Text
FORD HALL FOLKS
A
MAG AZINE
OF
NEIGHBORLINESS
EDITED BY THOMAS DREIER
E nter ed
VOLUME IV
as Secon d -Cla ss Matter Octo be r 18, l !J l-1, at t be P ost Office at Bos ton , llfa ss., unde r the Act of March 3, .1879.
NUMBER
10
DECEMBER 19, 1915
PRICE FIVE CENTS
SHALL BIRTH CONTROL BE DISCUSSED?*
BY NORMAN HAPGOOD
It is to the audience-that first honors of this "Birth Control" meeting should be awarded.
Not- e: en Mr. Hapv
good's address, thoughtful, earnest and arresting though it was, nor Dr. Eliza T' ylor Ransom's deeply sincere· contria
bution, out of the depths of her ow n life experience, to the wisdom of the e·v ening, was. so ~arveUo,us, so impressive
a thing as the essential decency of th~se men and women who attend Ford 'Hall as reflected in the questions they asked
concerning this most difficult and del\ cate of subjects. 0 f course there was nervous tension in the dro·.vd--', this, a.id
'
not mirtW, it was which oc-.:asioned tl1F..;omewhat h ysterical° reception of the first question or two.
But, after that,
the Ford Hall Folks struck their gait and demonstrated a reverence for consecrated Motherhood no less noble than that
which inspired the wonderful Rauschenbush prayer with which the meeting opened.
IF--..--nr c TOR H UGO prefaces one of his
books with the statem en t : "This
book is m ore than a fact; it is a
n ecessi ty." I th i nk that is rne case
with our subj ect tonigh t.. We ar e
di scussing it because it is unavoid able. It
is a great economic fa ct . I a m no t a pproaching it as a Socialist . The pr essur e of population, th e qu estion of su bsisten ce, whi ch
arc th e great qu estions of our day, do no t
give us any choi ce. We mus t face i t .
Thi s era, like every era, h a s its own big
rlrea m. 'vV ,:, a re making our poetr y, a nd our
r eligion out of
our dream of
som e clay ab olishing poverty.
We b e Ii eve
th a t so me da y
ever ybody i n
this world may
be r eli eved of
th e grindin g
kind of poV'erty, t ha t it
will be possible for everybody to have
s uffi cient clo t hing, sufficient
food , s uffi.cient
shelte r , suffi rie nt leisure, sufficient tim e to r ead and to
realiz e s om ething of th e thin gs that illumi ne
ex is tence. Some of us believe that thi s abolition of voverty is abs olutely impossible
Llll Lil hum an beings a r e alJo wed to exer cise
choice in one of th e tbih gs that do most to
determin e economic conditions in th e family
-the birth rate.
vVe ca nnot appr oach this s ubj ect from th e
old-fashioned stand point of a bstr act morals,
independ ent of economic and s ocia l conditions. We must consid er ,it in terms of our
own environm ent. We must r emember that
the greatest moral Book in existen ce was
written under very differ ent conditions.
Moses had an advantage over us today. Wh en
he looked ahont him a nd decided th a t such
and such things wer e good fo r the children
of Israet al) b e ba d to do was to go away
fe r a lit.tie while, and r eappear w ith the
s tatement that the Lord said so a nd so un to
• Speec ll and q uestion s and an swer s r epor ted
by Sara H . Bircha ll .
Moses. That was al) there was to it. Among
in a shop or factory and subjected to th e
t he things urged hy th e Bible as a duty is
nervous strain of machinery, until just bethat of populatin g t he earth. Under th e con- fore her child is born, and return s too soon
ditions of tho se days tha t was sound advice.
afterward.
Suppose sh e does not go iu L
o
The I sraelites had a large and thinly poputhe shop, but remains at home lo do all
la ted country, ready to be tilled, subject to
the work of caring for the -children, wash incursions from th e surrounding barbarians.
ing, ironing, scrubbing, and all the heavy
S peaking in terms of th e Israelites' environ- tasks of the household. The s t rain of that
m ent, it was a duty to multiply. Speaking labor is equally deteriorating ·to her physical
in t erms of the United S tates of 1915, it may health and that of her unborn child. If th o
not be.
best possible children are to be born iato
the world, it is clear that the motbor m usL
Ther e is an amazing a mount of superstihave-the opportunity to lay up her streil gtlt.
ti on on th e subj ect of population. It is
Then ther e is the r ela tion .0 1· th e la I nr
gener al1y held that a country whi ch is inborn children to tlle earJier ones. T he ~
crea sing in POJ}t1lation must be full of all
child receives the best care, and us·uaJly is
th e greatest human virtues, and that a
aJJowed to Jive the best possible life for a
country whi ch has a stationary birth rate
working man 's child. There is another: Conmust be on the decline. I have asked many
ditions are about the same, and so with
]Jeo1Jle what grounds th ey bad for maintainthe third. But if there are later children
in g this view; n one of them has been able
they are not only handicapped because they
t o give an y r eason. Yet you find the idea
are born of a worn-out mother, but they
p r eva lent everywhere. If this war could
teach us any thing, it ought to have tau ght crowd in on the earlier children. There
is less sleeping room, less food, less care
ns th e invalidity of s uch a vi ew . We have
for the first, second and third c-hild.
all been fill ed w- th admiration fo r the spleni
did de eds of Fran ce ; and yet we have bee n
accustomed to r ega rel her as a de clining naThe Rich Already Have· Bin:h
tion because her birth rate was declining.
Control.
Sh e has shown herself not only the least
J
vi cious of the nations, but sh e has shown
Let us take a1i_otber picture, lfor the sake ,
, hat s he pos~esses th e early 1 rimitiv virt
1
of fairness. Imagine another b <!•rne on F'iflh
tu es that corhe in to being when a nation is
Avenue, or near it. This family has far
fa cing a death strnggle s uch as she is facin g
more income than it needs. Life is mad e up
now.
·of a great mass of cumbersome devices provided and operated by many ' people that tlYe
1f we will look at this qu es tion without
s up erstiti on, we will see that there are a ' husband and wife may be comfortable. You
number of di stin ctions that we will want find many of these families childless, many
to make a t once. Il'or instance, what is a
wit!:). one child or two, some with three or
large famil y? We have come to estimate
four. These people with, say, an income of
a family 's size by the number of children
$150,00() a year. and with a spacious house,
who a re born into it. A mc,re sensible way
could have a family as large as nature perto estim at e it would be by the number of
mits without overtaxing their resources. Yet
children wbo grow u p in it. One woman
they do not want children. It would intermay have twelve children, -of whom three
fere with their plans. It would involve a
live to th e age of ten years ; and another
little physical pain. It would not leave
w oman may have only three children, all
them free to be entirely and completely
of wh om li ve to th e age of ten years. The
useless. Surely there is no more awful picsecond woman at the end of the ten years ture than that.
has as-la r ge a famil y as th e first, and at far
Logically, that does not come into onr
less cost to hers elf, th e family and the chilproblem . These people already have birth
dren th emselves.
control. We can change the laws as mnch
L et us consider for a moment how the ordias we please, but it does not effect them.
nar y working man's family lives. We some- · They already know how. We leave them free
times speak of the work of the mother as
to limit the size of their families as they
please, and deny the same freedom to the
a n evil only when she is taken out of the
home and a way from h et· children to work only classes that h:;i,ve real need of limitation.
FORD HALL FGL---i\.~
2
I have the distinction of being a moth er.
with mortality of children in relation to priI am sorry and
I was ma.rried in 1893.
mogeniture.
ashamed to say that I have only two chilFirst-born children, 229 per 1,000; second
dren and that I am myself to blame for it.
and third children, 204 per 1,000; fourth chilI sh~uld have ten, and if it were in my
dren, 212 per 1,000 ; twelfth and subsequent
power today I would have them. I was marchildren, 597 per 1,000.
ried eleven years before I had a ·c hild.
I
Letus take another great economic queshave twice been pregnant and have two chiltion, that of child lahor. Wbat is t9e cendren.
tral cause of child lab0r? It is the over-large
From the medical standpoint, the physifamily. The workingma.~ with one chpd_ selcian is very limited in his speech. Often I
dom sends i:t into the rr..11I. He wants 1t to
have been besieged at my office by newspaper
grow up with a better chance than h,:! had,
representatives and urged to discuss this
and he sends it to school. So with the secvery subject for publication.
I have never
ond and third child. If he has seven or eight
done it, because I hardly know what I think
children, he is desperate. All of them probor what I believe.
ably go to the mill.
Not only are the deNow what are we m en and women in the
scendants of that individual man stunted
world for? To carry on the race-to reprome·ntally a.nd physically, but all of their deduce ourselvEs. That is why I am ashamed
scendants in turn are deteriorated because
that I have only two children. Why have I
the original individual had too large a famonly two? Beca.use my mother and my fat.hily to support.
er, who were intellectual people, never put
Now American laws and lawmakers have ,into my mind the reason why I was bornd r 'l.lt with· this r, ueRtion of - ir ~h control not / tne great reason in the mind of the Divine.
b
~·'":-1 ::t'ld " men I no w sec arr· l ere to reproa8 1r--; t weTe- ,.
ec,,n01ui c ~ t J .... ::.~~.!!£.tr.i .~'
,i
duce themselves.
question, but as if it were purely a moral
Because c ertain economic, religious, eduquestion-a matter to blush about and c oncational and political principles are kept besider indecent. Do not confuse the laws govfore us, we sometimes lose sight of the fact
erning illegal° operations with the subject we
that the great initial reason why so many
are discussing.
We are not discussing the
men and women are brought together here
right of anybody to ta.ke life. That is an enis that we may reproduce our kind.
tirely different matter. We are not concerned
Now I notice that when young people are
with life after it is created; we are dealing
married and they have a child, and they
with the right of people to decide how large
think there is no way to take care of that
a family they can in justice have.
Concerning the Families of College
child, they always find a way to do it withThere has been growing up a different
out killing the child. And I cannot underBred Women.
feeling about certain phases of this problem,
stand why we are not to consider the case
-about sterilization of the unfit for instan-::e.
Now there is another line of thought that
of the child that is unborn and yet Killed .
That used to ,b e consid'lred wicked and indebothers a good many people rather unnecesThe young woman who does not want a
cent, too. But boards of health -and physisarily. It is that education and high standfamily of ten children can have preventacians and judges have decided that criminals
ards of living will have a tendency to lower
tives . She can have birth control. But the
could not be allowed to repro.duce themselves
the ·b irth rate. It is feared that women who
woman w ho does not know how to p reve
nt
without a disastrous result to the commungo to collee-e anrl become reflective thinkin ~
conception and finds herself pregnant and
ity. Degenerates, physicially and mentally
animals iustead of helpless pawns on Nadoes not want a child goes to a physician
deficient people. the insane, the idiotic, ?Jl
ture's chessboard will be unwilling to have
or a midwife, or somebody else, and gets
come under this . judgment; and in some
a good sized family. Statistics, so far as
birth control. She kills her child. If that
states there is legal provision for the steriliwe can gather them, do not bear this out.
is not birth control, I don't know what is.
zation of criminals and other unfit neople if
The - ollege-bred woman, again, is often se·
c
And if birth control does not mean birth
the criminal himself is willing.
It would
lected to contrast with the average woman.
control, what is the use of talking about it?
seem only a shorC step from that to the subThat is misleading. The college-bred woman
If the middle class people would educate
ject we are discussing tonight.
should be compared only with the non-coltheir sons and daughters as well as the poor
lege-bred woman in the same economic cirWe have been talking a:bout the concrete
people do-if they would teach them that
cumstances. Bryn Mawr graduates, for inresults of disseminating among the poor init is right to reproduce their kind-we
would have just as large families in the
stance, during a fair period of test subseformation as to how to regulate the family .
quent to graduation have averaged 2.7
middle classes as we do in the poorer
In conclusion I want to say that in my own
children each. I believe that while the colclasses. And if the poorer classes have
case there is another reason why I believe
families larger than they can support, it
lege-bred women of the last generation over- in birth control, or voluntary motherhood.
should be a taxed duty of the rich people
emphasized this new right of liberty and
Not only because you c an readily pick out
to protect and c, re for and educate those
freeoom of , ,·1•,'ice too wuch , as we are apt
th i, i r dustri:i l and ec0nomic e'r ils due to in~
!;Ji! .rt~n~ a t t rt r,r-P t h a t tbey do not d ie- i, ·
i,o o, e:r-E:ill' r,1:; .
"ct n e•s i[' ea when we first
v o1111,l;.ary 1 · othe rliood- r,verc~0wdin §;. l'hil l
lack of care.
seize it, the college-bred women of the next labor, and the others we hav,_, been discussgeneration, realizing the glory of giving and
ing~but ,b ecause it is part of the whole demthe honor of being ,builders of the race, will
ocratic theory of life. Under that theory we
One of the most important things f ,
believe that peop,l e are able to determine,
to do, if you are seeking happines
show a decidedly higher birth rate.
