Is not this inconsistency and excuse what the psychologists call a “defense mechanism”? And is not that mechanism unconsciously built up to cover embarrassment? Sex taboo is still far reaching in spite of modern education. So it is not uncommon to find people who have long ago accepted and acted upon the principle of controlled parenthood in their own lives, but who shrink from the possibility of having that acceptance made publicly noticeable. They even dread a discussion of the dire need of contraceptive knowledge among the ignorant, lest it be too compelling. In other words, sex consciousness overwhelms conscience, which otherwise would be sensitive to human need and responsive to public welfare. If this seems to you a precipitate inference, just run over the following résumé of our experience in various organizations. * * * * * It has been repeatedly proved at conventions that the members were ready to adopt endorsing resolutions, if only the leaders would permit their being discussed and voted upon. The story of the ways in which organization opinion has been actually suppressed by leaders is a significant phase of social history in this country. At one great convention, when the large and representative resolutions committee had decided to recommend a resolution, the officers, by dint of prolonged effort into the small hours of the night, coerced the committee into reversing its decision. At another, when it became evident that a resolution would be carried if discussed on the floor, the officers, by appealing to administration loyalty, succeeded in preventing a vote to permit discussion. At another, after being refused by a small resolutions committee and the board of directors, the resolution was brought up from the floor when a full third of the delegates were present, and was carried unanimously. At another, after the resolution had been carried by a sizable majority of the members, the leaders manoeuvered a vote to rescind. At another, over six hundred delegates voted to ask their directors to put this subject on the official program of the next year’s convention. It has not yet been done, though two years have elapsed. Over and over at meetings of various sorts, the audience has been asked, “How many of those present want the laws suppressing birth control information retained.” And hardly a hand has been raised. “How many want them repealed?” And nearly every hand has come up.