[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2450]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO NATIONAL WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 17, 1999

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, on November 18, 1999, the 
National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) will celebrate 125 
years in existence, making it the oldest, continuing, nonsectarian 
Christian woman's organization in the United States. Their motto is 
``For God and Home and Every Land.''
  Directed entirely by women from its beginning, the WCTU has united 
women from various backgrounds and geographical regions in their 
determination to educate the world about the dangers associated with 
the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Throughout the years, the 
WCTU has advocated for universal voting rights for women and 
minorities, the eight-hour work day, equal pay for equal work, 
opposition to child labor, shelters for abused women and children, and 
world peace. In 1945, the WCTU became a charter member of the United 
Nations Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO).
  Their first National president, Annie Wittenmyer, was thanked by 
Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant for her work during the 
Civil War in organizing diet kitchens in military hospitals. Their 
second National president, Frances E. Willard, was honored in 1905 by 
having her statue placed in the Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol--the 
first woman and the only woman to be honored for more than 50 years. 
The current National president of the WCTU is Sarah Ward, a resident of 
the great State of Indiana, and I wish her all the best in her 
endeavors with the WCTU as they continue their good work for the 
protection of the home.

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