CHAPTER LIV

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED

=What is the primary purpose of marriage?=--While there are several subordinate reasons for marriage, the one paramount reason is that of having and rearing a family. The only admissible reason for not having children is positive incapacity or mental and physical unfitness.

=How many children should there be to a family?=--The number should vary according to circumstances. Every child has an incontrovertible right to be well born and to be well cared for after he is born. It is far better to have three to six children, who have good heredity and who are properly cared for and trained, than to have ten or twelve unfortunately born and largely neglected. Where the parents are both strong and healthy and are able to support them, a large family is commendable.

=Is it wrong purposely to limit the size of the family?=--If no laws are violated and the limitation is made to safeguard the wife’s health and the best interests of the children, there can be no wrong done.

=Does nature use any safeguards to the wife’s health and the right of children?=--She does. The woman is sterile before puberty, after the change of life, in most cases during the period while nursing a child, and a few days between the menses.

=At what periods during the month is a wife most likely to become a mother?=--Just before or after the menses.

=What would be a natural method of regulating the size of the family?=--Have sexual relations for procreation only, or for a few days only, about midway between monthly periods.

=Is the last always safe?=--No. Impregnation with this precaution might occur, but it would be rare. If a woman’s menses are irregular, or if she ovulates at one time and menstruates at another, she would be likely to become pregnant at any time. This last case is very rare among women.

=Are there other methods used?=--Yes, but none of them can be recommended. They are unnatural. They violate nature. Those who use them suffer sooner or later. One of the most common is that of withdrawal. This has all the bad effects of the secret sin on both husband and wife. Injections and the use of artificial contrivances, while in some cases appearing to violate the laws of health but slightly, lead to excess and thereby become morally and physically wrong. In this way tumors, ulcers and other physical ailments and poor health may be produced.

=What are some of the evil effects of over child bearing?=--Among feeble wives, much of womb diseases can be traced to this. Puny, sickly and short-lived children are other results. Then there are some women who suffer greatly during pregnancy and each time their lives are endangered.

=What is “race suicide”?=--There are three kinds of race suicide, all of which are very prevalent among American born people, (1) The various methods of preventing conception. This is perhaps the most common. (2) Willful abortion, or prenatal murder. It is estimated that 250,000 cases come to medical attention annually. If this is true, perhaps 100,000 succeed in destroying prenatal life without medical attention. This would mean 1,000 prenatal murders daily in the United States. If these figures are true, then it is reasonable to suppose that 100,000 attempts are made that fail. Many of these unwelcome children inherit a tendency toward homicide or suicide. This is evidently one of the main causes of the appalling increase of crime. As a rule, men who have not learned self-control are more responsible for this crime than are their wives. This is a national sin, found in all grades of society. This sin cannot be checked until people learn self-control and all youths are safeguarded in their sexual development by being given a correct knowledge of sex. (3) The third form of “race suicide” is the ever-increasing production of degenerates. The chief causes of this form of “race suicide” are strong drink and lust.

=How frequently should husband and wife have sexual relations?=--There are three theories held by people. (1) For procreation only. Where both mutually agree and have perfect self-control, no harm can come from this plan. There is no more necessity for sex gratification in the married life than in the single. Those who have this self-control will be able to avoid all dangers, sins, and diseases incident to a lack of control.

There are some difficulties connected with this theory. This self-control is not possessed by the mass of mankind. Where one companion tries to force this view the other may be driven to marital infidelity, or family discord which may lead to the divorce court.

(2) Some consider marital congress to be an act of love. Where this is confined to once, twice or thrice a month and to a few days midway between the menses, except when a child is desired, no wrong will be done; the sacred fire of love will be kept aglow in their hearts, health will reign in their lives, the initial of each child can be intelligently planned for, his prenatal rights be respected, his nativity be warmly welcomed and he be given the best possible environment.

(3) The other theory is that of physical necessity, especially for man. Among the unmarried this theory leads to prostitution or the secret sin. Among the married it means legal prostitution, leads to marital excess, poor health of parents, loss of vitality, puny, scrawny, short-lived children and to “race suicide.”

=Should coition take place during pregnancy?=--Among the lower animals sexual indulgence never occurs during pregnancy. We are told that the savage races observe this law. Doctors differ on this subject. All agree that it should seldom occur. There is a growing conviction among some of the most eminent physicians that man should observe the law that nature demands of the lower animals and that savage man respects.

