Evening star., 1934-11-16
PROBLEM Of FARM
WOMEN DISCUSSED
AT MEETING HERE
Attendance Twice as Large
as Expected-RuraI Forum
Opens Tonight.
BETTER MARKET URGED
FOR HANDICRAFT WORK
New Yorker Declares Lack of Her
Own Money Handicaps
Wife in Country.

Surprised by an attendance more
than twice as large as had been an
ticipated, the Conference of Farm
Women met today in the auditorium
of the Agriculture Department as a
preliminary to the annual convention
of the National Rural Forum Of the
American Country Life Association,
which will open tonight at the
Raleigh Hotel.
The Conference Of Farm Women is
the first national meeting Of its kind
ever held. Invitations were sent to
representative rural women in every
section OF the United States for a
discussion Of home-makerS' and COM
munity problems. Representatives
from more than half the States were
present.
The social and aesthetic phases of
rural life were to be stressed, but
when the discussions got under way
t1lC CNOIIonlAS OA424I04I4Co Va t1lC dNCl
age farm wife and mother evolved
as the basis Of most rural home
makers problems.
Frame Welcomes Delegates.
Nat T. Frame, president Of the
American Country Life Association
welcomed the delegates, after which
series of brief addresses were made
on Factors Essential for Successful
Rural Home and Community Life. "
The morning session was devoted to
presenting the problems. The after
noon was to be given to an attempt
to solve them.
"A lack Of money the farm woman
can call her own" said Mrs. Jay B
O'Dell Of New York, appears as the
greatest problem of the rural home
maker. To meet this there should
be more and better home handicraft
and ample markets must be found or
created"
Mrs. O'Dell also said that most
rural communities suffer from a lack
or social life.
Mrs. Dora Stockman OF Michigan,
chairman of the Home Economics
Committee Of the Michigan State
Grange, suggested an organized pro-
gram that will reach the community,
the county, the State and finally a
national scope.
Better Training Urged.
"There should be a finer quality
Of homemade products to provide a
better economic income" she de-
clared.
Rural women also should remem-
Der that her education should not end
with her school days. Better training
for the rural homemaker is neces-
sary."
Mrs. Stockman agreed with most
speakers that the interest in flowers,
flower shows and the appearance of
farms should be encouraged.
Mrs. John w. Gould of Massa-
chusetts stressed the need for play
both in the home and in the COM
munity in which adults as well as
children could participate.
Luncheon for the delegates was
served in the departments restaurant
and cafeteria. This evening the dele
gates are to be guests at dinner at the
American Association of University
Women, with the overflow attendance
being cared for at the Y. w. c. A.
Wallace to Speak.
Tonight the National Rural Forum
will open with an address by Presi-
dent Frame Attending the session
also will be delegates to the Student
Forum, which is to be held over the
week end at the New Colonial Hotel
as an adjunct to the meeting.
Sessions Of the Forum will be con-
tinued tomorrow, Sunday and Monday
at the Raleigh. Harrington and Will
lard Hotels. The concluding session
Monday afternoon will be addressed
by Secretary of Agriculture Henry A.
Wallace, Walton H Hamilton of the
N. R. A. Executive Board, and T. o.
Walton, president of the Association
of Land Grant Colleges and Univer-
stiles.
Other speakers will be w. I. Myers,
governor Of the Farm Credit Admin
istration; M. L. Wilson, Assistant Sec
retary of Agriculture; A. r. Mann,
provost of Cornell University; John R.
Hutcheson, Virginia Agricultural Ex-
tension Service; H. r. Tolley Of the
A. A. A., Col. Lawrence Westbrook
of the Rural Rehabilitation Division of
the F. E. R. A., Wallace Mcclure of
the State Department and others.
Speakers on this afternoons pro-
gram included Mrs. j. T. Howell,
Louisiana; Mrs. Leonard Killey,
Illinois; Miss Sara Pennington, Della
ware; Mrs. j. L. Williams, South
Carolina; Mrs. Fred Ward, Minnesota; !;
Mrs. John G. Lang, West Virginia; !;
Mrs. George M. Tyler, New York; Mrs.
Guy Roop, Virginia; Mrs. LYDIA s.
Lynch, Kentucky; Mrs. Randall
Spoerlein, Maryland; Mrs. Ethel J.
Hammond, New Hampshire; Mrs. H.
M. Bowman, Ohio, and Mrs. J. Brooks
Tucker. North Carolina.