BISHOP CAREY AND BIRTH-CONTROL
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Bishop Carey's further contribution on this subject will be read with sympathetic understanding by many of your readers. The problem raised by him is not one that can be lightly set aside, for it influences the whole fabric of society. Wise and clear guidance upon it is urgently necessary, and yet there is still much confused thinking on the whole subject.
There are, however, several incontrovertible points that: perhaps help to a wise conclusion. It is a truism that married life without children brings a sense of defeat and frustration to both parents as time goes on, and it is equally true that the single child in a home is generally lonely and unhappy.• We know that the best time for parentage is when the parents' are young, so that their offspring may be strong and healthy. Nature, therefore, would appear to say that a family a reasonable size, born when the parents are best able to accept the responsibility, is the ideal to strive for. That a family calls for sacrifice on the part of both parents is certain, but children bring with them so much joy and happiness that no parents having had the experience would willingly have denied themselves it
The great temptation is the desire, not to escape from parenthood, but to postpone it indefinitely, and in taking this step bOth parents lose a richness in their own lives that is quite beyond estimation. Artificial specifics which en- courage selfishness, and destroy the finest fruits of married life, can to that extent, therefore, only be harmful.
This, however, is only one side of the problem. Our present economic conditions compel a large proportion of our population to live near, or below, the poverty line. Unwanted children are brought into the world by parents who are least able to provide properly for them, and the State is increasingly burdened by providing, through all sorts of adventitious aids, to keep these children alive and in good health until maturity. The privilege and honour of matrimony are often trailed in the dust because of constant poverty and anxiety, and " when poverty comes in at the door, love flies out of the window." Mr. Claud Mullins, one of our London Stipendiaries, in his thought-provoking book, Marriage, Children and God, presents this side of the case with understanding and experience.
It would appear, therefore, that in spite of the peril of indiscriminate birth-control methods (to which I referred in my last letter), that the State will be compelled to recognize this factor in our new civilization, and must come to sonic decision upon it. My own solution would be that birth- control specifics should be brought under the same legislation as poisons, that is to say, their sale should only be permitted with a doctor's prescription, and through properly qualified chemists. The establishment in our poorer districts of birth-control clinics should be under the supervision of properly qualified medical women, and the disreputable traders who now carry on this business without any restriction should have their activities,• summarily suspended.
Like all other compromises, this policy has many arguments against it, but with a wider and better education on the whole subject, .parents will probably gradually realize that to the extent that life is to be happy, marriage should bring with it as a heritage healthy children who can grow up.into the finest type of citizen.—I am, Sir, &c., ANGUS WATSON.. • Newcastle-an-Tyne.
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