WHITE CROSS SOCIETY. 



WISCONSIN. 



805 



WHITE CROSS SOCIETY. An organization 

 for the promotion of personal purity among 

 men. It is sometimes called the White Cross 

 Army, and its members are known as Knights 

 of the White Cross, because the order is in the 

 nature of a crusade not only for the improve- 

 ment of men, but also for the elevation of 

 women. The first White Cross Society was 

 formed in England, by the Bishop of Durham, 

 in his own diocese. To Miss Ellice Hopkins 

 the bishop ascribes the honor of giving the in- 

 spiration for the movement. In speaking of 

 the aims of the order, he says : " The obvious 

 hopelessness of attacking the degradation of 

 women and children from one side only, is at 

 length forcing itself on the recognition of the 

 Church. The weary hammering away at de- 

 graded women, while leaving all the causes 

 that make them degraded untouched, is begin- 

 ning to be recognized as not a very fruitful 

 method. We must strike at the root of the 

 evil. A more wholesome and righteous public 

 opinion must be created in the matter of social 

 purity. Not until it is generally recognized 

 that the man who has wrought a woman's 

 degradation is at least as great an offender 

 against society as the man who has robbed a 

 till, or the man who has forged a check nay, 

 much greater, for he has done a far more irre- 

 parable wrong not until society is prepared 

 to visit such an offender with the severest so- 

 cial penalties, will there be any real change 

 for the better. So long as the violation of 

 purity is condoned in the one sex, and visited 

 with shame in the other, our unrighteousness 

 and unmanliness must continue to work out its 

 own terrible retribution. Is it beyond hope 

 that, by involving widely the principle of asso- 

 ciation on a very simple religious basis, this 

 end of creating a healthy public opinion may 

 be obtained?" In regard to the machinery 

 employed to reach this end the same authority 

 says: "The White Cross movement has the 

 advantage of flexibility. It may be worked as 

 a parochial or a town organization, or both. 

 It may be grafted on some existing guild or 

 society, or it may be worked independently, as 

 is found convenient. It may be connected 

 with the Church of England Purity Society, or 

 it may be erected on a narrower or a broader 

 religious basis, as its promoters desire. The 

 one characteristic that we regard as distinctive 

 of White Cross fellowship is the adherence to 

 the fivefold pledge." The pledge alluded to 



is as follows: " I, , promise by the help of 



God 1. To treat all women with respect, and 

 endeavor to protect them from wrong and 

 degradation. 2. To endeavor to put down all 

 indecent language and coarse jests. 3. To 

 maintain the law of purity as equally binding 

 upon men and women. 4. To endeavor to 

 spread these principles among my companions, 

 and to try and help my younger brothers. 

 5. To use every possible means to fulfill the 

 command ' Keep thyself pure.' " The age at 

 which boys are permitted to join the society is 



p'aced at sixteen years. It is announced that 

 a White Cross league may be organized in a 

 church, a Bible-class, a secular school, or in a 

 manufacturing establishment where men are 

 employed ; that any mother may form a socie- 

 ty in her home with her own boys and their 

 companions ; and that if a league be formed in 

 a church, the pastor, Sunday-school superin- 

 tendent, and teachers, the older and prominent 

 men, as well as the younger, in a word, all the 

 men and all the boys over sixteen years of age 

 in the congregation should be asked to unite. 

 The first efforts of the Bishop of Durham were 

 made in 1883, and the work spread rapidly 

 over England, men of all classes and profes- 

 sions enrolling themselves. The movement is 

 said to have made special headway at Cam- 

 bridge and Oxford. Immense gatherings of 

 pitmen, clerks, and others, held to gain re- 

 cruits, were addressed by ministers and lay- 

 men, and often with great effect by Miss Hop- 

 kins. Organizations were soon formed in 

 England's colonies, in India, Africa, Australia, 

 and Canada. The first society in America, 

 formed in February, 1884, in New York city, 

 now numbers over one thousand members. 

 Branches have also been established in all the 

 larger cities of the United States. While this 

 work has received the countenance of the 

 Church of England, and of the Episcopal 

 Church in America, in so marked a degree, it 

 has also been taken up by special organiza- 

 tions, and earnest men and women in all de- 

 nominations. At the annual meeting of the 

 National White Cross T. U. in Philadelphia, in 

 November, 1885, that society created a depart- 

 ment for social purity, with the intent that it 

 should include efforts to organize White Cross 

 leagues. Other vehicles for the spread of the 

 organization have been formed in the Young 

 Men's Christian Associations throughout the 

 United States. 



WISCONSIN. State Government. The follow- 

 ing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Jeremiah M. Eusk, Republican; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, George W. Ryland ; Sec- 

 retary of State, Ernst G. Timme; Treasurer, 

 Henry B. Harshaw ; Attorney-General, C. E. 

 Estabrook; Superintendent of Public Schools, 

 Jesse B. Thayer; Railroad Commissioner, At- 

 ley Peterson ; Insurance Commissioner, Philip 

 Cheek; Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 Arasmus Cole; Associate Justices, William P. 

 Lyon, Harlow S. Orton, David Taylor, and 

 John B. Cassody. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature met on 

 January 12, and adjourned on April 16, after 

 a session of ninety-four days. U. S. Senator 

 Philetus Sawyer, who was unanimously nomi- 

 nated by the Republican caucus, was re-elected. 

 The Democratic candidate was John Wiiums. 

 A bill reapportioning the State for members of 

 the Legislature was passed at this session ; also 

 bills prohibiting aliens from acquiring or hold- 

 ing more than 320 acres of land, unless by in- 

 heritance or for debt, providing tor the levy in 



