is bees WOMAN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUR LECTURE BY IRS. LARY WARE DENNETT APRIL 15th, 1919. SUBJECT - "Reconstruction and Birth Control." With a small group like this, of course it is a great temptation to be utterly conversational and not to say the kind of thing that will bear repetition to a larger group, and yet for the Saka of the larger group I think I will stick if possible to a form Suitable to them, | The question of birth rete and reconstruction is one that warrants the conclusion that no discussion of reconstruction can possibly be complete if it leaves out the birth rate, The war has in all the countries that it has touched directly and in most of the countries that it has touched indirectly reduced the birth rate. That is in itself a calamity or not according to circumstances. Under normal conditions it is many times possible to have the reduction of the birth rate a blessing and not a disaster, Eecause of the war the reduction of the birth rate is unquestionably a fearful and sad reflection of disaster. In central Europe in almost all the districts at present, from which we have records ths birth rate has now fallen below the civilian death rate, not in- cluding the actual losses in battle. In other words, war devastates Civilian population, a thing that isn't ordinarily taken enough into account. We think of the casualties of war as the killed and wounded and missing; we don't think of the casualties of war as the nervous prostration in men and women and, alas, in children. The extent of nervous prostration in Hurope is beyond anything that we know any- thing about. Our reports are still severely censored. In England they are less so, The truth is cropping out in papers like the London Nation which in the last three issues hag some utterly horrify- ing figures about what is happening in the civilian population in Germany, Austria, Poland and some of the other countries, I have a clipping here which gives these facts: "In Poland nervousness and nervous prostration have become so appalling that very few mothers Give birth to children caphble of surviving. Thus at the maternity hospital of Lemberg in two months only one in- fant survived out of 91 born." Here also was added: "The children cannot be made to attend school, The youths cannot be induced to do any work. The children play truant for days Snd weeks together, and the youths leave their homes for any trivial reason or none, Children and young people are constantly quarreling until they come to blows, They have no respect for their teachers, parents or elders;: they insult and abuse older people. Thieving is the common- est offense, Some children no doubt steel heoawuse they are hungry, but this is not always the motd4ve. At present 4dn Vienna there is an epidemic of thieving, 26 well as of nervousness and there are even organized gangs of child thieves in the Auntriam capital." Reports similar to that are comifhe from all over Hurope, There is what you migsht o211 chronic omd almost universal nervous vrostration. Quoting from the London N&tion I will give you one extract from a letter frota an old lady of s@venty-five in Hanover, She said: "The proocrtion of babies @ying before they are born and mothers not recoveritig has risen exces¢ively. Children ‘are much smaller for their ages than they were."’ You see, she /spoke from a district that has known the war now from 1914 to 1919. She has a chance to say whether the children are undersized or not because the babies born in 1915 are now four yegrs old. "During the influenze epidemic babies died in such numbers that there were not coffins enough in which %o ‘bury them," Bs Quoting again from the London Nation:- "A school ‘inspector in Berlin said; ‘Jt now takes a year! to teach a class of children what they would learn in two or three fmonths before the war,'' 3 K Key | ttt ah hee: 4Fenone Py Fit Ya Mae, sat ret 7 a eee, hg ber ay page sam ee. veto seat eH Ee SRR TERE aniol at ‘ aah eae AT VO ore eh te} ohh! baton pu: if Te hepube et get bat a aa “AN us Ki shad np atniet io Au ta seh ih in or akeatom. wart yt Maer eat Wk hora me oA came eR ae (hehe oe TA fe Sod yc bikin Ags’ | nee | 8 sorta Eni tate cee es We AA BA TIO WE! OM Tas Wd ves SAPO or eget aed . grdanves sak .ontOw ih ae Wt ages phat: dane i Kah « lo ee a Nae 43 pbobruiy pnw betta oak Oe cai is fs “ney , ‘her ita ; a Ove et Neo es TRS ORES Ree oe Rh fi tke ‘eit m , wey weet pas NM “Ny fie. ay ane Ea Bry ie. ee hh! pie ance Ve ie log hettodt ae fone Ta ‘we yAhh eS mh notte cuerace A a lorie age? fap Rat 7 aac aioe i! os LR % fea asp iel oh tee dara ah ye an. dees Ay Te eh tot olin SH? ane baat Opa: ous eae bapubdt’ es a : ater! te Ps A is, tech aye Py ‘A, beet ae A lat Bot ALC) nye pag: a ety ‘tod f Pe pry: Gales ay is 4 pecore cet a On uh ‘ane oak adtte 9 mS a he hts ae etd & carers t . ( S aRCee Kalin “secs aie ne Heyes Nie he ahi an th 1h ? . 190: io . fi arene? iS FL bony HOM. Mt t 4 i eed Serine ot av ; pet. anita ate toon Pasi mort i -2~ Our country, of course, not heving been devastated like these countries, will not be able tto report horrors like that, but we have the authority of Dr. Josephine Raker the head of the Child Hygiene Department of our Board of Health here for the statement that when we had been in war six months the baby death rate had risen, The baby death rate is an absolute barometer of the social status. It is the most sensitive index there is, The New York Iiilk Committee uses on its envelope this statement: "If bebies were well-born end well-cared for their mortality could be negligible." Now we come to this question of re-population after the war, The cheap and easy and thoughtless demand is: "Fill the cradles to make up for the men who have been killed and injured." After a little bit of thought that proves to be the most futile demand that could possibly be made of a mature population. If babies are born from parents who are under such strain as follows the war, the babies are almost inevitably doomed to be handicapped and a burden to their parents and to the community. In other words, you cannot re-populate in a hurry. The loss of war is a loss; it must be faced; it cannot be made up quickly. There isn't any way to do it. People don't recover from nervous prostration readily. Our poverty and un- employment question cannot be settled in a twinkling, even with the very best possible brains of the few that are focussed upon it. The majority of people are mentally wallowing in the industrial question; they are not solving it, The real question isn't the birth rate or the drop in the birth rate, The real question is the relation of the birth rate to the death rate and particularly to the baby death rate. During the war Dr. Josephine Baker was quoted as saying: “It is three times as safe to be a soldier in the trenches as an American beby in the cradle", and she baéked it up by these figures, It was then reported that the losses in the