Let me quote some statistics bearing on
find that happiness in using the · thing,
and organize, and carry· through their indimortality in the working man's family.
vidual lives. Therefore I ·may say that behave to work with now. I don't know
These are from the Children's Bureau at. hind any specific reason and ·b ehind any
a11 ything more foolish than for a man t
Washington, presided over by Miss Lathrop.
specific study of t_ e facts I believe in volunh
make himself miserable because he cannot
In families having an income of under
tary motherhood because as a believer in dework with the tools which some other man
$625 a year, 213 per 1,000. In families havis using. Make the best use of what you
mocracy I believe that everything in life as
have where you are, and you'll have all
ing an income of under $899 a year, 122 per far as possible ought to be voluntary.
the hap,p iness you can use.
1,000. In families having an income of over
A Word on the· Negative Side'.
$900 a year, 96 per 1,000.
I like to think of Robert Louis Stevenson,
Families with one and two children have
By Dr. El-iza Taylor Ransom.
who faced death da.ily for fifteen or twenty
a mortality of 1081h per 1,000.
Families
I wa.n t to begin where -Mr. Hapgood left
years, but who always faced it with a smile
with three and four children, 126 per 1,000.
off and say frankly and emphatically that I
Famil.ies with five and six children, 152 per
on his face. His stories, essays and poems
do not helieve that any man or woman is
1,000. Families with seven and eigbt chilhave added much to the happiness of the
capable o-f saying whether he or she shall
dren, 176 per 1,000. Families with nine or
world. It isn't what you have that counts,
have one child or ten. Furthermore I want
but the use you make of what you have.
more children, 191 per 1,000.
to say tha.t no girl of sixteen or eighteen or
In both tables you will note the steps are
twenty or twenty-five, with all the allureThe hunger for goodness is as powerful
marked. There was an interesting compa.riments of life before her, or any young man
son between literate and illiterate· families.
as the hunger for bread. To those who feed
of the same age, ought to be expected to
The literate families had a mortality of 148
the 'b odies come no adventures greater than
form judgments in the matter.
Pleasure
the illiterate of 214. Another set of interestthose which , come to 1;11en who create susand enjoyment bulk larger than duty at that
tenance for hungry mmds and souls.
ing figures are taken from Saxony, and deal age.
·Our laws are almost bar.baric on this subject._ I have a friend in the United Sta~es
Court. The laws in the district to which
I refer make it a crime for a druggist to
sell certain devices for the prevention of
conception.
"What do you do in such cases?" I asked
him.
"Well," he said, "if I find a druggist living
within two blocks of Fifth A venue I exact a
pretty heavy penalty; but if I find a druggist living" over on the East Side, I say
'Good boy, go to it.' "
Of course there are certain dangers connected with any reform. It would be a very
foolish thing to make a campaign of this
kind to put mechanical devices into the
hands of the people without proper advice.
People taking advantage of methods of this
kind ought to be in close consultation with
a physician. Handled ignorantly, it may result seriously. There is another real difficulty. TrA t.irn~ <tt whil'h regulation takes place
- ii:, ~
a er.;,--r-._~ pcri ·~a:.:. t - ~ !-~g- ~ r.?· 1 4ti on -D f
this process at one period of a woman's Ii fe
is entirely_ different from that at another.
It seems to be agreed among physicians that
if a check is put upon th·e process of nature
at the beginning of a woman's sex life it is
likely fo result in barrenness the rest of her
life. The best time is after two or three
children have been born, or when the family
seems as large as it should justly be.
1
0
, .
•
FORb HALL FOLKS
THE QUESTIONS
Q: Do you not think that every mother
would be better off and the families would
be better supported if she had no more than
two children?
A:
I do not think a fixed limit can be
set. It depends on health, on economic conditions and other questions.
Q: If a man makes $15 a week, has two
children, loses his job, and his wife goes
into the factory to support the family; and
if during that time a third child comes, is
that kind of a family desirable to society'/
A: Presumably not.
Q. (Mr. Browne):
In comparing the
chances of the first and second children for
life, is it not possible that the family during
the interval may have developed financially
and can provide better conditions for the
later childrPU?
A. Yes.
Q: How would you treat the case of men
who are willing to rear a family but who
on account of economic conditions do not
do it?
A: That is one of the strong arguments
(or birth control.
Q:
Do not preventatives do more harm
to the mother than having a large family?
A: NO, I think not.
Q:
Is not abortion due rather to ignorance of birth control than knowledge of
it?
A: It might be. I think abortion would
be decreased by it and many women's lives
_ . ,.. rl
.:, u. Y C U,
(Mr. Roberts): If you were writing a
entieth century Bible, would you substi(ute birth control for the control mentioned
in the Mosaic Scriptures?
,
A:
If I were to write such a Bible it
would , be brief, but I would hope to find
room in it for both those. kinds of control.
Q: What actual results would follow if
the race were allowed to die out?
A: That is a matter of personal taste. I
am enough of an optimist to believe that
the result would be undesirable.
Q: Is not birth control common in some
pa1·ts of the world, such as France, and has
it not been prophesied that within a certain
term ;of .years the French nation would <'ease
__ __ , ~
t"
IV
Q.
1j A
-
A: I suppose somebody has prophesied
that.
Q: Would it not be better if the government did not interfere with birth control?
A: I think it ought not to interfere in
the way it does. ·I should not say that there
ought to be no interference.
Q: Why did you not discuss the subject
of birth control from the moral as well as
the economic and industrial sides?
A: I thought I explained that the morals
of it as laid down by Moses did not interest
me so much.
Q: Granting that we should consider reproduction a duty, but admitting that some
of us have instead come to regard it as an
evil for us, why should we not have the
right to prevent it?
A. (Dr. Ransom): So Jong as there is
no legislation, I suppose we can all do as
we choose about it?
Q:
Statistics show that two children
must be born to re,place one death by the
time those children have reached the age
of 30 . In view of the fact that it takes four
children to continue the lives of two parents, and· in view of the fact that the average family has only three children, do you
not think that birth control would be a
danger to society?
A: I think the problems of the future
may be left to the future. The problem of
subsistence, of • hild labor, of the pressure
c
of population is here now.
Q: Which is more humane, to bring children into the world and leave them to charity, or not to bring them into the world at
all?
A. (Dr. Ransom): I think that is a matter of choice.
Q: How do you account for the fact that
most of our men of genius and our famou s
]Jugi!ists and strong men came from large
families and were often the fifth or sixth
child?
A: I don't believe it.
Q:
Ir we compelled the rich to pay
through taxation for the nourishment and
education of the - hildren of the .poor, would
c
that do away with poverty?
A. (Dr. Ransom): We would have to try
it and see.
Q: How do you account for the fact that
Germany, which has the highest birthrate,
has also the greatest efficiency as a nation?
A: Germany has a wonderful record in
taking care that grinding poverty should
not exist. The more you abolish that kind
of poverty, the more desirable will be a
rising birthrate.
Q . (Miss Crawford): Would you be willing to tell what worked the change in your
point of view towards the size of family
in your own case?
A. (Dr. Ransom) : S'imply that we live
and learn through years of experience what
we should have been taught in our youth.
Q:
(Mrs. Blanchard): Why is it not
better to attempt to adjust economic conditions than to attempt to deal with diffi• ult phases of the question, such as birth
c
control?
A: Why not do both?
Q. (Mr. Meltzer, Jr.) :Would not the discussion of birth control be very undesirable
in view of the militaristic program to which
this ·C ountry seems to be already partlr com1
•
'
mitted?
A : Yes.
Q: Do you think the mentally deficient
and insane should be allowed the choice of
regulating their families?
A. (Dr. Ransom): I don't know.
Q:
What do you think of the letter to
" Everybody's," quoted in Ford Hall Folks?
A. (Mr. Hapgood): I should teach that
woman birth control. I do not know what
Dr. Ransom would do. (Dr. Ransom) : I
would let her have her choice.
Q: When you speak of later children in
a family being more likely to be deficient
mentally and ,p hyskally, how do you account for the Franklin family, and what
number in it would you give Benjamin?
~
The case of the Franklin family is
different. The poverty they had to face was
not the grinding kind; it was a good and
wholesome thing, · not the sort that stunts
the development of the children.
. Q (_Mr. Kaufmann): If instead of discussmg birth control and various other indirect
means of making a better social condition
would it not be better if we concentrated'
our attention on the fundamental thinu
that needs change.
~
3
A: Yes, if you can find the one. thing to
concentrate on. I do not think any one
thing will do it.
Q . (Mr. Ciampa): In view of the fact that
Dr. Ransom thinks that it is the duty of al]
people to reproduce themselves in as large
numbers as possible, do you not think it is
the duty of society to give families such
living conditions as will enable them to keep
their families alive and healthy?
A. (Dr. Ransom): Certainly.
Q: Do you not think that the teaching
of control and morality on the part of the
men will largely solve the difficulty we have
been discussing tonight?
A. (Dr. Ransom): No, I don't. I think
that if we teach the girls and women the
proper attitude towards the facts of life the
men's side will take care of itself.
VIOLUNT,AI Y MATERNITY.*
R
By Alletta H. Jacobs, M.D.
First Woman Physician of Holland
and a Pioneer in the· Dutch Movement for Control of Births.
For the cause I have propagated in my
own country during many, many years with
good results, I prefer the words "voluntary
maternity" to the words "limitation of the
birth-rate," because they express better my
view of this question and they really do not
reach farther than I am able to defend.
Being not a political economist, I do not
know whether it is preferable for society to
increase or to decrease the population of
the world; wheth~',_ it 'g e- ".!}!l fo_r a cot"!.)1try
_
to have a dense pop,ulation and to spread the
surplus of it all over the world, as the
Chinese and the Germans do, or to have a
limited population and keep it within the
borders of their own country, as the French
do.
I am a medical doctor, and from a medical point o.f view I have studied the question
of childbirth thoroughly. And through that
study I know that it is not an advantage
for the child, or for the parents or for society that a child 'b e born whose existence
is not wished. If we only consider-and this
is not questionable-that the state of mind
of the mother during her pregnancy is of
the greatest influence upon bod.{ and mind
of the child that is to be born, then we must
admit that the chances for a child to he
bodily and· mentally healthy are greater
when the mother looks forward with delight
to the day when it shall come into existence
than if she, during her pregnancy, constantly is preoccupied how to get rid of it.
The reasons why parents do not wish to
have children or why they do not wish to
have more children, are numerous. Very
often there are economical reasons; other
times there are hereditary diseases in the
family; sometimes the mother is bodily
unable to bring a living child or a child
that will live long, into the world; sometimes husband and wife, or one of them
hate children. The last reason is seldom
expressed, 'b ut it exists, and we may call
such· a woman who hates to have a child
unwomanly. It does not make it desirable
that such a woman should become a mother.
In some cases, man and wife wish to have
children, but knowing that there ·is a great
chance that their children, for different reasons, will become a ,burden for society, from
a feeling ot high social responsibility, th·e y
avoid parenth•od.
-•From The Survey of NovembG 6, 1915.
r
J
FORD HALL FOLKS
4
AS IT LOOKS TO ME
By GEORGE W. COLEMAN
It We have been anxious to know
whether our book, "Democracy in the Making," wonld prove interesting reading matter
to a person in ·no way connected with our
work and not especially interested in the
open forum idea. That question was satisfa ctorily answered the other day when CounC' illor Hagan told me that he picked up the
book on e evening and found it so interesting
he continued through chapter after chapter
until three o'clock in the morning.
Miss Blanche Watson, the magazine
writer, found the contents of the book su
engaging that she read it through at one
s ittin g and immediately sat down and wrote
a Jung lelter to one of our critics, urging
him to put himself in possession of the facts
which this book c ontains.
Mr. E. J. Lindsay, a leading wholesale
mer chant in Milwaukee, was so much
pleased with the book that he ordered t en
c·opies for distribution among his fri ends.
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It Generous pledges for the deficit in our
treasury h ave been coming in from our
friends in the Ford Hall audience and th e
Ba ptist Social Union. More than half of
the amount has already been subscribed.
Some Sunday evenin g soon we sha ll g ive
eve ryon e a chance to m a ke a pledge. The
words of en co uragement a nd appreciation
that have com e with the gifts have been
worth as much as the money itself.
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My 'end, Clarence B .. Hpward of St.
Louis, the Jig steel manufacturer, recently
entertained 1700 of his friends in that city
in the most delightful fashion . Dr. John W .
Ruskin , a descendant of the famoµs English
writer, has expended a quarter of a million
dollars in making motion p.ictures of wild
a nimal life, showing quadruped s, birds and
fi sh as found in their natural haunts all
over the world. This exhibit . was given in
a !oral theatre where the audience was so
s mall that Mr. Howard, who was present,
t hough t it was a shame not to have such a
wonderfui display witnessed by a larger company, s6 he invited newsboys, children from
an orphans' home, pupils from the public
school s, practically a ll of the public school
prin cipals in St. Louis and several hundred
of his own employeee of different nationalities, besides a few representative business
men, bankers and railroad officials, to
a n exhibiton of these motion pictures given
in the Victoria Theatre, th e whole house bein g reserved for Mr. Howard's use. Mr.
