The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 13, 1920, Page 12

in any European country except 70 Spain. Sixteen thousand wom- 160 - en died . in childbirth in the 150 United States in 1916, the last 140 year for which figures were available, at the rate of 16 per 130 .100,000 of population. The rate 120 in Sweden was only 6 per 100,- 110 000, in Noi#way 8, in Italy 9, in 100 France and, Germany a fractlon over 10, in'England and Wales 90 11, in- New Zealand 12. Bel- 80 gium, Hungary, Ireland, Scot- 70 land and even Japan, whose cit- 60 _Zealand, which 'has the lowest Women’s Letters From Many States - Are We Civilized? United States Behind Other Nations in Care of Mothers and Children S THE United States a civilized coun- try? That depends upon what is meant by “civilized.” If care of wom- en and children is meant the United States must take a rank lower than many of the countries that we are accustomed to considering “barbarous” or “semi- civilized.” Statistics gathzred by the children’s bureau of the United States department of labor show an alarming death rate of babies and of mothers in childbirth. The death rate for mothers is higher in the United States than izens are barred from the United States because they are not “civilized,” had lower death rates.for mothers than ours. Infant mortality also runs higher in the United States than in many other countries. Of ev- ery 1,000 babies born in the United States ' 100 die before they are one year old. . In New infant death rate, only 50 out of every 1,000 die 'in their first year. Australia, Sweden, Nor- way, England, Scotland, Ireland and ~Wales, Sw1tzerland Hol- land and Denmark all: have better records than the United States. That infant mortahty depends directly upon the prospenty of the -family to which the baby comes is shown clearly by the investigations of the chil- dren’s bureau. ‘In seven cities from which figures are available the death rate was less than 60 per 1,000 when the annual family income was $1,250 or more and was 167 per 1,000 when the family in- come was less than $450 per year. % -« Interchurch Movement Editor Nonpartisan Leader: It has been the pur- pose of the profiteers to try to keep us ignorant of the true conditions, persuading us to think that our wrongs are fancied ones and that we are en- joying great blessings at the hands of the powers . that be and that they know better than we what we need. They preached this to us for so many years that some of us have concluded this to be true, but, thank Ged, not all of us! And since the scales have fallen from our eyes we have begun to see the light of a new day for those who labor. We have a program sufficient, with united action at the ballot box, to safely land us on a foundation of true democracy. This same principle of united effort is apphcable to the religious and denominational world in regard to the principles of Christianity. Now that the In- terchurch World movement has severed alignment with John D. Rockefeller and the profiteers it be- comes the duty of every Christian who is interested. in the progress of the Christianization of the com- monwealth to lend a hand in bringing about this great achievement. Thirty denominations form a great organization banded together for economic, social and industrial betterment. It is the only way they can fulfill their obligations to God and - man, freeing themselves from the oppression of greed and graft that has held a strangle hold on the churches for many "years down to the pres-' N e 5% P2 G T S & This “thermometer shows graphic- ally how a low family income means increased child mortality. The figures on the right show the seven groups in which families, in seven large cities of the United States, were classified on the basis of annual income. the left indicate the number of in- fant deaths per 1,000. The ar- - rows indicate the ‘death rate for each group. ‘woman “when Wisconsin, my birth . " complete victory two years' THE FARM WOMAN’S PAGE ent time. I would like to hear from sofile ‘of the other sisters in regard to the Interchurch " movement. Froid, Mont. MRS. W. A. WHEELER. Our Wasteful System Farmers’ Products Spoil in Hands of the Middleman Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Did our city sisters ever stop to think that three-fourths of the people of the United States do not produce anything at all to eat? If they have they will not be sitting in _their rockers with folded hands wondering why we poor farm wives never find time for recrea- tion.