A RECORD CONVENTION.

White Ribbon, Volume 33, Issue 381, 18 April 1927, Page 1

A RECORD CONVENTION.

Auckland, the famous Corinth of the South, was hostess City for a record Convention, It was a record for numbers; 127 delegates from Hast and West, from far Southland to the Northern Cape, from sunny Nelson, from windy Wellington, from Dunedin's rocky strand and Timaru s silvery beach; from dry Oanuru and wet Napier, from far and near they inhered they talked, they worked, they inspired and were inspired, aud

we believe have gone home to inspire the members and Unions right throughout the Dominion. It is a record for the space required to report it. In one issue of White Ribbon the “half can never be told,” so we have held over much Convention matter until our May issue. PRESIDENT'S \PPItKSS. In many respects, the year just closing has been a quiet one in l nion circh*s. At the same time, it has not. by any means, been barren of purpose or achievement. After 42 years as a

social force in the life of New Zealand, we are entitled to regard as the harvest of past sowing much that has, this year, been accomplished for women, in ihe domain of politics and openings for more efficient social service. After such a testing time, and such a meeting of the forces, for and against the abolition of the Liquor Traffic, as we went through in November 1925, it would be almost excusable, if those, who were most in the forefront of that fight, should feel some reaction and wish to rest for a,t least a year’s breathing space. For this poll showed us, that, while

we continue to be handicapped by the three-issue ballot paper, and even with a two-issue ballot paper, we still have much more educational work to do if Prohibition is to be carried, and well enforced when it is carried, Notwithstanding all this, the year has been, perhaps, a busier one than ever for Union activities, for we realize that our work is “For God and Home and Humanity”—that it covers a very wide field and goes on from year to year continuously—that the poll for the abolition of the liquor traffic is but a testing time —a means of discovering how far our work of educa•on on this question has been effective, and a time for reviewing our methods of work, and laying fresh plans for the future in the light of past experience. The year 1926-27 has not escaped the usual toll of those members who have passed on to higher service, and in both the World Union and in our own Dominion Union, we mourn the loss of many very fine women—most of them we can rejoice to say, full of years and of the fruit* of their labours.

Amongst the list are three International Officers: —Mrs Martha M. Allen, for many years Superintendent of Medical Temperance, the Author of some of the finest works on Medical Temperance, and a vast number of pamphlets and leaflets on the same subject—and one who has largely influenced the modern outlook of the medical profession on the question of alcohol being unnecessary in sickness and disease.

Mrs Tomlinson, International Superintendent for Home and Mothers’ Meetings, is another w r ho will be much missed, as will also Mrs Stella B, Irving, World Superintendent of Temperance Work in Sunday Schools. Lady Truby King in New Zealand, is another whom we could ill afford to lose —a lady, whose many talents have always been used for the benefit of the health of mothers and babies; and w r ho very ably seconded all the work of her gifted husband. Amongst our own women, we too mourn the loss of our late beloved Superintendent of Evangelistic Work. Mrs Johnson Wright. We have so long been accustomed to her sweet, gentle, yet ardent spirit, presiding over our devotions at Convention, that by very many her presence will be greatly missed. Her’s w’as a truly Christ-like and saintly attitude towards life and all its responsibilities, not one of which did she ever evade.

After a long life spent in useful service for her fellow men and women, and after years of quiet suffering, she went softly home in May of last year, leaving behind her a sweet memory of life w’ell and faithfully spent for others. Mrs Scott, of the Taranaki and Normanby Union. Mrs Baird, the mother of the Southland Union. Mrs Daßas and Mrs Edgar, of To Kuiti. all of them faithful Officers and members of the Unions and women

whose places it will not be easy to fill.

The passing on of such women as these should surely be an incentive for our younger women to arise and face the future, preparing themselves to take the places of those, w ho have gone, preparing themselves and arming themselves to go forth in the name of the Lord, and in the strength of His might, to replace those who have so valiantly fallen by the wayside.

