The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-02-18
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. G.
WILL THE sToRK STRIKE.

rumOrS OF strikes are so common IneSe
days that we are fast accepting them
as normal part Of our national life.
Daily newspaper announcements that
the buttonmakers have walked out. or
| that the cloak models are demanding
better living wage. cause not one
tremor in the stout heart of the aver
age citizen of today. But one strike
has been called recently which is so
unusual that it ought to make even
the most hardened of us sit up and
take notice. This is birth strike of
five years duration, advocated by
control movement in this country.
The time was. and not so long ago.
| when the mention of birth control
in any gathering was followed by
| scandalized silence, and the future
ostracism of the rash and unconven-
tional mentioner. But now there is
hardly a debutante who cannot quote
glib statistics on the subject. Most
of the big periodicals.. and many of the
larger newspapers, are discussing it
openly and unblushingly. Those of us
who believe that ignorance and silence
have never aided the solution of any
vital question of national welfare may
we'll be encouraged by the growth of
this broad-minded attitude. Whether
we are for or against the principles
of birth control the fair thing to do is
to allow both sides of the movement
decide the matter for ourselves, as
American citizens, selfgoverning and
untrammeled by superstition, are
popularity supposed to do.
The main reason for the growing in
terest in birth control is not the senti-
mental one of saving the poor under
nourished mothers of the slumS from
| lives of hardship and early graves, or
of preventing the birth of unwanted
Phil1raD in, oIr 70
where they will never have a fair
chance of surviving and developing
into anything but a burden to the
state. Rather it is a purely economic
reason of SUCH obvious urgency that
even government officials in some
countries are beginning to consider it.
| The late Lord Rhondda. formerly food
controller of Great Britain. says 1.-THE
end of the upproductive five years of
the war found Europe with exhausted
credit. shortage of food. and other
primary requirements of life. All this
means industrial DISCRIMINATION for
some years to come. 49,. It means
hardship and coupled with the food
situation it means starvation. 1t
means want for a consid cradle portion
of the European population for a con-
siderable part of the lifetime of the
children now being born. And these
conditions IN Europe will inevitably
have their effect upon America. This
WOTlu Is So CIOSely hIll together lildL
no part of it can suffer without bring
| ing suffering to the rest"
| 1t is this situation which is respon-
| sible for Margaret Sanger's birth
| strike. 1t seems the logical thing to
| her, and to many other thinking peo-
| pie, to try to feed. clothe and educate
| the children already in the world, and
prepare them as best we can for their
i huge task of paying for the~war. rath-
er than to thrust boards of new babies
mo a world unable to feed them prop
| erly. OF course there is another group
4 of serious thinkers who advocate just
| the reverse. As a cure for all our
troubles they Want more children and
still more.
! The only way to decide which plan
| is best is to look at the examples Of
| fered US by countries which do prac-
| tice birth control, and compare them
with those which do not, say the
birth control supporters. Take Hol-
| land, for instance. Holland is shin
ing example of a birth control coun-
try. For fQrty-five years public birth
| control clinics have been maintained
there with the consent of the govern
| ment. AS a direct result, the family
limitation enthusiasts claim, and seem
to have reason on their side, the death
rate in Holland is the lowest in the
world, for strange as it may seem, a
| high birth rate and a high infant and
mother mortality rate go hand in
hand. Also Holland was able to sup
port herself during the war without
| outside help because her population
did not exceed her food resources.
And-when the men of Holland
were modified as wartime measure
they were found to be 50 per cent
| efficient, as against our go per cent.
\ All this points out. say the birth con-
| troll enthusiasts, that it is better to
concentrate upon the quality OF our
| citizens than upon the quantity. we
all must admit that Holland is a very
pheasant and highly respectable little
| country. They don't have birth con-
| troll clinics in Russia, and they don't
have them in China, and they don't
| have them in India. 1t will also be
| remembered that Germany was strong
| for big families. Her population in
| creased fifteen millions in thirty
| years, and the Pan-German dreams
of national expansion grew and waxed
strong until Germany precipitated the
I fearful world war.
An instances worthy of notice IS
the sudden interest which the Jap
anese government is showing in birth
control. During the last six months
| fifteen Japanese officials have sought
| Margaret Sanger to get the benefit of
her wide knowledge and experience
in the work of educating people in the
real meaning and advantages of birth
that the japanese government agrees
that the overcrowded condition OF
their country means birth control now
or a war of aggression twenty years
hence. and they have decided on birth
control for humane reasons. Every
book on the subject which Mrs. San
ger recommended to them is being
translated into Japanese.
Margaret Sanger is the last person
one would expect to find leading a
reform. She is the mother of three
sturdy children herself, but in spite
of this. and her years of strenuous
work, she has the delicacy and pref
tiness of wild flower. And she Is
femphaticalIy not a wild-eyed radical
!, It is to avert the revolution, to which
some people say the present economic
condition is leading, that she advo-
tcates the birth strike. However mis-
guided her opponents may feel he's
zeal to be, no one who has talked with