594 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



the world has there existed so little of jealousy, so much eagerness 

 to do one's work well, so much desire for service, so much breadth 

 of vision and charitable opinion. The spirit of helpful co-operation 

 and sympathetic fraternity animating our great organizations of 

 women have, in a large measure, created a broader, deeper life, 

 pervaded with intense interest in, all humanity. 



One of the notable things of modern times is the rapidly in- 

 creasing presence of women in fields of industry. Much is being 

 said and written about "women's sphere," and many maintain that 

 woman's only sphere is that of wife, mother and home maker, this 

 in the face of the fact that countless numbers of women have no 

 homes, husbands or children, and never can have. They must 

 work outside of homes, or die. To marry, to have children, to rear 

 them properly, is the true destiny of the ideal woman, yesterday, 

 today and forever. But, somehow, there are women who cannot 

 follow this destiny and we cannot always treat of the ideal in real 

 conditions. Besides, even the ideal woman, under existing condi- 

 tions, must perforce be concerned with many things outside the 

 home, because all things bear a close relation to the home. A 

 knowledge of the larger affairs of life is absolutely imperative to the 

 home maker, as well as to the business women, if she is to meet her 

 responsibilities and opportunities with a fair degree of intelligence 

 and success. We must live in our time and follow the rapidly chang- 

 ing conditions. For instance, the housekeeping virtues of our grand- 

 mothers would be senseless today. They met the economic condi- 

 tions of their day, and we must meet ours. What a revelation our 

 Home Makers' Conference would be to those busy ladies who, in- 

 stead of electric lights, used tallow dips of their own making, and 

 provided the home with cloth, carpets and soap made under their 

 own supervision. 



Why are we here? Why are we organized? Because we are 

 responding to the great unrest of our times, because we are trying 

 to reach a point of better adjustment. We need more knowledge, 

 more leisure, more money, a better system of doing the things we 

 have to do, a fuller life. The first step toward adjusting ourselves 

 to our time is to understand our relation to conditions about us. 

 When we realize our responsibilities and opportunities we must live 

 up to them. 



Consider the woman farmer, such as compose this organization, 

 and no woman citizen may hold a larger balance of power than such 

 women as we have here today. The landowner has responsibili- 



