PUBLIC HEALTH AND PUBLIC MORALS. [To rs■ EDITO1 or rim
"nracrwroa."1 SIR,—The Portsmouth Conference of the Federation Aboli- tionniste Internationale will not receive the public attention which it deserves unless its name and aim are cleared from
misconception in the public mind. The objective of the Con- ference is the promotion of "social health." " Social health" depends on sound morals even more than on sound medicine. Hens sana in corpora sand. But the name "Abolitionist" demands explanation. It suggests at once the idea of sweep- ing away some servile institution—in this ease the institution of "State regulation." The truth enunciated by Josephine Butler was the libeety—the eternal value—of the human soul; her immediate application of that truth was a "Habeas Corpus" Act in her own country for the " unfortunate " woman. The work of Abolition, however, is not done when the outward chain is broken, whatever be the nature of the servi- tude. The work of setting the slave upon his feet, a free man, has only then begun. The work must be constructive as well as destructive. " Abolitionists " of another kind have found it so in the case of the negro. "Abolitionists" have in the present case to face a more complex problem of construction which has many factors, moral as well as medical, spiritual as well as social, economic as well as political—factors rooted in the will of " fortunate" men and women as well as of the " unfortunate " woman. The subject of the Conference, "A Constructive Policy," should ensure the attention of all who believe that the time has fully come for England in this matter "to rise up and build." The sessions of the Con- ference combine—in the light (as its programme proves) of the latest expert knowledge from Europe and America—the complementary aspects of public morals and public health which can never be divorced. The hour in which the nation awaits the verdict of a Royal Commission is a golden oppor- tunity for claiming public discussion as regards principles. The Royal Commission will reveal the facts. But action will not follow unless public opinion demands and public counsel dictates a policy which shall shape a national conscience in respect of the social scourge and the social evil. Counsel and conscience must be developed before any policy can be framed with regard to either. This Federation by striking the note of "A Constructive Policy" in its own original key—liberty with responsibility—discloses the true inwardness of Aboli- tionism and its significance for our own as well as for other countries to-day.—I am, Sir, &c., SCRITTATOR. P.S.—Full particulars of the Conference may be obtained from the Secretary, Miss McNeill, 19 Tothill Street, London, S.W.
Previous page
