THE FORCE OF THE FACTS

Mrs. Margaret Sanger's recent visit to Cambridge recalls attention to a controversy which has had much prominence in the past few weeks. Almost simultaneously occured the raid on Mrs. Sanger's Birth Control Clinic in New York and the conviction of Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett for publishing a pamphlet simplifying sex problems for young people. Although in certain matters the police overstepped their authority in the clinic raid both actions were for the most part legal under the present statutes.

In spite of the perennial warnings of economists of the dangers of an unrestricted growth of population, particularly among the lower classes these laws probably reflect the conventional point of view of the average person. Although organized opposition to the birth-control movement is largely confined to one or two powerful groups, general ignorance or apathy are even more potent in preventing any attempts to establish free discussion of the topic.

Of course the subject of sex relations is one on which it is difficult to reason without overcoming strong and almost inborn prejudices. Nevertheless there is little to be gained in the long run by suppressing vital facts. Both Galileo and Darwin were bitterly reviled when they opposed traditional ideas with scientific discoveries. Yet their work is the basis of modern physics and biology.

Violent opposition to progressive ideas brings them all the more into the lime-light, and although all new things must face a long period of controversy, birth-control knowledge cannot help but become more general in a future era of increasing economic pressure as well as greater freedom of speech.