Howard was in the lobby and personally
gr eeted his friends as they cam e in. Mayor
Ki el presided over the occasion, and before
the evening was over Mr. Howar d himself
was obliged to present himself and make a
little, speech.
Mi!. Howard is the gentleman who mad e
s nch a deep impression on m e when I was
in St. Louis last summer as Mayor Kiel's
g uest. The next time he comes to Boston
he is planning to spend a Sunday evening
with us at Ford Hall.
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It Mr. Fred F. Squire, who volunteered
to get five new subscribers for this little
magazine, has more than made good on his
promise, having already secured seven. He
does not understand why th ere are not
scores of others in the audience who would
be wil ling to make the same effort in the
interest of our work.
~ Th e Open Forum. under the auspices
of t he ·Sunday Even ing Club in Toledo is
progressing very satisfactorily. The meeting
in November had for its topic "What Toledo
R eally Needs," with variou s local speakers
taking up the question of Health, Ed ucation,
Art, Parks and Playgrounds, a nd Religious
Co-operation. These five sub-divisions of t he
topic were each assigned ten minutes, a ll
of which was follo,wecl by a gen eral di scussion through the question method. The program lasted two hours and a half, a nd although the people were g ive n a chance to
withdraw at the end of the Rpeaking they
could not be driven away. Allen A. Stockdale, in whose church this Forum has been
organized, feels that it was an epoch-making
meeting for Tol edo. He says: " Never before had anything like it h appened either in
or out of a chu rch, and we consider the
opeu forum idea one of great valu e to the
city and community and believe it can be
applied with redeeming effect to church situations all over the country."
This Open Forum in the First Congregational Ch urch , Toledo, occurs on Sunday
evenings only once a month, but Rev. Mr.
Stockdale on the other Sundays in his pulpit
has been discussing prominent books and
giving an opportnnity after his a ddress for
the a udience to ask questions in t he same
manner as if t hey were present at the
Forum. On a recent evening he discussed
the morality play called "Experience."
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It A 1'reighborhood Forum, standing for
Truth , Justice and Good Will, has been inaugurated in the Bulfinch Place Church in
the West End of Boston. A series of four
consecutive ·Sunday evening programs has
been announced, ·b eginning tonight, December 19. R ev. Christopher R. Eliot is chieily
r esponsible for this enterprising experim ent,
and those who are disappointed in not finding themselves able to, get into Ford Hall
will not have far to go to the Bulfinch P lace
Church, where they will be most welcome.
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not so very pointed after a ll our trouble in
gettin g hold of it.
Both Mr. Hapgood and Dr. Ransom were
a lmost monosyllabic in their answers to
many of th e questions. Whether this was
due to the inadequacy of the questions or
to a disinclination on the part of the speakers to elaborate t heir them es, it is not easy
to say.
Mr. a nd Mr s. Charles Edward R ussell of
New York were seated on the stairs in the
right-hand gallery, refusing an invitation
to come to the platform. Messrs . Stevens,
Perry, P hilbrick, Harbour a nd Lathrop of
t he Baptist Social Union were a lso in attendance.
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It The Eas t Boston Argiis-Advocate prints
a g lo wing account, nearly a column in
length, of t he ini tiation of the new East
Boston Forum in t he Assemb ly Hall of the
H igh School on Wednesday evening, December 8. The establishment of t hi s Forum was
conceived in the mind of Mr. Ira M . Huggan , manager of the East Boston High
School Centr e, and h e has associated with
him in the enterprise a splendid body of
representative citizen s, who occupied the
platform at the opening meeting. I had the
honor of serving as the speaker of the evening, and fou nd the a udience deeply interested in an exposition of the principles underlying the open forum idea and in a delineation of t he process by which that idea h as
been worked out at Ford Hall. Mr. Joseph
B. Maccabe, the edito r of the Argiis-Aclvocate, presided most delightfully and gave
the movement his thoro ugh-go ing appro val.
There were present in the audience a number of our well-known Ford Hall people, induding Mrs. Atwood, Mr. Ballou and Mr. Hogan. Dr. J . Danforth Taylor, as chairman of
the forum comm ittee, announced that Miss
Lotta Clark of the Boston Normal School
would be the speaker at their n ext meeting,
January 12. Noticing that I had selected as
my top ic, "Getting Together," Miss C lark is
to talk abo ut "Gettin g Somewhere."
VOLUNTARY MATERNITY.
(Continued from page 3.)
From a medical point of view, there is
one reason more that ought to be menIt Of course there was more than the
tioned, for which t he ch ildbirth ought to be
usual great crowd last Sunday evening. The
controlled; If par~nts are healthy, if they
lines outsid·e had grown so long that the
are economically able to s ustain a. iarg-e=
doors were opened ten minutes ahead of
family, and if they wish to have many
tim e, and before seven u'clock people were
ch ildren, the moth er ought not to h ave a
being turned away for lack of even standing
child ev~y year. The best for mother a nd
room anywhere in the ha ll. A hundred or
chilir is to have a difference of abo ut three
more waited on the outside two hours and
years between each ch ild. The first year
came in at the close of the lecture t.o take
the child takes the mother entirely. IE she
the places o.f some who went out before the
question period began. Our two speakers lJecomes pregna nt from ·a nother one during
that time, she cannot devote herself enti re ly
expressed opinions on the subject under disto t he born one. The seco nd year the
cussion in flat contrad iction of each other,
mother must use to regain her physical
which under all the ci rcumstances was as
str ength and her interest in socia l life, in
it should be. It was not an easy subject to
order to remain healthy in body a nd mind
discuss in a mixe d popular audience, esbefore the next pregnancy starts. The third
pecially when every person present was free
year she can have t he next child .
to ask a question. The a udi ence listened inFor a ll such reasons, women must know
tently throughout both addresses and, a lhow to prevent pregnancy.
though the question period did not amount
A Jot of people acknowledge these reasons
to as mu ch as usual, it was maintained
for controlling childbirth, but they differ enthroughout on a high plane of frankness
tirely in the methods to be used to arrive
and earn estness. The yo ung man in the right
at the desired effect. Moralists are of opinion
gallery ·cr eated almost uncontrollab le merrithat women who do not wish or who ought
ment through his difficulty in speaking Engnot to become pregnant must abstain from
lish and his determination to elaborate his
sexual intercourse. T hi s is really the most
qu estion .- The a udi ence was und er just s ufsecure way to avoid pregnancy. However,
fi cient strain to welcome the least occasion
is it practicable a nd is it for society defor a relieving burst of laughter, but it presentl y gath ered it.self together and. the young . sirable? To both these questions must the
n.nswer be, " In many cases, no."
foreigner finished his question, which was
FORD HALL FOLKS
-
When I was a m edical student in Amsterdam, dur ing the years 1871-1879, it struck
me daily how many children were born in
the town hospital of whom the mother till
the last moment utter ed the wish that the
child m ight be born dead, or of whom the
doctors and t he students concluded that it
would have been better for society if it
had not come into existence.
Why are such children born, was the quest ion I asked myself often. Must the child
be a punishment for the sexual action of the
parents, a punishment for th e parents, a
greater one for society, but the gr eatest one
for th e i nuocen t, un wished ch ild itself? That
seems to me the greatest absurdity possible.
Afterwards I learned to know that it was
only beca use women did not know how to
prevent pregnancy, t hat s uch children were
horn.
After I had finished my medical education
and began my medical practice in Amsterrlam, I soon made it public that all women
who wished not to have or who ought not tc
have more ch ildren could become instructed
by m e how to prevent pregnancy. At the
same time I opened for the poor women a
locality in the middle o,f the Yordaau (the
poorest district of Amsterdam) where they
could cons ult me for this purpose, free of
charge, of course, twice a week.
Nearly at the same time a Malthusian
L eague was formed in Holland, of which
C. V. Gerritsen, w ho later became my husband, was the president, and of which many
influential men , influential in political and
social life, became members. Some of those
men became later cabinet ministers or leaders of poli tical parties.
I never was a member of that leagu e, be1:ause it was based on economic principles
whicli I felt not able to j ud ge. Bqt notwithstanding my name has been constantly
connected with that league, as well in my
own co un try as abroad. I believe Holland
was the first co un try in wh ich prevention
o( pregnancy was openly discussed and
propagated, and in which advice in this direction, unhindered by law, was given to the
women.
Since five or s ix years, however, this freedom is taken from us. From l!J09-1913 Holland was governed by a conservative majority and by a cabinet which consists of
five Calvinists and four Roman Catholic ministers.
The most cons ervative, narrowminded Calv inist was the premier. During
the period of their power, the most reactionary measures became law. One of them was
that..12ropaganda and open discussion of how
to" prevent pregnancy was not longer allowed; and only women who for medical
reasons ought to prevent pregnancy, might
be advised by a doctor if they asked for
oclvice.
The propaganda among th e poor is therefore greatly hindered; but members of the
Malthusian League are waiting for the right
moment to get this law revised. Holland is
a li beral and a n anti-m ilita r y country; therefore we need not to be afraid that before
long my country-people w ill have regained
their freedom to discuss and to propagate
what they believe is good in principle and
in results.
EDUCATION FOR PEACE.
We are hearing a great deal just now to
the effect that it is our duty to get ready fo r
war; little if anythin g about getting ready
for peace.
Next Sunday night, however ,
wben the Bii:thday of the Prince of Peace is
11 ppermost in a ll our minds, that Ford Hall
favorite, Prof. Charles Zueblin, will discuss
"Eel ucation for Peace," an d we sha ll s ing a
new peace song just fresh from t he presses.
5
AT THE ITALIAN FORUM
By CONSTANTINO CIAMPA
La conferenza del Dr. Molinari a l Foro
Dr. Molinari's lecture on "Socialism and
Italiano uella Ford Hall , domen ica 5 Dicemthe War" a t the "Foro Ita liano" in Ford
Hall, Sunday afternoon, Dec. 5th , proved to br e, riusci di grande inter esse, perche'
be a ver:v. interesting talk. For while almost meutre molti biasimauo i socialisti europei
everybody is piling up wcrds of condemna- ver non aver prevenuta la guerra, il Dr.
tion for t he Sucialists of Europe because of Molinari spiego' e giustifico' la loro partecith eir failure to stop th e war, Dr. Molinari pazioue nel presente couflitto.
ex plained and justified their participation in
"E' perfettamente vero. egli disse, che i
the present conflict.
socialis ti di Europa si uccidono a vicenda
"It is perfectly true," he declared, "that nelle trincee ad onta della loro opposizione
the Socialists of Europe are killing each teorica contro la guerra. E) mentre si puo'
other in th e tren ch es in spite of their theo- c:·edere che esiste una contradizione tra la
r etical opposition to war. And while you teoria astratta predicata dai sociali sti e il
may think that there is a contradiction be- fatto concreto della partecipazione alla
tween the abstract theory preached - y the guerra, pure non vi e' coutradizione, se s i
b
socialists a nd their concrete action of par- esaminauo attentamente i fatti svoltisi dal
ticipation in the war, there is no such con- momenta che si comincio' a parl:1,e di
tradi ction if you examine closely what has guerra nel Luglio 1914 in poi.
taken place s ince the first of t he war in July,
"L 'Europa fu in fiamme in brevissimo
1914.
tempo.
Dal memento che si comincio' a
"Europe was on fire in no time.
Only parlare di conflitto, armato alla formale
one short week intervened between the first clichiarazione di guerra, trascorse un a breve
talk of a conflict a nd the actual de cla ration settimaua. Durante quel periodo di tempo
of hostilities. During that week all the so- i socialisti di Europa, eel i tedeschi specialcialists of Europe, the German socialists in mente, fecero tutto cio' che potettero per
preveuire il sauguinoso couflitto.
Jean
particular, did everything in their power to
prevent the bloody conflict.
Jean Jaures Jaures mori meutre cercava di compiere
di ed while he was trying to accomplish cio' che egli sapeva che solo ad un miracolo
what h e knew only a miracle could accomp- era possibile di fare, cioe' prevenire la
plish, prevent the war.
The socialists guerra.
I socialisti non erano numericasimply were not strong enough in numbers mente forti , non solo, ma quanta la massa
for their task. And besides, m ass action non s i muove istautaneamente quauclo la
canno t be had instantly if au emergency re- necessita' lo richiede. La dichiarazione di
quires it. The d ecla ration of war brought guerra porto' con se' lo proclamazione d ella
with it martial law, suppressing every trace legge marziale, che soppresse ogni vestigio
of opposition to the powers that be. Every di opposizione a lla classe governante. Cianation eith er actually was, or was made to sc una uazioue si credette, a P.' · - •i.van'Ienfe - believe it was, in danger of invasion. Every- era, in pericolo di essere invasa.
