Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/697

656 of drink, and in the autumn, in the national convention, in Newark, N. J., disregarding the earnest pleadings of conservative friends, she declared her conviction in her first suffrage speech. She originated the motto, "For God and home and native land." This was first the motto of the Chicago Union. It was then adopted by the Illinois State Union; in 1876 beamebecame [sic] that of the National Union, and was adapted to the use of the World's Union in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Mass., in 1891, then becoming, "For God, and home and every land." Miss Willard was one of the founders of the National Woman's Temperance Union Paper, Our Union in New York, and of the Signal, the organ of the Illinois Union. These, in 1882, were merged in the Union Signal which is now one of the most widely circulated papers in the world.

In the autumn of 1877 she declined the nomination of the presidency of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, but she accepted it in 1879, when she was elected in Indianapolis, Ind., as the exponent of a liberal policy including state rights for the state societies, representation on a basis of paid membership and the advocacy of the ballot for women. At that time no Southern state except Maryland was represented in the national society and the total yearly income was only about $12.00. In 1881 Miss Willard made a tour of the Southern states, which reconstructed her views of the situation and conquered conservative prejudice and sectional opposition. Thus was given the initial impetus to the formation of the home protection party which it was desired should unite all good men and women in its ranks. During the following year Miss Willard completed her plan of visiting and organizing every state and territory in the United States, and of presenting her cause in every town and city that had reached a population of ten thousand. She visited the Pacific coast, and California, Oregon, and even British Columbia, were thoroughly organ-