- In Greater New York food is needed to feed 7,000,000 people daily. - More than 95 per cent of the food brought into this great metropolis is supplied by farms Under. $450; 50 to §549 lying outside the boundaries of 550 to $649 New York state. It is estimated 50 to $849 ‘that the food brought into the g _city each year has a total value of more than $1,000,000,000. If a 10 per cent saving in food 5850 to $|049 costs could be effected by cutting iy o . out the middlemen the citizens {gso to $1249 ~ would benefit to the extent of 50 and Over, $100,000,000 annually. . To recover such a huge sum seems almost incredible, but let us not forget that one-fourth of the perishables that arrive at the wholesale markets of New York are hauled to the dump piles for no other reason than that they are unfit for human consumption owing to the fact that they have had to pause in the mlddleman S hands. . Who pays for this loss? Not the mlddleman, for he has fixed a price to pay for his trouble of handling, plus spoilage. Medlcme “Lake, Mont. MRS. J. J. SCHMITZ. From North Dakota Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Being president of ‘Women’s Club No. 58 of New England, N. D,, I would like to tell other Leaguers of “our work, with hopes that to some it will mean encouragement and to others an incentive to be “up and doing.” Our club”was organized only this summer and has now an enrollment of about 40. It is “our wom- en’s club” but by no.means excludes men. We meet the first Sunday of each month, each ‘bringing some- thing for a good picnic dinner. We made it a point to secure a good League speaker at each meeting. We held “mock elections” and worked hard for our state and county tickets. We have not lost interest merely because the election is over but are planning on studying a course ‘in the. “Industrial Program of North Dakota” this win-' ter. I was dehg'hted to see how many Leaguers were successful this election in other states, especially The figures on state, chose a Nonpartlsan governor. . Now, fellow wtfi"kez;, work diligently and win” from now. MRS. J. B. JOHNSON. New England, N. D Do You Belong to a Woman’s Club? Why Girls Leave the Farm ' & Agncultural Women Work 61 Per Centl Harder Than City Women ( GUILTY conscience needs no accuser. That probably is why a man who rep-, resents the Institute of American, Meat Packers led his wife away when Jessie R. Haver commenced to tell of the hardships of farm women at a hearmg recently before the house agricultural com- mittee in Washington. Miss Haver, writing in the Woman Citizen, a suf- frage organ, lets the cat out of the bag. She says: “We now have Miss Florence E. Ward, in charge of the extension work with women of the depart- ment of agriculture, to thank for giving us the re- sults of recent investigations relating to women on farms, so that our statements may be backed by facts. Among 360 farms studied in Nebraska (a typical mid-western agricultural state) it was esti- mated that the workday was 61 per cent longer than that of the average city workers. “But listen to this! Only 30 per cent of the farm homes have running water and only 17 per cent are lighted by gas and electricity. Sixty-five per cent of the farm women carry the water used in the house an average distance of 55 feet. “But worse yet! Ninety-eight per cent still bake their own bread, 97 per cent do the family sewing, and 99 per cent the family washing and ironing. .“Nor is this all. While less than 8% per cent of ' the women on these farms work in the fields, 23 per cent of them help take care of livestock, 42 per cent help with the milking, 97 per cent wash the pails and 91 per cent wash the creani separator. Seventy-seven per cent make butter. “Meanwhxle, how can it be changed? The first step is to shorten the distance between the pro- ducer and the consumer, so the producer can secure better returns for his prodiicts on the one hand, and the consumer secure necessities at more rea- sonable prices. In addition the avenues of com- merce must be opened so that they may function freely and free competition may reign. “But the land question, the question of transpor- tation, of monopolies and trusts and combinations are still playing their part, and will continue to do so until we have an intelligent electorate which shall demand fundamental remedies through the power of the ballot. Unless this happens the wife of the packers’ representative and others will long in vain for a general back-to-the-land movement.” From a Prize Winner Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I wish to thank you for Mr. Gaston’s book. I am teading it aloud for the benefit of my two boys, 17 and 15 years old, as I am making a special effort to have them become educated politically. I wish them to have valid rea- _sons for their political beliefs, and they have imbib- l A JUNIOR LEAGUE__R | ed so much of facts and figures from our home at- mosphere that they are both able to hold their own pretty well in debating these subjects with older persons. true; that most of the children of the working class are ‘subjected daily, in the schoolroom, to re- . pressive, reactionary in- ‘ fluence with the hope that it. will dull their under- . standing of present prob- lems and alienate them from sympathy with the labor movement, of which some day they must be« come & part. 5 One of the worst influ- s of this sort is “Cur- _ rent Events,” which has in _some way become a com- It is a shame, but alas