The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 23, 1920, Page 7

Keep Political Power Towa W. C. T. U. Leader Sends Message of = Encouragement to League Several weeks ago we received one of the best letters that ever has come to this office. The writer is superin- tendent of the department of temperance and labor of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of Jowa. Space has been lacking heretofore, but it is now possible to present the letter in somewha?’ abbreviated form. w1 DITOR Nonpartisan Leader: For the Jast few' months there has been a drive in Towa for membership in the farm bureau. That is fine, for the work will draw farmers together and a good county: agent will also be a great help in soil testmg, balancing fertilizers, in- structing in spraying and many other -helpful things. But I am hoping that the farmers will not: trust the farm burec.a officials to legislate for them. Why not? First of all the county agent is' a coliege . man and not a farmer. ‘ group. I am a graduate nurse. To be effective a nurses’ ‘organization has to be officered and managed by nurses. . Laymen might plan a very pleasant, even very helpful organization for nurses—in fact, there’ is one international organization of that kind and it is now dying quietly. This is as true of farmers’ organizations as it is of other groups. I wornder: what the bankers would think if'a group of farm- ers ‘would meet some day in a livery barn (that is . the -only place the farmenr of this com- - munity could get when they wanted to-meet last winter) and perfect an organization that they. thought would be just the thing for the bank- -erg? As a public health nurse I worked among Even if he is a farmer’s son he has gained the psychology of the college: hectic flush of tuberculosis staining his cheeks. Our * industries did this to them, and as I learned, day by day, the manner in which men and women were wrecked my heart almost broke with the burden of it all. I saw no way of escape for them, but when I learned of yonr great Nonpartisan league my heart leaped with the vision of what it would do’for those of our cities. If your movement were to serve only your own group it would be wonderful, but when it is designed to lift the crushing weight from the bent backs of the workers in our industries it makes of it an even more benevolent movement. I can not belong to your great organization for I do not belong to a farm family, but I can distrib- ute your literature and talk of your ideals and boost ‘for you whenever I get a chance. My plea to you is not to let anything sidetrack you. Join your farm bureau, but do not think they can legis- late for you. Do not delegate your political power to any group on earth—keep it for yourself and use it as intelligently as you have started out and you will free not only your own group but countless other groups that are:looking to you for leadership, FLORENCE BOSSENBERGER. Wllhams, iowa. HOME MADE TOYS A Burleigh county (N. D.) farmers’ wife has found a new use for the wornout fur coat. With a /little needle:work it can:be transformed into a ted- dy bear, a bunny or a pussy cat, and in such use it ‘brings great pleasure to the little folks. Per- haps in these days of high cost for everything, -including" toys; it may bring: some pleasure: to: the head of the family, too! How United States Looks to Suffragists Must Preserve Liberty Jeanette Rankin; First Woman in Congress; Discusses Current Issues %1 1SS JEANETTE RANKIN of Montana, first. woman. in. the United States to be elected to congress, has returned to Montana after an absence during which ‘she delivered a series of - lee- tures in eastern cities and attended the International Congress of Women at. Zurich, Switzerland: Speaking of current izssues:Miss Ran- kin said: “The - most - dangerous- tendency in -present-day America is the absolute impunity with which ele-~ mentary- civil rights are ignored and violated. Un- der the guise of fighting bolshevism many of our organizations and even: some public officials take measures which are.clearly in violation of the Con- stitution - and the Declaration of Independence. Rights for which our Anglo-Saxon forefathers struggled for nearly five centuries are-cast aside as though they were minor regulations of a small municipality. Freedom of the press, free speech and free assemblage were obtained at too hig'. a price to be repudiated lightly. “We should refresh the minds of our Palmers and Buriesons with the teachings of the man to whom, as Democrats, they: owe at least lip homage —Thomas Jefferson. If Republicans will not heed the founder.of the Democracy they can.not ignore Lineoln. The men whose names stand out in his- tory have all regarded.as