Tutti
bod y thought that the inva der should be pensarouo ch e l'iuvasore dovesse esser
kept out of his countr y, the r es ult being tenuto a bada, col risultato che tutti impugthat all took up a rms, socialists not ex- uarono le a rmi, non eseluso i socialisti.
cepted.
'·n Partito Socialista Internaziona le ha
"The International Socialist Party has al- · sem pre riconosciuto necessario il principio
ways recognized the necessity of indepenli- della indipeudenza nazionale. Il permettere
eut nations.
To have allowed one nation
ad un a nazioue di couquistarne un ' altra
to conquer another would have been to go ammonterebbe all' andare indietro di
back fifty years at least, and ultimately to cin (J_uant' anni e lo ttare per la indipenclenza
struggle for the freedom of the subjugated della nazioue soggiogata. Era quindi dovere
one. It was the duty of the socialists of dei socialisti di lottare per preservare la
every land t o fight for th e preservation of iutegrita' uazionale e la loro liberta' politi ca,
their national integrity and for their politi- se non avessero voluto affondare con la
cal freedom 1.f they did not want to go down nave della nazione in fiamma.
With the ship of the nation on fire.' \
"Le coudizioni locali di cias euu paese in
The differ,~nt conditions und er -which the rispetto a lla guerra determiuarono l' attigvarious natic,us found themselves at the be- giamento dei socialisti in merito ad essa.
g inning of tlie war, Dr. Molinari said, com- L' invas ion e del Belgio e clella Francia rese .
pelled the socialists of those countries to possibile l' uuanimita' dei socialisti di quei
adopt different cours es in dealing with war due paessi in favor e della guerra. Il periproblems.
Belgium and France wer e in- colo della Germania di essere iuvasa fece
vaded and th eir socialists wer e unanimous s i che solo una grande miuoranza cl ei
in favor of war. Germany was in danger socialisti fosse opposta a lla guerra. L'Inghilof being invaded and a large minority of h er terra e la Russia · non hanno mai co rso il
socialists were opposed to war.
Euglanli pericolo di un a invasione, ed i socialisti di
has n ever been in dan ger of invasion, no
questi due paesi souo stati i piu' accaniti '
more than Rus sia has, and the socialists of oppositori della gu erra.
Ma se i tedeschi
these two countries hav e been more op- clomani entrassero in Loudra i sociali sti
posed to war than the people of any other inglesi muterebbero interamente la loro
country on the continent. But if the Ger- tattica, disse il Dr. Moli nari.
mans were to enter Loudon tomorrow the
Egli spiego' minutamente che le guerre
attitude of the English- socialists would be sono il prodotto naturale clel presente
entirel y changed.
sistema di produzione per profitto privato,
The speaker explained at length the theche deve trovare un mercato per il siiriJl1.is
ory that wars a re a result of the present valore, che a sua volta s i r isolve in conflitto
system of production for private profit, and a rm ato per il coutrollo dei mercati clel
declared that the necessity of finding a IllOlldO.
m arket for the surplus value means in turn
"Abolite il preseute sistema di produzione
occasional conflicts for the control of the per profitto e voi non avrete piu' guerre,
world's market. Abolish the profit system ecclamo' il Dr. Molinari.
and you ,w ill have no more wars, Dr. Moli"La pace armata non e' stata mai una
nari said.
assicurazioue contra la guerra, ma al contra"Arm ed peace, so ca lled, has never been
ri o le ha spianata sempre la via. Se il fa lli (Continued on page 5.)
(Continuecl on ])age 5.)
FORD HALL l?OLKS
0
SQUARE PEGS AND ROUND HOLES
By ALFRIEDA M. MOSHER
SUNSIHINE AND SHADOW OF
''H:OLIDAY BUSINESS.''
Rita has been having a hard time to make
ends meet ever since she went to work as
saleslady in a candy store last summer. The
pay was seven dolla.rs a week, and commis·
sion, but try as hard as she would she never
could make big enough sales to get hold of
any of that commission. And the seven dollars were really not sufficient to keep her
properly provided for, as any member of the
Minimum Wage Board could demonstrate.
She held on to the place because it was that
mnch better than n-othing; and then there
was aiWays fo e p0E~ibility of thr.t. ccmmis·
sion to lure her on.
Now, with the wave of holiday trade that
commission is being realized.
"Three do!·
!are on top of my regular wages week before
last," she s1id to us with her face fairly
beaming;, "and four dollars last week, and
this week it'll most likely be five.
And
money for overtime besides.
Ain't that
great? I can go down to Filene's basement
and get enough clothes to last me clear
through till summer.
I tell you this holi·
day business is making both ends meet just
fine for me."
For Lucile Xmas Spells Dangerous
Overs"i.n:in.
Lucile is P. stcnogra.pher. She has been
in lwr position four yean-. Last spring we
t.ho11g tL ,;1.e lookP. d a li'ri.,. run-dc:wn, but
SU\:!
cc L.1e !.-" -'\C~
k
[ri •, .l
i.1P1·
vf\ e::aT~,~~l
hl f: _111
shape, aud all through the fa:u sne has been
telling us she never felt better in her life.
But when we saw her the other day we were
quite shocked at her a.ppearance. She was
pale and thin, and , to quote her own words,
"nervous as a witch." We asked her what
the trouble was.
"Holiday business," she answered laconically. "You know we are in the toy busi·
ness, and this is our time of the year to
make hay. Every one at our place is just
working like mad and I'm going to do my
part. They've always done the square thing
by me, and I'm going to do it by them. Yes,
I know, it's te·l ling on me. I've lost sixteen
]Jutmrls tryiil g t.-, get toys out to mak~ c hil·
dren happy on Christmas. I can;t sleep the
few hours I do get a chance to stay in bed,
and I'm just keeping up on strong coffee. It
will take me (L good part of the winter to
get over this, and I sup.pose I'll · have to·
spend more on doctors' bills than I make.
Funny, isn't it, that some of us have to get
so miserable to make others have a good
time?"
She rushed back to her task, leaving us
more determined than ever to do whatever
might lie in our power to distnbute holiday
business and holiday hap1}iness more
equitably.
A "Christmas Present Money" Girl.
The girl working for "pin and new-hat
money" bas received a certain amount of
our attention.
The "Christmas present
money" girl belongs to the same class. Jen·
nie and Mrs. X. are typical of the motive
and the attitude of the "Christmas present
money" girl.
Jennie appeared the day after Thanksgiv·
ing. She was a big overgrown freckled·
. faced g-ir!, probably about eighteen years
old . She stood with arms akimbo, chewing
gum, "first on one foot, and then on
'tother," while she stated her case.
"Say, look, my mother keeps a lodging
house here in the So·uth End, and I help;
but she don 't give me m, money, and I wan t
to give some Christmas presc:·,ts, and Miss
A--, she rooms to onr house, and she's
got a job out of ·here to sell in a store. Well,
she says if I want to ba.ve some money to
buy presents, why, this is the place to
come."
We assured her that wa had no money to,
distribute for such purposes.
She rolled her gum around in amazement
at our lack of understanding.
"Aw, that
ain't it. I don't want no money 'given me.
I want to earn some, doing something that
I'll get paid for. My mother'll let me off
from the room-wor k t ill after f'.hristmas,
and I'll give her some kind of a present.
Say, what would you give her? Something
that don't cost too much, you know."
We suggested a pretty dish.
And she
thought she might get one at the ten-cent
store, "because," she explained, while she
chewed vigorously, 'Tl'! want to get a 'box
of chocolates for the lady that told me to
come here, and then," she stopped, and
looked conscious and giggled, "I've got a
friend, a man friend, you know, and I wa.nt
to get him something just swell."
We sent her to "assemble" iron toys at
four dollars a week.
Reminiscent of An 0. Henry Story.
Mrs. X. came the follvwing Monday. ,She
had on a styli::;il. win~er .,ui"!, uice fpr" . and
ltd
h"r +,1,.:,. hq,. r"I
~
r·," r·-, .. •~
f'\,F 'l f•bi ' t
i.-;;·~
;~~1
"M~y I speak.
--p;iv~t~l~~ ·- .> >te
asked.
I am accustomed to· being called to give
help in matrimonial difficulties, and my
blood was instantly boiling at the idea of a
marital infelicity which would involve that
darling of a child. I beckoned the lady into
the corner which our good friend, Miriam
deFord Collier, was once p'leased to christen
my "confessional."
But the "confession" was not at all what
I was expecting. It was "holiday business."
She had a good husband.
He did every·
thing for her and the baby, and she wanted
to do something for him at Chrihmas. She
,hadn't any money o.f her own, an~l she want·
ed som ' way co ea;:n some th!l'; wculd be
truly hers to spend for him.
I knew of another mother, cal,! ed suddenly away from home by sickness in her own
family and distressed about making a suita.ble provision ·f or her ·Own little one whom
she did not dare to take into the ,c ountry
in the winter. I asked Mrs. X. if she would
like to earn her Christmas money by taking
this other baby home with her for a few
days.
The arrangement was quickly made, and
that husband's Christmas gift provided for .
This last little tale ·o nly proves, like that
charming Xmas story of ,o. Henry, that love
is never more lovely than at this hap,p iest
season in all the year.
SOCIALISM AND THE WAR.
(Continued from page 5.)
an insurance against war," he concluded.
"On the contrary, it has always paved the
way for it. If the failure of the European
nations to maintain peace, while armed to
the teeth, does not conclusively prove this,
nothing else will prove it.
"An immediate and pernicious effect of
the European war on America is the pres·
ent propaganda of the ruling class to embark on a military program of such a magnitude as America never dreamed of. And
this is absolutely inexcusable. Just think
that to invade this country at least an army
of four million men would be required with
all necessary arms, ammunitions and pro·
visions. Bear in mind that on one side we
!Jav e tlH' Atl;,ntic c,cean four thousand miles
wide; and our nearest neighbor on the other
side, Japan, is five thousand miles away
from u~.
The allies, with all these long
years of military preparation to their credit,
can oniJ' transport four t.hoi,sr.nd men a day
to Salonica, which is only a few miles away.
In view of these facts, where is the country
strong enough to attempt to invade us?
"England once held America as a colony,
but in 1776, in spite of her military and
naval power, was not strong enough to hold
us down. Then the population of this coun·
try was only about fifty millions, with und 7veloped na tural resources and no indust : ,es to spcal;· of. Toda:,' we arP a n 1'tion
of ninety million people, having plenty o,f developed natural resources, up-to-date indus·
tries, and the most modern means of communication and distribution. Consequently
we are a great deal stronger than we were
in 1776. Is it possible to conquer us now
any easier than in 1776? And furthermore
why should any nation attempt to invad~
this country? Here we have no markets to
be exploited.
The American capitalists
have pretty well cleaned everything in
sight.
"The present talk of preparedne~s is
simply a scheme to pave the way for big
profits out of armaments.
TL SCCTALISMO E LA GUERRA..
rnento llel!e naz1011i eu1 opee di mantener;,G
pa~, , arnnt.re tutte erano armate fino ai denti
non dimostra chiaramente la mia asserzione, nessun' altro fatto ve lo potra'
dimPstrare.
Q " '~ ' eff~t~o i,mmediato della guerra sugli
~tat1 UmtI e la perniciosa propaganda
della classe dominante in faYore di un programma di militarismo, di tale grandezza,
che ii popolo americano non ha mai sognato,
non avendo -alcuna ragione di essere.
Pensate che per invadere questo paese e·
r,ecessaria un' armata almeno di quattro
rnilioni di uomini, oltre ad armi munizioni
e provvigioni.
Ricordate che da un Iato
abbiamo I' oceano Atlantico ouattro mila
miglia largo, e all' altro lato· abbiamo il
Gi_appol/e, lontano da noi cinque mila miglia.
R1cur~ate ~he_ gli alleati, dopo tutti quesd ~ lun_gh1 anm d1 preparazione militare al loro
attwo, possono trasportare solamente quattro mila soldati al giorno a Salonicca che
travai.i poi tanto vicina.
In vista dl cio'
dove e' la nazione forte abbastanza da
tentare la nostra invasione?
"L'America fu ad un te~po una colonia
inglese, ma nel 1776 ad onta della forza
~ilitare e navale inglese, si libero' da quel
g10go.
La popolazione di questo paese
al)o_ra . era solamente di circa cinquanta
m1hom, con molte risorse naturali non
sviluppate e pochissime industrie organizzate.
Oggi noi contiamo 90 milioni di
abitanti,
abbiamo sviluppate le nostre
risorse naturali abfiamo moderne industrie
mezzi di comunicazione e di scambio e dl
conseguenza siamo molto piu' forti dei 1776.
E' forse oggi piu' facile de! 1776 di conqui·
starci? E perche' si dovrebbe cercare di
invadervci? N oi non abbiamo qui mercati
da. P?ter'es~ere 11fruttati, _perche' i capi_
ta\:s~1 amencani hanno gia' sfruttato tutto .
. ~ attual,e propaganda per la preparazione
m1.htare e semplicemente un mezzo per
spianare la strada per fare enormi profitti
sugli armamenti.
