Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1894 — INDIANA W. C. T.U [ARTICLE]

INDIANA W. C. T.U

three Hundred Udtei Phdxod to Vote in Movember. Monday was a busy day for the W. C. T. U. convention in session at Indianapolis. Miscellaneous matters were discussed it the morning session and papers on various departments of the temperance reform work were read by different ladies. Mrs. Gougar, in speaking on “Labor,” Rated that the financial difficulties of the tountry were solely traceable to the liquor traffic. She also addressed the convention on the proposed test vote on woman luff rage at the coming election. She ex--plained the legal status of the question, ind amid great enthusiasm over three hundred women pledged themselves to >ffer their ballot and to use their influence to get other women to vote. Mrs. Bougar will cast a test ballot. The suffragists have retained John M. Gougar, jf Lafayette, and Sayler & Sayler, of Huntington. Mrs. Charlton Edholm spoke >n social purity and led the hour of prayer. In the afternoon there were two important by-laws added to the constitution. One was to have the trustees of the Had' ley Industrial School, formerly appointed io their offices, elected by the W. C. T. U., ihe method of election to be by ballot. These trustees are to be chosen three fol three years, three for two years and three for one year. A heated discussion entued over the question of closing the headquarters on Pennsylvania street, which have been maintained at aiis for so many years. Parliamentary rules were sadly broken by the ladies and treat feeling was manifested. At last a iecisiye vote was reached—l 29 to 90—in favor of closing the rooms. There are five hundred less women in the organization this year and the funds are correspondingly low. while there is a debt of a little more than $603. The women are afraid of the debt. The women who stood firmly, though in the minority, feel that it is a great mistake to let such an organization, said to be the largest composed of women in the world, have to take one step backward; that in this legislative year, above all others, to let a single man in favor of saloons and the saloon men themselves think for one moment that thi cause is failing in the least particular. The following are the W. C. T. U. officersfor thenext year: - ——— President —Mrs. L, M. Beck, Bloomington. Vice-President—Mary Hadley, Indianapolis. Recording Secretary—Mrs. Mattie Comack, Marion. Corresponding Secretary—Mrs. Mary E. Balch. Treasurer—Mrs. Luella McWhirter, Indianapolis,