allied armies averaged four out of a hundred soldicrs, The deaths of American bebies at that time were averaging twelve out of a nundred. So she was justified in her statement. There can be over-“population in a given family at any time when the parents are hendicapped by ill health or poverty so that they cannot give the children they have adequate care, and it makes no difference whether that family numbers two or twelve, there can be over-population in the femily of two if the parents are not equipped to give the babies what they ought to have. That is, the question of the maintenance of the birth rate is not one of figures, It is a question of values. It is a question of relationships, .In view of the war there not only will be but there ought to be a very deliberate lowering of the birth rate for a very large number of people. Of course there are people, economically speaking, who ought perhaps to proceed to have children and a good many of them, Those people who have made money out of the war are economically equipped at any rate to rear large families, One questions, though, whether it is worth while to propagate a lot of little profiteers, If their morals couldn't be improved as well as their material staths, it is a question if after all the traditional.small family of the rich better not be perpetuated a while yet until the rich have ac- quired a change of heart that will make the children they produce worth while, . There is a question however whether. the vast horde of people that is becoming unemployed, - these young soldiers who are coming back and have not the opportunity either to pick up their old roots or to make new ones if thoy were so young when they went away that they hadn't acquired roots, - whether those people should under- take in these uneasy times that are ahead of us anything like large families. It has been estimated that if one considered ordinary decent living conditions, it must cost $180 a year for each child from one to three years of age, and that the cost rises gradually to about 4350 a year at fourteen years of age. Now the birth of a baby cannot be well accomplished without expense, To do it exceedingly well, and I think it is the right of Tet te aa ON eon ae at Birdos” eo : 4 be Ne aegis te : ache bie bat hy AK 4m 4 nt i Da S nA Hy \ Tai 4 he t ‘ : zi Naaa ORES So POO Fa AG ih . i " te . ' . Rt: Sy NR ROS OT rn Re 4 \E ANT ; ; if By ‘ if y J i ‘ a sana AOvL ‘ eee ; } { ae 7 ae. u . ih i i N \ Ge aang eS ae a erate ran Fe Om, Cae 2 ‘i ‘ i Dh ae ie oo stipe f ‘ . Re. bk PEO Oe tL OEP See NaS irae! PN Bai Cote Ni Poa A. east ye $ i WP a as, ie tay Poe to § SP thy Bey Bi! @ ae J eri | UF the ce Mh Ae RN =s a ~ eam 20 5 em 04 Was . wt fy P 7 , ‘ “ee ‘ hye uy aE 3 g t We 3 1 Das. CR ag at 0 Shas 6 th NM ie Mi Ny ne AR ih pte tein 0m | iat a ! care wart tar eles wine wae tilt WU) ae Beal . RS ON ik rey SOR ty wih! Ie. lat, ae AS Te) ay suo, £59 rt sufi ui 8 Suis as ea “y) RAL eRe BREN a tl ae MM ea ha ; 7 haa CC 4 wend 2 f ary ied As | BE ONE. a fe Me MERA Hatha ont oe band Cty a ey ec ee Be ? | reat! hoe eatean| Boag tus s Nery ome ots: “ey. oat te ges : oN hie. OMe ek wD) Pa as a ‘dquo. Le me ‘ai te veer ol Tam, De Stat pet BEA Sh OAM LN nh a hah Ae MEL aso t der ‘ane ba ahr eo mi aa » We a 1 bay hates se mtn a a binge Tale) Be! aga 40a n ine Marty cli ed \ aaah ae Oh aaa rons Osh: ges . 4 apa ‘NUE 20S ae gh ke je in ( ‘ k Gi + yew Sei it LOT si mee #) ane! PY Oat ve ak Cohs it qa he Ae + PERSE EO | het arae bao: his dao: | € ; if i " ¥ my re sms peal i : is fais Vite Nip ea A Lio ai te ta ahs wo Sima ae : q ] eee oue ORI: i oy oe ri -s, fo rit cg fay ni 3 i 4 si + r+ee rs ay i ito oe , “pat NE f reiki atodt a6 i Ste tO el tet OT ae fe ined ne Mo sata chs Fe ML 0 Mb | r aut esliboas. ertt, aebhiny, om ox Prete catied A Ad Yor stant ee t shetnry 1p bm mit be: hon tout ees tak el 24.6 on fe on anon. é 3 | . ye ; ; ¥ s } i wee, Lo om asta ‘eta: ; ; ( 7 a awe ler “ cab MMs xs yy PNG aie a pry gett ce ih og ihe & Oe aes Aa isons nase Mi ‘i } HA ry tage A aah La 4 every mother to have it exceedingly well done for her, - it ought to cost about $200, It doesn't take much arithmetic to see what it means in dollars and cents if families are going to be well-born. When we read that there are 25,000 neople out of work in a town like Buffalo in this state, isn't it asking a preposterous thing if we assume that +t is up to those people to make good war losses? Could anything be nore tragic than the state of-mind of @ man who has lost his job be- cause he was employed in a war industry, and has two or three little children, and an alien wife, to make the discovery that there is another baby coming? Could anything more hopelessly wreck the morale of a working man than a situation like that? What it means is that he and his wife and his babies ten to one will presently become a burden on the community and the cause of great misery to themselves. ¥ AS recently as December 7th Frank Walsh of the War Labor S0erd gave these statements. He defines a living wage as the amount of wage upon which a worker and his family may be able to subsist in health and reasonable comforts, This definition was accepted by the var Labor Board as a good theoretical statement, but when it came to putting it into practice Walsh said: "We hed more difficulty in “pplying that principle then anv other. Three-fourths of the common laborers of this country had not been getting enough to eat. They had seen their children go into industry and a great number of them were compelled to take in borders ta‘add to the family income," The War labor Board found itself squarely up against the system of economic vapitalism which had been exploiting ‘workers and starving the children for these many years, After studying the budgets in all wage hearings of jate years a decision was made by the staff of the War Lebor Board that the minimum on which a worker with a family of six children of echool ages could live was $34,80 a week, That rate of wages per week meang over $1700 for a full time year, It is a wage of $7 a day. The experts reached the conclusion that this minimum was the least upon "hich a man, wife and children could maintain health and decency, but when the War Labor Board turned to the industries dominated by American plutocracy they found themselves helpless, As Walsh put it: "When we attempted to put that into effect it was impossible to do so. ihe whole structure of our industrial life was based upon so low a wage level that if this increase had been made it would practically jouble the common lebor rate prevailing." Now those are facts, To expect parents to have large families “n the face of those facts is expecting something that ought not to appen, There is another very serious question that women particularily rhoudd pay attention to with regard to our young soldiers on their return. liost of our army is of the marriage age;- 21 to 31 1s pre- Minently the mating period. Our men