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Frances Willard, "Social Purity Work for 1887," Jan 1887
point of that sharpest of bayonets--aroused and concentrated public
opinion. Last year we rejoiced over the expurgation from Great
Britain's legislative records of those barbarous Contagious Diseases
Acts[B], the repeal of which was said by the London Times to be the
greatest personal triumph ever won by a woman--and that woman Mrs.
Josephine Butler, the first of her sex who ever publicly raised up a
standard against the legalized degradation of the world's gentler half.
Last year we studied the wonderful White Cross movement, under the
wise and thoughtful guidance of Miss Ellice Hopkins[C] of Brighton,
England, and the Rev. Dr. B. F. De Costa[D] of New York, through
whose efforts the society has now been endorsed by the Episcopal
Church at its Triemnial Session, in Chicago, and broadened by the
seven methods of the clergy's official "Declaration" until it is better
adapted to the spirit of our people. All this was noble tutelage, and
though possibly we might have done better than the record shows in
some particulars, we nevertheless made a beginning, and "it is the
earliest step that costs."
Nearly every state in the Union appointed a superintendent of
work for the promotion of social purity, and thousands of local unions
began the study of arguments and methods. Sixty thousand of Miss
Hopkins' White Cross Leaflets were ordered from our National
Headquarters 161 LaSalle Street, Chicago, and thirty-three thousand
White Cross pledges. Letters by thousands were received and
answered, and documents relative to the work sent out, not only
through the United States, but the civilized world; for this great
awakening seems like a wave of spiritual power belting the earth.
But 1887 is here, and what are now our plans? They involve
some points that are now. As before, we have grouped the work under
three heads: Preventive, Reformatory and Legislative.
Under the first our effort will be chiefly to carry forwards the plans
of the White Cross Societies. These are given at length in the "White
Cross Manual," which we have just brought out, and which is for sale
at our Headquarters, 161 LaSalle Street, Chicago.
THE WHITE CROSS SOCIETY
is formed on men alone. No woman or girl has ever, in any land been
made a member. It is not a secret society, but it very simply organized,
and has no admission fee. Each member takes the following fivefold
obligation: I.................................................................................
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