American Agriculturist, August 30, 1924 
133 
What the Parties Offer Farm Women 
Discussed by a Leading Woman from Each Political Camp 
ALREADY the political parties, as well as many 
\ non-partisan organizations, are urging the 
L\ woman voter to come out and register her 
X JL convictions at the polls next November,. But 
not every woman knows just how to make her vote 
count, nor which party and candidate offers the 
nearest approach to her ideas of good government. 
Believing that American Agriculturist woman 
readers want to vote intelligently, the editors have asked 
several women prominent in the different political 
parties to set forth briefly the points in the different 
platforms which have the most interest to farm women. 
We have simply opened our columns impartially for 
such arguments as each party may have as to why 
the farm woman should give it her support. We do 
not sponsor any particular party or platform. 
Only a very brief statement can be made in our 
limited space, but the different party headquarters 
will of course be glad to furnish further information 
and literature to readers who ask for it. The League 
of Women Voters, which has headquarters in the Grand 
Central Terminal Building, New York, will also help 
from a non-partisan viewpoint, anyone who wants 
general information about the coming election. 
* * * 
What the Republicans Stand For 
Mrs. Charles H. Sabin 
Mrs. Sabin, national committeewoman for New York, and 
| member of the Executive Committee of the Republican National 
Committee, who is in charge 
of women s activities in the 
eastern campaign head - 
quarters of the Republican 
party, is the owner of a farm. 
She is the granddaughter of 
.1. Sterling Morton, a former 
United States Secretary of 
Agriculture and the founder 
of Arbor Day. 
T wenty-five 
million house¬ 
wives in this country 
are directly affected 
by agricultural condi¬ 
tions. The house¬ 
wives who live in great 
cities realize in a 
measure how basic an 
[industry is agriculture. Every woman who goes 
[to market to buy food for the family table 
[must depend upon the farm for'what she finds 
Ithere. 
The pledges made by a political party to strive 
to secure an improvement in agricultural con¬ 
ditions are of vital importance to every man 
[and woman in this country, wdiether they live 
|in the cities or on the farms. The Republican 
larty recognizes that in dealing with agriculture 
|it faces a fundamental national problem and that 
the welfare and advancement of the nation as a 
[whole are dependent upon the welfare and ad¬ 
vancement of the conditions surrounding the 
pursuit of agriculture. 
The farmer and the farmer’s wife are not only 
[the producers, they are buyers. But they cannot 
puy unless they are able to sell their farm prod¬ 
ucts. Of the 105,710,620 persons living in the 
Jnited States, exclusive of the territorial posses¬ 
ions, 54,304,603 live in cities and 51,405,017 
five on the farms and in small towns. 
Women in the cities do not realize how neces¬ 
sary are good roads for the bringing to them of 
the food they have upon their tables. Good 
roads mean not only greater and fresher food 
Supplies for the housewives, but they mean 
setter prices for the farmers and they are time 
favers. - , 
The Federal Aid Road Act adopted by the 
Republican Congress in 1921 is one of the out- 
jtanding achievements of the Republican admin¬ 
istration of the past four years. It will open up 
approximately 170,000 miles of road so located 
a _ s to pass directly through practically every 
fity and town of 5,000 population or greater 
fud many of the smaller communities. More 
lhan 90 per cent, of the people in the United 
States live within ten miles of the roads of this 
System. 
Mrs. Charles H. Sabin 
To the farmer improved roads mean not only 
easier and quicker communication with the 
market at less cost and money, but they mean 
the removal of barriers which have kept the 
farmer isolated throughout the winter season; 
they mean a share in the development of social 
relations in the rural community, better schools 
and better churches with better transportation, 
making consolidation possible, and the possibility 
of fire protection and of police protection by 
motorized State police. 
The Republican party established rural free 
delivery of the mails and later installed the 
parcels post delivery system, primarily to benefit 
the farmer. 
The marketing of products is one of the 
greatest problems facing the farmer. Good roads 
alone will not solve this problem. The Republican 
party realizes this and in its national platform 
it makes the following proposals for farm relief: 
lower freight rates, better marketing, field co¬ 
operative methods, a more scientific organization 
of distribution and a greater diversification of 
farm products. It promises every assistance to 
the reorganization of the marketing system on 
sounder and more economic lines and government 
assistance when needed to farmers who are 
changing from one crop to the sounder basis of a 
diversity of crops. It says that the vigorous effort 
of this Administration toward broadening our 
export market will be continued and it pledges 
(Continued on page 141) j 
The Democratic Platform 
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt 
Mrs. Roosevelt, wife of one of the leaders of the Democratic 
party in New York, is herself active in the Women’s Division 
of the State Committee. As chairman of the finance committee, 
she successfully holds a most important and difficult office. Mrs. 
