The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 21, 1921, Page 12

; o { 8 2 4 ] "Letters From Farra Women A Plea for Children Child Labor a Hidden Evil,- California Woman Shows—Must Be Remedied ] DITOR Nonpartisan Leader: An edi- {| tor who was appealed to in behalf of Child Labor day in January, 1920, denied that child labor had any part in his newspaper. The printer who set the type for the same appeal demed that children work in printshops. Though children do not work in printshops, nor run a Hoe press, they do work in factories where paper is made, where ink and oil and iron are pro- duced or manipulated in some stage of the manu- facture of newspapers. Though children do not sell hats in millinery es- tablishments, they do work, and work hard and long, in the manufacture of braid and cloth and thread and wire and ornaments of hats. They help in many industries that are part of the millinery business, quite out of sight of the customers, prob- . alg;shundreds of miles out of sight. Tt is this general condition of child labor, and its hidden phases, that prevent immediate change. If we could see the children “by the dawn’s early light” going in droves into factories, if we could see them working in the noise and lint and danger of machines; if we could see them returning home at dark, weary beyond words, with no prospect of play tomorrow, nor even rest tomorrow, we should stop child labor. We could not bear the sight of children working long hours and working on and on without hope. But how can we say blindly, because toxlmg chil- dren are not directly in front of us, that our clothes and newspapers are not made, in part, by child labor? Over and over it has been proved and re- ported and printed that 2,000,000 children are work- ing in the United States. Over and over we are told that efforts are made to pass laws, to make old laws better, to plan regular inspection of factories and working places, all with a view to lessening gradually the number of children who toil. So in 1921 we appeal again for publicity about child labor, and we try to say plainer than before that the number of child laborers is 2,000,000; that these children deserve a play time, a school time, a growing time, and the United States is rich enough to give it to them. ALICE PARK. Palo Alto, Cal. Busy Women Need Help Editor Nonpartisan Leader: On the Farm Wom- an’s page, January 10, Mrs. Svensgaard wrote on the North Dakota State Home Building association. I think it is a capital idea for the association to build the homes and then sell them to the working people on the installment plan. I also indorse Mrs. M. S.’s idea on how to study the,paper. I wish we could hear more from the 6petent women—things they know about politics ——-and they could help some of us others out at vot- ing time. Some of us have put in years and years raising eight, 10 and 12 children and did not devote much of our time to our government’s affairs. Elgin, Neb. MRS. R, R. WOMEN IN INDUSTRY A report issued by the United States department of labor, entitled “The New Position of Women in ‘American Industry,” shows that 28 per cent of the industrial workers during the war were women. In 14,629 factories covered by the investigation, employing a total of 2,317,839 persons, 528,229 were women. Of these only 68,112 were substitut- ing for men. Others either were regular employes or were added to the regular force on account of the extra work during the war. NEW RECIPE BOOK “Baking in the Home” is the title of a new 40- page pamphlet of recipes issued by the United States department of agriculture. -It describes the use of substitutes for wheat flour, such as corn, rice and potatoes. This booklet may be obtained on request by writing the Bureau of Publications, United States Department of Agriculture, Wash- ington, D. C., 'and asking for Farmers’ Bulletin 1136. ; ! SRS L S THE FARM WOMAN’S PAGE A NORTH DAKOTA CLUB Editor Nonpartisan Leader: This is a pic- ture of East Barton Club No. 80, near Bar- ton, N. D. They were all good boosters for Governor Frazier in.the recent campaign. This is the third club Mrs. Clara Niles has organized. She is a strong Nonpartisan and a good worker. PRESIDENT. A Live Idaho Club Editor Nonpartisan Leader: = Our club is still holding good meetings and planning to carry on the educational work. A very enJoyable meeting and banquet was held under the auspices of our club and fully 300 Leaguers were present, and a jolly evening was spent, with a fine program of musiec, songs, speaking, etc. Our club also held a very sue- cessful apron social for the purpose of raising money to carry on our club work. A fine program was enjoyed, refreshments served and $26 was realized. Our members are very. enthusiastic and every one enjoys the meetings. MRS. C. H. BURGHER, Rupert, Idaho. Secretary Rupert Club No. 1. FROM COLORADO Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I have been reading the Leader. Since we have been so completely rob-- bed it wakes me up, as I hope it will lots of others. In fact, every farmer should be awake to the condi- tions now. I am thoroughly converted and wish there was an organizer in this part of the state. Kendrick is in Lincoln