Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.Sanger, Margaret
History
Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.
Sanger, Margaret
Birth control -- United States -- Biography; Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
Many women were still coming to me personally for information at 104
Fifth Avenue. The best thing to do was have a woman doctor right there
to take care of them—a quiet way to begin. It was hard to locate one
foot-loose and free; I could have no shying or running off at the first
indication of trouble. In making inquiries I heard of Dr. Dorothy
Bocker, who held a New York City license though she was at present in
the Public Health Service of Georgia. This single, cordial, and
enthusiastic young woman knew practically nothing about birth control
technique, but was willing to learn. The difficulty was that she wanted
five thousand dollars a year.
At first this appeared an almost unsurmountable obstacle. Here was just
the person I had been looking for, but it seemed beyond my power to
raise so large a sum. I was loaded with the financial weight of the
_Review_ and the League. That organization had been admitted as a
membership corporation and hence could not secure a license to conduct a
clinic, which in New York was synonymous with a dispensary. No clinic,
therefore, could be included in its budget; it would remain a department
of the League by courtesy only, being actually my private undertaking.
Where could I find someone to donate such an enormous amount?
Then I remembered Clinton Chance, a young manufacturer of Birmingham,
who had prospered exceedingly both before and during the War. He and his
wife, Janet, had become good friends of mine during my 1920 visit to
England. Having felt the need of a more sound and fundamental outlet for
his riches than that provided by charity, he had come to see that birth
control information was far better for his employees than a dole at the
birth of every new baby. He was not in any sense a professional
philanthropist, but only wanted to help them be self-sufficient.
Clinton had once offered me money to set the birth control movement
going in England, but I had refused then because England had enough
co-workers, who were handling the situation well, and, furthermore, my
place was in the United States. He had then said to me, “I won’t give
you a contribution for regular current expenses, but if ever you see the
necessity for some new project which will advance the general good, call
on me.”
Now I cabled Clinton at length, explaining my need. He promptly
answered, “Yes, go ahead,” and soon arrived an anonymous thousand pounds
to cover Dr. Bocker’s salary for the first year. I made out a contract
for two. She was to come in January, 1923, and we were to shoulder the
risks and responsibilities together.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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