sacred these civil liberties; so well grounded in' Anglo-Saxan: tradition:” Miss Rankin ‘said:her most: vivid: memory of her recent trlp to Eumpe was: the hunger everywher already ravaging eastern Europe. *“Miss Jane Ad- dams-and-the other- del- egates. determined - that - they would devote all the poor people of a great city. I pitied them. I served them with every ounce of strength that - was in'me, but I was not one of them. 1. did not know the needs of this class. I thought I did; in my youthful arrogance I believed I could point out their troubles and knew why they were not as rich and cultured as- some of my friends. If I had had to legislate for them at that time I should have set one of my -own class above them, “‘but I know better now. I look back at the bruised and broken bod- ies, the lost limbs and eyes, and see that they were broken and maimed -in the service of a class who never knew of their existence. The mad rush of modern. industry soon wears out the stoutest frame and I have min- istered to so many bat- tered wrecks in the slums “of our great cities—men and women who had fed their fair, strong bodies, their. youth-and -enthusi- asm, into the mills and ; . stores and mines and had come out crushed and broken -in body and" spir- it. All in a day’s work were Tony, the Italian street laborer, from the hips down in boiling tar; Michael, the Irish longshoreman, w1th . a heart ‘crippled forever with inflammatory rheu- matism; .- Solomon, the: Jewish tailor, with the sealded =] WENTY-NINE states had ratified the: -federal woman suffrage amendment ‘up to Pebruary 10, when this issue of ‘the Leader went to press. Thirty-six states must ratify %o make the amendment effective. The states that have ratified thus far, in the order in which ratifi- cation was completed, were: | ‘Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Ohio, New York, Illinois, - Pennsylvania,. Massachusetts, - Texas, Towa, Missouri; Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Utak, California, Maine, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Rhode Isiand, Kentucky, Oregon, Indiana, Wyom- ing, Nevada, New Jersey. _ The legislatures in the following other states were in session this month: Néw Mexico, Idaho, Arizona, Maryland. : If all of these states ratify the amendment, it NORTH DAKOTA SOUTH DAKOTA YOMING UTAH |COLORADO NEBRASHA KANSAS witl- brmg the - total ratifications. .to 33, .or Just three short of the necessary number. Of the remaining states, listed in black whlch ‘have neither ratified nor:-called special sessions of their legislatures, Oklahoma and Washington both : have woman suffrage already so that it is certain that they .will: ratify it a special session:is-called: That would give 35 states, just one short of the necessary number. In Vermont the suffragists claim that a majority of the legislators are- pledged: to ratify the amendment, if the legislature.is called into session. That would make the 36th state. There is some doubt, however; as to whether Maryland will ratify the amendmient. . If this state. fails the suffragists it might delay matters so that women would not be able to vote at the primaries this year, but it appears almost certain that the amendment will be ratified in time for women to vote at the general elections. D States which had ratified the federal sutfragé ‘amendment up to February 10, 1920. ) - ‘Legislatures:in’ session’ ‘during February snd- expected to ratity the amendment.: - States which have not ratified:and in which no steps looking toward ratxficahnn have: been taken.. FAGE SEYEN L their strength to reliev- ing the sufferings- of the women- and children of these: beleaguered ma- tions. We have, through the Women’s Interna- --tional league, worked: in- cessantly for the lifting of "the blockade which “has ‘brought “so - much suffering- to: the children of Vienna, Budapest and, in' fact, of all enemy countnes, as well as Rus- sia. England - has re- -sponded generously and Americans are fast wak- ing up to the distress which prevails. We hope the little relief missions now - at work-in Vienna, Cracow, Berlin and other centers will soon be: ex- panded, thanks to ‘the support of humanitari- ans in all nations.” Miss Reankin is confi- dent that the farmer-la- bor forces will win in Montana this year. She found interest 'in the Nonpartisan league wide- spread in the East and spoke by request on the League several times. PAPER BLANKETS Editor Nonpartisan. Leader: Paper keeps heat in. Three or four large newspapers, spread be- tween the coverings of a . -bed, will give as much ~warmth as an extra blan- ket. In these times of cold weather and high prices, this' is a secret - worth knowing, ALICE BLACKWELL. Dorchester, Mass. =