“And, furthermore, if this knowledge can be obtained, though unlawfully—and we all know that it can be obtained unlawfully, or at least without the sanction of law—if it can be obtained, why, then, merely to make it illegal is a very poor way to protect anybody’s morality, because they can certainly get the information.” At the close of his remarks Mr. Vaile introduced the writer, who in turn introduced the other witnesses for the bill. Her own remarks included the following: If agreeable to the gentlemen of the committee, we will divide the testimony that we will present to you under two different categories. One, the direct reasons for the passage of this bill from the point of view of law and the rights of citizens. The other bits of testimony that we are ready to present to you if you desire and if agreeable to you, are certain evidences that the utilization of this knowledge in this country and throughout the world has tended toward racial and individual welfare. This is not logically and directly speaking necessarily an argument for the passage of this bill, but it is distinctly reassuring, I should say, to Congress when it stands for this measure, to know that the action is in harmony with what has been generally considered by all impartial observers as something which makes for race progress and race betterment. To begin with the logic, which is less human but possibly more convincing to a committee made up exclusively of lawyers; the continuance of the five statutes which this bill proposes to amend seems to us not tenable, either on grounds of justice or public policy, because first, the majority of the people do not approve of the suppression of knowledge of the regulation of parenthood by the control of conception. When I make this somewhat dogmatic statement I offer to you the best and most conclusive proof there is, namely, the official figures on the birth rate of our country. The birth registration area, if I am correctly informed, covers 22 States, but presumably the population of those 22 States is of about the same character as the population of the remainder of the States, and therefore the birth rate, so far as is recorded, is an exceedingly valid argument. The birth rate for the country, averaging those States, stands at 22.8 a thousand. A birth rate that I might call natural, that is unguided by the mind of man and simply resulting from instinct and physical impulse, would run from 50 a thousand up, and 50 is an exceedingly conservative figure. Therefore, family limitation by intention has already long been in the world, and for a very long period, in spite of the fact that we have maintained for half a century laws which theoretically keep our entire population in absolute ignorance.