in the camps and cantonments here -efare they went to war were protected in an unprecedented way from \Gnureal infection, What infection they had, there was herculean | effort made.to cure. tit was marvelously successful too. Then they vent over to the other side and at first were regimented right with the allied armies which hed nothing like such a standard as hed existed ‘nm our armies, The results were bad. The results since the signing of the armistice had been very bad indeed, It was reported by 2 Red ‘ross worker recently that there were nineteen profilaxis(?) stations in activity in Paris alone, and that they were averaging one thousand rreatments a day for infection among the soldiers of our army. That “as since the signing of the Armistice, Now every intelligent person knows the danger of the venereal snfection to the next generation, Our men as I said before are the oung men, If they are not married already ten to one most of them {11 marry promptly on their return, If they and their wives are not > sife-guarded by the knowledge of how to postpone their babies until -he infection danger period from disease is passed, it is going to mean une more wretched additional needless reflex from the war in the pro- luction of an added number of infected and handicapped babies, Now '3 perhaps the one time in all our whole history that our young pavents . caught to be equipped with knowledge as to how to regulate the size OF -heir families to suit their conditions of health and earnings. Sat Seale Stig) ) apeon ’ A gaienner DS a2 ae is DES, \ Ww ne URN mens visit of hE crue a be veady por on a ie BNE 4 tt t shot 1 ae Bhd fi rake LIC Ne oe sof vida Che Gy fs £m, “trot ae auth es Ps ee ee a sien ae. * SATA a Ci Sena ‘anes 7): SEP BOLE eR taba ag ot ae vd eh fe aN ee nyt aurea etic ese Maupin: ut Hig i i} Py: : ‘ vee ae aa sl : fe ae hice Vet ae ‘pe. hays ni bas ws, fy AR ST et et & eb aebe Taber eid ' eT Ra ny “ mare ; atue oO res Hee soe hiss cs Bu Vd Doses cow mays cotttatt any eb RR ea ea has Ru ss Ny oe Fit NE ONE CG hale neo yee fs ah SES ON, RR oat cueh dae he ii Bakers Gene WRN 3: ab bandage mnt ae Oe eR Cae i i To CIS Pe r . seed Ane t Doe Aa ak NE ane rai ne a aunt Kah Ka HS 3, ee LCi rake oe a i hie Ni ed fa Coe: wal yrs; I Oat ae te ; aad asad Sa, DL one. et ombud: ots ace bir ao oe SMS Mtns? 18) vray e . r } Ae (RO RT tes gob Hig aes ea covya 1 ae Y q ihe hi vert won neon 39 eal 87a: res ah " i if fh: 3 + Bs Pols ay ay “i SN aa 4 ‘oy te, aL. Gat a dase A NOt ree @: ny had 2 a cis smi isp man ae - ml tee, bo tagay a | » OR aD) ee PL) Kaa bu ae bua Nie HOE fh om Ef wary Nyhan en ok “an ; ott ah t vay Mi Ne: ch ; he } ie h ie 4 e : \ ido EN ane tate dane venrarl: one Wmpaia:’ amie Se ut Ne JH tro Poet) na tri oan guteon, Mi i May Sant i COS ava ice wWtetisot Pai sf atone 16: ity | Hors “ ae hae ie ON ae ee BL pe naeoy A egaie ret Be riehane ae ie ip aaah eet RE CE WE LG depts 9 DRT OO CRA ore BEE Net ok yt Shh hatnane: , haiti ibe } Head. ye bay 5 a Bete g Es A alee toate he 4 canto: od a pei fs Nae vy As i “Me 6 “bel apd: Ba toms nam 4 oy ee we oe eer oe f a ‘ he La Sthcge yh Tee has ball gee si Bae es Be un mit | ‘ Os viet BUN SR EO Chit eirelty: att i" as | tA ce a Pi nth ee _ ‘The question of underfeeding in the school as revealed by School investigators has been abeorbing 9 great desl of the attention of those interested in philanthropy and welfare, I myself heard one New York City sehool teacher whose school was in one of the poorest districts of the city say thet she didn't think she was making a, oarsless statement at ell when she said thet ninety percent of the children in her class were underfed, Is it worth while to add to this collection of underfed children; does it do any good; does it make the children hoppy; does it make the parents happy; does it help the cormunity? It is absolutely true thet very ofton the way to save a boby's life..is to postpone the baby's birth until conditions ere right for that beby to come, Otherwise the baby life is wasted, The rate at which the beby lives are wasted is dismelly and cone- prehensively shown by the wonderful collection of reports issued by Julis Lathrop from the Children's Bureau. Her annuel report has Just com? out. In that she gives a chart in the form of a ther- mometer which shows the relation of the beby death rate to the father's wages. Her reports cover the cases of 23,000 babies in eight cities, so they sare not guesses; they are not exceptional conditions; they are averages, and this is what she proves;- thet in a group where the father's wages are less than $5@0 a yeur one out of every six babies tics; where the father's wagas go up to $1260 @ year tho babies die only et the rete of one in sixteen, There is the inevitable conelusion, you see, that wherever there is excessive poverty babies are wasted. We have been taught religiously and patriotically the gospel of conservation during all this war period. We were taught to plant war gardens. Explicit directions were given to us to plant the seeds so rany inches deep, so many inches apart, with Suchand such conditions of enrichment. Anattagous knowledge for the producing of the little hunan crop ts -not.available legally, The only way it can be had is by breaking the law. The law which makes this knowledge illegal is, I think, the most disgusting piece of literature in the English language. I should hesitate very much tO read’ at to you,, It is a long parareravh of very fine print.” The one I hold in my hand is the federal statute on which all of the state laws which prohibit this information dre modeled, They all use exactly the sare type of language. The phrase "prevention of conception" is drovped in, separated only by a coma, with all of the immoralities and indecencies of life that could possibly be thought up by anybody. The language in the worde of the New York Times is) “utterly unfit to) print”.) That law, of course, is a prodigous and wicked insult to all of the parents in the United States, and we are the only large country that disgraces itself by penalizing this information. It is an anazing thing that any citizen in the United States can write to the Department of agriculture and have for the asking innumerable pamphlets on the raising of plants and animals for social benefit, and cannot write to a single govern-~ ment department and get that same knowledge with regard to the producing of their own children, the nost precious crop there is. The Children's Bureau you naturally would think ought to be able to supplement these dismal statistics that it produces with recormendations for the cure of the conditions, and yet the hest it can do is to patch up the babies after they come into the world. It cannot say one word about the prevention of the starting of those little lives that ought not to come until conditions are right for then, It is well knowm that what has broken down nany of the large strikes where the workers were struggling for