Willard, Frances

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4: Frances Willard

Excerpt from "Address Before the Second Biennial Convention of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union"

Speech delivered in October 1893; reprinted from Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World

Web site; available online at http://gos.sbc.edu/w/willard.html

The temperance movement in the United States was an organized effort to discourage people from drinking alcohol. It steadily gained members during the nineteenth century and greatly influenced the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1919), which made it illegal to manufacture, sell, or transport liquor.

As early as the 1830s, there were more than six thousand local temperance groups in the United States. Those groups generally used social and educational tactics in attempting to persuade people to refrain from selling or consuming liquor. Following the American Civil War (1861–65), the movement attracted more members, succeeded in getting many anti-liquor laws passed, and began working more closely with temperance groups from other nations. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1874, and the Anti-Saloon League, founded in 1893, emerged as the most powerful temperance organizations.

"The history of the reformer, whether man or woman, on any line of action is but this: when he sees it all alone he is a fanatic; when a good many see it with him they are enthusiasts; when all see it he is a hero."

As president of the WCTU from 1879 until 1898, Frances Willard (1839–1898) became one of the most prominent social reformers of nineteenth-century America. A captivating public speaker, Willard rallied support for temperance while linking the movement with several other social reform causes through her "Do Everything Policy." Just as people should behave virtuously, or good, in all of their actions, she argued, so too was it right to work for various reform causes in addition to temperance. "Total abstinence is not the crucial virtue in life that excuses financial crookedness, defamation [attacking the dignity] of character, or habits of impurity," she noted in her speech to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Through Willard, the WCTU supported woman's suffrage (voting rights) as well as labor, prison, education, and religious reforms.

Willard was raised on a large farm in Janesville, Wisconsin. After being schooled at home and later in the town's schoolhouse, she entered North Western Female College in Evanston, Illinois, in 1858 and graduated in 1860. She taught in Methodist schools during the 1860s and was appointed president of Evanston College for Ladies in 1871. Two years later the college was absorbed by the all-male Northwestern University and was renamed the Woman's College of Northwestern University. Willard was appointed dean (head of administration) of the women's college. That year she also helped to found the Association for the Advancement of Women.

In 1874 Willard resigned as dean and began working for the newly organized Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She became a leading organizer of the group and traveled the country giving lectures. Willard gained a national reputation in 1879 by leading a campaign in Evanston that lobbied the Illinois legislature for the right of women to vote on the sale of liquor in local referendums (a vote on a proposed public measure). The campaign failed, but the following year she assumed the duties of president of the WCTU. Willard quickly became one of the best known and most influential women of the late nineteenth century. By 1883 she had lectured in every state of the Union, and the WCTU became the largest women's organization in the nation.

Things to remember while reading the excerpt from "Address Before the Second Biennial Convention of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union":

Willard was best known as a famous public speaker, or orator. Her colorful use of language often featured metaphors, which are comparisons between unlike things, to help convey her message. In the opening paragraph of the excerpt that follows for example, she uses the phrase "body politic" (a phrase that describes those who govern) then talks about it as though it were a human body. In that same paragraph, she uses music as a metaphor to highlight how the temperance movement began as one note played on one string and gradually became a mighty orchestra.
Willard's famous "Do Everything Policy" is described in this speech. She is addressing the WCTU convention—a gathering of people primarily interested in temperance—but notes that temperance is related to many other needed reforms. Contending that "A one-sided movement makes one-sided advocates," she links temperance with other causes. Again using colorful language, Willard claims that "Virtues, like hounds, hunt in packs."
This speech was made in October 1893, a year after a presidential election. Supporters of temperance were discouraged that they had not exerted more influence on the election and had not succeeded in pushing for more anti-alcohol laws around the country. Willard's speech was intended to rally enthusiasm. She cites prohibition of alcohol as part of a "blessed trinity of movements, Prohibition, Woman's Liberation and Labour's uplift [the value of work]." By combining support for the three movements, Willard again reaffirms her "Do Everything Policy": "Everything is not in the Temperance Reform, but the Temperance Reform should be in everything."

