IS IT WORTH WHILE?

White Ribbon, Volume 33, Issue 394, 18 May 1928, Page 1

IS IT WORTH WHILE?

Wayne 13. Wheeler, Americas Great inhibition Leader, luts passed on to his rest, but “He being dead, yet speaketh." Two years ago he sent out the following Christmas message: “One day when 1 was weary and not a thing went right, a quitter, sad and dreary, urged me to leave the light. He painted me a picture of rest ant quiet ease, w here Wets would never trouble and Drys would never tease. It might have seemed quite tempting if he hadn’t made me smile w'hen he asked the foolish question, ‘Do you think it w r orth while?’ For 1 see folk by millions, now saved from whiskey’s curse. And still another million snatched from the open hearse. I see the prisons emptied, the homes content has filled, since down the open sewer John Barleycorn was spilled. Instead of crowded bread lines 1 look at bulging banks; an army of investors tiles past in serried ranks. Upon each mile of highway a flock of flivvers pass, as men step off the brass rail and step upon the gas. The mirth of joyous children, the smile of happy wives is W'orth the consecration of many dreamers’ lives. I may have missed some pleasure, I may have known some pain, I have amassed no treasure, but I’d do it again! As at this Christmas season, God shows how to give, I find the truest reason why it’s worth while to live. ’Tis in the call of service, the summons of the fight, against the hosts of evil, and for the truth and right. Enlisted in such service, how could 1 help but smile

when any ask the question, Do you think it worth while?’ ” And th(*se women, too, judged the fight “Worth While.” AMERICAN WOMEN AND PROHIBITION. (By Guy Hayler, Hon. President, World Prohibition Federation.) From the time of the inauguration of the Temperance Movement in the United States down to the present day, women have nearly always been admitted into membership of the various organisations seeking human betterment and social welfare. During the Civil War (1861-63), while their men-folfc were otherwise engaged, the women took on responsible parts of the propaganda, and contributed a large share in maintaining Temperance sentiment during those critical years in the history of the country. About the year 1 873, the women of Hillsboro, Ohio, organised a most successful campaign, which later w r as known as the “Women’s Whiskey War.*’ This campaign spread through the entire Union, under the rble leadership of Mother Stewart. Temperance w’onien formed themselves into unions, and, in 1874, at the instigation of Mrs M. McClellan Browm. a leading Good Templar, a great National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio. Out of tms Convention grew the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, with Miss Frances E. Willard later as its w r orld-wide President. ORIGINAL AIM KEPT. “At their very first Convention,” says Dr. Ella Boole, “the women announced their purpose to w'ork for the closing of all the saloons by law.

They assembled an army of total abstainers. They carried on a campaign of education. They taught the children in Juvenile societies, in .Sunday Schools, and in Public Schools. They laid sure foundation, anu it is an outstanding fact that by prayer and depending upon God, they furnished the power with which the Movement gathered momentum.” Mrs Mary E. Hunt, a well-known worker of that early period, devoted many years to inter-state travel, addressing legislatures and educational authorities, until every State? in the Union had adopted Scientific Temperance Teaching in the elementary schools of the land. A WOMAN MAKES THE WHITE HOUSE DRY. A great gain to the* Movement was the election in 1877, of Rutherford H. Hayes to the Presidency of the United States. His wife, the* mother of three young sons, contrary to all custom from the days of George Washington, America’s first President, declared that no alcoholic liejuors should be served in the White House during their occupancy. It mattered not who there might be to entertain, diplomatic or sexual, Mrs Hayes never swerved from her resolution. Her reason for this stand is unanswerable. “I have three young sons who have never tasted liquor,” she said. “They shall never receive from my hands, or with the sanction that its use in our family w r ould give, their first taste of w'hat might prove their ruin. What I wish for my own sons, I must do for the sons of others.” This was the first instance of the exclusion of alcoholic liquors from the White House, and it

gave much encouragement to Temperance workers in that day. To-day, those liquors are banished from cellar, sideboard and table, as the enemies of the home and the guests to whom trie President and the first Lady of the Republic would do honour. PUSHING ON TO THE END OF THE ROAD. Year by year the women have been pushing on with their work. Always proclaiming their demand for National Prohibition while working for No-License in Ward, Town, City or County, or seeking State-wide Prohibition Laws. Not long before the outbreak of the World War, they adopted as a slogan, "National Prohibition by 1920." At the time, it was considered by some as an ambitious aim and hardly, perhaps, within the range of practical politics. The women, nevertheless, held to their vision and pursued their work. By the close of 1913, eight of the forty-eight States had been won over to the dry issue. Before another six years had passed, no less than thirtytwo States were on the water wagon. Thus was the w r ay made clear for National Prohibition, which followed shortly afterwards.