Item Information
Title
Common Sense Farm
Source
Bennehan Cameron Papers, 1866-1962 #3623, Southern HIstorical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-CH
Rights
In the public domain and may be used without copyright restriction.
Type
still image
Identifier
https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/items/show/6508
Text
“Common Sense Farm”
Any State, U.S.A.
Any Month, Any Year
Dear Mr. Farmer:
The suffrage claim that giving women the ballot will reduce the cost of living suggests these random thoughts.
If a farmer by intelligent work in a poor district can raise 100 bushels of potatoes, 35 bushels of corn, or 600 pounds of tobacco to the acre by planting, cultivating, and praying for good weather, how much more could he raise if his wife voted?
If a woman, in addition to her other work about a farm, can raise forty turkeys without being able to vote, how many more could she raise with the vote?
If a protracted wet spell or drought threatens the crops, would votes for women either hold off or bring rain?
Would votes for women put more weight on a hog, thereby increasing the supply of meat?
Would the hens start laying in December because the farmer’s wife voted in November?
Or is this line of agitation just talk?
Yours truly,
I. Wonder
P.S. But woman suffrage means extra election costs (at least $28,500,000 a year), which means increased taxes, all tacked on to the High Cost of Living. N.B. It also means jury duty - women locked up (perhaps for weeks) with men jurors. Is a voting woman on a jury doing more for her country than a wife and mother busy with the loving tasks of home?
Any State, U.S.A.
Any Month, Any Year
Dear Mr. Farmer:
The suffrage claim that giving women the ballot will reduce the cost of living suggests these random thoughts.
If a farmer by intelligent work in a poor district can raise 100 bushels of potatoes, 35 bushels of corn, or 600 pounds of tobacco to the acre by planting, cultivating, and praying for good weather, how much more could he raise if his wife voted?
If a woman, in addition to her other work about a farm, can raise forty turkeys without being able to vote, how many more could she raise with the vote?
If a protracted wet spell or drought threatens the crops, would votes for women either hold off or bring rain?
Would votes for women put more weight on a hog, thereby increasing the supply of meat?
Would the hens start laying in December because the farmer’s wife voted in November?
Or is this line of agitation just talk?
Yours truly,
I. Wonder
P.S. But woman suffrage means extra election costs (at least $28,500,000 a year), which means increased taxes, all tacked on to the High Cost of Living. N.B. It also means jury duty - women locked up (perhaps for weeks) with men jurors. Is a voting woman on a jury doing more for her country than a wife and mother busy with the loving tasks of home?