She came to me privately and asked me to
state to the convention that the W. C. T. U. knew nothing about the
smashing at Kiowa and was not responsible for this act of mine. I did
so, saying the "honor of smashing the saloons at Kiowa would have to
be ascribed to myself alone, as the W. C. T. U. did not wish any of it. So
far as Sister Hutchinson, who is, and has been the president for some time,
is concerned, I believe her to be a conscientious woman, and whose heart
is in the right place. She and I have been the best of friends and love
each other, and she has often defended me and spoken well of my work.
But I think the W. C. T. U. would be much more effective under her
management, if she had understood that Stanley, the republican governor,
wished to handicap her in her prohibition work when he appointed
her husband as physician in the reformatory at Hutchinson, Kansas. Be
it said to the credit of this christian physician he never used alcohol in
his practice. And perhaps other bearings have prevented her from seeing
that the republican pressure has injured our work more than anything
else in Kansas. Many of the wives of these political wire-pullers
are prominent in the Union. A W. C. T. U. must of necessity be a
prohibitionist, for her pledge is a prohibition pledge, not a temperance
one.
The Free Methodists, although few in number, and considered a church
of but small influence, have been a great power in reform.
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