the new facilities for individual
traveling, and the migration of masses of men.

This book is intended to arouse public sentiment, spread accurate
knowledge, check rash enthusiasm, and promote well-informed and resolute
action.

CHAPTER I

THE SOCIAL EMERGENCY

_By William Trufant Foster_

Concerning matters of sex and reproduction there has been for many
generations a conspiracy of silence. The silence is now broken. Whatever
may be the wisdom or the folly of this change of attitude, it is a fact;
and it constitutes a social emergency.

Throughout the nineteenth century the taboo prevailed. Certain subjects
were rarely mentioned in public, and then only in euphemistic terms. The
home, the church, the school; and the press joined in the conspiracy.
Supposedly, they were keeping the young in a blessed state of innocence.
As a matter of fact, other agencies were busy disseminating falsehoods.
Most of our boys and girls, having no opportunity to hear sex and marriage
and motherhood discussed with reverence, heard these matters discussed
with vulgarity. While those interested in the welfare of the young
withheld the truth, those who could profit by their downfall poisoned
their minds with error and half-truths. An abundance of distressing
evidence showed that nearly all children gained information concerning sex
and reproduction from foul sources,--from misinformed playmates,
degenerates, obscene pictures, booklets, and advertisements of quack
doctors. At the same time the social evil and its train of tragic
consequences showed no abatement. The policy of silence, after many
generations of trial, proved a failure.

The past few years have seen a sudden change. Subjects formerly tabooed
are now thrust before the public. The plain-spoken publications of social
hygiene societies are distributed by hundreds of thousands. Public
exhibits, setting forth the horrors of venereal diseases, are sent from
place to place. Motion-picture films portray white slavers, prostitutes,
and restricted districts, and show exactly how an innocent girl may be
seduced, betrayed, and sold. The stage finds it profitable to offer
problem plays concerned with illicit love, with prostitution, and even
with the results of venereal contagion. Newspapers that formerly made only
brief references to corespondents, houses of bad repute, statutory
offenses, and serious charges, now fill columns with detailed accounts of
divorce trials, traff