A
MAG AZINE
OF
NEIGHBORLINESS
EDITED BY THOMAS DREIER
E nter ed
VOLUME IV
as Secon d -Cla ss Matter Octo be r 18, l !J l-1, at t be P ost Office at Bos ton , llfa ss., unde r the Act of March 3, .1879.
NUMBER
10
DECEMBER 19, 1915
PRICE FIVE CENTS
SHALL BIRTH CONTROL BE DISCUSSED?*
BY NORMAN HAPGOOD
It is to the audience-that first honors of this "Birth Control" meeting should be awarded.
Not- e: en Mr. Hapv
good's address, thoughtful, earnest and arresting though it was, nor Dr. Eliza T' ylor Ransom's deeply sincere· contria
bution, out of the depths of her ow n life experience, to the wisdom of the e·v ening, was. so ~arveUo,us, so impressive
a thing as the essential decency of th~se men and women who attend Ford 'Hall as reflected in the questions they asked
concerning this most difficult and del\ cate of subjects. 0 f course there was nervous tension in the dro·.vd--', this, a.id
'
not mirtW, it was which oc-.:asioned tl1F..;omewhat h ysterical° reception of the first question or two.
But, after that,
the Ford Hall Folks struck their gait and demonstrated a reverence for consecrated Motherhood no less noble than that
which inspired the wonderful Rauschenbush prayer with which the meeting opened.
IF--..--nr c TOR H UGO prefaces one of his
books with the statem en t : "This
book is m ore than a fact; it is a
n ecessi ty." I th i nk that is rne case
with our subj ect tonigh t.. We ar e
di scussing it because it is unavoid able. It
is a great economic fa ct . I a m no t a pproaching it as a Socialist . The pr essur e of population, th e qu estion of su bsisten ce, whi ch
arc th e great qu estions of our day, do no t
give us any choi ce. We mus t face i t .
Thi s era, like every era, h a s its own big
rlrea m. 'vV ,:, a re making our poetr y, a nd our
r eligion out of
our dream of
som e clay ab olishing poverty.
We b e Ii eve
th a t so me da y
ever ybody i n
this world may
be r eli eved of
th e grindin g
kind of poV'erty, t ha t it
will be possible for everybody to have
s uffi cient clo t hing, sufficient
food , s uffi.cient
shelte r , suffi rie nt leisure, sufficient tim e to r ead and to
realiz e s om ething of th e thin gs that illumi ne
ex is tence. Some of us believe that thi s abolition of voverty is abs olutely impossible
Llll Lil hum an beings a r e alJo wed to exer cise
choice in one of th e tbih gs that do most to
determin e economic conditions in th e family
-the birth rate.
vVe ca nnot appr oach this s ubj ect from th e
old-fashioned stand point of a bstr act morals,
independ ent of economic and s ocia l conditions. We must consid er ,it in terms of our
own environm ent. We must r emember that
the greatest moral Book in existen ce was
written under very differ ent conditions.
Moses had an advantage over us today. Wh en
he looked ahont him a nd decided th a t such
and such things wer e good fo r the children
of Israet al) b e ba d to do was to go away
fe r a lit.tie while, and r eappear w ith the
s tatement that the Lord said so a nd so un to
• Speec ll and q uestion s and an swer s r epor ted
by Sara H . Bircha ll .
Moses. That was al) there was to it. Among
in a shop or factory and subjected to th e
t he things urged hy th e Bible as a duty is
nervous strain of machinery, until just bethat of populatin g t he earth. Under th e con- fore her child is born, and return s too soon
ditions of tho se days tha t was sound advice.
afterward.
Suppose sh e does not go iu L
o
The I sraelites had a large and thinly poputhe shop, but remains at home lo do all
la ted country, ready to be tilled, subject to
the work of caring for the -children, wash incursions from th e surrounding barbarians.
ing, ironing, scrubbing, and all the heavy
S peaking in terms of th e Israelites' environ- tasks of the household. The s t rain of that
m ent, it was a duty to multiply. Speaking labor is equally deteriorating ·to her physical
in t erms of the United S tates of 1915, it may health and that of her unborn child. If th o
not be.
best possible children are to be born iato
the world, it is clear that the motbor m usL
Ther e is an amazing a mount of superstihave-the opportunity to lay up her streil gtlt.
ti on on th e subj ect of population. It is
Then ther e is the r ela tion .0 1· th e la I nr
gener al1y held that a country whi ch is inborn children to tlle earJier ones. T he ~
crea sing in POJ}t1lation must be full of all
child receives the best care, and us·uaJly is
th e greatest human virtues, and that a
aJJowed to Jive the best possible life for a
country whi ch has a stationary birth rate
working man 's child. There is another: Conmust be on the decline. I have asked many
ditions are about the same, and so with
]Jeo1Jle what grounds th ey bad for maintainthe third. But if there are later children
in g this view; n one of them has been able
they are not only handicapped because they
t o give an y r eason. Yet you find the idea
are born of a worn-out mother, but they
p r eva lent everywhere. If this war could
teach us any thing, it ought to have tau ght crowd in on the earlier children. There
is less sleeping room, less food, less care
ns th e invalidity of s uch a vi ew . We have
for the first, second and third c-hild.
all been fill ed w- th admiration fo r the spleni
did de eds of Fran ce ; and yet we have bee n
accustomed to r ega rel her as a de clining naThe Rich Already Have· Bin:h
tion because her birth rate was declining.
Control.
Sh e has shown herself not only the least
J
vi cious of the nations, but sh e has shown
Let us take a1i_otber picture, lfor the sake ,
, hat s he pos~esses th e early 1 rimitiv virt
1
of fairness. Imagine another b <!•rne on F'iflh
tu es that corhe in to being when a nation is
Avenue, or near it. This family has far
fa cing a death strnggle s uch as she is facin g
more income than it needs. Life is mad e up
now.
·of a great mass of cumbersome devices provided and operated by many ' people that tlYe
1f we will look at this qu es tion without
s up erstiti on, we will see that there are a ' husband and wife may be comfortable. You
number of di stin ctions that we will want find many of these families childless, many
to make a t once. Il'or instance, what is a
wit!:). one child or two, some with three or
large famil y? We have come to estimate
four. These people with, say, an income of
a family 's size by the number of children
$150,00() a year. and with a spacious house,
who a re born into it. A mc,re sensible way
could have a family as large as nature perto estim at e it would be by the number of
mits without overtaxing their resources. Yet
children wbo grow u p in it. One woman
they do not want children. It would intermay have twelve children, -of whom three
fere with their plans. It would involve a
live to th e age of ten years ; and another
little physical pain. It would not leave
w oman may have only three children, all
them free to be entirely and completely
of wh om li ve to th e age of ten years. The
useless. Surely there is no more awful picsecond woman at the end of the ten years ture than that.
has as-la r ge a famil y as th e first, and at far
Logically, that does not come into onr
less cost to hers elf, th e family and the chilproblem . These people already have birth
dren th emselves.
control. We can change the laws as mnch
L et us consider for a moment how the ordias we please, but it does not effect them.
nar y working man's family lives. We some- · They already know how. We leave them free
times speak of the work of the mother as
to limit the size of their families as they
please, and deny the same freedom to the
a n evil only when she is taken out of the
home and a way from h et· children to work only classes that h:;i,ve real need of limitation.
FORD HALL FGL---i\.~
2
I have the distinction of being a moth er.
with mortality of children in relation to priI am sorry and
I was ma.rried in 1893.
mogeniture.
ashamed to say that I have only two chilFirst-born children, 229 per 1,000; second
dren and that I am myself to blame for it.
and third children, 204 per 1,000; fourth chilI sh~uld have ten, and if it were in my
dren, 212 per 1,000 ; twelfth and subsequent
power today I would have them. I was marchildren, 597 per 1,000.
ried eleven years before I had a ·c hild.
I
Letus take another great economic queshave twice been pregnant and have two chiltion, that of child lahor. Wbat is t9e cendren.
tral cause of child lab0r? It is the over-large
From the medical standpoint, the physifamily. The workingma.~ with one chpd_ selcian is very limited in his speech. Often I
dom sends i:t into the rr..11I. He wants 1t to
have been besieged at my office by newspaper
grow up with a better chance than h,:! had,
representatives and urged to discuss this
and he sends it to school. So with the secvery subject for publication.
I have never
ond and third child. If he has seven or eight
done it, because I hardly know what I think
children, he is desperate. All of them probor what I believe.
ably go to the mill.
Not only are the deNow what are we m en and women in the
scendants of that individual man stunted
world for? To carry on the race-to reprome·ntally a.nd physically, but all of their deduce ourselvEs. That is why I am ashamed
scendants in turn are deteriorated because
that I have only two children. Why have I
the original individual had too large a famonly two? Beca.use my mother and my fat.hily to support.
er, who were intellectual people, never put
Now American laws and lawmakers have ,into my mind the reason why I was bornd r 'l.lt with· this r, ueRtion of - ir ~h control not / tne great reason in the mind of the Divine.
b
~·'":-1 ::t'ld " men I no w sec arr· l ere to reproa8 1r--; t weTe- ,.
ec,,n01ui c ~ t J .... ::.~~.!!£.tr.i .~'
,i
duce themselves.
question, but as if it were purely a moral
Because c ertain economic, religious, eduquestion-a matter to blush about and c oncational and political principles are kept besider indecent. Do not confuse the laws govfore us, we sometimes lose sight of the fact
erning illegal° operations with the subject we
that the great initial reason why so many
are discussing.
We are not discussing the
men and women are brought together here
right of anybody to ta.ke life. That is an enis that we may reproduce our kind.
tirely different matter. We are not concerned
Now I notice that when young people are
with life after it is created; we are dealing
married and they have a child, and they
with the right of people to decide how large
think there is no way to take care of that
a family they can in justice have.
Concerning the Families of College
child, they always find a way to do it withThere has been growing up a different
out killing the child. And I cannot underBred Women.
feeling about certain phases of this problem,
stand why we are not to consider the case
-about sterilization of the unfit for instan-::e.
Now there is another line of thought that
of the child that is unborn and yet Killed .
That used to ,b e consid'lred wicked and indebothers a good many people rather unnecesThe young woman who does not want a
cent, too. But boards of health -and physisarily. It is that education and high standfamily of ten children can have preventacians and judges have decided that criminals
ards of living will have a tendency to lower
tives . She can have birth control. But the
could not be allowed to repro.duce themselves
the ·b irth rate. It is feared that women who
woman w ho does not know how to p reve
nt
without a disastrous result to the commungo to collee-e anrl become reflective thinkin ~
conception and finds herself pregnant and
ity. Degenerates, physicially and mentally
animals iustead of helpless pawns on Nadoes not want a child goes to a physician
deficient people. the insane, the idiotic, ?Jl
ture's chessboard will be unwilling to have
or a midwife, or somebody else, and gets
come under this . judgment; and in some
a good sized family. Statistics, so far as
birth control. She kills her child. If that
states there is legal provision for the steriliwe can gather them, do not bear this out.
is not birth control, I don't know what is.
zation of criminals and other unfit neople if
The - ollege-bred woman, again, is often se·
c
And if birth control does not mean birth
the criminal himself is willing.
It would
lected to contrast with the average woman.
control, what is the use of talking about it?
seem only a shorC step from that to the subThat is misleading. The college-bred woman
If the middle class people would educate
ject we are discussing tonight.
should be compared only with the non-coltheir sons and daughters as well as the poor
lege-bred woman in the same economic cirWe have been talking a:bout the concrete
people do-if they would teach them that
cumstances. Bryn Mawr graduates, for inresults of disseminating among the poor init is right to reproduce their kind-we
would have just as large families in the
stance, during a fair period of test subseformation as to how to regulate the family .
quent to graduation have averaged 2.7
middle classes as we do in the poorer
In conclusion I want to say that in my own
children each. I believe that while the colclasses. And if the poorer classes have
case there is another reason why I believe
families larger than they can support, it
lege-bred women of the last generation over- in birth control, or voluntary motherhood.
should be a taxed duty of the rich people
emphasized this new right of liberty and
Not only because you c an readily pick out
to protect and c, re for and educate those
freeoom of , ,·1•,'ice too wuch , as we are apt
th i, i r dustri:i l and ec0nomic e'r ils due to in~
!;Ji! .rt~n~ a t t rt r,r-P t h a t tbey do not d ie- i, ·
i,o o, e:r-E:ill' r,1:; .
"ct n e•s i[' ea when we first
v o1111,l;.ary 1 · othe rliood- r,verc~0wdin §;. l'hil l
lack of care.
seize it, the college-bred women of the next labor, and the others we hav,_, been discussgeneration, realizing the glory of giving and
ing~but ,b ecause it is part of the whole demthe honor of being ,builders of the race, will
ocratic theory of life. Under that theory we
One of the most important things f ,
believe that peop,l e are able to determine,
to do, if you are seeking happines
show a decidedly higher birth rate.