Roosevelt's farm home is in Dutchess County. 
T HE Democratic party should appeal to the 
farmer’s wife, it seems to me, for many of 
the same reasons that it should appeal to every 
woman who has come to realize that whatever 
her own particular 
conditions in life may 
be, she is in the long 
run bound to be 
touched in some way 
by the conditions un¬ 
der which the poorest 
people in the country 
have to live. You 
may not realize that 
on account of the lack 
of protecting laws in 
many States the dress 
sent home to you to¬ 
day may have been 
finished in a room 
where air and sunlight 
are almost as rare 
visitors as you your¬ 
self, but that dress may bring your child the 
same disease with which some little child was 
sickening in the crowded, smelly room. The 
Democratic party appeals, perhaps, most to 
women because, in its fundamental principles, 
it seems at least to try to put a little more heart in 
government. 
The cardinal principle of the Republican party 
is that the big enterprises, the big industries, 
must flourish even at the expense of individuals 
here and there, for their success brings general 
prosperity—to be sure, the “big men” prosper 
vastly, but according to Republican tenets this 
prosperity filters down to all in a greater or lesser 
degree. Just here lies the difference, for the 
cardinal principle of the Democratic party is 
that every individual is entitled to his place in 
the sun. If through this more widely dissemi¬ 
nated prosperity great industrial success comes and 
big enterprises spring up, then all is well, for no 
one has suffered on the wav and the inalienable 
) Underwood & Underwood 
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt 
right “ to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ” 
has in no way been made difficult by favoring 
a few big people at the expense of the many. 
Conservation a Vital Necessity 
The first interest of the farmer’s wife all over 
this country is the conservation of our natural 
resources. Unless these are conserved and prop¬ 
erly developed by nation or State, the outlook 
for the farmer and his wife is poorer and poorer. 
In the first place, the wholesale cutting down of 
forests without replanting tends, as we all know, 
to dry up the sources of our streams and eventually 
turns the neighboring regions into deserts, as 
has happened in vast areas of China where the 
horrible famines were year after year taking their 
tremendous toll of human lives. The Republican 
policy has been to sell or lease vast tracts of 
(Continued on page 141) 
The Third Party 
Mrs. Gordon Norrie 
T HE Third Party offers the women voters of 
the farm, what it offers the women of the 
city and what it offers to the men in town and 
country, an opportunity to put the control of the 
Government of the 
United States back 
where it belongs,—in 
the hands of the 
people. We shall hear 
very often in the next 
few months that it is 
the party of discon- 
tent. So it is; so are 
all parties of reform. 
The question is, who 
is discontented and 
why? There are 
special groups with 
special grievances and 
special remedies, and 
there is the more 
fundamental discon¬ 
tent of the general public. i 
This last concerns itself with two points— 
the loss of control over the machinery of govern¬ 
ment and the appalling dishonesty in public 
matters. The connection between the two has 
become very apparent. 
We have had the shocking examples in Wash¬ 
ington and we have seen the desperate attempts 
of certain individuals and certain newspapers to 
shut off the investigations. We have even seen 
the Congress of the United States rebuked by 
the President for uncovering dishonesty. 
We have seen things closer at hand. We all 
know the money spent at elections. Those of 
us who were working suffragists have seen the 
voters bought—bought and kept in the nearest 
saloon until the time came for them to cast their 
ballots. Now, who gives that money and why? 
A part comes from tribute collected from office¬ 
holders and the rest from people who have some¬ 
thing and something tangible to gain or lose by 
the election. 
We All Want Majority Rule 
The rules of our legislatures and of our parties 
seem to have but one object, that of thwarting the 
will of the majority. We know that it is not only 
by accident that it is made so difficult to get a real 
issue before the people. We know that it is not 
by accident that we are so often forced to choose 
between two candidates, neither of whom repre¬ 
sent our convictions. We know why we can no 
longer choose our candidates for governor or 
senator in New Y ork State. We know that there 
are people in this country sincerely believing that 
a small self-chosen minority should rule and that 
any devices to secure that authority are justifiable. 
These groups derive their power, not so much 
(Continued on page 143) 
) Underwood & Underwood 
Mrs. Gordon Norrie 
