Neither the existing laws nor the provisions of the Cummins-Vaile Bill deal directly with the question of birth control. They have no right to do so. That is essentially a question for the individual conscience. But they do both affect the question indirectly. However, in so doing the laws have established tyranny, whereas the bill re-establishes individual freedom. The laws are an intrusion upon personal liberty, such as is prohibited by the constitution, and the bill simply removes that intrusion. No Federal statutes forbid the actual control of conception. That is an entirely lawful act for the individual. But the laws do forbid the circulation by any public carrier, of any information as to how conception may be controlled. That is, they forbid the circulation of knowledge by restricting the freedom of the press, and even the freedom of individual communication by letter. Yet freedom of speech and press is constitutionally guaranteed. Liberty to learn and to teach is a fundamental American right, which may not justly be infringed, except when the things taught are criminal acts. The control of conception is not a crime. It could not possibly be declared such, by law. It may be contrary to ethics, morality and religious teachings as claimed by the authorities of the Catholic Church, but so also it may not be. Opinion differs about it, though it is obvious that the trend of opinion, as proven by the birth rates the world over, is in its favor. However, it is a question apart from the law, and should be worked out in accord with personal conscience, and whatever educational and inspirational influence the individual wishes to accept. So I earnestly ask you, Sir, to think this matter through, and to co-operate now with us who are working for enactment of this bill; so that freedom may be safeguarded for everyone, and each allowed to utilize it according to his own conscience. I do not ask you to believe in birth control. It would be utterly irrelevant and intrusive to do so. It is not the point of the bill. The point of the bill is one that all Americans should have in common, a love of freedom and insistence upon having it for all. Will you stand for the Cummins-Vaile Bill on that one ground? Yours respectfully, MARY WARE DENNETT, _Director_. FOOTNOTES: [1] To give the name, would make this book “unmailable” under the law. [2] Published by the Voluntary Parenthood League. [3] The bill which Mrs. Sanger was then trying to have introduced _did not remove the subject from the obscenities_, except in the case of the doctor. For all others it still remained an indecency.