Let me quote some statistics bearing on
find that happiness in using the · thing,
and organize, and carry· through their indimortality in the working man's family.
vidual lives. Therefore I ·may say that behave to work with now. I don't know
These are from the Children's Bureau at. hind any specific reason and ·b ehind any
a11 ything more foolish than for a man t
Washington, presided over by Miss Lathrop.
specific study of t_ e facts I believe in volunh
make himself miserable because he cannot
In families having an income of under
tary motherhood because as a believer in dework with the tools which some other man
$625 a year, 213 per 1,000. In families havis using. Make the best use of what you
mocracy I believe that everything in life as
have where you are, and you'll have all
ing an income of under $899 a year, 122 per far as possible ought to be voluntary.
the hap,p iness you can use.
1,000. In families having an income of over
A Word on the· Negative Side'.
$900 a year, 96 per 1,000.
I like to think of Robert Louis Stevenson,
Families with one and two children have
By Dr. El-iza Taylor Ransom.
who faced death da.ily for fifteen or twenty
a mortality of 1081h per 1,000.
Families
I wa.n t to begin where -Mr. Hapgood left
years, but who always faced it with a smile
with three and four children, 126 per 1,000.
off and say frankly and emphatically that I
Famil.ies with five and six children, 152 per
on his face. His stories, essays and poems
do not helieve that any man or woman is
1,000. Families with seven and eigbt chilhave added much to the happiness of the
capable o-f saying whether he or she shall
dren, 176 per 1,000. Families with nine or
world. It isn't what you have that counts,
have one child or ten. Furthermore I want
but the use you make of what you have.
more children, 191 per 1,000.
to say tha.t no girl of sixteen or eighteen or
In both tables you will note the steps are
twenty or twenty-five, with all the allureThe hunger for goodness is as powerful
marked. There was an interesting compa.riments of life before her, or any young man
son between literate and illiterate· families.
as the hunger for bread. To those who feed
of the same age, ought to be expected to
The literate families had a mortality of 148
the 'b odies come no adventures greater than
form judgments in the matter.
Pleasure
the illiterate of 214. Another set of interestthose which , come to 1;11en who create susand enjoyment bulk larger than duty at that
tenance for hungry mmds and souls.
ing figures are taken from Saxony, and deal age.
·Our laws are almost bar.baric on this subject._ I have a friend in the United Sta~es
Court. The laws in the district to which
I refer make it a crime for a druggist to
sell certain devices for the prevention of
conception.
"What do you do in such cases?" I asked
him.
"Well," he said, "if I find a druggist living
within two blocks of Fifth A venue I exact a
pretty heavy penalty; but if I find a druggist living" over on the East Side, I say
'Good boy, go to it.' "
Of course there are certain dangers connected with any reform. It would be a very
foolish thing to make a campaign of this
kind to put mechanical devices into the
hands of the people without proper advice.
People taking advantage of methods of this
kind ought to be in close consultation with
a physician. Handled ignorantly, it may result seriously. There is another real difficulty. TrA t.irn~ <tt whil'h regulation takes place
- ii:, ~
a er.;,--r-._~ pcri ·~a:.:. t - ~ !-~g- ~ r.?· 1 4ti on -D f
this process at one period of a woman's Ii fe
is entirely_ different from that at another.
It seems to be agreed among physicians that
if a check is put upon th·e process of nature
at the beginning of a woman's sex life it is
likely fo result in barrenness the rest of her
life. The best time is after two or three
children have been born, or when the family
seems as large as it should justly be.
1
0
, .
•
FORb HALL FOLKS
THE QUESTIONS
Q: Do you not think that every mother
would be better off and the families would
be better supported if she had no more than
two children?
A:
I do not think a fixed limit can be
set. It depends on health, on economic conditions and other questions.
Q: If a man makes $15 a week, has two
children, loses his job, and his wife goes
into the factory to support the family; and
if during that time a third child comes, is
that kind of a family desirable to society'/
A: Presumably not.
Q. (Mr. Browne):
In comparing the
chances of the first and second children for
life, is it not possible that the family during
the interval may have developed financially
and can provide better conditions for the
later childrPU?
A. Yes.
Q: How would you treat the case of men
who are willing to rear a family but who
on account of economic conditions do not
do it?
A: That is one of the strong arguments
(or birth control.
Q:
Do not preventatives do more harm
to the mother than having a large family?
A: NO, I think not.
Q:
Is not abortion due rather to ignorance of birth control than knowledge of
it?
A: It might be. I think abortion would
be decreased by it and many women's lives
_ . ,.. rl
.:, u. Y C U,
(Mr. Roberts): If you were writing a
entieth century Bible, would you substi(ute birth control for the control mentioned
in the Mosaic Scriptures?
,
A:
If I were to write such a Bible it
would , be brief, but I would hope to find
room in it for both those. kinds of control.
Q: What actual results would follow if
the race were allowed to die out?
A: That is a matter of personal taste. I
am enough of an optimist to believe that
the result would be undesirable.
Q: Is not birth control common in some
pa1·ts of the world, such as France, and has
it not been prophesied that within a certain
term ;of .years the French nation would <'ease
__ __ , ~
t"
IV
Q.
1j A
-
A: I suppose somebody has prophesied
that.
Q: Would it not be better if the government did not interfere with birth control?
A: I think it ought not to interfere in
the way it does. ·I should not say that there
ought to be no interference.
Q: Why did you not discuss the subject
of birth control from the moral as well as
the economic and industrial sides?
A: I thought I explained that the morals
of it as laid down by Moses did not interest
me so much.
Q: Granting that we should consider reproduction a duty, but admitting that some
of us have instead come to regard it as an
evil for us, why should we not have the
right to prevent it?
A. (Dr. Ransom): So Jong as there is
no legislation, I suppose we can all do as
we choose about it?
Q:
Statistics show that two children
must be born to re,place one death by the
time those children have reached the age
of 30 . In view of the fact that it takes four
children to continue the lives of two parents, and· in view of the fact that the average family has only three children, do you
not think that birth control would be a
danger to society?
A: I think the problems of the future
may be left to the future. The problem of
subsistence, of • hild labor, of the pressure
c
of population is here now.
Q: Which is more humane, to bring children into the world and leave them to charity, or not to bring them into the world at
all?
A. (Dr. Ransom): I think that is a matter of choice.
Q: How do you account for the fact that
most of our men of genius and our famou s
]Jugi!ists and strong men came from large
families and were often the fifth or sixth
child?
A: I don't believe it.
Q:
Ir we compelled the rich to pay
through taxation for the nourishment and
education of the - hildren of the .poor, would
c
that do away with poverty?
A. (Dr. Ransom): We would have to try
it and see.
Q: How do you account for the fact that
Germany, which has the highest birthrate,
has also the greatest efficiency as a nation?
A: Germany has a wonderful record in
taking care that grinding poverty should
not exist. The more you abolish that kind
of poverty, the more desirable will be a
rising birthrate.
Q . (Miss Crawford): Would you be willing to tell what worked the change in your
point of view towards the size of family
in your own case?
A. (Dr. Ransom) : S'imply that we live
and learn through years of experience what
we should have been taught in our youth.
Q:
(Mrs. Blanchard): Why is it not
better to attempt to adjust economic conditions than to attempt to deal with diffi• ult phases of the question, such as birth
c
control?
A: Why not do both?
Q. (Mr. Meltzer, Jr.) :Would not the discussion of birth control be very undesirable
in view of the militaristic program to which
this ·C ountry seems to be already partlr com1
•
'
mitted?
A : Yes.
Q: Do you think the mentally deficient
and insane should be allowed the choice of
regulating their families?
A. (Dr. Ransom): I don't know.
Q:
What do you think of the letter to
" Everybody's," quoted in Ford Hall Folks?
A. (Mr. Hapgood): I should teach that
woman birth control. I do not know what
Dr. Ransom would do. (Dr. Ransom) : I
would let her have her choice.
Q: When you speak of later children in
a family being more likely to be deficient
mentally and ,p hyskally, how do you account for the Franklin family, and what
number in it would you give Benjamin?
~
The case of the Franklin family is
different. The poverty they had to face was
not the grinding kind; it was a good and
wholesome thing, · not the sort that stunts
the development of the children.
. Q (_Mr. Kaufmann): If instead of discussmg birth control and various other indirect
means of making a better social condition
would it not be better if we concentrated'
our attention on the fundamental thinu
that needs change.
~
3
A: Yes, if you can find the one. thing to
concentrate on. I do not think any one
thing will do it.
Q . (Mr. Ciampa): In view of the fact that
Dr. Ransom thinks that it is the duty of al]
people to reproduce themselves in as large
numbers as possible, do you not think it is
the duty of society to give families such
living conditions as will enable them to keep
their families alive and healthy?
A. (Dr. Ransom): Certainly.
Q: Do you not think that the teaching
of control and morality on the part of the
men will largely solve the difficulty we have
been discussing tonight?
A. (Dr. Ransom): No, I don't. I think
that if we teach the girls and women the
proper attitude towards the facts of life the
men's side will take care of itself.
VIOLUNT,AI Y MATERNITY.*
R
By Alletta H. Jacobs, M.D.
First Woman Physician of Holland
and a Pioneer in the· Dutch Movement for Control of Births.
For the cause I have propagated in my
own country during many, many years with
good results, I prefer the words "voluntary
maternity" to the words "limitation of the
birth-rate," because they express better my
view of this question and they really do not
reach farther than I am able to defend.
Being not a political economist, I do not
know whether it is preferable for society to
increase or to decrease the population of
the world; wheth~',_ it 'g e- ".!}!l fo_r a cot"!.)1try
_
to have a dense pop,ulation and to spread the
surplus of it all over the world, as the
Chinese and the Germans do, or to have a
limited population and keep it within the
borders of their own country, as the French
do.
I am a medical doctor, and from a medical point o.f view I have studied the question
of childbirth thoroughly. And through that
study I know that it is not an advantage
for the child, or for the parents or for society that a child 'b e born whose existence
is not wished. If we only consider-and this
is not questionable-that the state of mind
of the mother during her pregnancy is of
the greatest influence upon bod.{ and mind
of the child that is to be born, then we must
admit that the chances for a child to he
bodily and· mentally healthy are greater
when the mother looks forward with delight
to the day when it shall come into existence
than if she, during her pregnancy, constantly is preoccupied how to get rid of it.
The reasons why parents do not wish to
have children or why they do not wish to
have more children, are numerous. Very
often there are economical reasons; other
times there are hereditary diseases in the
family; sometimes the mother is bodily
unable to bring a living child or a child
that will live long, into the world; sometimes husband and wife, or one of them
hate children. The last reason is seldom
expressed, 'b ut it exists, and we may call
such· a woman who hates to have a child
unwomanly. It does not make it desirable
that such a woman should become a mother.
In some cases, man and wife wish to have
children, but knowing that there ·is a great
chance that their children, for different reasons, will become a ,burden for society, from
a feeling ot high social responsibility, th·e y
avoid parenth•od.
-•From The Survey of NovembG 6, 1915.
r
J
FORD HALL FOLKS
4
AS IT LOOKS TO ME
By GEORGE W. COLEMAN
It We have been anxious to know
whether our book, "Democracy in the Making," wonld prove interesting reading matter
to a person in ·no way connected with our
work and not especially interested in the
open forum idea. That question was satisfa ctorily answered the other day when CounC' illor Hagan told me that he picked up the
book on e evening and found it so interesting
he continued through chapter after chapter
until three o'clock in the morning.
Miss Blanche Watson, the magazine
writer, found the contents of the book su
engaging that she read it through at one
s ittin g and immediately sat down and wrote
a Jung lelter to one of our critics, urging
him to put himself in possession of the facts
which this book c ontains.
Mr. E. J. Lindsay, a leading wholesale
mer chant in Milwaukee, was so much
pleased with the book that he ordered t en
c·opies for distribution among his fri ends.
t
t
t
It Generous pledges for the deficit in our
treasury h ave been coming in from our
friends in the Ford Hall audience and th e
Ba ptist Social Union. More than half of
the amount has already been subscribed.
Some Sunday evenin g soon we sha ll g ive
eve ryon e a chance to m a ke a pledge. The
words of en co uragement a nd appreciation
that have com e with the gifts have been
worth as much as the money itself.
t
t
t
~
My 'end, Clarence B .. Hpward of St.
Louis, the Jig steel manufacturer, recently
entertained 1700 of his friends in that city
in the most delightful fashion . Dr. John W .
Ruskin , a descendant of the famoµs English
writer, has expended a quarter of a million
dollars in making motion p.ictures of wild
a nimal life, showing quadruped s, birds and
fi sh as found in their natural haunts all
over the world. This exhibit . was given in
a !oral theatre where the audience was so
s mall that Mr. Howard, who was present,
t hough t it was a shame not to have such a
wonderfui display witnessed by a larger company, s6 he invited newsboys, children from
an orphans' home, pupils from the public
school s, practically a ll of the public school
prin cipals in St. Louis and several hundred
of his own employeee of different nationalities, besides a few representative business
men, bankers and railroad officials, to
a n exhibiton of these motion pictures given
in the Victoria Theatre, th e whole house bein g reserved for Mr. Howard's use. Mr.