an existence wage has been the man with the overlarge family - the man who simply could not endure it when his babies cried for milk and bread. That man, of course, in the strike was the victim of a situation which he did n6t deliberately produce, He simply ignorantly found himself in a situation like that where he was, you night say, submerged by the numbers of his own fanily. Sen foe py one koe My ae dats Aree $e be! i" i pboen, Vo OR ape ‘Sonn eS pave trace aide SH ger i i ii { ¥ \ ist : ty) AM \ l tp 5 j ai ; ‘ t ; / 1 vay Wee Ms, , F ie Y 1 arin ay! : wee 7 J ‘ by av te ; % " Py ‘ Wh 4 Br MR TN 3 agate i ei ved + tate i one athe Ons een 4 ae ae nf Avy RE Pad Hy ke wt) Ail . fA, al x ft a pm mis oy age | i fi eet ay i a ain 3 Hi # i | beret : eer ae . sa a Sg i aN a rh whit oan f te Fee? i ue t t 1 ma in Fy a, a oie! yagi! } mete ' th 7 i ue } i ; ©: ad “ate , coms fh, rn i he ae hie nae « t Ste ye Rad RA 1 ie ita ere a Ce ; i rea Ren a Weal a oti bet ip: Sten ag a iy \ Kal Nan sina a } is AR) pols iv hat 70" tr, ‘Dagens? Bt tpi a ta $0," hie i BUT oh vie sha goby i : te Apes : ae yk Ree, ae i a aye, A mid a ti be SA I ah ae gta iy “{ we eadt cote cis Pic Ye | inde auth i otha i + eh sii 4 sins aff i f ie LS TR ot nt bere ‘hee ol OE Oa a pe aaah eto OR ae ee RAG ae IN 2 a hy ORES a S09 ‘dt toy an htyr ete, oat te . Ott ig : oh hy Wal Kes | aa I F 5m We think of war as producing all of these results that make us think so hard at just this juncture, but we have to remember that if the war had not come we should have this problem just the Same and have it very seriously. | ie The other evening when Prof. Zooblin (?) was speaking here in New York on race recuperation he gave these very striking facts - that in our mining industry only four and one-half percent of the fatal accidents come from big disasters that make headlines in the newspapers; that forty-nine percent of the fatal accidents come from the daily happenings of the mines that are taken as a matter of course, and that the miners! death rate is higher than the soldiers' death rate has been in the army, That is what we are doing in daily civilian life. It has nothing whatever to do with the war, In repopulating, if we are intelligent, we have got to make haste slowly. There isn't any other way. In France before the war, I think it was in 1913, there was a good deal of public concern at the great decrease in the birth rate. France had the popular reputation of being a dying-out race. As a matter of fact up to the war the birth rate in France never dropped below the death rate. There has been a fairly steady but small increase in the population in France since the seventy!'s, and before that there had been a higher increase, I think. At this time there was a good deal of agitation and certain rewards and bonuses and whatnot were offered to veople for having large families, and there was a good deal of propaganda, so that it did speed up the birth rate, but what it also did was more than increase the baby death rate, so that the number of survivors was no more than before they had done this artificial process, Precisely the same thing happened in Ontario, quite a number of years ago. People. ofthe Roosevelt type argued in behalf of gigantic families. It became a duty in the minds of a great many peorple. They did precisely what France tried and all they succeeded in doing was to increase the baby death rate. Whieh proves that unless parenthood is intelligent + unless conditions are right for the babies, it does no good to produce them, They are simply wasted; they die, and everybody concerned is depleted by the process, and there is only one way to increase the number of survivors, and that is to have the conditions of birth right for the babies. They they can survive, and not otherwise, On just the same principle that we say that saving is earning, we have a right to say that sometimes avoiding children is saving, It wouldn't be complete, I suppose, to discuss recon- struction and the birth rate and leave out the term Bolshevism, It is too universal and too popular, and go I will put it in. Never mind defining Bolshevism, but if your point of view is such that Bolshevism means to yow some sort of mad red terror that will devas* tate the earth, a good antidote for it, or a partial antidote at any rate, will be to use all your might and influence to get these laws changed and get this information to the people in order that they ray sufficiently steady their own nerves and rationalize their own thought by being free of maddening care and desperation. People who are hungry and sick and over-burdened may not pe able to. think sanely in a social crisis. They may do the desperate thing. Therefore, from the point of view of conservatism, it would be wise to let this information reach the masses of the labor people of the United States. . If, on the other hand, your conception of Bolshevism is different - if it means to you an interesting, brave, heroic reach toward an ideal social order, then equally the people need this information by which they can regulate their own destinies and the size of their families, in order that they may be efficient and well equipped in the struggle to produce the new social order. It is seldom that a thing works both ways as neatly as that. eat, ge ‘ gets ps 186) * Rr 3 Dest itt tHe VV ¢ /. dereotae Naps Tei anata «Si he SR Oa EDR ae. oilers eta bit ail ree aad / ) . po a ae * fied Ve on till al * Srna | Bic hi Som Ret Ar 0 8 FOYT CBRN Bc ae NA i TN a a aE A iy ry i ea at! aed Geel al) osx) itakeedl nite! he eae aw N i on as “ovadadt aniston paw Wa any UC NEG AEN AINA } t le qi ( f Mh OTIS, OT OM vig COR Det ae Otis e OFT EOS Oe Ca ect RAL ok iime it sated Vg Vas: ee ! : hapa & iy ei ca a Nae rsh ag: oat i, i i ore Pe ‘ag ie ate ta es y + Ay oi ae ae eden De Ose obs Panto ty HS ay fy rt bs) Fe Wk f LM) iy i SOF RT MeO ae: “fee Pos pres i Mi as dh Mia Se) ff Ro pede Oban BAy Kanth, onetad © aN feQh boog a) eee, Suede ange, Weak if oun mes Re ie he edi aver Crt) Dine: Be: ine oly I be mis: ; ine rs + y o i) i, ed ")y fp i? Py f Pp ,! hen aapiot hach a Ge a ee ol boa 2S } four avast 4 ‘ a : iach a Rt i Catto , taro ee aera : 4 ade aa goon as “ at ‘cote ay Ae ei it ; ’ batetaen 1 Persepos BAG fy ate | a = So ye BPC aipons ] WH watt sk Be : : Ab uh Uy Wives Hi fy ih: of 4 Bett h 4 ben Lal wea a au is £3 ae cE LD AGERLOWS, ade £S ora “Yat oe mone eat 3 Ke i ‘ Hae ARMIN 4 Phi rT i, 4 i 2 Wp ea anogo |e ot, Rome +m be eo ae VL TaN NG (re i mete. dmte ERS OB COMER REL EM amie a Py | POO CORR INS Pep ee se nes Hin #09 sett fy bee Ou Aenea bee “brie Wat bivi ) Ny anne | be Deen 4 mre MENON A ae ire. neo teen Git Lore fee epee bags a i Pa tear pg ou i fg he 4 ie : y Bi . Bay, fy) bs ee as 0 bw The conservative has every reason for saying "amen" to this program to get counter-conceptive information into the hands of the people who need it, The radical has every reason for wishing precisely the same