy ground" In Boston in 1891
the worlds and national conventions fol-
lowed one another. In 1905, fifteen years
later we gather again in New England
in international and national convocatlons.
In 1891 for the first time white ribbon dele
gates from other organized countries were
received and welcomed by our great and
sainted leader and seer, Frances E. VIII
lard. Our honored New England poet, John
G. Whittier, sent to this convention con-
gratulatory letter, In which he said:
when think of the small beginnings
of the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union and of it's present vast proportions
/ am very grateful and hopeful. What hath
God wrought!
Pacific Coast Meeting.
Our last national convention met on the
other side of our great continent. Many of
our American sisters then for the first time
saw the Pacific ocean. the orange groves
of Southern California and the Golden
Gate of San Francisco. Since then has come
a fateful day for that great metropolis and
full devastation by earthquake and fire there
was quickly established a community OF ins