The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-14
STRIKE
. AGAINST MOTHERHOOD.
Apostles Of Movement Prontl-
gate Doctrines Among Peas
ants Of Normandy.
PERSISTENT AGI TAT'ION
Senator Plot, Champion Of Large
Families, Starts an OPPOSE
ton League.
PARIS, July 10.

PARIS, July 10.
One Of the strangest ugtations in the
history of France-or any other nation
is now in progress in Normandy and
Brittany. 1t is an appeal to the women
of the nation to strike" against mother
hood.
Tho agitation has been three years IN
coming to head. a half-dozen women
started q league in the little town of
Roubaix, in northern France, and. year
by year, II, has grown until now the mem
bership runs into the thousands, and the
league is now strong enough to make It's
announcements public.
The propaganda is conferred in the
towns of Lille, Tourcoing and Mouscron.
The walls OF these towns and of the VII
lagos and hamlets nearby are covered
with tlaring sheets proclaiming general
strike against increasing the population,
and begging women to refrain from
motherhood.
Bands of women, apostles of the move
ment, are also travelling through the
country holding meetings for men and
women and distributing pamphlets and
leaflets.
Aristocratic Support.
The latter have extraordinary wording.
They are directed to the working classes,
as the league asserts that the aristoc-
racy are practically all members of its
organization. and that the noblewomen
and wealthy of France are already
pledged to suppress maternity.
The placards and leaflets urge the work.
ing classes, If they are bound to have
children, to limit the number. since to
bring into the world large families Is only
the work of fools and idiots and illiterate
people
The champion of large families Senator
Plot has started an opposition league.
but he is not receiving much support.
The names signed to the manifestoes of
the Anti-Maternity League are local ones,
and not known to fame outside their i'm
mediate locality.
AS Viewed In Paris.
The campaign meets with little open
sympathy in Paris although there can pe
no doubt that the apostles of the mo
children" movement have numerous adj
herents in the capital
Inc average Parisienne who has made
a marriage of convenience does not want
children. and If she is frank she will tell
why.
The younger generation Of married
notion that the chief end of marriage
is to have and to bring up sons and
daughters.
Children are a nuisance they will tell
you. When you have babies you cannot
go out to theaters; YOU cannot dance;
you must stay at home and mind the
children.
There exists in Paris a group known as
the Neo-Malthusians, whose aVowed OBJ
ject Is the limitation of families. Ihey
publish periodical literature and pam
phlets, and give lectures. and the result
of their efforts is that in certain INTEL
lectual quarters in Paris the family is
very often limited to the husband and
wife.
Humanitarian Motives.
The campaign against motherhood is
chiefly due to Nine. Nellie Roussell a
handsome young woman of no mean ora
torical powers.
Even those who are violently opposed
to her doctrine admit that she Is sincere,
and that her campaign Is inspired by
humanitarian motives
Nine. Roussell has three children of her
own, but contends that unless a husband
and wife have sufficient means to bring
up children comfortably they ought not
to have any.
She thinks that the working classes
have far too many children, and appar-
entity her sisters in the north Of France
where largo families are more common
than in Paris, are in sympathy with her
on this question.
But in Paris itself it is the daughters
and not the mothers, who aVow them
selves in agreement with Nine. Rousscll's
movement.