=What injurious effects may follow sexual intercourse during pregnancy?=--It robs the mother and child of the vitality that both of them need. Sometimes it causes miscarriage. If the initial of a child’s life takes place as a result of uncontrolled sexual desire and its prenatal rights are not respected, it will inherit sensual tendencies. The fact that it is recorded in the Gospels, with great clearness and emphasis, that “Joseph knew not Mary until after Jesus was born,” has a redemptive significance for the human family of which but few theologians have ever caught a glimpse.

=What is the difference between impotence and sterility in man?=--The first is an inability to perform the act of coition. A sterile man may be able to perform the act of coition, but his semen contains no sperm cells, or at least, no healthy sperm cells. The first could become a father, if he could perform the act of coition; the second can perform the act, but cannot become a father.

=What are the causes of impotency?=--The inability to consummate marriage is very rare. Venereal disease is the chief cause of impotency. Malformation of parts from birth or accident, self-abuse, obesity and the use of opium are other causes. In many cases impotency can be cured. Where a man knows himself to be impotent he should not marry. Wives have a contempt and a most perfect aversion for impotent husbands.

=What are the causes of sterility in man?=--Sterility is much more common than impotency. Venereal disease is the most common cause. Excessive secret sin may temporarily deprive the semen of its fecundating power. Some malformation of parts is sometimes responsible.

=Is the wife ever incapable of coition?=--Very rarely. Excessive sensitiveness of the parts is the most common cause. In such cases, which are very rare, the sexual act would be so painful as to be wholly unbearable. Such cases require medical treatment. The sooner it is begun, the better. A very rigid hymen, or the vagina being partly absent from birth, or grown together from an accident, may make coition impossible. In the first and last case a surgical operation can remove the difficulty. Eighty per cent. of sterile wives, are due to gonorrheal infection received from their husbands who thought themselves cured.

=Should husband and wife sleep together or in separate beds?=--In many cases, owing to lack of self-control, it would be better for them to sleep in separate beds. If there is no other reason why they should sleep apart, and they have self-control, it would be better to sleep in the same bed.

=Are women as passionate as men?=--Centuries, of the double standard of morals, have established by heredity, more of passion in man than exists in the average woman. Among the lower animals, except where they have been forced into polygamy by man, the male controls himself fully as easily as does the female. Many women do not feel any sexual excitement whatever, others only to a limited degree. This is doubly true of women during pregnancy, and lactation. Most normal women seek sexual gratification to please their husbands or out of a desire for motherhood. There are some women who have inherited or acquired strong sensual natures.

=Should coition take place during the menses?=--Absolutely no. For sanitary and hygienic reasons, if no other.

=What is the “climacteric” period, or the “change of life” in a woman?=--This occurs between forty and forty-nine years of age. It usually covers a period of from two to five years. The menstrual flow often occurs every few days. This is often a critical period in a woman’s life. When this is completed they are sterile, or incapable of reproduction.

=Should sexual relations take place during the “change of life”?=--For sanitary reasons, it should not. For the hygienic reason, that it would most likely cause flooding, it should not.

=Is there a corresponding period in a man’s life?=--Yes. It usually occurs some five or ten years later and is more gradual. If he is well preserved he does not become impotent or sterile. The sexual appetite begins to abate and they no longer experience perfect erection. There are also physical changes taking place that make this period a crisis in his life. Certain brain affections, sometimes resulting in unexpected death, is due to sexual indulgence at this time. Many men do not know, that if they are to have a beautiful sunset, they must conserve their sexual life.

=Is there any way to determine the sex of a child?=--This is evidently governed by some definite law, which has not been discovered. Many theories have been advanced, but none are generally accepted.

=What is the best season of the year for conception to take place?=--In the spring. A larger per cent. of the children are healthy and long-lived than when the initial of their lives occur at other times.

=What is the difference between an abortion and a miscarriage?=--- The first is where the expulsion of the fetus is willfully produced; the other where it is purely an accident.

=Is abortion ever justifiable?=--Only when it is done to save the life of the mother.

=What are some of the causes of miscarriage?=--Intercourse during pregnancy and nursing a child after conception are the chief causes. The child should be weaned as soon as a mother suspects pregnancy. Venereal diseases, straining at stool, over-exertion, physical accidents and ill health may sometimes cause miscarriage.

=When does life begin in a child?=--At conception. It is as much a crime to destroy the life of a fetus one day old as it is after its movements are felt.

=Is it possible to lessen the inconvenience of pregnancy and the pain of child-birth?=--Yes. Avoid all tight lacing; eat chiefly a diet of cereals, fruit and vegetables; take light, regular open-air exercise, of which walking is best, and have little or no intercourse during the time. Tight lacing has been the chief cause of the inconvenience and pain experienced by civilized woman.

NINTH DIVISION

MORAL, SOCIAL AND REFORM TOPICS