Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-18

IumOkS "a otAlkG 0AV ~ SOAAAAAaosA
these days that we are fast accept
ing them as q normal part of our
national life. Daily newspaper an
nouncemeqts that the buttonmak-
ers have walked out, or that the
cloak models are demanding bet
ter living wage, cause not one
tremor in the sout heart Of the
average citizen Of today. But one
strike has been called recently
which is SO unusual that 1t ought
to make even the most hardened of
US sit up and take notice. This is a
birth strike of five years duration,
advocated by Margaret Sanger,
head of the birth control movement
il this country.
The time was, and not SO long
ago, when the mention of birth con-
troll in any gathering was followed
b. a scandalized silence, and the
future ostracism of the rash and
unconventional mentioner. But
now there is hardly a debutante
who cannot quote glib statistics on
the subject. Most Of the big period
icals, and many of the larger news
papers, are discussing 1t openly and
unblushingly. Those of US who be-
l:eve that ignorance and silence
have never aided the solution of
any vital question of national well
fare may well be encouraged by the
growth of this broad, minded atti-
tude. Whether we are for or
against the principles of birth con-
troll the fair thing to do is to allow
both sides of the movement to state
their cases clearly and then decide
tie matter for ourselves, as Ameri-
can citizens, self-governing and un-
trammeled by superstition, are
popularity supposed to do.
The main reason for the growing
interest in birth control is not the
sentimental one of saving the poor
uIder-nourished mothers of the
slums from lives of hardship and
early graves, or of preventing the
birth Of unwanted children in al
ready crowded families where they
will never have a fair chance OF
surviving and developing into any
thing but a burden to the state
Rather it is purely economic rea-
son of such obvious urgency that
even government officials in some
countries are beginning to consider
it. The late Lord Rhondda, for
nerly food controller of Great
Britain. says "the end of the un-
productive five years of the war
found Europe with exhausted
credit, a shortage of food. and other
primary requirements of life. All
this means industrial disorganiza-
ton for some years to come.
1t means hardship and coupled
with the food situation it means
starvation. 1t means want for a
considerable portion of the Euro
pean population for considerable
part of the lifetime of the children
now being born. And these condi-
tons in Europe will inevitably have
their effect upon America. This
world is so closely knit together that
no part of it can suffer without,
bringing suffering to the rest.
1t is this situation which is re-
sponsible for Margaret Sanger's
birth strike. 1t seems the logical
thing to her, and~to many other
thinking people, to try to feed
clOthe and educate the children al
ready in the world, and prepare
item as best We can for their huge
task of paying for the war, rather
than to thrust boards of new babies
into a world unable to feed them
properly. Of course there is an
other group 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 ey.
amples offered US by countries who
Go practice birth control, and com.
pare them with those who do not
say the birth control supporters
Take Holland for instance. Holland
is shining example of a birth con.
troll country. For As years publ.
birth control clinics have beer
maintained there with the consen,
of the government. As a direct re.
suit, the family limitation enthu,
siasts claim, and seem to have rea
! son on their side, the death rate in
holland is the lowest in the world
for strange as it may seem, a higl
birth rate and a high infant ane
mother mortality rate go hand il
hand. Also Holland was able e
support herself during the wal
without outside help because he,