county, but we are 10 miles from Kendrick, in El Paso county. I feel like doing something to help your good cause, and those that are fighting it know it is a good cause, but they want to keep on robbing those that make their liv- ing. Every victory we win makes us stronger. Keep on, brother, keep on. ; MRS. L. SPANGLER. Kendrick, Col. FARM WOMAN WINS Miss Jessie Doe of Rollinsford, N. H., is a farm woman who has been elected to the legislature of her state. . Miss Doe is the active manager of a farm of 50 acres. She is one of a family of nine brothers and sisters. All but she abandoned the family farm for the city, but Miss Doe remained at home, succeeded in making the farm successful, in spite of its small size, and has become one of the first two women to be elected to the legislature of New Hampshire. EQUAL PAY BILL IN CONGRESS Equal pay for women who do work equal to that .of men is provided in a bill introduced in congress by Representativé Lehlback of New Jersey. This bill affects all employes of the government civil service. - The National Trade Union league, numbering over 600,000 members, nearly all working women, is backing this measure. 2 WOMEN LEGISLATORS Seventeen states now have women serving in their state legislatures. The number.in each state is as follows: Connecticut, 5; Kansas, 4; California, Colorado and Utah, 3 each; New Hampshire, New Jersey and Oklahoma, 2 each; Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Vermont, 1-each. WOMEN ARE WINNERS Women students’” won five out of six medals awarded in the medical school of University col- lege, London, at recent examinations, English pa- pers report. PAGE TWELVE ' News Notes From Women’s Clubs Our'OWfi Food Problem: One-Third of American School Children Un- dernourished, Experts Say—The ‘Remedy m| HILE the attention of America is cen- tered upon the starving children of Europe it is worth while remembermg that, according to food experts, one- thu‘d of the school children of the United States ‘are undernourished. Statistics further show that this lack of food is not confined to the cities, as might be expected, but that many rural children are undernourished. The undernourishment of American children is not altogether due to lack of sufficient food, but lack of food of the right kind. The use of so-called substitutes, such as oleomargarine for butter, is an instance. Dr. E. V. McCollum of Johns Hopkins university, one of the world’s leading authorities on nutrition, made a series of experiments in 1921 of which he says: -“We could with a certain diet secure growth in young animals when we put butterfat in it, but the same food mixture would not support growth when lard or olive oil were used instead. This was the first evidence that the fats in our food are not all of equal value. The studies of the past had shown that the energy values of all fats are about equal and that they are about equally well dlgested and utilized as sources of energy. But there is some substance in butterfat which is not found in fats generally which is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of life in the young or the adult.” These life-giving . substances, present in. milk, eggs, butter and fresh vegetables, but absent in lard, vegetable oils and many preserved vegetables, - are known as “vitamines.” The absence of such foods in children’s diet, it is now believed, is re- sponsible for lack of proper growth. Since the investigations of Dr. MecCollum and others a number- of surveys have been made of both city and country school districts with a view of determining what proportion of pupils were using milk and dairy foods. An Oregon survey showed that while 80 per cent of the children in the Portland schools used milk, only 65 per cent of the children in rural schools used milk.: In North Dakota and Kansas counties surveys were made showing the number of children in cer- tain school districts below normal weight. School nurses then saw that these children were put on diets, in which milk, eggs and butter played a prominent part. All but a small percentage of the children were brought up to normal weight in the course of a few months. Active County Leader Yellow Medicine county, Minn., is one of the live Minnesota counties which has organized a county. . federation of Women’s Nonpartisan clubs. There are 15 clubs in VYellow " Medicine county, and all are knitted together in the county federation. Mrs. Laura E. Ashmun of Canby, whose picture is presented herewith,.is president of the county federation. Other offi- cers are:- Mrs. L. A. Loken,” vice president, Clarkfield; Mrs. Swen Swenson, treasurer, Granite Falls; Mrs. K. K. Solberg, secretary, Clark- field. Mrs. T. C. Ander- son of Hazel Run has been elected as a dele- gate to the Minnesota state federation. Mrs. Laura E. Ashmun. WOMAN SPEAKER Mrs. Mary Ellen Smith of Vancouver, B. C., has been elected speaker of the British Columbia legislature. Mrs, Smith is the first woman in the world to be chosen as presiding officer of a state or provincial legislature. Mrs. Smith is an experxenc- ed legislator, having first been elected in 1917, in which year she took the place of her husband, who had been a member of the legnslature.