Excerpt from "Address Before the Second Biennial Convention of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union"

Beloved Comrades of the White Ribbon Army:
When we began the delicate, difficult, and dangerous operation of dissecting [cutting] out the alcohol nerve from the body politic, we did not realize the intricacy of the undertaking nor the distances that must be traversed by the scalpel [knife] of investigation and research. In about seventy days from now, twenty years will have elapsed since the call of battle sounded its bugle note among the homes and hearts of Hillsboro, Ohio. We have all been refreshing our knowledge of those days by reading the "Crusade Sketches" of its heroic leader, Mrs. Eliza J. Thompson, "the mother of us all," and we know that but one thought, sentiment and purpose animated those saintly "Praying Bands" whose name will never die out from human history. "Brothers, we beg you not to drink and not to sell!" This was the one wailing note of these moral Paganinis, playing on one string. It caught the universal ear and set the key of that mighty orchestra, organised with so much toil and hardship, in which the tender and exalted strain of the Crusade violin still soars aloft, but upborne now by the clanging cornets of science, the deep trombones of legislation, and the thunderous drums of politics and parties. The "Do Everything Policy" was not of our choosing, but is an evolution as inevitable [unavoidable] as any traced by the naturalist or described by the historian. Woman's genius for details, and her patient steadfastness [determination] in following the enemies of those she loves "through every lane of life," have led her to antagonise [counteract] the alcohol habit and the liquor traffic just where they are, wherever that may be. If she does this, since they are everywhere, her policy will be "Do Everything."
A one-sided movement makes one-sided advocates. Virtues, like hounds, hunt in packs. Total abstinence [denial] is not the crucial virtue in life that excuses financial crookedness, defamation [insult] of character, or habits of impurity [not pure]. The fact that one's father was, and one's self is, a bright and shining light in the total abstinence galaxy, does not give one a vantage ground for high-handed behaviour toward those who have not been trained to the special virtue that forms the central idea of the Temperance Movement. We have known persons who, because they had "never touched a drop of liquor," set themselves up as if they belonged to a royal line, but whose tongues were as biting as alcohol itself, and whose narrowness had no competitor save a straight line. An all-round movement can only be carried forward by all-round advocates; a scientific age requires the study of every subject in its correlations. It was once supposed that light, heat, and electricity were wholly separate entities; it is now believed and practically proved that they are but different modes of motion. Standing in the valley we look up and think we see an isolated mountain; climbing to its top we see that it is but one member of a range of mountains many of them of well-nigh [about] equal altitude.
Some bright women who have opposed the "Do-Everything Policy" used as their favourite illustration a flowing river, and expatiated [dwelled upon] on the ruin that would follow if that river (which represents their do-one-thing policy) were diverted into many channels, but it should be remembered that the most useful of all rivers is the Nile, and that the agricultural economy of Egypt consists in the effort to spread its waters upon as many fields as possible. It is not for the river's sake that it flows through the country but for the sake of the fertility [richness] it can bring upon adjoining fields, and this is pre-eminently true of the Temperance Reform….
Let us not be disconcerted [upset], but stand bravely by that blessed trinity of movements, Prohibition, Woman's Liberation and Labour's uplift.
Everything is not in the Temperance Reform, but the Temperance Reform should be in everything.
There is no better motto for the "Do-Everything-Policy," than this which we are saying by our deeds: "Make a chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city of violence."
If we can remember this simple rule, it will do much to unravel the mystery of the much controverted [controversial] "Do-Everything-Policy," [namely]: that every question of practical philanthropy or reform has its temperance aspect, and with that we are to deal….
There are two changeless sources of solid happiness; first, the belief in God, and second, the habit of hard work toward useful ends. The first affords a sunshiny mental atmosphere, the second keeps that ever-active engine, the brain, from working on itself. For it cannot be idle, and if its energies are not directed toward objective occupation, it will find employment in such dissection of its own powers as will weaken them, and tend toward morbid [unhealthy] views and general bewilderment. The recoil of an engine upon itself, when that engine is the brain, means, in the last analysis, insanity. Looking out upon the world we perceive that it is continually improving as to the comforts of life, the tools of mind and hand, the inventions that help on the annihilation [destruction] of time and space, and the incentives to noble character. We know that this great improvement has not happened but has been caused to come to pass; and we know that human beings are the necromancers [magicians] who have wrought these wonders. If we are not wandering savages, it is because of some systematic power put forth to produce that totality of improvement which we call Civilization. This was done man by man, woman by woman, step by step, thought by thought, hand by hand. Into the vast and fruitful harvest of their sowing who have passed across the stage and out of sight, we have been welcomed for a while, and the least that we can do is to add our increment [increase] of power to the totality of achievement,—to leave the world, materially, mentally, sympathetically, conscientiously, spiritually, as much better than we found it, as the addition of our personality and rational effort during the years allotted to us, can cause it to become. This is a very practical view of life, I am aware; but it is one that commends itself to this practical age, and as I understand it, the women of the White Ribbon, banded together in the name of "God and Home and Every Land," propose to do just what I have described in a systematized and consecutive fashion, so long as life and health remain to them. In view of such a purpose, our Association can but command the respect and goodwill of all rational minds, and we do not care what the irrational may say, because their blame is praise….