The two outstanding national events, since we last met, have undoubtedly been the meeting of the Imperial Conference, at w'hich our ow r n Prime Minister, the Hon. Mr Coates, made his first appearance in the Councils of the Empire. The second has been the Royal Visit. The illness and consequent absence of the Duchess from the South Island was a matter for intense regret and disappointment—as in the North, so in the South, every one was prepared to open their hearts and take both the young Duke and Duchess to themselves, for, like the Prince of Wales, it was our hearts and our common humanity to which they appealed so strongly—youth, beauty, charm and young parenthood meant more to most of us than their royal birth and lineage. Their presence in our midst can have but one result, that of binding us more firmly to the land of our fore-beans and all that England and the British Empire stands for at their very best —all the traditions of our ancestors, all their long, long, struggle for constitutional government and civic freedom—now almost "complete. We wish them both a long life of domestic liappiness and high service for their country and Empire. In reviewing the year s work, it is well for us—both for instruction and encouragement—to lift our eyes for a space and look beyond the limits of cur own very small horizon. Whatever touches the well-being and the highest interests of men and women in one country is of vital importance to the men and women of every other country—for in these days of international relationship in commerce, science, education, research, and all branches of ethics, culture and religion, our interdependence makes it a practical necessity that w’e, as women and citizens, look beyond our own domain and realize ‘what others have reached out towards and possibly attained to. The fact that we are linked up with the International Council of Women; the Suffrage Alliance; the League of Nations Union, and other bodies of men and women having world-wide interests, makes It imuerative that we seek instruction and knowledge along all these avenues of thought and action opened up by their activities. Taking this wider view* of world affairs, it can hardly h*claimed that the nations are settling (low’ll to peaceful relations with one another as readily as w r as at first

hoped for by the friends of the League of Nations. The great outstanding event of the year, however, has undoubtedly been the entry of Germany into the League and her admission to a permanent seat on the Council.

If this has any significance at all, it must mean eventually, the greater stabilizing of all ’the European nations, and thus further help towards a solution of some of tin* problems social, economic, and otherwise, with which they have had to struggle so fiercely through the upheaval of after-war conditions. In some countries it certainly looks as though the very foundations of stable government are tottering to a fall. Dictators and militaristic autocrats seem to he crushing the very life out of democratic and national ideals and institutions. This is only too evident in such countries as Italy, Greece, and Poland, at the present time. This, also surely must he blit another deplorable result of the same great after-war upheaval. We can but hope that this is so, and that the passage of time, w r ith the awakening of a deeper sense of personal responsibility, will bring about once more a w’ise and peaceful readjustment on the lines of Christian Democracy, with full freedom for national ideals, combined with a due regard to the rights of those of other laces and other colours to the same freedom and ideals as their ow’ii.

Looking farther East, the spectacle of China in the throes of civil wairs, rebellions, and revolutions, is one to make us pause and wonder. Threatened as she is, from within and without —wdth no central National Government —apparently at the mercy of any strong alien power who may choose to over-run her land, and withal agonizing through the birth pangs of a new self-conscious nationhood—a consciousness which is the growth in a few’ decades, of wiiat has taken Western civilisation centuries to evolve and in a small measure to accomplish. Is this not a picture which fills us with the deepest interest and concern, at times with dismay, and always with the most intense pity. 'There can be but one issue ultimately possible for a nation like China vith its ancient culture and religion—-its peace-loving, patient, and painstak ng people- its modern education in Western science and Western industrialism —these peoplp must, of i certainty, he allowed, nay, ever assisted to evolve and w r eld themselves into a united and self-govern-ing nation —a nation taking its full share in all affairs national and international unhampered by undue outside interference.

This can be accomplished only when all nations are willing to apply the golden rule to world affairs as w»dl as to those of national or personal interest and value, and are willing to concede the very obvious modern position—that financially,

economically, intelligently and morally, no nation can now live unto itself alone; the position is quite impossible. In Great Britain, many a heart will have been glad to see the passing of 1926. Our hearts have often been sad for that great and sadly torn country, the land we love, the home of our fathers. In that land, so blessed in her men and women of thought and culture — statesmen, churchmen, writers, and poets—scientists and philantropists, of the highest attainments and ideals —it must be that at last the counsels of such as these must prevail and industrial troubles which threaten the foundations of Rational life be settled in accordance with the “righteousness which exalteth a nation.” Human and Christian principles as opposed to material greed or financial gain at the cost of the bodies and souls of men, women, and little children, must at all costs prevail in a nation which aspires to lead the world in all the upward movements for mankind.

"’May the year 1927 bring industrial peace and prosperity to the land we love so well.

