The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 8, 1919, Page 8

| 1 1 “ORRSERR SL A e A Farm Women and Nonpartisan League Auxiliary in North Dakota Preparing Wives and Daughters of League Members for the Ballot—Forty-One Clubs Now in Operation BY AMY G. EDMUNDS (Secretary of the Woman’s auxiliary of the National Nonpartisan league.) HAT will the women do when they get the wvote?” This is the question that is uppermost*in the minds of those who are scanning the political horizon for signs of the times. Particu- larly is it a matter of vital im- portance in those states where the Nonpartisan league is oper- ating. ' In North Dakota, where the Nonpartisan league controls the state, this problem of the woman vote is being seriously considered and is the major topic of conversation at the capitol. One who has not been on the firing line in North Dakota, where the battle never ceases, will probably dispose of the situation with a shrug and a grin and the bromidic remark: “They should worry! The woman always votes as her husband votes. The farmer’s wife will vote the League ticket, of course!” ) However comforting that solution may be to the fellow on the-sidelines, those who watched the vote come in during the small hours of the nights fol- lowing the last general election in North Dakota do not feel quite so nonchalant about the matter, for they have this disconcerting fact staring them in the face: At that election, last fall, the women had the right to vote on the office of State superin- tendent of schools, and that office was the only one to which an opponent of the League was elected! Of course, there are many explana- tions of this occurrence—the flu, the bad weather, the inability of the farmer women to get to the polls, the fact that a woman ran on the ticket against a man, and that many of the women voted for their sex rather than for principle—all very reasonable and acceptable excuses. But, as some one has said, “To explain a fact does not alter it.” There it stands. What does it mean? Quite patently, it means that the town women outvoted the country women. The former went to the polls, almost without exception. The oppo- sition saw to it that they did. It is said they even furnished conveyances for the housewives and nurses for their children. The country women, having no such privileges, stayed at home. Hundreds of rural polling places were not opened that day at all. Now, what happened last November = may happen again at any time. What is to be done about so serious a menace to the League organization, not only in North Dakota, but everywhere where the League is working ? How can it be brought home to the rural-dwelling woman that she must vote on election day just as conscientiously as she serubs the children on Satur- day night? The answer to this query is the Woman’s auxiliary of the National Nonpartisan league. ) ORGANIZED IN BISMARCK DURING LAST SESSION The preliminary organization was effected in Bis- marck, N. D., during the closing days of the last legislature. A group of women in attendance at that unique body of legislators, women interested in the League program and its continuance in the state, launched the first club. It was called Unit No. 1 - of the Woman’s auxiliary of Bismarck. Mrs. H. R. Wood of Wolseth was chosen chairman of the executive committee. Miss Aldyth Ward of Bismarck, formerly of. the child welfare commis- sion and a daughter of one of the pioneer families of the state, together with Mrs. E. D. Lundeen, also man, were chosen as the other two members of the committee. Mrs. Grace D. Brewer of the national i office of the League was called from St. Paul to take temporary charge of the work. The women who were present at the birth of the new League baby came from all over the state, and when they returned to their home towns they car- own fresh enthusiasm.. The word spgead like a AT ‘ RN S Sy R T RO s of Bismarck, and wife of a prominent trades union - ried back the good news and poured into it their. prairie fire, and clubs sprang up, all over the state. There are already 41 of these organizations formed, and working toward larger membership all the time. The women declare that they will have every farmer woman in the “state signed up in the Woman’s auxiliary before 1920. And mark you thiss: THE WOMEN ARE VOLUNTARILY ORGANIZING THEMSELVES! This method of organization is, I believe, unique in the history of the League activities. But the women are so enthusiastic that they go out singly or in couples, Sometimes they even inveigle .a League organizer to take them on his route. THEY GET THE WOMEN. One enthusiastic worker said: “All I have to do is to tell the woman about it and they come right in.” The purpose of the Woman’s auxiliary is, pri- marily, to aid and assist in carrying on the fight; but it concerns. itself only with the organization of the women into clubs, the guiding principle of which is to “support the policies, candidates and public offi- cials of the Nonpartisan league.” The organization -fee is $1 and any woman is eligible who will pledge herself to the principle of action quoted above. Just now the women are working among farmers’ wives and daughters, but the working women of the cities will be given a chance to join also. * Already, young as it is, the Woman’s auxiliary has a mark to its credit. It certainly made itself felt in the referendum election of June 26, particu- larly with reference to the education bill, one of « the laws on which the opposition had centered its One of the largest and most -enthusiastic’clubs of the Woman’s auxiliary is the one at Willow City, known as Club No. 10, of which Mrs. Carl Prellwitz is the secretary. Here is a picture taken of the club at its meeting on July 11, 1919. There are at present 51 members