Show sunbonnet sue no longer pencil shy she handles farm financial problems by GRACE Alc mcilrath ILRATH ELLIS released by western newspaper union united states census reports are expected to confirm agricultural author authorities statements that thousands of rural women have replaced their husbands as active farm farin business managers in n increasing numbers these women are handling economic and financial problems of the lie farm the following fol loning louing article is illustrative of new place in the farm life of the nation won WHEN HEN I 1 was growing up on the farm our most interesting te neighbors were the fosters pa foster had six daughters a fascinating black blac k money pouch which pulled tin with thongs like a knitting 45 and the weight of the bamily financial enterprise on his own thin shoulders the foster women picked peaches made tubs of but g CUK 7 X f doris michigan four H club girl knows how to raise sheep and she knows too how hou to market them the study of markets and marketing conditions is one phase of deiv farm activities for rural women ter I 1 even lent a hand on oc I 1 tt with the field work but ahen X hen there was a decision to be made involving money they ran to pa he either whipped out the old money pouch or when hen pa died mrs foster beat a did dazed path from bank to court courthouse h ous e to my fathers door completely enveloped in that fog of gloom properly associated with widows of her day until old friends sighed and courthouse clerks ducked behind bars at her coming molly has the money aloney pouch today a son john farms the old foster place if the money pouch still exists john has long since given it to his wife molly molly is the clerical half of the farming partnership in a downstairs den she keeps books checks bank statements does secretarial work tor for the business no important papers remain in an overall pocket to go through the wash at the posters fosters handed straightway to molly who knows what the months cream checks total and when the next land bank payment comes due molly who dials in radio market reports and relays significant ups and downs out to the feed lots molly who mails insurance payments writes monthly rural electric operative cooperative co checks does for the family enterprise in fact what a paid secretary would do for the boss of a comparable urban business plus shouldering p partnership share in farm decisions suzi sun bon nety taffy haired molly country wife of a type who 10 years ago would have thought of business as an occasional thumb on a dotted line and an indulgent masculine sign here molly part of modern movement and theres nothing startling farm leaders say about the foster arrangement its duplicated in upwards of homes the country over hollys no ambitious domestic with her eye on the family financial pants ashes part of a movement for a year now I 1 have been delving into the movements history parrying questions with leaders and poking through piles of reports and im amazed at the extent to which the country woman of today particularly ticul arly the young country wife is up to her neck in business she knows the rudiments of simple accounting and the relation relationship shi p of management economic trends and markets to the chances well say of a new ironer or a sons college career she knows the legal principles involved in the purchase and mortgage of property and the relation of her own capabilities to family credit and confidence she knows how to read a contract where to conduct business when to take a lawyer and when to leave him alone give her an abstract shell record it r mention insurance shell discuss it numerous agencies offer aid neither genius nor wishful thinking catapulted her into the new position ashes been trained for it the economic avalanche of 29 uncovered her responsibility numerous agencies have stepped in to help her meet it the most astonishing piece of work has been done by the home management divisions of the various state extension departments some rural women have flocked to the courses in business and economic education offered during the last 10 years by three fourths of the states to rural homemakers study groups michigan had women enrolled last year iowa expects to reach in 39 business legalities draw interest exact procedures vary considerably but practically all states cover three phases making the family money plan including practice in in accounting economic facts which affect farm women and business and legal procedures a farm woman should know some states offer study too in taxation and government work in accounting is based on the need for correlating records and decisions of both farm and home effectiveness is indicated by the fact that in 38 and 39 heretofore re pencil shy housewives rigged up business corners and started assuming some secretarial duties for the farm home enterprise the economic phase study plunges women into consideration of tenancy credit taxes and the history X R 4 0 pride in their work is written on the faces of these four 11 club winners in a food preparation contest in addition to teaching home economics four H clubs are teaching girls like this how hou to keep books study markets and assume financial management of 01 the farm the girls are left to right maxine koons fairmont minn orr lyda J brown eugene ore catherine barnes moultrie fla and betty freeman Pi keville tenn of panics and the business cycle brings husbands to study room doors with mth ears lifted and inspires subsequent word bouts so they tell me over breakfast buckwheat and family picnic baskets but its the dive into business legalities gali ties which really brings sparkle to wifely eyes women love it W women um en everywhere in georgia in maine in kansas and louisiana they love knowing biow now a contract is made a check wills deeds mortgages abstracts they like the practice given in reading and signing legal papers numerous agencies have cooperated to make mrs rural america business conscious and capable of assuming business responsibility credit works two ways of the 4 H girls who were wrinkling foreheads over personal expense accounts back in 30 and 32 an amazing number are cropping up among outstanding keepers of husbands farm records and books in 14 states an estimated women have since 36 taken advantage of work in the legal phases of credit and loan supplied through the family credit division of the farm security administration sound credit the women are taught is credit that is good for both borrower and lender A justifiable mortgage is one based on no less than 12 months of actual farm records and the farm woman unlike the city woman is so important a factor in her husbands business success that an appraisers first rule is get acquainted with the wife where foreclosures Fore closures decrease figures are not available but representatives of numerous credit agencies have told me that a noticeably smaller percentage of mortgage foreclosures fore closures and credit difficulties occur in communities where wives have had adequate business training particularly as regards keeping of records and the mortgage and purchase of property outstanding example of the lets ta tackle ackle this tog together ether spirit which rip ens in such communities is the benton county iowa recent wed group to jimmy green agricultural agent in one of the cedar valley counties had come news of a young farm friend cleaned out jimmy jimmy knew secretly because of solo responsibility an inadequate wife problems of young farm operators are similar would the young couples in his district enjoy getting together now and then to pool problems shoot questions at bankers landlords management experts he planned such a meeting invited in all couples in the county under 35 expected 50 got hopeful sign of age benton county recent wed meetings are now the amazement ot of community elders the most exciting and hopeful gatherings ive ever attended a visiting banker told me its not the subjects discussed we spend our money for how can we get adequate credit how about landlord ten ant relationship nor the experts attracted but the way the women take part in the thing partnership style without self consciousness on either side just as though their grandmothers had been doing it its a thrill one of the hopeful signs of the age 1 I used to think family discussions about money were bad stuff john foster told me recently he and molly are benton county products leaders in the recent wed group but when you do it operatively cooperatively co and base it on facts interesting as the dickens farming looks to me like the biggest cooperative on earth family co opera tive soon as the children can hold pennies were taking them into it but its the little woman he grinned who has a natural born knack for handling the money end of it |