The Church that within the next generation opens widest doors of ecclesiastical [religious] freedom to women will be the church of Gospel triumph and heavenly benediction [praise]. And the reforms that women lead shall win men's will and work, as certainly as a true mother can count upon her son. For tact is talent working by love, and winning by worthiness.
The history of the reformer, whether man or woman, on any line of action is but this: when he sees it all alone he is a fanatic; when a good many see it with him they are enthusiasts; when all see it he is a hero. The gradations [levels] are as clearly marked by which he ascends from zero to hero, as the lines of latitude from the North Pole to the Equator.
A wooden bowl is soon turned on the lathe, but the making of a golden bowl which must be beaten and burnished [polished] is quite another thing.
It is quite likely that in the long, slow, and often weary march of these 20 years since the Crusade impulse came to us from heaven, we have not seen as much accomplished on the specific lines where we have wrought as we had hoped; but we must all remember how little it is possible for us to realize the outcome of our work. I do not know how it may be with other speakers and writers in the cause of temperance, woman, and labor, but for myself I seldom hear that anything has come of what I have tried to do. Yet now and then in ways most unexpected I have learnt of changes in the lives of individuals and even of communities, that have astounded me as results of my poor labors, and I conclude from this that if we were but to know all the good that is developed or conserved by our united and systematic efforts, we should indeed take heart of hope….
Concerning the Temperance Movement in our land and throughout the world to-day, the pessimist says—and says truly—"There was never so much liquor manufactured in any one year since time began as in the year 1893, and as a consequence never did so much liquor flow down the people's throats as in this same year of grace." "But," says the optimist, "There is each year a larger acreage from which the brewer and distiller may gather the golden grain and luscious fruits, there are more people to imbibe [drink] the exhilarating poison; but, per contra [conversely], there was never so much intelligent thinking in any one year as to the drink delusion [false belief], there were never so many children studying in the schools the laws written in their members, there were never such gatherings together of temperance people to consult on the two great questions what to do and what not to do as in this year; there was never such a volume of experience and expert testimony and knowledge so varied, so complete, as we have had this year at the International Congress; there were never so many total abstainers in proportion to the population, never so many intelligent people who could render a reason scientific, ethical, aesthetic [artistic], for their total abstinence faith as now; there were never so many pulpits from which to bombard the liquor traffic and the drink habit; there were never so many journalists who had a friendly word to say for the Temperance Reform; there was never such a stirring up of temperance politics; for the foremost historic nation of the world, Great Britain, has this year, for the first time, adopted as a plank in the platform of the dominant party the principle that the people shall themselves decide whether or not they want the public house [saloon]; and as a natural consequence of this political action there was never a public sentiment so respectful toward the Temperance Reform. The great world-brain is becoming saturated with the idea that it is reasonable and kind to let strong drink alone. The vastness of these changes can only be measured by the remembrance that a few generations ago these same drinks were the accredited [recognized] emblems in cot and palace alike, of hospitality, kindness, and good-will….
A Bill has been for many years before Congress for the appointment of a commission on the investigation of the liquor traffic; and I have never failed to call attention in my Annual Address, to this great movement inaugurated by the National Temperance Society nor to urge the co-operation of the W.C.T.U., which I need not say has been always given. The vast importance of this measure is demonstrated by the ceaseless efforts of the whiskey power to defeat its passage, in which they have thus far been successful, and are likely to be for many years to come. The power of the saloon is nowhere more conspicuously [obviously] manifested than in the annual defeat of this great measure. Congress has appointed commissions on well-nigh every conceivable subject,—the investigation of the slums of our cities, of sweating establishments, of agricultural interests, of farm mortgages, of immigration, quarantine, railroads, monetary problems, cattle diseases, fisheries, and I know not what besides; but to investigate the liquor monopoly is to touch the very ark of the covenant with hell, and agreement with damnation to which the American people has been sworn by their political leaders. In spite of all this, we have gained an intelligent idea of the business from the internal revenue reports and from state and police records; but what we want is the attestation [testimony] of the national government to the truth of these figures of perdition [damnation]. If Congress persists in its refusal, why shall not the W.C.T.U. make a sweeping, and thorough investigation of the liquor traffic? Undoubtedly the political machinery of state and nation would place all possible obstacles in our way; but we have a personnel in every community throughout the republic, than which none that exists is more intelligent and devoted. Such a commission would be absolutely reliable so far as information could be obtained, and unless Congress in creating such a commission would agree to place upon it two or three prohibitionists or White Ribbon women the returns would be unreliable; for no politicians of the two leading parties would dare to weaken their great stronghold—the saloon. One of our best superintendents of legislative work has written of her devotion to this idea, and I bring it forward hoping the Convention may take favorable action.