enrdlled in the club at Willow City. Just adjoining it is Club No. 9, at Barton, numbering 25 members. These two organizations have already extended their activities to the neighboring towns of Omemee and Overly. fight. The campaign was well along when the Woman’s auxiliary took a hand and distributed thousands of leaflets, explaining the bill and warn- ing the farmers against the propaganda carried on by the I. V. A. Later, when the count came in, they had the satisfaction of learning that right in the home ‘town of the anti-League state superintendent .of schools, the educational bill ran ahead of all the others for the affirmative. This showing justified the existence of the Woman’s auxiliary at the first tryout. When the Interstate fair was held at Fargo the latter part of July, the Woman’s auxiliary rented a space and established a restroom for women and children. The success of this venture was evidenced by the popularity of the place. It was full all the time. ' But there is another purpose of the Woman’s auxiliary. That purpose is the effect that the Auxiliary is to have upon the educational system of the state and, therefore, upon the growing life of the state. This is the really significant purpose of the organization of the women of North Dakota. In the cities the wives and daughters of numbers of our business and professional men are organized into women’s clubs, which are affiliated with state and national organizations. While it is true that the opposition makes these clubs its channels for much propaganda against the League, there is still much general social and educational work done by them. But from these organizations the wives and . daughters of the farmers are, 3s a rule, excluded, owing principally to their isolated situation, and consequently their divergent interests. There has PAGE EIGHT, always existed because of these conditions a certain antagonism between the farmers’ wives and the women of the towns that makes co-operation a diffi- cult problem. : " It is the hope.of those who are pushing the Woman’s auxiliary that this organization will eventually fill this gap between town and country dwellers and put into the life of the farmer’s wife an interest that heretofore has been so sadly lacking. ¢ AUXILIARY INTERESTS WOMEN IN POLITICS One woman wrote recently: “Just as soon as the women join the Auxiliary, they begin to take an in- terest in things.” This is the larger hope and pur- pose of this Auxiliary: That women shall learn to “take an interest in things.” Until the invention of the automobile this interest could not possibly exist; and even the husband had Jittle more concern for the outside world than was rélated to the nearest small town. Even yet some of the wives regard the larger interests of their husbands with a certain amount of jealous suspicion, and some of them-are openly hostile to the League movement because it “takes the man away from home so much more.” The solution of this attitude is found in the quota- tion from the woman who finds that “When they join the Auxiliary, they take more interest in things.” There is no finer or bigger “thing” to command the interest, to work for and fight for, than the accomplishment of the League program, not only in North Dakota, but where- ever men are struggling for a larger measure of political and economic freedom. ¢ It is greatly to the credit of the Nonpartisan league that, as a whole, they are not only interested in the Woman’s auxiliary, but their interest is an active, aggressive support. At a picnic held this summer, just before the referendum election, the secretary of the Woman’s auxiliary was present, signing up the women and organizing a club. One man came along, threw $2 into her lap and announced: “Here, sign up my two women. I want them to belong to this too.” The two women were his wife and daughter. Appar- ently, -they were to have nothing to say about the matter, but fortunately they were of the same opinion as their man, for they both laughed and con- curred. This is what the spirit of the Aux- iliary has got to be, if the enfranchise- ment of women in North Dakota is not to be a tragedy. The men and women working together in common, for a common purpose that is bigger and deeper than just the mere win- ning of an existence from the soil. Working to win and to maintain all that we hope and believe the “New Day” is to be. The Auxiliary will make itself the most ef- fective agent in accomplishing this, by making of itself the most effective agent to inspire and infuse our women, and through them our whole educational” system, with a social conscience and a social vision. It is a big undertaking, but the Nonpartisan league thrives upon big undertakings. It has given to the astonished world the spectacle of the farmers of a.state, fighting shoulder to shoulder{ victoriously, time .after time, against the most vicious organiza- tion of wealth and power that ever crushed a liberal movement or crucified a reform leader. In North Dakota the opposition is almost down and out. They have one hope left, and that is the woman vote. To swing that to their purposes they will leave no stone unturned, no lie unuttered. But it must never be said of the women of North Dakota, or any other state, that it was their hands that cast the die for reactionism and autocracy. They must be educated to know the true from the false. The Woman’s auxiliary is in the field to see to it that this work of education is done and done right. Will it succeed? Will the clubs do the work? Will the women be.able to sigh themselves up without organizers? The answer lies with the wothen themselves. Inspired with the enthusiasm and the spirit of determination to carry it through, the Woman'’s auxiliary can not fail to win gloriously. 3 B8 S Sk