While the inhibition which has prevented action on this bill is still powerful in Congress, the maintenance of it has become increasingly awkward for the members, because the demand from citizens for the passage of the bill have been so very much greater than the demands for the retention of the present law. Two weeks after the first introduction of the bill, in 1923, Congressman Kissel, its sponsor in the House was asked, “How about letters in opposition?” Pointing to the pile of letters he had received, he answered, “Not a single one yet.” This fact was presently published in the Birth Control Herald and elsewhere, with the result that fifty-six letters in opposition came to the Congressman. Most of them were obviously from Roman Catholics, and a large proportion of these were in stereotyped phrases almost identical in wording. Some half dozen of them were alike word for word, all written in the same writing, but signed with different signatures, and without addresses. When Congressman Vaile introduced the bill, he had a similar experience. One group of such letters came from a middle western city in which the dictation from the shepherd of a church flock had evidently been acted upon with absolute literalness, for the wording was precisely the same in all, though some were on white and some on pink, some on large and some on small sheets. All were hand written, and all were signed by women. The formula for these letters was the following: DEAR SIR: Believing that the purpose of the Cummins-Vaile Bill is directly antagonistic to all Christian principles inasmuch as it would legalize practices which are a perversion of the divine object of marriage, and a direct insult to motherhood of America, I therefore urge you to do all in your power to defeat this bill. Respectfully yours, ____. The Birth Control Herald published the above letter with the following editorial comment: What is the matter with the Catholics? Can’t they think or speak for themselves, or can’t they be trusted to do so? Must they be dictated to, even to the “respectfully yours”? And what is the matter with the oracle who did the dictating? He seems to have issued his directions without knowing what the provisions of the Cummins-Vaile Bill are. There is nothing in the bill or back of it which is “directly antagonistic to all Christian principle.” Quite the contrary inasmuch as the bill merely aims to enable people to find out what is true about the control of conception. And was it not the initiator of Christianity who said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”? The bill takes no stand whatever on the application of this knowledge. It leaves that entirely to the conscience and judgment of the citizen. Catholics will be free to do as they are taught. Others will be free to do as they think best.