The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 13, 1921, Page 8

A Page of, by and for the Women " In Behalf of Social Progress Forgot the “Why” Farm Woman Discovers Reason for No Electricity on- Farms, Etc. DITOR Nonpartisan Leader: I have just been reading an article in a wom- an’s magazine, written by Corinne Lowe. It is a very breezy, entertain- ing story. Her sub- ject is the government survey made by Miss Florence Ward in- to conditions of farm women’s homes in 33 states. We have all read the findings of this investi- gation; the statistics are sur- prisingly terrible in this, the age of machinery so perfected that one may fly, ride, read, eat and drink (and be merry, too), clean house, cultivate the farm, and so on and on, by electricity. Yet, according to the survey, almost two-thirds of the 3,000,- 000 farm women “investigated” carry every bit of water used in the house from neighboring pump or well, one-fifth of the houses are supplied with that “luxury,” the bathtub; nearly all of these female “rubes” do their own washing, only half of them owning washing machines; over 2,000,000, as Corinne Lowe states it, “are slaves of the ‘“lamp;” one-half of the 3,000,000 have linoleum on the kitchen floor; over 2,000,000 of the 3,000,000 take all the care of the flock of chickens; more than 2,000,000 lack the convenience of the sep- arator. As Corinne facetiously remarks, ‘“they are separated from the separator.”” Many of them help with the stock, milk- ing, etc. Quoting again from Corinne’s story, “few enjoy the screened porch” and “the standard of a meal with the average farm woman of today is still some- . thing that does not leave one inch of vacant space on the tablecloth”—this by way of criticism of the rural lady’s cooking long hours in a hot kitchen, she having no “gumption” to demand fireless cook- ers, screened porches, refrigerators, electric fans and so on! NO MONEY ON FARM, THAT IS THE ANSWER All through the breezy story one looks for the “WHY ?” and one looks in vain. The statistics are all there correctly—the comparison between the “silk-stocking lady of leisure” and the “hard- working, sunburned rural female” is good; the hint of “Ezra’s” withholding the money for purchase of Wemhoff of these conveniences and using it for more land and " Leader: labor-saving machinery, true in some cases but not many. But the key to the whole situation, the answer to the tragic question, is not included in Corinne’s smart story. Here is the answer: ING! How many of these 3,000,000 women are “mutts” enough not to know they should have all the con- veniences on the market to lighten their work, and how many 'of them are so idiotic as to not have them if they could AFFORD them? T’ll put up the brains of these 3,000,000 women against those of the 3,000,000 of the “silk-stocking bunch” any day, and I'll bet you a dollar to a doughnut that MORE of these “rural females” know WHY the conditions are as they are than do those same “ladies of leisure.” I am one of the 3,000,000 and I know WHY I do not enjoy electric light and heat, vacuum cleaner and washer; WHY I have not a linoleum on my floor; WHY I carry water from the ditch or pump; WHY I don’t have the fireless cooker and refriger- ator and WHY I clean lamps and take up ashes and split kindling wood and . all the other things Corinne Lowe itemizes in her light-hearted story of NO MONEY IN FARM- o —— o, N | GOOD LEAGUERS I Misses Bertha (left) and Edith Humphrey, county, Neb., are “two of the best Leaguers in the county,” their neighbors say, although neither of them is old enough to vete yet. They are the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wemhoff. the “female rubes”—and the WHY is because of the exploitation of the farmer by all the powers that be, the middleman, the privately owned railways, the privately owned electric power and because of the whole damnable system of private profit! .And I know something more, too, and that is that there are many vacant inches of tablecloths in farm kitchens today, regardless of what the “silk sox” think. But I do wish that the 3,000,000 women who have been so kindly “investi- gated” and brought to the sym- pathetic public’s kind attenticn, could for once get together and go out on strike! Not against “Ezra,” but against the bunch of “haves” who make it. their business to critieize, ridicule and exploit the “have-nots”! MYRTLE AYOTTE. Twin Falls, Idaho. On Government BY KATE L. GREGG National Manager Women’s Nonpartisan Clubs Women, shut out of political life for so long, feel keenly the necessity of learning all they can about the workings of our government, so they can vote in- telligently. Most Women’s Non- partisan clubs like to start their studies with a good review of civil government. For this no better book has come to my at- tention than Beard & Beard’s “American Citizenship.” I think it is the best book on the