Howard was in the lobby and personally
gr eeted his friends as they cam e in. Mayor
Ki el presided over the occasion, and before
the evening was over Mr. Howar d himself
was obliged to present himself and make a
little, speech.
Mi!. Howard is the gentleman who mad e
s nch a deep impression on m e when I was
in St. Louis last summer as Mayor Kiel's
g uest. The next time he comes to Boston
he is planning to spend a Sunday evening
with us at Ford Hall.
t
t
t
It Mr. Fred F. Squire, who volunteered
to get five new subscribers for this little
magazine, has more than made good on his
promise, having already secured seven. He
does not understand why th ere are not
scores of others in the audience who would
be wil ling to make the same effort in the
interest of our work.
~ Th e Open Forum. under the auspices
of t he ·Sunday Even ing Club in Toledo is
progressing very satisfactorily. The meeting
in November had for its topic "What Toledo
R eally Needs," with variou s local speakers
taking up the question of Health, Ed ucation,
Art, Parks and Playgrounds, a nd Religious
Co-operation. These five sub-divisions of t he
topic were each assigned ten minutes, a ll
of which was follo,wecl by a gen eral di scussion through the question method. The program lasted two hours and a half, a nd although the people were g ive n a chance to
withdraw at the end of the Rpeaking they
could not be driven away. Allen A. Stockdale, in whose church this Forum has been
organized, feels that it was an epoch-making
meeting for Tol edo. He says: " Never before had anything like it h appened either in
or out of a chu rch, and we consider the
opeu forum idea one of great valu e to the
city and community and believe it can be
applied with redeeming effect to church situations all over the country."
This Open Forum in the First Congregational Ch urch , Toledo, occurs on Sunday
evenings only once a month, but Rev. Mr.
Stockdale on the other Sundays in his pulpit
has been discussing prominent books and
giving an opportnnity after his a ddress for
the a udience to ask questions in t he same
manner as if t hey were present at the
Forum. On a recent evening he discussed
the morality play called "Experience."
t
t
t
It A 1'reighborhood Forum, standing for
Truth , Justice and Good Will, has been inaugurated in the Bulfinch Place Church in
the West End of Boston. A series of four
consecutive ·Sunday evening programs has
been announced, ·b eginning tonight, December 19. R ev. Christopher R. Eliot is chieily
r esponsible for this enterprising experim ent,
and those who are disappointed in not finding themselves able to, get into Ford Hall
will not have far to go to the Bulfinch P lace
Church, where they will be most welcome.
t
t
t
not so very pointed after a ll our trouble in
gettin g hold of it.
Both Mr. Hapgood and Dr. Ransom were
a lmost monosyllabic in their answers to
many of th e questions. Whether this was
due to the inadequacy of the questions or
to a disinclination on the part of the speakers to elaborate t heir them es, it is not easy
to say.
Mr. a nd Mr s. Charles Edward R ussell of
New York were seated on the stairs in the
right-hand gallery, refusing an invitation
to come to the platform. Messrs . Stevens,
Perry, P hilbrick, Harbour a nd Lathrop of
t he Baptist Social Union were a lso in attendance.
t
t
t
It The Eas t Boston Argiis-Advocate prints
a g lo wing account, nearly a column in
length, of t he ini tiation of the new East
Boston Forum in t he Assemb ly Hall of the
H igh School on Wednesday evening, December 8. The establishment of t hi s Forum was
conceived in the mind of Mr. Ira M . Huggan , manager of the East Boston High
School Centr e, and h e has associated with
him in the enterprise a splendid body of
representative citizen s, who occupied the
platform at the opening meeting. I had the
honor of serving as the speaker of the evening, and fou nd the a udience deeply interested in an exposition of the principles underlying the open forum idea and in a delineation of t he process by which that idea h as
been worked out at Ford Hall. Mr. Joseph
B. Maccabe, the edito r of the Argiis-Aclvocate, presided most delightfully and gave
the movement his thoro ugh-go ing appro val.
There were present in the audience a number of our well-known Ford Hall people, induding Mrs. Atwood, Mr. Ballou and Mr. Hogan. Dr. J . Danforth Taylor, as chairman of
the forum comm ittee, announced that Miss
Lotta Clark of the Boston Normal School
would be the speaker at their n ext meeting,
January 12. Noticing that I had selected as
my top ic, "Getting Together," Miss C lark is
to talk abo ut "Gettin g Somewhere."
VOLUNTARY MATERNITY.
(Continued from page 3.)
From a medical point of view, there is
one reason more that ought to be menIt Of course there was more than the
tioned, for which t he ch ildbirth ought to be
usual great crowd last Sunday evening. The
controlled; If par~nts are healthy, if they
lines outsid·e had grown so long that the
are economically able to s ustain a. iarg-e=
doors were opened ten minutes ahead of
family, and if they wish to have many
tim e, and before seven u'clock people were
ch ildren, the moth er ought not to h ave a
being turned away for lack of even standing
child ev~y year. The best for mother a nd
room anywhere in the ha ll. A hundred or
chilir is to have a difference of abo ut three
more waited on the outside two hours and
years between each ch ild. The first year
came in at the close of the lecture t.o take
the child takes the mother entirely. IE she
the places o.f some who went out before the
question period began. Our two speakers lJecomes pregna nt from ·a nother one during
that time, she cannot devote herself enti re ly
expressed opinions on the subject under disto t he born one. The seco nd year the
cussion in flat contrad iction of each other,
mother must use to regain her physical
which under all the ci rcumstances was as
str ength and her interest in socia l life, in
it should be. It was not an easy subject to
order to remain healthy in body a nd mind
discuss in a mixe d popular audience, esbefore the next pregnancy starts. The third
pecially when every person present was free
year she can have t he next child .
to ask a question. The a udi ence listened inFor a ll such reasons, women must know
tently throughout both addresses and, a lhow to prevent pregnancy.
though the question period did not amount
A Jot of people acknowledge these reasons
to as mu ch as usual, it was maintained
for controlling childbirth, but they differ enthroughout on a high plane of frankness
tirely in the methods to be used to arrive
and earn estness. The yo ung man in the right
at the desired effect. Moralists are of opinion
gallery ·cr eated almost uncontrollab le merrithat women who do not wish or who ought
ment through his difficulty in speaking Engnot to become pregnant must abstain from
lish and his determination to elaborate his
sexual intercourse. T hi s is really the most
qu estion .- The a udi ence was und er just s ufsecure way to avoid pregnancy. However,
fi cient strain to welcome the least occasion
is it practicable a nd is it for society defor a relieving burst of laughter, but it presentl y gath ered it.self together and. the young . sirable? To both these questions must the
n.nswer be, " In many cases, no."
foreigner finished his question, which was
FORD HALL FOLKS
-
When I was a m edical student in Amsterdam, dur ing the years 1871-1879, it struck
me daily how many children were born in
the town hospital of whom the mother till
the last moment utter ed the wish that the
child m ight be born dead, or of whom the
doctors and t he students concluded that it
would have been better for society if it
had not come into existence.
Why are such children born, was the quest ion I asked myself often. Must the child
be a punishment for the sexual action of the
parents, a punishment for th e parents, a
greater one for society, but the gr eatest one
for th e i nuocen t, un wished ch ild itself? That
seems to me the greatest absurdity possible.
Afterwards I learned to know that it was
only beca use women did not know how to
prevent pregnancy, t hat s uch children were
horn.
After I had finished my medical education
and began my medical practice in Amsterrlam, I soon made it public that all women
who wished not to have or who ought not tc
have more ch ildren could become instructed
by m e how to prevent pregnancy. At the
same time I opened for the poor women a
locality in the middle o,f the Yordaau (the
poorest district of Amsterdam) where they
could cons ult me for this purpose, free of
charge, of course, twice a week.
Nearly at the same time a Malthusian
L eague was formed in Holland, of which
C. V. Gerritsen, w ho later became my husband, was the president, and of which many
influential men , influential in political and
social life, became members. Some of those
men became later cabinet ministers or leaders of poli tical parties.
I never was a member of that leagu e, be1:ause it was based on economic principles
whicli I felt not able to j ud ge. Bqt notwithstanding my name has been constantly
connected with that league, as well in my
own co un try as abroad. I believe Holland
was the first co un try in wh ich prevention
o( pregnancy was openly discussed and
propagated, and in which advice in this direction, unhindered by law, was given to the
women.
Since five or s ix years, however, this freedom is taken from us. From l!J09-1913 Holland was governed by a conservative majority and by a cabinet which consists of
five Calvinists and four Roman Catholic ministers.
The most cons ervative, narrowminded Calv inist was the premier. During
the period of their power, the most reactionary measures became law. One of them was
that..12ropaganda and open discussion of how
to" prevent pregnancy was not longer allowed; and only women who for medical
reasons ought to prevent pregnancy, might
be advised by a doctor if they asked for
oclvice.
The propaganda among th e poor is therefore greatly hindered; but members of the
Malthusian League are waiting for the right
moment to get this law revised. Holland is
a li beral and a n anti-m ilita r y country; therefore we need not to be afraid that before
long my country-people w ill have regained
their freedom to discuss and to propagate
what they believe is good in principle and
in results.
EDUCATION FOR PEACE.
We are hearing a great deal just now to
the effect that it is our duty to get ready fo r
war; little if anythin g about getting ready
for peace.
Next Sunday night, however ,
wben the Bii:thday of the Prince of Peace is
11 ppermost in a ll our minds, that Ford Hall
favorite, Prof. Charles Zueblin, will discuss
"Eel ucation for Peace," an d we sha ll s ing a
new peace song just fresh from t he presses.
5
AT THE ITALIAN FORUM
By CONSTANTINO CIAMPA
La conferenza del Dr. Molinari a l Foro
Dr. Molinari's lecture on "Socialism and
Italiano uella Ford Hall , domen ica 5 Dicemthe War" a t the "Foro Ita liano" in Ford
Hall, Sunday afternoon, Dec. 5th , proved to br e, riusci di grande inter esse, perche'
be a ver:v. interesting talk. For while almost meutre molti biasimauo i socialisti europei
everybody is piling up wcrds of condemna- ver non aver prevenuta la guerra, il Dr.
tion for t he Sucialists of Europe because of Molinari spiego' e giustifico' la loro partecith eir failure to stop th e war, Dr. Molinari pazioue nel presente couflitto.
ex plained and justified their participation in
"E' perfettamente vero. egli disse, che i
the present conflict.
socialis ti di Europa si uccidono a vicenda
"It is perfectly true," he declared, "that nelle trincee ad onta della loro opposizione
the Socialists of Europe are killing each teorica contro la guerra. E) mentre si puo'
other in th e tren ch es in spite of their theo- c:·edere che esiste una contradizione tra la
r etical opposition to war. And while you teoria astratta predicata dai sociali sti e il
may think that there is a contradiction be- fatto concreto della partecipazione alla
tween the abstract theory preached - y the guerra, pure non vi e' coutradizione, se s i
b
socialists a nd their concrete action of par- esaminauo attentamente i fatti svoltisi dal
ticipation in the war, there is no such con- momenta che si comincio' a parl:1,e di
tradi ction if you examine closely what has guerra nel Luglio 1914 in poi.
taken place s ince the first of t he war in July,
"L 'Europa fu in fiamme in brevissimo
1914.
tempo.
Dal memento che si comincio' a
"Europe was on fire in no time.
Only parlare di conflitto, armato alla formale
one short week intervened between the first clichiarazione di guerra, trascorse un a breve
talk of a conflict a nd the actual de cla ration settimaua. Durante quel periodo di tempo
of hostilities. During that week all the so- i socialisti di Europa, eel i tedeschi specialcialists of Europe, the German socialists in mente, fecero tutto cio' che potettero per
preveuire il sauguinoso couflitto.
Jean
particular, did everything in their power to
prevent the bloody conflict.
Jean Jaures Jaures mori meutre cercava di compiere
di ed while he was trying to accomplish cio' che egli sapeva che solo ad un miracolo
what h e knew only a miracle could accomp- era possibile di fare, cioe' prevenire la
plish, prevent the war.
The socialists guerra.
I socialisti non erano numericasimply were not strong enough in numbers mente forti , non solo, ma quanta la massa
for their task. And besides, m ass action non s i muove istautaneamente quauclo la
canno t be had instantly if au emergency re- necessita' lo richiede. La dichiarazione di
quires it. The d ecla ration of war brought guerra porto' con se' lo proclamazione d ella
with it martial law, suppressing every trace legge marziale, che soppresse ogni vestigio
of opposition to the powers that be. Every di opposizione a lla classe governante. Cianation eith er actually was, or was made to sc una uazioue si credette, a P.' · - •i.van'Ienfe - believe it was, in danger of invasion. Every- era, in pericolo di essere invasa.
