decent. Never before have we needed so urgently
to put our house in order. We must begin to tidy up and begin soon. If
we cut out some parts of the labyrinth, we shall give the young a surer
chance of finding their way out of the rest of the labyrinth.

IX

An open recognition of unions outside of marriage would prevent the
present easy escape on the part of so many men and women from
responsible conduct in these unregulated relationships. It is because I
believe this that I am advocating this course, which will not make
immorality easier, but rather will impose definite obligations where now
none exist.

This proposal is not made lightly. I am not advocating such a course as
being in itself desirable or undesirable. I am attempting merely to
estimate the drift and tendency of the times, considering those forces
which for long have been in action and, as I think, must continue to
act with even greater urgency in the difficult years that are before us.

I must affirm how necessary, in my opinion, is some kind of fixed
recognition for every form of sexual relationship between a woman and a
man, so that there may be an accepted standard of conduct for the
partners entering into them. Regulation is more necessary in sex than in
any other department of conduct, for the plain reason that we are
dealing with a force that pierces the slashes through our conscious
wills, holding us often helpless in its power; a force which often finds
its momentum in atavisms stored up through countless ages before ever
society began; a force merely glossed over, as it were, by a worn smudge
of civilization. And to-day "the smudge" has grown more than ever
ineffective.

May not something be done now, when we are being forced to consider
these questions, to make some wider recognition possible. Partnerships
other than marriage have had a place as a recognized and guarded
institution in many older, and in some ways wiser, societies, and, it
may be that the conditions brought upon us after the World War may act
in forcing upon us a similar acceptance. I believe that, in face of
much that is happening to-day--the terrible disorder, like
spreading-sores, infesting our sexual lives--such a change would work
for good, and not for evil, that it would not destroy marriage, but
might re-establish its sanctity.

X

I can anticipate an objection that probably will be raised. Why, I shall
be asked, if sexual relationships are to be acknowledged