thing. That is just another way of saying that what this thing means is human welfare. It is a great humanitarian Proposition, but during all these years since the seventy's this information has bemdirtied and besmirched and degraded not only by being prohibited but by being called bad names in the phraseology of the law, That law has stood on the Statuge books all these years not because anybody really wanted it there, but because people © have been inhibited from changing it, They have been enbarrassed with the whole question, They shrink away from anything like responsible action in regard to any matters that have to do with Sex, The taboo, however, is wearing thin now, I think the tine 13 not far away when it will disappear not wholly but in some of these larger and more important ways, A wonderful step in the shedding of embarrassments and inhibitions was taken by the American people when they responded to the appeal of the army authorities to help stamp out venereal dis- ease in the army, Ten or fifteen years ago I am sure you remeriber that one didn't speak of venereal disease except in whispers, and those who did insist upon speaking about it were somehow or other, if they were not medical people or professional people, considered bold and ill-bred. But.look what happened when. the war put its grip upon us, It made people do things they had thought they never could do before, The army authorities and the public health Service put out quantities of literature of appeal 40) the e2vil population to co-operate with them in keeping down venereal dis- ease in the camps and cantonments. There were special pamphlets for all sorts of peopie,- for parents, for the soldiers themselves, for the young girls, for leaders of opinion of all sorts, and the response was marvelous, People forgot that they were embarrassed by that subject. They did what they thought théy ought to do. Having done it for that question, they surely can with equal ease and a sense of responsibility do it for this question, . Beyond all questions of immediate betterment and re- construction is another great benefit. that will come from taking this step that has been so criminally postponed, If the question of the conception and birth of children becomes a matter of clean Science, parents will have taken the first btg@ step in cleaning up their thought and feeling and living in regard to sex, They will have taken the first step toward educating themselves and the next generation to standards and thoughts and creative faculties, such as we have never known before and such as we ought to know, | In matters relating to sex we are more backward, more une -developed, more ignorant and more perverted than we are in any ' other phase of our lives, The time has surely come in this up- heaval of thought, this naking of new programs, for us to realize that this is one of the foundations not only of our personal lives but of the whole social structure. We.rcan't afford to be irres- ponsible about it. This will give us an opportunity for a new understanding, for a readjustment of values, moral and physical and spiritual, (Applause). QUESTION - I would like to ask how long it has been since there has been known any absolutely certain counter-ceptive? IRS. DENNETT - It is an imperfect science, QUESTION - There are different kinds t6 suit different human beings, but it is still a matter of experinent, isn't it? ; li.S. DENNETT + The best answer to that, I think, is that it is not taught in any of our medical schools. It never will be until it is legal for the doctors to give the information. QUESTION - And then even it will be an experiment? LGA, CohG a aaa Sali (coy Nt Amat ar ye Ao: Wee : phn any ue et Cathar aie dh: ‘nige tag he $8 parle rf at priest: ey ae + OTTO eke an e Pee Fett Bi aS me ‘pp ots ge UIs YQ spire arr te Caaeey eee it Cee ce bots sqno: AGE lg oie ae Rie as Big Pass x 1; ne ad. bell os ie: ak od sk ae rf i Set cog ota fh * + r es ; * ; % \ 1 : ‘3 Ki v ; % ae. . Sed Fy ea ¥ * { 4 ¥ sf ‘ Mies a yw ge et a: oa ee ii Pitty afood sae Bagh “he D9 .t es ail das rh ee iden need M3 af oc ay Ge nae! ; abs 2.8 TEESE , ay 4p isd Naa | hae a | ™ hy iby a MA ; A ree Part MO vat cae th aT ee mgs Roe si Me grata alt! ye Wy t ae ee ae wee ALE mle a eres ” A en Big ; 1 %, ” , rare Ae Ro bs ee Owa y Sekt vf oem ea Ay MES OF rong vt ‘not ots di OP as em, kas ae set coe rego’ or ery Ceara ak aM WAL f nel i PAN TAS RN a. co iw te HS site Pee shite? ante oa . 4g AA ‘ ‘i at ye Vaid: poet am fF al brs. ‘ ~ ? eb rely pial: os Oya eats “oN *. hin ‘el opt ey ay ents ONG arti yn an 4 4 a as Wy Leonean sy yy ¥ Lbs Y. . at e ee mene: r no + ie yas a B ie if alt | a WEE eas 9 “ay Hes i ; Lt ay is Maye ets. Baye ae a aid | ME ride. men MOG! OFtRe ee iS BOLe g hy iyi t Sete. - ae igs b in ve ae mh a) sit sa We if a - | ise i nny: ri x! ot at? aan wif “° e Ste. Ber ETE, OF Yo ee ae ‘MD ie, Veit ahcbue », ; oi * ; ASA the 9) ae in wee pee 4 ie. wet ‘ } ata csa03 A6 tis e «okt or spat ae i Ae tA gare be rn dae ssid i Ait : band / on 3 m \ . habe! iianarl con . 5 ik ad hom TAG 1 rok ne Gain, te ly ah oe ihe ante emee. ora ) we tit" caaat af aoe. Doe apt Lae pave”) ae Fh be Me OE aed bide brewed! ges He ee: ett oo fei pit i gin baling pie it hed petene uo yaar t 2G eit ‘ 4 5 } if j ¥ 108 a) ‘e 7 My 4% b i 2 Na F ne tan ; fe | hi ini i i « y Kean , Hy ‘ fey ee jee Ae a “hele GN EO i - x ; ds tie a. La eerie a4 o TON) BCE “oye: Hee ted amt? af revi $9 oo veg ie “¥ ce aa hs fy ee eR ae fe ay thy Bet TOgte now aT es he A 8 aqoroess ; eport, 4 ‘ae ORL Peet ie alte Bt] Cy pe ihc 1a gators - * mips? Pe et a ab aren Wl ie ‘ as tlaps at eu a ds enti tae tg, sees” Os Cioceagan pnt ~ signed to | re x“ 2 re : a8 kale, furs fre : * ; ee aha babe ae © conbitet, THO TO! Maetiy oF Ort “po eer ST ser 14 Oe a y ren 3 at . ‘ Bn sey asi Laue ne an SD ee Pts a gy phe Tt ah P oe fie sae ‘pe fhe! adi ad es Maha OF ah gi a) ' bi sth hina sats gr ee hs W ipiay Pee co sbice chat Satout ak ts ae 7 2 BOR PR, Bites erat, Bo 0 erat 16: ont -: oa PRX arate fe ; yt a ADD. t a ogee i ca in ; ‘i ok ue ame ae ‘p- RS Mi a Co Re ye é Pie | a paket’ ped: boat TE ATO” Oe us tevedge Spars SST OO) i ~7 - liRS, DENNEDT » It need not be experimental, if our medical profession will give it the same proportionate attention that it has given to other questions of hygiene.and preventative medicine. 