116 THE STORY OF THE U.F.O. 



spite of uncertainty and discouraging conditions 

 steady progress has been made. From the small 

 nucleus of a dozen interested individual women 

 the U.F.W.O. has now grown to one hundred and 

 seventy-five clubs with a total membership of 

 more than six thousand. 



The project was first undertaken in the spring 

 of 1918, although for a long time such a step had 

 been contemplated. Almost from the beginning 

 of the U.F.O. Mr. Morrison had been receiving 

 letters inquiring if the farm women were not to 

 be included in the organization as well as the 

 men. As time went on the necessity of action 

 became increasingly evident. During the pro- 

 gress of the War, women had been assuming an 

 ever larger share of direct responsibility in 

 matters of State. The prospect of the Provincial 

 franchise for women, with the promise of similar 

 legislation at Ottawa, made it abundantly clear 

 to all that the woman electorate would soon be a 

 force to be reckoned with at the polls. 



But it was not chiefly political reasons which 

 induced one or two members of the U.F.O. 

 executive to consider the advisability of inviting 

 the active co-operation of the farm women. 

 Probably in no occupation in the world is the 

 association of men and women closer than on the 

 farm. In the conduct of the household, the 

 woman oversees, and in most cases, actually per- 



