The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 10, 1919, Page 12

More Interest in General Affairs Farm Woman of Westby, Mont., Indorses Points Made by Mrs. Sam Dean in the Leader 5)) FTER reading Mrs. Sam Dean’s article in the Leader for November 11, I can not help admiring the view she has of votes for women, or universal I, too, think women are suffrage. people and, or at least ought to be, included in “We, the people, etc.” I know of many women who are more capable of understanding politics and voting than many of the men. Why shouldn’t they vote? Do the men who are against woman -suffrage really believe the women to be in- ferior beings placed here to be only for their service and with inferior mental power? If they do not, then why not admit that the women are equals in this respect and why not give them what belongs to them but has been taken away by men? Why should not the mothers of the nation have a voice in making the laws gov- erning the land where their children are growing up? If the mothers of the nation are too inferior mentally to help make the laws of our country, they are surely too inferior to raise the boys and girls—or are the men doing that duty too? SHOULD HAVE AS MUCH TIME AS THE MEN -Some may say that the women are not well enough posted on politics to know how to vote; others that the homes might be neglected. Now why should not the women have just as much time for reading and talking politics as the men have? Why should the mothers be so loaded with work that they can neither read nor write about matters of interest to them? I refer, of course, mostly to women on the farm. I know of farm women that work from early morning to late at night six days of the week and most of the sev- enth day as well. If the farm men would provide the modern conveniences for the women in the house as they provide modern ma- chinery for the farm work, the women would have time both for i : { The home of J. L. Coates, well-known League booster of Greensburg, Kan. Mr. Coates belongs to the second crop of pioneers. The first crop lost their v land to the money lenders, and Mr. Coates got some of this foreclosed land on a capital of $50 in 1900. Since then he has built the house and barns we see i here and has acquired 800 acres of land. The little white house in the rear is Mr. Coates’ first home on the farm, and if he had been a tenant farmer, it i would still be his home. The contrast between this first house ‘and the 14-room house with all modern improvements, also shows what farm prosperity means - to the farmer’s wife. Like all men of right impulses, Mr. Coates is working hard to make conditions better for all men who toil, and he knows that the way to accomplish this is to drive special privilege out of our public life. The fact that he has fared better than many : others has not closed his mind and heart to the big problems of his brother farmers. PAGE TWELVE D R S o e S s reading and study, and they could be as well informed on political questions as the men—perhaps better. Now, fellow- farm women, let us prepare for the day when we shall have the suffrage, because we are go- ing to get it. We are not going to be rated as “idiots, criminals and the I ARCHIE McLARTY | Two of the products of State Repre- - sentative A. J. McLarty’s farm at Starkweather, N. D. Young Archie, of course, has the League smile and the pups are as happy as pups could be off the ground. insane.” We are going to be cata- logued as part of “the people” of the United States. But while we are waiting for full suffrage, let us be equal to the occasion by going to the polls and voting for the few officers we are now allowéd to vote for. Let us make it a point to go even if we have to have pancakes 0///////4: 7y /% % pn. e, Town Homes for Country Women Have you ever shopped in a town with a real rest room— - clean, home-like place where the children can be taken and where you can rest if tired or while the man of the family is transacting his business? If you haven’t, then the places where you have shopped have something to learn about twen- tieth century civilization. A surprising number of our North- west towns have not yet discovered that many farm women prefer the mail order method to walking the streets or keep- ing the children in the wagon on the vacant lot until it is time to go home. Again some towns which have apparently caught the idea, have provided wretched quarters for the country shoppers, very much on the order of immigrant receiving stations. What they offer shows either a gross disrespect of the country shopper and visitors or feebleness of imagination in the local commercial clubs. Perhaps it is well that private- business has generally " failed in this matter as in so many other important respects, for the best way to provide a rest room is not through char- itable contributions but through the local public authorities. The country shoppers can then feel that it is theirs and that they can take pride in using it. Many communities in the western provinces of Canada are leading the way in providing real rest rooms through public funds. Comfortable chairs, sofas and rugs are put in; the walls are well decorated; these publicly provided rest rooms in fact look like reception rooms in comfortable family hotels. They offer real satisfaction and real rest. The horses have their livery stables. Even the automobiles have their garages. But the country women have naught but the public streets. or cornbread for supper when we - return. We farm women must turn out better than we did on November 5 if we are going to get the legislation we want. See, for instance, how the city women turned out to vote for state su- perintendent of education in North Dakota in order to beat a man in- dorsed by the League. We women who stand for better rural edu- cation must go to _the polls even if the weather is not very pleas- ant. We can go to the polls with- out wearing our best clothes if we are afraid of spoiling them,- but we MUST make the polls after this. BETTER CONDITIONS FOR TOILERS - Mrs. Dean is right when she says that we farm women should be just A_SIGNIFICANT FARM PICTURE as well educated and up-to-date as the town women. We have just as much right to be so as they. Let us do all we can to right things that are wrong. It is wrong that farm women should work so much harder and re- ceive less for their toil than the town women. Let us read, think and rea- son; then do what we can at the polls and elsewhere to better conditions for all who labor whether on the farm or in town. _ Let us push the education of our youth and not say as one man here said: “Farmers need no education.” Education is just what the farmer needs today. Let us educate our own class so that we do not' have to send lawyers and bankers to make the laws. Fellow farm women, let’s stick and we’ll win. T A FARM WOMAN. -