Tutti
bod y thought that the inva der should be pensarouo ch e l'iuvasore dovesse esser
kept out of his countr y, the r es ult being tenuto a bada, col risultato che tutti impugthat all took up a rms, socialists not ex- uarono le a rmi, non eseluso i socialisti.
cepted.
'·n Partito Socialista Internaziona le ha
"The International Socialist Party has al- · sem pre riconosciuto necessario il principio
ways recognized the necessity of indepenli- della indipeudenza nazionale. Il permettere
eut nations.
To have allowed one nation
ad un a nazioue di couquistarne un ' altra
to conquer another would have been to go ammonterebbe all' andare indietro di
back fifty years at least, and ultimately to cin (J_uant' anni e lo ttare per la indipenclenza
struggle for the freedom of the subjugated della nazioue soggiogata. Era quindi dovere
one. It was the duty of the socialists of dei socialisti di lottare per preservare la
every land t o fight for th e preservation of iutegrita' uazionale e la loro liberta' politi ca,
their national integrity and for their politi- se non avessero voluto affondare con la
cal freedom 1.f they did not want to go down nave della nazione in fiamma.
With the ship of the nation on fire.' \
"Le coudizioni locali di cias euu paese in
The differ,~nt conditions und er -which the rispetto a lla guerra determiuarono l' attigvarious natic,us found themselves at the be- giamento dei socialisti in merito ad essa.
g inning of tlie war, Dr. Molinari said, com- L' invas ion e del Belgio e clella Francia rese .
pelled the socialists of those countries to possibile l' uuanimita' dei socialisti di quei
adopt different cours es in dealing with war due paessi in favor e della guerra. Il periproblems.
Belgium and France wer e in- colo della Germania di essere iuvasa fece
vaded and th eir socialists wer e unanimous s i che solo una grande miuoranza cl ei
in favor of war. Germany was in danger socialisti fosse opposta a lla guerra. L'Inghilof being invaded and a large minority of h er terra e la Russia · non hanno mai co rso il
socialists were opposed to war.
Euglanli pericolo di un a invasione, ed i socialisti di
has n ever been in dan ger of invasion, no
questi due paesi souo stati i piu' accaniti '
more than Rus sia has, and the socialists of oppositori della gu erra.
Ma se i tedeschi
these two countries hav e been more op- clomani entrassero in Loudra i sociali sti
posed to war than the people of any other inglesi muterebbero interamente la loro
country on the continent. But if the Ger- tattica, disse il Dr. Moli nari.
mans were to enter Loudon tomorrow the
Egli spiego' minutamente che le guerre
attitude of the English- socialists would be sono il prodotto naturale clel presente
entirel y changed.
sistema di produzione per profitto privato,
The speaker explained at length the theche deve trovare un mercato per il siiriJl1.is
ory that wars a re a result of the present valore, che a sua volta s i r isolve in conflitto
system of production for private profit, and a rm ato per il coutrollo dei mercati clel
declared that the necessity of finding a IllOlldO.
m arket for the surplus value means in turn
"Abolite il preseute sistema di produzione
occasional conflicts for the control of the per profitto e voi non avrete piu' guerre,
world's market. Abolish the profit system ecclamo' il Dr. Molinari.
and you ,w ill have no more wars, Dr. Moli"La pace armata non e' stata mai una
nari said.
assicurazioue contra la guerra, ma al contra"Arm ed peace, so ca lled, has never been
ri o le ha spianata sempre la via. Se il fa lli (Continued on page 5.)
(Continuecl on ])age 5.)
FORD HALL l?OLKS
0
SQUARE PEGS AND ROUND HOLES
By ALFRIEDA M. MOSHER
SUNSIHINE AND SHADOW OF
''H:OLIDAY BUSINESS.''
Rita has been having a hard time to make
ends meet ever since she went to work as
saleslady in a candy store last summer. The
pay was seven dolla.rs a week, and commis·
sion, but try as hard as she would she never
could make big enough sales to get hold of
any of that commission. And the seven dollars were really not sufficient to keep her
properly provided for, as any member of the
Minimum Wage Board could demonstrate.
She held on to the place because it was that
mnch better than n-othing; and then there
was aiWays fo e p0E~ibility of thr.t. ccmmis·
sion to lure her on.
Now, with the wave of holiday trade that
commission is being realized.
"Three do!·
!are on top of my regular wages week before
last," she s1id to us with her face fairly
beaming;, "and four dollars last week, and
this week it'll most likely be five.
And
money for overtime besides.
Ain't that
great? I can go down to Filene's basement
and get enough clothes to last me clear
through till summer.
I tell you this holi·
day business is making both ends meet just
fine for me."
For Lucile Xmas Spells Dangerous
Overs"i.n:in.
Lucile is P. stcnogra.pher. She has been
in lwr position four yean-. Last spring we
t.ho11g tL ,;1.e lookP. d a li'ri.,. run-dc:wn, but
SU\:!
cc L.1e !.-" -'\C~
k
[ri •, .l
i.1P1·
vf\ e::aT~,~~l
hl f: _111
shape, aud all through the fa:u sne has been
telling us she never felt better in her life.
But when we saw her the other day we were
quite shocked at her a.ppearance. She was
pale and thin, and , to quote her own words,
"nervous as a witch." We asked her what
the trouble was.
"Holiday business," she answered laconically. "You know we are in the toy busi·
ness, and this is our time of the year to
make hay. Every one at our place is just
working like mad and I'm going to do my
part. They've always done the square thing
by me, and I'm going to do it by them. Yes,
I know, it's te·l ling on me. I've lost sixteen
]Jutmrls tryiil g t.-, get toys out to mak~ c hil·
dren happy on Christmas. I can;t sleep the
few hours I do get a chance to stay in bed,
and I'm just keeping up on strong coffee. It
will take me (L good part of the winter to
get over this, and I sup.pose I'll · have to·
spend more on doctors' bills than I make.
Funny, isn't it, that some of us have to get
so miserable to make others have a good
time?"
She rushed back to her task, leaving us
more determined than ever to do whatever
might lie in our power to distnbute holiday
business and holiday hap1}iness more
equitably.
A "Christmas Present Money" Girl.
The girl working for "pin and new-hat
money" bas received a certain amount of
our attention.
The "Christmas present
money" girl belongs to the same class. Jen·
nie and Mrs. X. are typical of the motive
and the attitude of the "Christmas present
money" girl.
Jennie appeared the day after Thanksgiv·
ing. She was a big overgrown freckled·
. faced g-ir!, probably about eighteen years
old . She stood with arms akimbo, chewing
gum, "first on one foot, and then on
'tother," while she stated her case.
"Say, look, my mother keeps a lodging
house here in the So·uth End, and I help;
but she don 't give me m, money, and I wan t
to give some Christmas presc:·,ts, and Miss
A--, she rooms to onr house, and she's
got a job out of ·here to sell in a store. Well,
she says if I want to ba.ve some money to
buy presents, why, this is the place to
come."
We assured her that wa had no money to,
distribute for such purposes.
She rolled her gum around in amazement
at our lack of understanding.
"Aw, that
ain't it. I don't want no money 'given me.
I want to earn some, doing something that
I'll get paid for. My mother'll let me off
from the room-wor k t ill after f'.hristmas,
and I'll give her some kind of a present.
Say, what would you give her? Something
that don't cost too much, you know."
We suggested a pretty dish.
And she
thought she might get one at the ten-cent
store, "because," she explained, while she
chewed vigorously, 'Tl'! want to get a 'box
of chocolates for the lady that told me to
come here, and then," she stopped, and
looked conscious and giggled, "I've got a
friend, a man friend, you know, and I wa.nt
to get him something just swell."
We sent her to "assemble" iron toys at
four dollars a week.
Reminiscent of An 0. Henry Story.
Mrs. X. came the follvwing Monday. ,She
had on a styli::;il. win~er .,ui"!, uice fpr" . and
ltd
h"r +,1,.:,. hq,. r"I
~
r·," r·-, .. •~
f'\,F 'l f•bi ' t
i.-;;·~
;~~1
"M~y I speak.
--p;iv~t~l~~ ·- .> >te
asked.
I am accustomed to· being called to give
help in matrimonial difficulties, and my
blood was instantly boiling at the idea of a
marital infelicity which would involve that
darling of a child. I beckoned the lady into
the corner which our good friend, Miriam
deFord Collier, was once p'leased to christen
my "confessional."
But the "confession" was not at all what
I was expecting. It was "holiday business."
She had a good husband.
He did every·
thing for her and the baby, and she wanted
to do something for him at Chrihmas. She
,hadn't any money o.f her own, an~l she want·
ed som ' way co ea;:n some th!l'; wculd be
truly hers to spend for him.
I knew of another mother, cal,! ed suddenly away from home by sickness in her own
family and distressed about making a suita.ble provision ·f or her ·Own little one whom
she did not dare to take into the ,c ountry
in the winter. I asked Mrs. X. if she would
like to earn her Christmas money by taking
this other baby home with her for a few
days.
The arrangement was quickly made, and
that husband's Christmas gift provided for .
This last little tale ·o nly proves, like that
charming Xmas story of ,o. Henry, that love
is never more lovely than at this hap,p iest
season in all the year.
SOCIALISM AND THE WAR.
(Continued from page 5.)
an insurance against war," he concluded.
"On the contrary, it has always paved the
way for it. If the failure of the European
nations to maintain peace, while armed to
the teeth, does not conclusively prove this,
nothing else will prove it.
"An immediate and pernicious effect of
the European war on America is the pres·
ent propaganda of the ruling class to embark on a military program of such a magnitude as America never dreamed of. And
this is absolutely inexcusable. Just think
that to invade this country at least an army
of four million men would be required with
all necessary arms, ammunitions and pro·
visions. Bear in mind that on one side we
!Jav e tlH' Atl;,ntic c,cean four thousand miles
wide; and our nearest neighbor on the other
side, Japan, is five thousand miles away
from u~.
The allies, with all these long
years of military preparation to their credit,
can oniJ' transport four t.hoi,sr.nd men a day
to Salonica, which is only a few miles away.
In view of these facts, where is the country
strong enough to attempt to invade us?
"England once held America as a colony,
but in 1776, in spite of her military and
naval power, was not strong enough to hold
us down. Then the population of this coun·
try was only about fifty millions, with und 7veloped na tural resources and no indust : ,es to spcal;· of. Toda:,' we arP a n 1'tion
of ninety million people, having plenty o,f developed natural resources, up-to-date indus·
tries, and the most modern means of communication and distribution. Consequently
we are a great deal stronger than we were
in 1776. Is it possible to conquer us now
any easier than in 1776? And furthermore
why should any nation attempt to invad~
this country? Here we have no markets to
be exploited.
The American capitalists
have pretty well cleaned everything in
sight.
"The present talk of preparedne~s is
simply a scheme to pave the way for big
profits out of armaments.
TL SCCTALISMO E LA GUERRA..
rnento llel!e naz1011i eu1 opee di mantener;,G
pa~, , arnnt.re tutte erano armate fino ai denti
non dimostra chiaramente la mia asserzione, nessun' altro fatto ve lo potra'
dimPstrare.
Q " '~ ' eff~t~o i,mmediato della guerra sugli
~tat1 UmtI e la perniciosa propaganda
della classe dominante in faYore di un programma di militarismo, di tale grandezza,
che ii popolo americano non ha mai sognato,
non avendo -alcuna ragione di essere.
Pensate che per invadere questo paese e·
r,ecessaria un' armata almeno di quattro
rnilioni di uomini, oltre ad armi munizioni
e provvigioni.
Ricordate che da un Iato
abbiamo I' oceano Atlantico ouattro mila
miglia largo, e all' altro lato· abbiamo il
Gi_appol/e, lontano da noi cinque mila miglia.
R1cur~ate ~he_ gli alleati, dopo tutti quesd ~ lun_gh1 anm d1 preparazione militare al loro
attwo, possono trasportare solamente quattro mila soldati al giorno a Salonicca che
travai.i poi tanto vicina.
In vista dl cio'
dove e' la nazione forte abbastanza da
tentare la nostra invasione?
"L'America fu ad un te~po una colonia
inglese, ma nel 1776 ad onta della forza
~ilitare e navale inglese, si libero' da quel
g10go.
La popolazione di questo paese
al)o_ra . era solamente di circa cinquanta
m1hom, con molte risorse naturali non
sviluppate e pochissime industrie organizzate.
Oggi noi contiamo 90 milioni di
abitanti,
abbiamo sviluppate le nostre
risorse naturali abfiamo moderne industrie
mezzi di comunicazione e di scambio e dl
conseguenza siamo molto piu' forti dei 1776.
E' forse oggi piu' facile de! 1776 di conqui·
starci? E perche' si dovrebbe cercare di
invadervci? N oi non abbiamo qui mercati
da. P?ter'es~ere 11fruttati, _perche' i capi_
ta\:s~1 amencani hanno gia' sfruttato tutto .
. ~ attual,e propaganda per la preparazione
m1.htare e semplicemente un mezzo per
spianare la strada per fare enormi profitti
sugli armamenti.