America goes on her calm and prosperous way, attempting to hold aloof in splendid isolation from European affairs and official connection with the League of Nations, while still attempting to do her share for disarmament. From Pacific and Eastern affairs she cannot isolate herself. To her attitude towards Europe and the League, a vast number of her women citizens seem to be In opposition and urge, at least, entry into the World Court. Whether this will be a good thing for Europe, or for America, and the rest of us—we at this distance can hardly judge, but developments will be intensely interesting, and particularly so if we could watch the influence of the women’s work and vote. The interest of women in Pacific relations, and the state of affairs in that vast area is of the utmost importance to us as one of the Pacific nations, and all thoughtful New Zealand women should make themselves acquainted with what is going on in this part of the world; using their citizenship influence to ensure that all is done that can be done to upbuild and bring about co-operation and understanding between peoples and races of whatsoever colour or creed they may happen to be. Thus only can the bitter enmity and misunderstanding which leads to war be averted. For in these latter days, every nation is far too interdependent on every other nation, for any one to stand aloof, living only * nto Itself, regardless of the of others. Leaving now those wider world movements and coming within the region still world wide, but of special interest to us as women—here the realization of high aspirations goes steadily, i? jomewhat slowly forward. Great Britain, South Africa, Italy and

many other countries, still struggle for the full enfranchisement so long the privilege of New Zealand women. In spite of the lack of full citizenship, however, women everywhere are steadily and surely making their influence felt, even in the highest Councils of all. In the League of Nations, although no woman has, as yet, been appointed a fully accredited delegate to the Assembly, nor has any woman been made a member of the league Council, in spite of the fact that these positions are open to them according to the Constitution, still on the Secretariat in several of the Commissions —notably on the Fifth Commission with its great number of subsidiary committees and the Committee on International Co-operation, as well as in the position of alternate delegate for several States women are standing firm, working strenuously, and most assuredly making a place for themselves and other women in the sunlight of public opinion the world over. It remains for the women of this country to rise to the occasion and the necessity as well as the great privilege of studying to understand, not only European and Old World problems, but more important still those facing us in the Pacific and in the far East. Knowledge is to be had. information and literature is in our midst, why accept second-hand news and opinions in matters of such tremendous moment, when the truth is within the reach of all.

The story of women’s work on general lines goes on much the same in every country—Child Welfare in the home, the school, and thp State, before and after birth. The full status and freedom of women as citizens and economic factors: the abolition of commercialised vice; an equal moral standard for men and women; international co-operation nd arbitration in place of race hatred and war. Educational influence through the professions of Law, Medicine, Science, the Church, the Platform and the Schools.

Looking carefully into the work of women in all countries, we shall find that, as a whole, they are true to these ideals, and that place and power have not yet succeeded in making women blind party politicians or false to the ideals of the pioneer women, who bore the heat and the burden of the fight for the recognition of their own sex as human beings and as citizens.

There is hardly room for doubt in the mind of any honest student of Sociology or Economics, that of all the great evils that oppress mankind in the present day. the trade in alcoholic liquors Is far and away the most fundamental and prolific cause in disease (mental and physical), of poverty, death and national waste, and our greatest efforts, as Christian women, must always be the abolition of that traffic from every land. Hut. as women and as feminists. we are vitally, and should be intensely, interested In the work of women the

world over—in every reform born in the heart or brain of a woman for the uplift of her fellow-women everywhere. In the result of the struggle through all the long weary years, towards the light of freedom and self-expression, in order that that light may shine clear and strong along the path of childhood and youth—making the way safe for little feet to travel —and of granting to youth a vision of the glory and beauty of life, that will save them in the hours of fierce temptation, and the swift and tumultuous storms of passion that inevitably assail every young life. Not only in the women’s societies, national and International, has the welfare of the child found its champions, but now in the League of Nations also, has this cause found a powerful ally. The great questions of Peace. Disarmament, and International friendship are surely of the utmost importance to women, as the Mothers of Men —but of no loss importance is the Humanitarian work of the League, as well as the research work, the welfare of Mandated territories, the Health and Slavery Commissions, and most especially the work of the Fifth Commission. This Commission includes in its personnel a number of very fine women indeed, and lia.3 been presided over, even during tlie Assembly of the League by such women as Daine Rachel Crowdy, of the League Secretariat, and Dame Lyttelton. the British Representative on that Commission. It deals with many, indeed most, of the Humanitarian questions covered by the Leagues activities -the opium traffic

