AMERICA TO-DAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23055, 4 June 1938, Page 10

AMERICA TO-DAY

GOVERNMENT SPENDING iWOMEN LEAD A REVOLT CIRCULAR TO HOUSEWIVES NATIONAL MOVEMENT [from our own correspondent] NEW YORK, May 11 In an up-State town, two women, wives of a clergyman and a gas company manager, were wont to meet and discuss topics of mutual interest. They decided recently that it was time women registered their opinions on present conditions, before they became worse. They had several thousand copies printed of the following circular:— Stop new "pump priming" before your country is bankrupt! What has "pump priming" of 18,000,000,000 dollars during the last five years done for you? Has your husband a steady job? How long will it last? How about your home? Do you own it or is your home one of the 70 per cent of Government mortgaged homes behind in payments, or is it already in possession of the Government ? Are you one of the 14,000,000 on relief or one of the 12,000,000 still employed ? Spending has brought the nation close to the peak of unemployment—why spend more? The Government gives with one hand but takes with the other, for the only money our Government has comes only from the 'people. One dollar out of every five paid to a wage-earner goes for taxes. That much less for shoes and meat. Patriotic Motives Claimed . Congress has just appropriated 800,000,000 dollars for relief. If this policy is good for the country why are conditions Worse than they were in 1933? Depressions and inflations hit women hardest as conservers of the home. You know what a depression is; do you know what inflation is? In Germany it meant starving children, worthless life insurance, savings that could buy nothing. If more billions are spent we will have inflation. ' This handbill is put out by housewives as a protest against the way politicians are running the country, whether they call themselves Republicans or Democrats. This is not political—it is patriotic. We demand that our Senators and Representatives . reduce Government expenses, oppose further "pump-priming," keep our children's future unmortgaged, and give us all a chance to save ourselves. We implore all women who agree with this to sign their name on this handbill and send it to their Senators and Representatives in Washington. Women! Save this country for your children! Start a "Rebellion" in your community. Immense Interest in Campaign. Starting out with a supply of circulars, the two women canvassed their own town with such success that they drove to New York, parked their car, and rode on cross-town buses, handing circulars to women passengers. Then they repaired to Times Square, and offered them to passers-by. They posted copies to editors of newspapers and members of Congress. When they returned home, they learned that their telephone had been besieged with calls for more circulars from communities in two States. What had started as merely a county experiment has since developed into a national movement.