7? QUESTIUnN = Well, I heard Dr. Goldwater say publicly that the reason why he wanted this law repealed was for experi-~ __. mentation, and I don't approve of that because I feel that in the. meantime they wouldn't tell the mother that. They would give her false security, and therefore she would be misled, and become a mother perhaps without her consent or willingness, and therefore they would defeat their own ends in that way. It is not a known Science, and there is no absolutely sure counterceptive; they have all failed in certain cases, So the law is a good one in some ways, Now, of course, I will be probably looked upon as very old-fashioned by sone people, but I dontt think that absolute license that is given by this knowledge is a good thing, ERS, DENNETT - You have brought up two points which need answering. One is that people could hardly be any worse off than they are now, There is no such thing as keeping people without some information. They are getting it secretly. A large part of the information that is handed around in whispers is inadequate and some of it is harmful. There is only one way out and that is fur- ther education on the subject. We can't. ¢o back, We can't take what information people have away from them. It is true, as I Said, that the science isn't perfect, but imperfect as it is, it is better -than stark ignorance on the subject. The other point you have brought upiis with regard to morality. It is the question that comes up inevitably in this dis- cussion. It is the question that all the New York legislators asked me when I interviewed themsin. January. It was question No.2 generally, Their first question wag that of race suiédide.” They were afatmed for fear there would be no more babies, That is very easiiy enswered too by the simple statement that in the countries where there is no restrictive legislation like ours the ration of increases in the population is very highs In other words, it is not a race suicide program as it works out. Now as to the question of morals. The picture that is in the minds of a great many people is that of tunnumerable young girls promptly going to the devil, I am always impressed with the fact ti: that people are so exorbitantly worried over the young girls and seem to leave the yourig men out of the question. It is an inter- esting facti The answer to that is this. It is a double answer, First, in the countries where no such restrictive legislation 6Xists asx we have, there is no record of social disaster, There is no evidence of debauchery amoung the young. Quite the contrary Holland and New sealand are the two best instances of countries where information makes parenthood voluntary and not accidental, and in those countries their generql welfare statistics make a better showing than in any other countries of the world, In Holland for instance, there is the lowest general death.rate and the lowest baby death rate of any country in Hurope, The rich average larger families and the poor smaller families than any other country in Burope, That means thattHolland is approaching a norm in its Social conditions, Holland had a larger proportion of fit men in its army than any other country in Europe. Its health rate is excellent, Lr the second answer is true that a large proportion of . our young people are so lacking in standards and anchorage and ~ character and strength and good taste that they would inevitably go to vieces morally if they had this information, the only con- cldsion we can make is that it is a fearful and most serious in- dietment upon us, the elders, who have brought them up and who are bringing them up. It is our fault. We set the standards; we allow their ignorance; we allow the thing that produces these results that we fear, It is a revelation of the fact that we have been too indifferent, too lazy, too erbarrassed; too inhibitive to do our duty in the training of these young people, so that their standards will be such as will bring health and happiness and self-respect eo : + eke , oy ray t aes gaits x Se ee ee RS ey Come PR Ee m9 a ie oe bie fart eaeny bh oy HH ist mY owt, j Pale wears “BeOS Set Ae ou aber ety ait bE ay 7a) nt ey : | ayelor det ind Pann ees bv to rTaseiino! a REA 2 Cin el aL TN th tants ae woe) ne ey ey rBs a Nua te ¥4 pare “Ait ry Eee Le ° Sinise i uranite bantins, fi HU RE a Me MR EIAL TC Dua Ra vee on Sg vile ie sh wig 4 ae ‘By aly yas NOME: NS Bpar,uk PP as Sone fous aria ie Ne way 4 | ial Ne ni nee ty: i) ‘ chal ee sont. TERS am es ip - * ys We 4 ‘ 5 ; vil aera 2 x eRe Ope ate Atarog: ony tus toned ead ee Se ‘ned ‘ We Pa rod REE: dd, Au Ne ES evabal 8, Aiavke “Sido ne A ORR rire AD EO ONY ac ber dag adi ANE TOR oLT Sree fer i er itimgl eteahe Lili le ack ie. io | Pats th Ors Ok Re tt Oy. ir aE rp tA oa Tuts a, od sg ket hh neh art mee eto: ee GR ear ee yaa Ba bias ‘ ‘apie | Ot ue ae ) yds Ce Roath aleuel math 8 bay. +d p ant dot pia a SPY, Gh Re RT, ay is” e fa ah oie eattont ‘ pe sf inp \ ? if : y Win aly Pier ‘7 ror oc Fatt sso taad | dita ai: OES Baar oe" at a “ ant ul . renee s00, ‘Share ~ res ‘t 5 ‘en Ys MME t debs ad ot ot awed eee Bh tia oot & ayes fy ; y Man tigl ¢ 2 « any i 4 oa ; nna Balt | ie Mies ne) i i nu % hs bi Ae CORE a a \ VEE, oe te A ait x vif) ae ty 4 i i AL MC vane fate pie 2 ety uli ae aK: pont bal uh unt by i v Ney wi kK notes ef iy aes at e | dobre et | Weetintans Ed. fet ome, 10: har eH) on: 1) Bore SAP ued Vy tee gal ul BG yi Fi re aie - a Ang br yet vane 16 18, OEM RI Ber! LG Rett y ih i mene ot ee Shey Bae Bi hee: tye fis RO Saas Wa ME Dog 2 BN Bee NE 6 ce Cah at vi 3 a ep ate oe ee iB ‘ui ey rt th | ee oe py fp: : hae ay bo! ¥ COE ear Timea ls Gein y say cto hc tnt re eocaok E ae is RD aeaecerah Wit bso ort Vege het tee! d ) | ps, a tort biatentenyen, ont eMst bee Bacnodn ie | Bes ae Doi Soe eer ery / ; AG, a vem i omen i BN: Ae f Ht =~ Bu to them, It means that we have work ahead of us ‘Gnataie ali, ~The safety zone is always on the further side of education, not the nearer side, and ignorance is never synonymous with virtue and never a safeguard, | QUESTION + Well, but we know that those conditions exist whether we wish to deny them or not, Human nature has been weak in the young no matter what training they have had, The weakness is exhibited and we can't deny that. Who&s fault it i$ we won't question, but by removing all restrictions we certain- ly don't improve conditions to my mind. However, I have a theory that marriage is too easy, and I think there is too much license in marriage being permitted amongst unfit people, and I believ> that these returning soldiers shouldn't be permitted to narry if they have venereal disease. I think the fate of the woren they marry is just as important as the fate of the possible children that they may have, and I was very much impressed by a very Short article in the recent number of the Ilaryland Sufferage News which speaks of the new marriage laws in Norway, and I would be very much favored if you would read the article or permit me to read it. It is very short and might interest you, and I think that it is something we should think about - making marriage harder and perhaps divorce easier,. , They have eighty-one clauses in the new marriage law &n Norway which was put into operation in January; these are just afew of the clauses, DRS. DENNETT = May I vreface the reading of this with the statement that there is no restrictive legislation on the subject of counterceptive knowledge in any of the Scandinavian countries, QUESTION = Well, thereis a decidedly great restriction in thevpermission