.traffic in women and children —the refugee questions and Child Welfare including this year the study of. on International lines, the effects of the Cinema. Juvenile Courts, Recreation. Infant Life Protection, the age of consent and marriage, the treatment of the delinquent child, child labour, and family allowances, and biological education on the evil effects of alcohol on the young, as well as the question of the good work of Women Police. Surely, a goodly list for our inspection, and moreover, surely a matter for the highest congratulation and encouragement that questions such as these, over which men and women in the past have pondered in vain for some solution, should be lifted into the searchlight of such facilities as are at hand in Geneva, in full measure. As showing the great underlying purpose in all women's work, it is only necessary to take a glance at the Agenda of any great National, or International Conference of women’s work to see that the same big questions are coming up in one form or another time after time—that there is very little division of opinion on fundamentals. Take, if you will, the Paris Conference of International Suffrage Alliance in May of last year; the Conference in London the same year of the Women’s British Coinmon-

feet forms of Prohibition in many of the provinces. In this way they have secured a certain market, as well as an offset against any country which dares to carry laws prohibiting the importation of their dangerous commodity—so anxious are they to push their wares upon all the markets of the world.

What now of American prohibition! that great object lesson observed of all the world? ‘Six full years have come and gone since nation-wide prohibition came into force in the U.S.A. At that time every kind of difficult.v and national calamity was predicted as a result. Financial, industrial, and commercial ruin. The physical and moral decay of the nation. Intellectual death, crime, rampart. A tremendous increase in drinking in all classes; in short, the speedy return of the open saloon and the repeal of the 18th Amendment and Volstead Acts.

Instead of which, what do we find in 1025 and 1026? America —the most prosperous nation in the world, a land without unemployment Lhd paying the highest wages in all branches of work. A country that has gained in one direction alone £1,200,000.000 sterling in national wealth through the conversion of capital from alcoholic production into more productive channels, and this in a land whose youth knows not the open saloon—and a country whose people have three times in those six years, returned to power a national government increasingly dryer than the last —and whose senate has completely turned down all wet proposals for interference with the 18th Amendment . or the provisions of the Volstead Acts and Federal enforcement laws.

Of course, there are not wanting those wiio will go from this or any other country, and after breaking the laws of America by obtaining and drinking bootleg liquor—will accept the lavish hospitality of American citizens and then loudly pronounce Prohibition to be a complete failure —without gaining so much as a hint of the benefits that can be claimed ami are undeniably part of the result.

We are perfectly willing to admit the great, almost insuperable difficulties of enforcement placed in the way of those responsible by the supporters of such a trade as the liquor trade a trade that stands for lawlessness under any and all conditions — high license, low license. State Control, Municipal Control, any sort of control—for it is a trade that hates control of any kind—as we know only too well and to our cost even in New Zealand. On the other hand, while this is so, and we submit that from evidence shown, it is not nearly so bad as the friends of alcohol would hav»> us believe- we have numbers of men of high standing the world over, who give a splendid account of the bene-

fits gained, notwithstanding all the difficulties.

Only the other day we heal'd from Professor Copland, a New Zealander, whom all New Zealand knows, that one of the great contributing factors in American prosperity undoubtedly n Prohibition —that the lot of the average working man has immensely improved. Says he, "the saloons are closed and the men do not get drunk any more —but save their money or spent it on necessaries or luxuries, thus contributing to the general prosperity of the country." Mr Charles Wilson, ex-M.P., and late Parliamentary Librarian—a man opposed tc Prohibition in New Zealand, says on his return to here that his observation leads him to believe that the law' is very well enforced considering all things, "that only once on my way from New York to Vancouver, did I taste any whisky, and speaking personally, I think from what I have seen and heard, that Prohibition for national weal or for woe has come to stop in the United States." Such is very recent testimony from well-known men, but not known as Prohibition advocates.

As fair-minded people, even if not Prohibitionists, we surely must take some note of what American people themselves say; those w r ho are on the spot all the time and know w'hat they speak of. Mr Robert Corradini, Statistician to the World League against Alcoholism. tells us that the total consumption of alcohol from all sources to-day (11)26) is probably less than 5 per cent of pre-Prohibition consumption w r e w'ould give a good deal in this country to know that our alcohol consumption, instead of increasing by hundreds of thousands of pounds worth a year, could go down to 5 per cent of present consumption in 6 vears.

