The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-16
THE ". c. T. U
By Frederic J. Haskin.
rumrlruT uT nrnT ni nu u uITlnnnTmIu unnrlmruanl

The Woman's Christian temperance Union meets in it's thirty-fifth annual session at Denver on the 23rd of this month The year back of the earnest women who compose 1t is one that has | been full of achievement. Individual work and concerted work Of local, l State and national organizations have resulted in the most sweeping prohl- I bition movements that the w. C. T. U. ] has yet known. They have seen the dry territory encroach with telling di- rectness on the local option territory, and when prohibition became practical | ly the only political issue in the South during the past year. the women Work- | ed with an energy that had telling | effect In Montana, Wyoming, ldano and Utah. where the penny dreadful | always sends its wickedest men or fiction to drink and defy the law. pub lie sentiment has changed greatly I within the year
 The women of this organization have fought long for reform in leg islation that would make liquor trafhc impossible, and the fruit of the past year is sweet to them. That ooes not mean they will stop. They see stil1 more work to be done. work Of even greater volume than that which has been accomplished. The national | motto is For God and Home and Na- | tive Land, and they believe the inter ests of the spiritual family and social | life are best conserved through so- briety, purity. education, shorter work | ing hours and more healthful living and working conditions for all people. Said to be the largest society com posed exclusively of women and con ducted entirely by them, the w. c. T. U. has perfected organization in every State and Territory in the United States. including the District ofs. Co.,
 lumbia and Hawaii, and has local or l ganizations in about 10000 towns and cities. A lineal descendant of the 1 great temperance crusade of 1873-iS74, 1 1t now embraces 300.000 members. | Frances Willard, often called the Wo- l mans Christian Temperance Union l "Organized Motherhood" and the name
 is not without it's significance, for | wives and mothers have been its main | stay and inspration.
 We believe in the gospel of the
 Golden Rule,' the members say when pledging themselves to the work of | the organization, land that each mans habits of life should be an example | safe and beneficent for every other
 man to follow" In support of this belief the women are encouraging a I wider educatoln of the people along all lines, and especially that of tenn perance. They have national lecturers and national evangelists whose time is devoted to educational work. They believe to fully appreciate his duty to his neighbor, every foreigner should
 receive instruction in temperance in
 his own tongue, if he cannot under stand English, and they have added other departments for the Indian and
 the negro.
 They know that to be the best ex- ample to his community. each person
 must have the highest development of | physical, mental and spiritual life. He l has the right to be well-born. and so 1 health and heredity are two great themes taught and elaborated on by the women of the order. They offer instruction, wherever opportunity can be made for 1t, in the laws of health in relation to dress, food, air, exercise
 cleanliness, sanitation, ventilation.
 mental and moral hygiene. They have
 been instrumental in having physical
 education and the study of alcohol in
 it's relation to health taught in nearly
 every school under the American flag. They distribute literature and maintain | reading rooms in many places.
 They have pledged themselves to secure, the establishment of Juvenile courts wherever practicable and to en- courage at all times the industrial training for the young. They have ! done much in the getting of child Ia- bor laws placed on the statute books of the majority of the States and mean to keep up this interest until all States have such laws all the laws are enforced, and the children free to en. joy educational privileges. They ad- vocate school savings banks, and are inaugurating a comprehensive cama paign to instruct every school child
 in the principles of thrift and economy.
 The savings system is now in 1.500
 public schools in twenty-eight States.
 and nearly 300.000 children have de-
 posits approximating $1.250.G00 to
 their credit. They believe in the kim
 dergarten, because they know that
 lessons taught earliest are last for-
 gotten, and there is much to be taught
 the children of the intemperate poor.
 From the kindergartens of today will
 be drawn the worlds speakers of to-
 morrow.
 While the Old Marshalsea of Lit
 tie Doritt's" day has become a tragic
 tale long told. there are echoes of it
 among some Of the present day pris-
 c. T. U. are following in the foot
 steps of Elizabeth Fry and mean to
 bring healing of mind and soul to the
 men of the penal institutions of this
 country. They cooperate with prison
 aid associations and teach the gospel
 of temperance. Since the greatest
 number of crimes is due to drink. the
 women are campaigning for reform
 among prisoners, that they may live
 straight after they go out again in
 the world.
 centage of crime in prohibition State against that in non'prohibi-