oad (in the Rhine, Black Sea, and Palestine areas, etc.) has been much
worse since the Armistice than during the war. Approximately one-fourth
(sometimes one-half) of these armies become infected with venereal disease
every year. From 1919 to 1921 somewhat soothing statistics were issued for
the army of the Rhine, but these have now been admitted in Parliament to
be "_quite unreliable_" (Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, November
3rd, 1921, p. 1952). It must be remembered that, owing to the exchange
value of the L, the English soldier on the Rhine is now being paid about
L8 or L10 per day; that is, he draws a far higher salary than the highest
paid German official; hence there is no riotous pleasure, however
expensive and extravagant, which he cannot afford. These conditions do not
promote manly virtue or even sexual cleanliness.--E.A.R]

The venereal diseases are passed on from one sex to the other in a
continuous chain, but the chain can be broken at any time _by either sex_.
And now it is the _married women_ on whom we must rely to see that these
infections are stopped. Leaving women to the chance protection of their
partners is demonstrably a failure. Here is an extract from a letter sent
me recently by an old and experienced medical practitioner:--

"I have had many women under treatment _who have been continually
re-infected by their husbands_."

Men and women must both seek knowledge and both accept responsibility for
the venereal problem. They must face this problem independently and in
co-operation, and above all--face it _honestly_. There is no other way.

It is all very well to say that the man is responsible. That is only a
partial truth.[F] The woman is equally responsible as soon as she is
equally well informed. A woman's body is her own, and she will never be
really free until she knows how to look after it properly. If she is fit
to vote, fit to pay taxes, fit to hold her own estate under the Married
Women's Property Act, why should she not learn to exercise intelligent and
responsible control over her own self? Why do so many women _allow_
themselves to be impregnated and infected against their will? Because they
do not understand the construction and functions of their own body. When
they do understand this, they will guard their own health as carefully as
they guard their reputation. They will then not only keep their own sexual
organs scrupulously clean, but they will encourage thei