Hear what the "National School Survey" in America says: "The percentage of children attending the various Public Elementary Schools in 1910 (wet) w'as 73.2. but in 1920, under National Prohibition that figure had increased to 90 6." The Chicago Tribune (June 17th, 1924) says: "Of the 15,000 pupils wiio will graduate from the public elementary schools of Chicago, all but 752 have signified their intention of continuing their education either in the Chicago High Schools or elsewhere. Members of the Board of Education pronounce this to be ‘the greatest forw’ard step in education in the public schools ever know r n.’ ’’ The American Issue commenting on this says: "The closing of more than 7,000 liquor saloons in Chicago lias given many a boy and girl of that city the opportunity of to school, who otherwise would have been compelled to go to work to contribute to the support of the family." While we are considering American Prohibition. I w'ould like for a few minutes to draw your very careful attention to the statements made by Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale

University, when he gave evidence before the sub-Committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee in April of 1926. He has made a study of the alcohol question for 20 years, and only after many of those years had passed did he find himself forced to acknowledge that nothing short of total abolition could stop the supply of young recruits to the army of excesßivo drinkers, or preserve the youth of the nation from forming the easily acquired habit of alcoholic excess. In his studies he found himself bound to admit that alcohol is never safe in whatever form or quantity it may be used. In his book, "Prohibition at its Worst." he completely takes to pieces the w’et evidence placed before the Committee with regard to the alleged increases in crime, in drunkennes.> and Juvenile delinquency. He show's very conclusively, that even in the wettest of the big cities —New York —and in the state of New’ York, as well as in the States wdiich did not ratify the 18th Amendment, such as Connecticutt, the wonderful gains since prohibition that have come to those cities and states. The reduction in Crime, in Poverty, immorality, and in the arrests of first-offenders for drunkenness is quite amazing. Indeed, it is almost unbelievable that in places like New York and Connecticutt, the great strongholds of smuggling and the boot-leg traffic of which w'e hear so much from the Moderation League and the Liquor Tralfic, that such results can have followed.

He tells us that in spite of the absence of a local enforcement law. and in spite of all the illicit liquor that is said to be consumed —also in spite of the fact that this liquor is ten times more poisonous than formerly- and again in spite of much greater vigilence on the part of the police in arresting drunken persons, the fact remains that arrests in these places for first-offenders has gone down from 19 per 10,000 population in 1917 to 6 per 10,000 in 1925 thus reducing the army of recruits to the ranks of drunkards by tw'o-thirds. while at the same time. Juvenile delinquency and criminality has come down and down and dow r n, year by vear, until now' it has been cut in half. H These statements take into account the great increase in population during those years. He quotes the General Secretary of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children through Mr Hannon and Commander Evangeline Booth, as giving evidence before the Senate Committee in these words: "The chief beneficiaries of the Dry Law in America are the small children" —and “The Cherry Street Settlement of the Salvation Army in New' York no longer finds it necessary to provide food and clothing for the children attending its meetings.

The marvellous increase in the consumption of milk per head and by the babies of America, is enough in JJLjpff

to make Prohibition worth while, when we consider what it means to many a starved little body and mind. Drinking among young people. The writer deals also with drinking in the Colleges, and takes Yale, his own University, as an example. Yale can be safely taken as the extreme sample of a drinking University, situated in a State that refused to ratify the 18th Amendment —attended by students drawn largely from houses where hereditary drinking customs are ver: strong,

this College ) as he m more < ena;.t in its attitude towards prohibition than any other Univer>.ly.

Notwithstanding aD this, Professor James R. Angell. President of Yale University, says: “The impression 1 get from all alumni is that despite the all too frequent violation of the law, the amount of drinking at present, and particularly the amount of excessive drinking is very much less than it was in former

years.”

The Literary Digest is also quoted as in reply to a quest ion a ire sent out to heads of Colleges in 4 4 States in the following words: “There are actually fewer drinkers in these Colleges now than in the days when there were only one-third of the present number of students.” Time will allow of no more evidence being quoted.

To sum up then, we can see that even under the present intolerable conditions of enforcement, and in such places as New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, the testimony is over-whelmingly in favour of National Prohibition, while we have said nothing at all of the immense benefits in States where the enforcement is good.

In addition it is confidently claimed by men and women of experience, such as General Andrews. Professor Fisher himself. Federal Attorneys and Prosecutors like Mr Olsen, of Chicago, and Mrs Willebrandt, many Judges and Lawyers of repute. Miss McDowell, Commissioner of Public Welfare, Chicago, that the law* can ultimately be enforced, and that it w'ill be; that there can be no repeal of the 18th Amendment or the Volstead Acts either by the States or bv the Federal Government. What must be done say they, is that the States judiciary must b«* cleaned up. the right men and women appointed, and the State administration of the law' brought into line with the Federal administration, but w'hile the State is opposed to the Federal nothing sufficiently effective can he done. Other most important points nr 1 that Educational work on the nature and effects of alcohol must he vigourously continued in the schools and colleges and emphasised in the community, and there must also be an education of public opinion on the questions of law' observance. These phases of the work have been to some extent neglected since the advent of Prohibition, and will most certainly

have to be revived.

