The evening world., 1911-04-10
X WILLIAM GRANT BROWN, President of the
CITY Federation of WOmcn's Clubs:

SIIy TcucTdtIOH OI W OIUs
| think something should he done To
stop Mr.. Rooscvelt's perpetual propen-
lily to boss. What right has he to
step in and tell me how to rule my life?
Lot him oonhne his eNhortatlons on
such purely personal matters As the
size of n family 10 his own children.
"T,ase decadcnce." the new twist his
remarkable vocabulary has given to
race suicide Ia utter nonsense. There
is no Such thing In America. II Is UNI
fair to judge even the size Of the aver
age American family by tho apartment
house population. Go out into the coun-
try and tho large suburban towns and
you'n md plenty OF children. Go down
into the city slumsa and you'n md many
too many. II the children of the inn
migrants show "wilful sterility" thnt
sact mas not yet been discovered by
the ONE social workers Of New York
even though II is heralded by tho om-
niscient Mr.. Roosevelt.
-Four children are certainly toe
many for the average man earn
ing TIE average salary. Ne m
not support them properly.
know a family living near my coun-
try home. There are seven or eight
youngsters-I lost the exact count some
time ago. The mother. though still
young, 10 a broken down invalid. TIT
children are washed and dressed and
gwen food and put TO ~bed-part OF the
time. But there Is not even an attempt
TO give them ethical or cultural train
Ing Of any sort. Furthermore. they are
all what my grandmother would call
"puny." That f.. they are pale. under
sized. sluggish IN movement. slow In
thought. Not one OF them will develop
tato q ffrt-class man or oma Each
10 handicapped from his birth.
When experts wish TO breed choice
stock they take care that the procreation
shall not take place too frequently. For
'hA& matter. as Dr. ma Shaw OBJ
served the other day. nature has pro-
,lded that the higher animals shall pro-
duee young at much longer interval.
,lan the lowe. ones. A cat has six or
eight kittens several times a year. A
colt comes into the world alone. and
Ne has no brother until at least another
twelve months have passed. The hui
slsn race, the most developed OF all the
animal species, should carry the prin-
clpls Of qualitative. rather than guam
tativs. Offspring st!ll further.
1T. Roosevelt n Or. Chariss
". Eliot should start . farm.
admire Tsddis for some things,
hut : do wish he Wouldn't butt
II % much.
ma, JULIAN HEATH, President Of
the League for ZONE Economics and
the Individual and Social Justice
League.
am an snti-surrsslst and l believe
IA the home. | think no home Is COM
plete without children. and tnat ma
woman reaches her fullest development
until she has become a mother. IT takes
a little child to bring out all the latent
tenderness m charm and self-saCriHre
and womanly mobility within her, $40
l. only half a woman until she II blessed
with this browning proof OF her sex.
But the Idea of Mr., Rooseyelt's calling
woman with less thar four children
sterile" and all those other horrid
names. Why, / have o:ly one child
myself, my son, and ] consider that any
one wAo says I'm no mother insults me,
] do think four is a nice number for u
family. very nice indeed. But It's not
poasiDle 20 aftord II a great many timGs
TIE man who earns twenty-five OF
thirty or even forty dollars . wssi
comD1ts an economic crime II hs
brings more than one or two children
int the world.
In the past centuries the ~treinendousl,
large families were necessary TO pro,
VIDE the surplus killed Off in the wars
When three or four Of the som coull
serve the state nv Icing killed lu IL,