What happened next …

The WCTU voted to push for federal action against alcohol consumption. While not immediately successful, the action created momentum for the idea of a nationwide prohibition against the manufacture and sale of liquor. Another temperance group, the Anti-Saloon League, was formed in Ohio in 1893 and became a national political force by 1895, dedicated solely to backing candidates who supported Prohibition.

At the time Willard gave her 1893 speech she was suffering from chronic anemia, which is a disease of the blood, along with other ailments. She died in 1898, at age fifty-eight. More than twenty thousand people paid their last respects at services in New York City and Chicago, Illinois.

The Prohibition movement continued gaining momentum. Within twenty years of Willard's death, almost half the states (twenty-three of the forty-eight that made up the United States at the time) had adopted legislation regulating or prohibiting the manufacture of alcoholic beverages. The cause was so powerful in 1916 that presidential candidates of both major parties announced their support for a Constitutional amendment banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol. Congressional elections that year were won by more "dry" candidates (those in favor of Prohibition) than "wet" ones (those against Prohibition). By January 1919, the necessary three-fourths majority of states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which placed a nationwide ban on the manufacture and transportation of intoxicating liquor. An amendment to the Constitution must be approved by the U.S. Congress, but to become law it also must be approved by three-fourths of the states. Each state legislature debates and votes on whether or not to approve amendments to the Constitution. Another favorite cause of Willard's was realized the following year when the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote in national elections.

Prohibition, however, did not prove successful. Many Americans believed the amendment restricted their personal freedom and that the role of alcohol in American life had been distorted by temperance supporters. Prohibition was blamed for contributing to disregard for the law during the 1920s, and for the rise in organized crime in cities. For example, crime gangs, often called "bootleggers," smuggled alcohol to establishments that illegally sold liquor ("speakeasies"). By the mid-1920s, the movement to repeal, or take back, the Eighteenth Amendment gained strength. In 1933 the work of Americans Against Prohibition Association (AAPA), as well as public disillusionment over the "noble experiment" of Prohibition, led to quick passage of the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed Prohibition.

Did you know …

In 1887, Willard presented to the U.S. Congress a petition for woman's suffrage signed by two hundred thousand WCTU members. The following year she testified before a Senate committee on the significance of voting rights. She also lobbied state legislatures to adopt a "home protection" measure that would give women the right to vote on matters that affected the home. From that step, she believed, full suffrage could be secured. Illinois later adopted the "home protection" measure.
When Willard became president of Evanston College for Ladies (associated with Northwestern University) in 1871, she was the first American woman to ever head a college. Willard subsequently gave up this profitable career in education to devote herself to the temper ance crusade. For many years she worked for the WCTU with no pay, living only on money she made through speaking engagements.

Consider the following …

Research and write on some of the reasons why the temperance movement gained many more followers after the American Civil War (1861–65). Consider how the growth of industries in cities and the often lawless towns of the Wild West contributed to growing concerns about the effects of alcohol consumption. Also consider the roles that organized religion and heads of industry played in helping the temperance movement during the final decades of the nineteenth century.
Explore and write about the reasons why Prohibition was repealed.

For More Information

BOOKS

Baker, Jean H. Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists. New York: Hill and Wang, 2005.

Bordin, Ruth. Frances Willard: A Biography. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

Bordin, Ruth. Women and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873–1900. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1990.

Harness, Cheryl. Rabble Rousers: 20 Women Who Made a Difference. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2003.

Leeman, Richard W. "Do Everything" Reform: The Oratory of Frances E. Willard. Westport: CT: Greenwood Press, 1992.

WEB SITES

Frances E. Willard Historical Association. http://www.franceswillardhouse.org/home/index.php (accessed on June 15, 2006).

Kent, Antoinette Cowles. "Frances E. Willard." Wisconsin Electronic Readerhttp://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/WER0105.html (accessed on June 15, 2006).

Willard, Frances. "Address Before the Second Biennial Convention of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union." Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World. http://gos.sbc.edu/w/willard.html (accessed on June 15, 2006).

White Ribbon Army: Members of the WCTU who wore a white ribbon to symbolize their support of Prohibition.

Body politic: A phrase that describes those who govern.

Mrs. Eliza J. Thompson: Leader of a successful protest against saloons.

"Praying Bands": Temperance supporters who prayed and marched together.

Paganinis: A reference to Nicolò Paganini, 1782–1840, a famous violinist.

Naturalist: A scientist who studies nature.

Correlations: Surrounding environment.

Naile: A reference to the world's longest river, located on the continent of Africa.

Philanthropy: To use one's riches to help others less fortunate.

Incentives: Rewards used to motivate.

Tact: To avoid offending others.

Lathe: A machine used to shape or cut a piece of material.