market for our club purposes. How modern this book is may be gleaned from the preface, where the authors affirm that civics concern the whole commu- nity and that women constitute half of that community: They are mothers whom society holds largely responsible for the health and conduct of citizens; they are engaged in industries and pro- fessions of all kinds; they are tax- payers; they are subject to the laws ; they suffer from neglect of government as much as do the men; and they are just as deeply interested in gov- ernment. The authors maintain that any book on civics which ignores the changed and special position of modern women in the family, in industry, before the law and in the in- tellectual life of the’ community is therefore less than half a book. The clubs which are using this book are en- thusiastic about it. Platte A QUESTION Editor Nonpartisan “Peace on earth and good will to- ward men.” And in Matthew 26-51-562, “Put up again thy sword in- . to its place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” This should be the theme on all platforms and pulpits, and selfishness and .greed should be con- demned to the utmost. The people of all na- tions should emphatic- ally demand disarma- ment. Why do “Chris- tion nations take to arms? Why have the I A REGULAR PET ' Wells and Southey A Little Talk About the Peace Movement : and Two Authors Miss Gray is writing a series of brief articles for this page. Her previous two articles also dealt with the world peace movement. BY MARY GRAY T IS indeed encouraging to find so many women’s organizations, of all kinds and in so many places, taking an interest in the movement for world peace. You who are members of the Women’s Nonpartisan clubs are not the only ones who have come to realize that the hope for disarmament of the nations and suppres- sion of militarism rests largely with us women. I have been surprised at the number of news- paper reports concerning resolutions against war, passed by what have been thought to be very*con- servative women’s organizations. And scarcely a week goes by in which I do not receive circulars or pamphlets from some national or international women’s world peace movement. The chief responsibility that our newly won polit- ical equality has put upon us, I believe, is to use our votes to back candidates and measures on the side of peace and against war. Judging from what so many women’s organizations are doing along that line today, most women agree with me in this inter- _ pretation of our chief duty since we were en- franchised. “Tell us the name of a good, standard author who was against war and whose works can be found in the library,” the secretary of a woman’s club writes me. I have written her that her club could not do better than read “The Outline of History,” by H. G. Wells, a recent book. Give out texts and lessons from it for study by members between meet- ings. The club might well buy the book. It is in two rather bulky volumes, and is expensive—more expensive than the average family could afford to pay. But the libraries haye it, or will get it if there is enough demand. WARS OF MANKIND ARE ALL REVIEWED & t The book contains the facts about mankind from as far back as history records, and even farther, for it tells the story of man for millions of years from the evidence of the rocks and other remains, which is our only “history” prior to the dawn of civilization. . The book is an attempt to give the modern reader, in an easily read, interesting style, an understand- ing of the men, religions, policies, influences and forces that have shaped and are shaping human destiny. War, its cause, its hideous result, its remedy are discussed without “patriotic” bias in favor of any nation or people. Withal it is a fascinating story. And while I am on the subject of anti-war literature, let me men- tion that recently some- one sent me a pamphlet quoting in full “The Battle of Blenheim,” a poem by Robert South- ey. I read it again with new appreciation. It is gentle though superb satire. Some little chil- dren, playing on the old battlefield, discover a human skull and ask their grandfather, whose father lived near the scene of battle, to explain it. The old man tells what a “famous leaders of Christian de- nominations passed by Deut. 5-17 and Matt. 26- 51-52 in their creeds® MRS. A. CARLSON. Kulm, N. D. PAGE EIGHT Kyra and Genevieve Solberg of Marmon; N. D., whose pictures are shown above, say in a letter to. the edi- tor: “We see other children send in pictures of their pets so we’ll send ours. It may seem a funny pet to some of you, but he sure was a pet in the full sense of the word. We are the daughters of Carl Sol- berg of Marmon, and are nine and 10 years old.” - -~ victory” the fight was, prating about it much as the school histories of any people glorify their own national wars and battles. "But the old man doesn’t under- L3 v el — <