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Probably through the urging of men like these, Texas Baptist women's state mission organization usually had a talk on temperance at its meetings in the late 1880s

Annual Report of the Baptist Women Mission Workers of Texas , 1887, p. 76.

and made a committee on temperance one of its standing appointments in the 1890s. The resolutions drafted by these committees usually contained vivid descriptions of the
"deadly curse of drink"
and urged women to maintain attractive, alcohol-free homes so their men-folk would not seek pleasure elsewhere, to convince those males
"winsomely and wisely"
of the righteousness of the cause, and to work for the salvation of drunkards and the comfort of their families.

Proceedings of the Baptist Women Mission Workers of Texas , 1899, p. 152; 1905, p. 174.

It was assumed women would exercise temperance themselves, but they were still responsible for their sons', husbands', and brothers' actions:
"In many a home the punch bowl and the wine have caused the steps of bright and hopeful boys to first take hold on hell”
Ibid., 1899, p. 152.
"A great responsibility rests upon our women concerning the temperance question"
warned a 1902 Baptist editorial, yet those women were armed only with the indirect tool of persuasion and were limited to action in the sphere of their homes.

BS , June 5, 1902, p. 4.

Despite the importance and urgency of the cause, many men regretted that women were having to take up the temperance fight: that in many places the battle depended on women on all fronts, not just in the home. One insisted that the burden of moral reform should fall on men, but

"if men go on failing in their sphere. . .women will have to rescue [the government] as Deborah did in Israel."

BS , March 14, 1895, p. 1.

The women were not that explicit or forward in actually requesting the franchise for themselves, but they did gain political acumen and by 1911 endorsed the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union and called for a boycott of publications with liquor advertisements.

Proceedings of the Baptist Women Mission Workers of Texas , 1911, p. 211.

After Texas granted women the right to vote in primaries in 1918, their temperance report simply noted:
"Last summer the chairman of this report was glad to cast her first ballot, and this Convention may be sure that she blacked the name of every whiskey politician on the list."

Proceedings of the Baptist Women Mission Workers of Texas , 1918, p. 53.

Limited evidence suggests that not many Texas Baptist women were active in W.C.T.U. or other politically oriented organizations during this period even though they ultimately voiced sympathy with them.

“Women's pages” in the newspapers make very little mention of W.C.T.U. or "White Ribbon Ladies" or of any personalities associated with the organization. They would likely have featured reprints of papers given at W.C.T.U. meetings if such had existed. Some Baptist women were actively engaged after 1920 in the organization and worked to keep the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment from passing. See Inez B. Hunt, Century One: A Pilgrimage of Faith (Dallas: Woman's Missionary Union, 1979), p. 41.

Baptists were extremely hesitant about "unionism," or ecumenical movements, and these women were just perfecting their own missions organization, lagging behind other Protestant women. Not only were they not used to cooperating with women from other denominations, they were reticent about asserting themselves on behalf of W.C.T.U.'s overtly political goals. Contrasting with this denial of overt power was J. B. Cranfill's frequent exoneration in the Baptist Standard of Carrie Nation's tactics.
"Of course, there is a great outcry against her methods," he admitted,"but The Standard again bids her God-speed. We rejoice at every dive she smashes, and hope that her self-sacrificing crusade will make the beginning of the end of the saloon curse."

BS , January 31, 1901, p. 5.

Mrs. Nation wrote the Standard acknowledging,
"'Tis so sweet to fight a good fight!"

BS , February 20, 1902, p. 12. This letter, in which Mrs. Nation also defended her fondness for debate--against Mormans and spiritualists, as well as liquor advocates--was signed, "Carrie A. Nation, Your Loving Home Defender."

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Source:  OpenStax, Patricia martin's phd thesis. OpenStax CNX. Dec 12, 2012 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11462/1.1
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