New-York tribune., 1922-08-20

ny sM rIVOT OF CIVILIZATION. by
VILE 'as sanger lntrodnction by II. q.
Weha. New York: Brentano's
M HE history of mankind is long
ehronicle of the lives of proph-
III eta, seers and Missionaries who
have been rejected In their
day, only to have their idens
acclaimed and accepted at some later
age or era. Once in while a more
fortunate child of destiny arises who
gees ripen, to degree, the fruits of his
own efforts, who lives to behold wide
acceptance of his doctrine, or at least
to enjoy the conflict and connection
that rage around the ideas he has pro-
mulgated or vitalized.
Margaret Sanger has the satisfaction
OF belonging to this latter group of
personages who have received wide rec
ognition in their day. That Mrs. Sam
ger is an energizer rather than path
finder does not detract from the sig
nificance of her achievements. She has
vitallzed an idea which has laid DOR
mant because of lack of social cogency,
| but which has ever fiickered up here
and there, probably from the infancy
OF the race. This tendency found it's
cerudest expression in the infanticide OF
the primitive peoples Of China. Japan
India and western Europe, among the
native tribes of Africa, North ans
South America, New Zealand, in early
Greece and Rome and elsewhere. and Il
IS still known to be practiced exten.
sively In the Orient.
As Westermarck states in his monu
mental work, ",The Origin and Develop
ment of the Moral Idea,n that "the Gus.
tom OF infanticide prevails or has pre-
vailed not only in the savage world
but among the mi-civilized and civil.
4 ,zed races" The same tendency has
oeen more commonly asserted in the
universal practice Of abortion. which
has been observed during all ages ant
among all nations. While this drastic
measure has rarely ever met with socia
appreciation, 1t has frequently been toll
Grated In social groups, probably where
1 the matriarchal traditions have beer
strong. There is evidence to believe
that it reaches its lowest level of prev
alence, in modern civilized countries
among those who generally practice
contraceptive measures.
|
EHE world had been industrially ane
= technologically revolutionized dur
ing the century and a quarter sine,
Malthus published his Essay on tht
Principle of Population" (179S), but a.
far as real sexual enlightenment is con
cerned (speaking from the broad socia
viewpoint), we are still living close t,
the eighteenth century. It is true tina
we have the nucleus of a sexual science
! but for the most part it must be &C
/ quired surreptitiously and disseminated
lclandestinely-as the early Christian.
/ acquired and taught their prescribed
religion in pagan Rome.
/ Comparatively little progress hat
been made in popularizing the theor.
Of intelligently controlling human
propagation from 1918, when Jane,
Mill, the father Of John Stuart Mill
advocated neo-Malthusian methods
until within quite recent years.
Periodically some new figure gave ,
slight and apparently temporary i'm
petus to the movement (if a thing tha
scarcely moves can be called "moye
mentD. Richard Carlyle, DR.. KnowI
| ton, Robert Dale Owen were among tn.
few outstanding propagandists of the
early nineteenth century.
4 Then later We had the redoubtable
Moses Harman, and within the last
| quarter OF century William J. Rob.
inson and the late Abraham jacob
consistent supporters Of rational birth
control In the face Of public apathy
and the bitter antipathy of their pro.
fession. This is the background of the
| seemingly fruitless field into which
Margaret Sanger threw her energies