Sprague: Constructive Aspect of Birth Control 



59 



capable of bearing children must, as an 

 average, bring to maturity at least 

 three children. Of the graduates of 

 our women's colleges only one-half ever 

 marry and the average number of chil- 

 dren per graduate is less than one. 



Birth control among the poor is 

 needed for themselves but birth release 

 among the upper classes is a greater 

 necessity, both for their own welfare 

 and the salvation of the nation. Ex- 

 cessive birth control by those well able 

 to have families sufficient for the na- 

 tion's growth weakens the nation at 

 every point, necessitates the importa- 

 tion of indigestible foreign elements, 

 good people in themselves but poorly 

 adapted to American life, weakens 

 patriotism and brings about a mixture 

 of races which makes confusion of 

 morals, dearth of art and literature 

 and conflicts between classes. 



Birth control among the poor is a 

 problem, but race suicide among the 

 middle classes is a racial menace which 

 threatens by its influence to defeat the 

 highest ideals of the nation. 



There ought to be reasonable birth 

 control by all classes based upon high 

 ideals for the nation and family, re- 

 sponsibility for offspring, and refine- 

 ment of soul and character of the 

 parents. The free indulgence of sexual 

 passions, coupled with the prevention of 

 conception by mechanical contrivances, 

 is possibly better than no control what- 

 ever, but it deals with the matter on a 

 low basis of animal appetite and gross 

 physical force. It is not control of the 

 highest and best kind, it throws all the 

 burden and dangers upon the wife. 

 But there is a control possible to people 

 of high standards which is the result of 

 forethought, character and mutual sin- 

 cerity and which gives none of the dan- 

 gers and secures the noblest end of 

 spititual union by means of physical 

 function. 



BIRTH CONTROL RATIONAL NECESSARY 



Gradually man has been reducing 

 his life from a world of chance to one of 

 human control and order. Finally his 

 children will be the result of foresight, 

 plans, ideals and self-control. Self- 

 control is the second fundamental 



factor of personality which makes maa 

 higher than the animals and the Son of 

 God. Man has learned that corn and 

 potatoes must be given proper spacing 

 lest Mother Earth be crowded and they 

 do not grow well, but he has often for- 

 gotten to place sufficient spacing be- 

 tween his human children that they 

 might develop to the highest. Crowd- 

 ing children beyond the strength of 

 the mother and earning power of the 

 father breaks down the mother phy- 

 sically, crushes the spirit of the father, 

 stunts the children in all ways, pre- 

 vents the normal development and 

 happiness of everybody, and creates 

 material for submerged classes and 

 social problems. Human selection, 

 brains and foresight must take the place 

 of carelessness and accident. For her 

 own sake and that of both children, no 

 mother who does her own housework 

 should become pregnant until the pre- 

 vious child has gotten on its feet and 

 can handle itself to a large degree. 

 Birth control of the right kind is 

 merely the dominance of mind over 

 matter, of intellect over chance, of 

 moral obligation over passion; it is a 

 philosophy of conservation of human 

 resources and the eugenic direction of 

 human love. 



ARGUMENTS AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL 



The two leading arguments brought 

 against birth control are that (a) it de- 

 feats the intention of nature and there- 

 fore of God and (b) it ^vill encourage 

 immoral practices. 



The same party who makes the 

 "defeat of nature" argument goes to 

 his home and eats bread made of 

 wheat which nature intended for some 

 other purpose, potatoes that were created 

 for the production of other tubers, 

 eggs whose sole end in nature is 

 chickens, and chickens whose natural 

 goal is eggs, milk and cream that 

 should have been given to the calves 

 whose skin he wears on his feet. His 

 clothes are made of cotton created to 

 distribute the seed which has been 

 crushed for oil with which he paints 

 his house or lubricates his automobile, 

 and this man's whole day is a progres- 

 sive defeat of nature's purposes, but all 



