The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 3, 1920, Page 6

Equal Rights Needed Granting of Ballot Does Not Complete Women’s Struggle DITOR Nonpartisan Leader: I do not i| think the granting of the ballot ends the fight of women for equal rights with men. I admit it is one big step. Margaret W. Stewart voices the opin- jion of thousands of America’s think- ing women. The greatest obstacles now to be re- moved are the endless court proceedings a wife has to experience when her husband dies. When the wife dies the husband is not called upon: to-appear in court and until the wife has the same right to continue the business she and her husband were engaged in or make any change a husband would be permitted, so long is the woman denied another big step toward equal rights. I am a farmer’s wife. I never have helped with the tilling of the soil or marketing of the grain, but while my husband managed that part of our business I managed the gardening, poultry raising, caring for milk, home curing of meats, etec., besides the general housework, cooking, laundering and raising a family of eight children, including being the family nurse as well as at most times the phy- sician. I consider I have worked as hard, lost more sleep, suffered more mentally and physically than did my husband. I have always had a full knowledge of our income as well as our expenses and cheerfully economized to enable “Us & Co.” to meet all necessary expenses. Then why have I not a right to ask that I have the same privilege as my husband ? g I know many a widow who would and could man- age her family affairs nicely had it not been for the fact that the court will not allow her the right. I firmly stand with Margaret W. Stewart in demanding full equality of rights. MRS. WILLIAM RUTTEN. Palmer, Neb. WOMEN MUST WAKE UP Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I do en- joy this page immensely, but I don’t think there should be any food recipes printed except those which can be digest- ed as political food, which the majority of us are sorely in need of at present. All the other magazines are full of recipes. I think we all understand con- {servation pretty well. And now it looks to me as though we need to know how to obtain for the sweet privilege of con- serving. We drouth-stricken farmers in Mon- tana are certainly having a hard time to pull through, but we are “stickers” and- I think when election time comes that the realization of so many Nonpartisans in the state.is going to be a great shock to Big Biz. Do all of the country sisters realize that many of the city women are going to vote for their own interests? Let’s show them that the hayseed is not alto- gether in the country. We must wake up and keep wide- awake, for there is work to do. 1 MRS.'D. A. ROBERTSON. Bozeman, Mont. DEFENDS COUNTRY GIRLS Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Just a few lines from a Leaguer and a stiff one too. I am not much of a writer, but Mr. Karlson of Bismarck got me going by criticizing Mrs. Kraft’s poem. She said nothing to hurt any one, and as for the old gang, let them howl their heads off. . I have no girls. I.am a bach, but will say that as a rule the country girl has got the city girl skinned a mile. Can you get a city girl to get out and milk a cow or feed a calf or a bunch of hogs or shock grain or haul hay like our coun- try girl does? Give me the country girl every time. 5 Do you think a city girl would put on a pair of overalls, saddle up a broncho, ' - hop onto his back and take down through T e e e the hills after a bunch of longhorns? Not on your life. Does this degrade our country girl? I’ll say no. When you get one of these girls for a wife you have got a priceless gem. Schafer, N. D. W. S. HANKS. “Soft Soap”” for Women Will New Voters Listen to This Slush From : a Congressman? Women will have the vote this fall. Politicians are already scheming to get their support. Con- gressman John H. Small of North Carolina is send- ing out packets of flower seeds to women in his district with the following letter: “My Dear Madam: As I glance through my of- fice window today, I see no harbingers of spring- time or flowers. The skies are heavily overcast. The chill air of winter lingers. Fog and dampness envelop the bare trees and obscure the.buildings. Even the imposing dome of the capitol unwillingly emerges from the humid gloom. “But the witchery of hope enables me to beckon the gentle zephyrs and balmy sunshine of May, ‘when Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laugh- ing soil’ and ‘hangs her infant blossoms on the trees.” It is of you 'and that glad hour that I am thinking. 3 “If you love flowers, and every woman does, per- haps a tiny packet of seeds sent forward by mail may, under loving care, tempt a smile more beauti- ful than its bloom. Very sincerely, “JOHN H. SMALL.” How many League women would be won over by such “bunk”? i FIRST -WOMEN POSTMEN l —Photo by Harris & Ewing, Washington, D, C. Women, more and more, are invading fields of work heretofore held to be exclusively men’s. This picture shows the first women postmen, “employed at Washington, D. C., during the war. There are scores of women handling rural routes throughout the- United States. Leader believes it is self-evident that women, when doing men’s” work, should receive men’s pay. It is also important, as a woman points out .on- this page,” that women should have equal ri under the law, besides -equal suffrage, PAGE SIX ghts. Club Holds Big Rally League Women Welcomed at Home Town of I. V. A. Leader EAR Friends: I wish to let you know about a grand meeting or rally we, the Women’s Nonpartisan ‘club No. 66, had in Dunn Center Auditorium April 3. : Would like to say to the I V. A. that we are now among the foremost clubs and that all the members are in, or close to, Dunn Cen- ter (the home of “Two-Bit” Nelson, head of the L V.A) - We had a very nice welcome speech from the secretary of the Dunn Center Commercial club. And also the Dunn Center band rendered us some very ‘good music. So I think the Nonpartisans were treated real nice and felt quite at home in Dunn Center. We had some very good speakers, including Sen- ator Liederbach, Mrs. Liederbach, State Dairy Com- missioner Osterhous, County Agent Busenbark and also some local speakers. The club gave a free lunch at noon and I think everybody enjoyed the day very much. —The Auditorium was packed full, including all standing room, and there were not very many I, V. A.s there either, but mostly all real stickers. CONSTANCE PLETAN, Secretary.. Dunn Center, N. D. Let us have some more reports of meetings from Women’s Nonpartisan clubs.—THE EDITOR. HOW CAN YOUNG PEOPLE HELP? Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I wish the Leader could be twice as large as it is. The good that it is doing is going to change a great many things. Surely through organiza- tion and co-operation conditions will be made better for all working people. I want to say to “Montana Girl” that your house_plan is good. If I may I would suggest that instead of the shed at the back of the house I would have a porch, with a cold storage room at one end ‘not freeze, and have it open from the kitchen. There one can keep bread, but- ter, milk and cold things left from meals. In fact, I use mine for so many such things I could not get along without it. I think you will find this a great help. How can the young people best help with League work? Let’s get them to help solve this question. ‘ Nez Perce, Idaho. MRS. K. G. OSTERHOUT. FROM A FARMER GIRL Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Let’s hear from more women; the paper will be more interesting the more letters we find in it. I am only a farmer girl, 18 years much. I hope that the day will come soon when the women will have just as the farmers and workers go over the top in Minnesota next election. Let’s all stick—we’ll win. Braham, Minn. S. M. W. ONE MAN’S VIEW OF IT Editor Nonpartisan Leader: As a man maybe I am not entitled to a place on the Farm Woman’s page, but I want this where it will be read by men and women too. What I want to say is that it is up to t}ue men to see that their wives take an interest in politics this year. Every 'Leaguer ought to see to it that his wife is a member of the Women’s Nonpartisan club and if there is none in her vicinity he ought to crank up the old Henry Ford so she can get out and organize one. The women will be welcome in League meet- ings, I know, but they should have their own organization besides in which they can study how to vote and other matters of especial interest to them. Rugby, N. D. The D. A. R. with walls filled with sawdust so it will - old, but I enjoy the Woman’s page very many rights as the men. Let’s hope that #ls M- e S -~ RS