According to the way in which these conditions are carried out, will the full benefits of prohibition be hastened or retarded, even perhaps kept back for years. We may ask now—what is the position in our ow'n country? We stand almost half-w r ay between tw o Polls, and it is not an easy thing to judge how general public opinion is going, and whether temperance sentiment is on the increase or otherwise.

One thing how’ever seems clear, and that is that moderate drinking in general, or else heavy drinking in individuals is on the increase—this is born out. not only by ordinary observation, but also by the amount of the Drink Bill, which has now reached the amazing sum of nearly £9,000,000 sterling for one year W T hen we realize that unemplovment threatens to be more serious than it has been for a very long time, that we are going through times of depression, that money is badly needed and cannot be had, that many a family of small children is facing want and perhaps starvation this coining winter, aid w'hen w r e know' that Public Works and other services badly needed cannot be carried out for lack of financial means, does it not seem incredible that other people, the fathers and mothers of our children can take out of their pockets and pay into the coffers of the liquor traffic this immense sum—nearly £9,000,000 a year. Just try and think for one moment w’hat it means. Every year this Dominion spends in alcoholic liquors a sum greater than it spends on Education of every grade, plus Pensions of every variety, plus the whole cost of our Postal, Telegrap? and Telephone services. Our yearly Drink Bill is greater than the total amount of Customs and excise duties collected during the year. If we bought up every bank-note in circulation in this Dominion. it w'ould cost us £2,000,000 less than our yearly Bill for strong drink. In three years this w'ill total nearly £27,000,000. Just try and imagine it from the time of our last poll in 1925, to the next one in 1928, £27,000,000 spent on a thing that is not only useless, and brings no return in national or personal health, w'ealth or happiness, but on the contrary is the greatest cause of suffering, direct and indirect, known to civilized man. A trade that undermines and destroys all that is God-like in man, that can turn love into hate, that can destroy all the fair promise of young manhood and womanhood, as nothing else can.

A vested interest that must feed upon youth in one form or another for its very existence that destroys the brain of the unborn child, and fills the special houses of New Zealand with thousands of mentally, defective and subnormal children; children whose minds will never know the light and joy of true reason while on earth.

Other children —yes, even in New Zealand, whose bodies and minds are starved and stinted, so that this trade may flourish in. the land. What matter to them the broken bodies and souls of men and women and the neglect and suffering of little helpless children, so the dividends are big enough to satisfy the greed of those w'ho live in plenty through the degradation and suffering of men and women made in the image and likeness of the Creator.

Truly, the forces against us are very great and very strong. It is only to be expected that such colossal and vested interests as the liquor trade represents, w'ill not sit idly by w hile the question is iaken up by the League of Nations and the International Labour Office, as it will be this year. They will assuredly move heaven and earth to delay the investigations and the setting up of commissions—so well do they know that their business cannot stand the light of day w'hen brought up against the latest findings of scientific knowledge of economic research and of humane ideals.

In New Zealand we are getting into closer grips once more with this evil in official form. Another fight is very probable this coming session of Parliament. What of the part we are to play?

Let us watch and work and pray as we have never done before, to hold fast that w'hich has been so hardly w'on in the years gone by. Let us as women, be ready to fight to the uttermost to carry our standard one step farther inside the enemy’s lines, and plant it firmly on the farther side of a two-issue ballot paper, with no extension of time between the polls. For the sake of the children of our land, let us arouse ourselves as we have never yet done, for the men and women of the future —our own sons and daughters—by the memory of the past, and those leaders who have fallen by the w r ay-side, during 35 years of upward struggle—fallen most of them in action and in the prime of life, with the faith of this reform strong upon their lips and in their hearts —let us never forget how precious in the sight of God is our human life.

In the w r ords of Isaiah, let us take the strength of omnipotence for our ow r n and ask: “Who art thou that thou ahouldst be afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass, and forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the Heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; hast thou not knowm, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not. neither is There is no searching of His understanding.” This God is our God, this fight is His fight. Let us truly believe it. and go on in His strength with our own, trusting fully in His Will and His high purpose for mankind.