The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-12-30
IosEPH c. PELLETiER, DISTRICT
ATTORNEY OF SUFFOLK couN-
TY, MASS, WRITES STRONG DE-
NuNclATloN OF LATEST FAD.

The district attorney for Suffolk
County, Mass, Mr.. Joseph Pelletier,
conducted the case against Allison in
the Boston Courts, and wrote an arti-
Gle on the subject of birth control.
Below we reproduce a part of his
statement from the Boston American.
All well enough to express SYM
pathy with the poor, affection for
the poverty.stricken parents, deep
solicitude for the future of the new
born; determination that the future
shall have only the ideal and perfect
ly-bred boy, man, girl and woman!
Who would dissent? Who would de-
cline to help in a cause so noble?
All, but how are we to reach this
Utopia? What means and methods?
Hold down the birth rate by
artifice and device, cheat nature,
crush parental instinct, ignore divine
mandate say the birth-control propo-
nents
THE end does not justify the
MEANS" answer the Ages, the teach
ings of Judaism, the doctors and
fathers of the church Christian, the
conscience of mankind, the hearts
cry of honest womanhood!
No, comes their answer, we must
not outrage Gods law, we must not
checkmate the natural law, we must
not defeat the primal ends of we'd
lock and the married state! No; the
end never can justify the means.
The method recommended is prac-
tice condemned by God as related in
Genesis "detestable thing in the
eyes of men ever since.
A commission of distinguished men
and women has recently finished an
investigation of birth-decline in Eng
land and in it's report says: DO
these practices offend against a deep.
seated racial instinct? If so, the onus-
probandi must rest upon those WHO
maintain that the instinct may be
safely disregardedn
Over a hundred years ago a worthy
divine, Malthns, advocated lesser
birth rate BY reason of fear that the
earth world become rpapulated
His theory was unsound, unscientific
and a century and more have abso
lutely disproved his contention. But
be it known, this good man never
dreamed of modern methods and
would have been the first to condemn
them. He advocated chaste celibacy
the same remedy suggested by g
distinguished citizen of Boston who
said to me recently: why dom
these people teach self-control rather
than birth-control?"
"Immoral, Impractical"
The birth-conuol scheme is no
only immoral but in another aspect
visionary, in that it places humanity
on an ideal plane and ignores the
actual proclivity to selfishness of al
mankind
1t is not practical: for who will Sc
the standard? How much income
must a married couple have to justif!
one child: how much for two, fo
three, and so on? And granted
worldly condition today justifying sev
eral children, what about busines
calamity which may bring povert,
upon the household tomorrow? Hoy
will the Birth-C Control League readjus
such family to it's sudden adversity
Again; too poor today to be allowe
one child, who shall say that tomol
row this couple, having become ricl
shall not be denied the blessings o
children in their days of prosperity
And, again, taught the way t
smother the protest of conscienc
while basking in the smiling patror
age of their social models, will nc
poor ordinary human nature take tn
easy course, the selfish way an
choose childless life?
Their models have shown that sue
is the probable course. Fecundity