of people with venereal disease to marry. "A man under twenty and a woman under eighteen may not marry without the consent ofthhe authorities, Birth and baptism certificates must be produced before the names are published, Under certain conditions one or both of the contracting parties may be required to show that they have not been insane. Both must declare in writing that they are not suffering fron @pilepsy, leprosy, syphilis, or other venereal disease in an infectious form, In the other alternative the subject of any of these dis- eases must prove that the other party to the marriage contract is cognizant of the fact, and that both parties have been instructed by a doctor as to the dangers of the disease in question, The doctor conoerned is not to be tied by professional secrecy and is _bound to interfere if he knows that any one of these diseases is being concealed by either side. A written declaration must also be given by the cane didates for marriage, as to previous marriages and as to children born to them out of wedlock. The marriage may be nullified if it is subsequently proved that insanity or any of the above dis- eases have been concealed or if an incurable, morbid condition incompatible with married life exists. Dissolution of the marriage may also be clained if false delcarations have been made or obstacles concealed, Again if the woman has become prepnant by another man or if the man has rendered another woman pregnant and this has not been revealed, dissolution of the marriage may be claimed whether the child of this illegal union be born before or after the marriage. Such a claim must be made within six months after the facts become known py the claimant. Miany other causes are defined’ as valid for the dis- solution of marriage, and it is evident that henceforth in Norway it will often ve difficult to marry in haste, and the facilities . - for escaping from a hasty ill-judged marriage will prove to be numerous and varied," It seems very: revolutionary, put Stihl te think dries step in the right direction. I think it will help a great deal ; Say ey * “@ tay a tae, ye Lene it sso i fy dott ye a Rigor Det nore me on: ade). fae ave! yon) abe ar ee t's HLUsT OR ONY |, Pah. bak ol ue Us i : Sap eal eros rotate. ifa' paarentooa ei iar Oona Ue aWhesks T tne Vawoll Brg: PE, Bake Repay TO | enone fins Cod ig rath Arend SB a ER 004 i ees ey Ola ond: Elen. Te yc bert raned PO eb! ey bett inom of. Fok Luols eek of 40 i at ONY orth TG aay, oree AnkNY Ta opesevap Laeren nldieeod ot) Yo eg est any ihe bepayditeesty ef cog) ipo one ite! ody YVrov Bow ine Meh as, OCS TIE HS Yew Loe Vols todrinn $e9909, oat | SON OT bens meet Le eepre t) e Oy he nett, weet | aay cn tole USE Ao SLOLP RY ody Reed bf asow Moy. rei beaovet PbS TT io Ra. CaO eh a ng epee! hl ae hans’ Pvodies Sate tod ' PASI EN QALoL BT ow dhshehdull dare? eyes a and dere Ns, ; ; A are } th i tet Ps eqatre 8 [ : nef Re TOM, MAN at ne tannets re TURIN ARE eB Agr tn ot ape qe ine 890 eg nh . OPS wo hn antbs he ve eee at penuh AN Ett a aay a a eby of avktot Pte eas Oa he, oe tla DUBIN i ch dyn lv ioe ahd i) ARE ne arb: sta Svt ie | ‘ s ) yatd ger insite a > A cy iy i f ; if Mi (i WEN wit “ton ten destints mebral ROW g bone vtoors | ; “mb ty ined’ Be dg the . » Hangs Meo hin: anttir to. dnewnon a ae abonagt Gh OU POE ohh pale gh ‘beouhord. hie fe et Nhe ste: qnte ge: aa ae ent » mide te Moe! re odds bey Wek ; Lute A ik Mi Bee Ee ay ea: it* 2 a Ries yen figs moat ache tive Son eiallvada ane oaks cm “auottss es HG laps) orneetb: Leet ey: ston to bi F ” ; By 9 bad Lom " Qn bol 1 (er TE "ie daa: ye Ht f | arcoib att "to aor ae Pi OR ITE, Seaton AM DOLE sed. 9) sen) ae beneeoto Sto MAE Pett: Fae get pb sietredar io k | a a: i } ie 4 f a 4 ores te : Me ih 4 nt ieee: a Xoo. anti ‘trl pt a in mt oF Mile aide ap hesnata as ; Nagitivtov e+ He has Roms + “cia BYOL Pome: OF) : Dh Pie £ Cites Aacsebe oy det a eT | ) Oy A di ayo aie art 4 haved teak. es vit if AL ye it 8 < Ubtasupessue j mo otebaon hs heron abe sun eee P Redo! ae ig ) ie ly ae id oto ane elven Att er heraier a ae pete: a a ds seule dd : Ahan hel Sspcos bat oudedo re Metall a x Taide yi af TO: eben | | ae oleh alt ox M iain ps ia drioieae ais es Si ipl koa: baky tir iy ney te Fa din itl ~Qe to regulate the birth rate of proper progeny, and also the difficulty in the alteration of our present law that the dissemination of this knowledge will be given to people who ought to have children. I heard a letter written from a mother who had prize babies and she was writing for that knowlddge. She didn't want any more, Well, eugenically speaking, we shouldn't restrict prize baby-bearing, LRS, DENNETT - You have brought up a point that always comes up, and that is ag to whether there is any kind of legislation that can make a people who presumably ought to rear children have them, and make the people who ought not to have children go without then. I don't think myself that there is any kind of legislation to accomplish this purpose, Hducation can do it and it is the only thing in the world that can accomplish it. It isn't the function of legislation to attempt that kind of thing. This law that we have now is probably without any question an unconstitutional law, It is an infringement of free speech, It is utterly undemocratic. It 1s thoroughly contrary to the principles on which this country was founded, However, it can probably be more easily amended by pressure on the ground of public health than it can on the ground of un- constitutionality, QUESTION - You spoke about the death rate of babies in France, Can you tell us anything about Germany during the war period? : MRS, DUNNET - Germany had acquired the reputation during the war of being an overpopulated countryjamned to its borders with a seathing mass of people who needed a place in the sun. It was a very sketchy and misleading picture, In the first place Germany is not overcrowded physically. There are as yet no countries in the world that are actually overcrowded, If they had a just aand system by which the weople could have access to natural resources with fair opportunity, there is as yet no country in the world that would be in the least overcrowded. As a matter of fact Germany had not so large a population per square mile as Belgiun. Another correction of the popular misconception about Germany is that the birth rate in Gernany has been very rapidly falling ever since the seventy's just as it had in atl the countries in western Europe, and just previous to the war the birth rate in Germany was about the sane as that in France. France had the re- putation of being an overpopulated country, and yet facts don't warrant either conclusion. Since the war the birth rate has dropped in Germany terribly just. as it has in the other warring countries. QUESTION - Don't you think what is really wrong with our whole social structure is that we expect from our girls decency and we don't always ask it from the boys? Has that ever struck you? IRS, DENNETT - That is surely one difficulty, I think another serious difficulty is that we don't“clearly enough, know what decency is. QUESTION -.I don't see why a mother wants her girl to marry in the 'teens and don't want her boy to marry until he is forty. That is one of the wrong things we have got. In the neighborhood in which I live, I see’ all young men single from twenty up to forty, and all the girls run off and get married, and some of them are only nineteen and twenty. I believe that they should marry young. I think the mating calling is between twenty and thirty and not at forty. Rus. DENNETT - I think you have brought up a point there that is very true and very fundamental. Our economic conditions are such that in what we might call the middie class - I hate to use that germ, but everyone understands what is meat by it ~- in what we might call the middle class the tendency is to later and later marriage. In the late twenty's or early thirty's. There is no kind of evolution in sight by which the physical maturity of the race is coming later than it used to, I tthink you are quite right that it is a much more desirable situation that when these young AG Put i sn ot de ee re ; ‘ 7 sl Ly Md me anebhy j sas ie Bi sae MEER. : f i : an. at Bt MCD i ag ee i 4 ' “er in ‘ nay ina ai Heat i a i Rib om m ie 4 ag is beets ith bs ee wa ee afte are ae ae ey leery ‘ Lon ieih si hoa a =-10- people reach the age at which they naturally fall in love they Should marry. It is not true that they should necessarily have their families before they can take care of then. They ought to have the privilege of mating, and the joy of getting adjusted to each other, and building a fine foundation not only for their own lives together but an adriirable preparation econonic and Otherwise for the babies, and then have them at reasonable inter- vals so that they are not snowed under by the rapidity of the increase in the family. QUESTION - How many worien have realized one thing that i have noticed in my life - that this generation is not able to nurse their babies, and I had ten and nursed them all. They lack mineral salts in their food and that we got when we were gmall. How many girls do you imow that can nurse their babies. Every worian you see is putting a bottle into her baby's nouth. What does it mean? She can have a baby every year. We women had our children two and three years apart and didn't use anything. I have had four years between my children because I nursed then, DRS, DENNETT - I wish that were a rule that were Capeatibe YOr luniversal.applications butidteisnit. We have, of course, avery large problen there. It is another question from that of the birth rate, but it is a very valuable question and an important question surely, QUESTION - I dread the point that has been brought up in that connection about permitting the doctors to experiment. They naturally would assure the wonan that she is secure in what they suggest. IRS DENNETT - Pardon me, you are mistaken about that. I know of no physicians that have done research work on this sub- ject that would be rash enough to. oO that 'T hoywarewaLiwof..ther exceedingly cautious in their statements. QUESTION - But I heard Dr. Goldwater make the statement that they wanted to make experinents. IRS. DENNETT - What he means is that until this in- formation can be legally imperted by the physicians to people it will not be studied in the medical schools and there will not be sustained clinical data prepared and collected from which con- clusions can be given. In that sense all clinical work and re- search work is experimental, It gives you a very misleading picture to think of physicians rashly experimenting, and as you say, not being frank with vatients,. QUESTIONS + But there will be shysicians who will do it, verhaps a cheaper class who might be tempted to profiteer in that way and will do it particularly in poor neighborhoods. This would be given to the woman as an absolute security and she might be- lieve it and rely on it, and be put to considerable trouble in that way. | IRS, DONNETT - We don't avoid that kind of situation by clinging to our present condition, and the way to antidote that situation that you have outlined is to have the subject released from legal prohibition as quickly as possible, and then to de- velop the kind of public opinion that will demand that the finest scientists who have studied the cuestion shall at once vroceed to teach it ihn the medioal schools and to publish technical ramphlets and books in language for the professional men and have a laymen’s editipn of it for the layrien, and to get that widely circulated through all the natural health agencies and welfare channels Such . as clinics, hospitals, dispensaries, the federal health service, the children's bureau, the charity organization, societies and so forth. If that is done, the less intelligent, cormercially. minded physician will have mighty little chance, and there is no way to cut the less worthy redical men out of business except for the finer men in the profession to see to it that their informa- tion reaches the people and reaches then widely. Bahia i one 4 a, ate wt Wey Ps ab oe i Loe Ets cena e otae NOT th dat ley ae Rees wary yk 4 iN A LSA aaa NAN i ¥ 4 oo a 44 tine i + if er me Ky ee » rate hip A nye hi SO ey Ne RO ANg els a 0 frist ing By bk i, " eo Wty we a) Aa, Pe H Bait PARP EN al ae) ae ah Phd oe fhe iliac ¥ Ores ey ee QUESTION - Isntt it true that in England they have sort of 4 governmental system under government auspices? MRS, DENNETT - Not quite that. The Malthusian League gives this information to the married or about to be married on “application, and you ean hardly say that their work is approved by the government, The governrent takes no part in it, but it is permitted without restriction. In Holland the situation is very much better. The service there - the information - is given at 52 clinics, which exist in that small country, and it is given to all the people who need it and apply for it by trained nurses and physicians, and in Holland these clinics which were started by the Malthusian League have had the expressed approval of the govern- ment. It has been called by the government a public service activity. I can see no value in attempting to limit it in that way to the married. QUESTION - aren't the @octors the strongest opponents to having this? URS, DENNETT - No, the doctors.- the medical profession as a whole, is probably rather slow and reactionary on this sub- ject. If they had wanted to take initiative on it they would have done it years and years ago, The laws have stayed unamended for forty years. There are some very brilliant and fine exceptions in the medical profession, + men who stood out and have worked hard to make public opinion on this subject. The profession as 4 whole is moving now faster than it has previously. Thé@ con- ditions are encouraging. OO me ew ee fe om os oO =