October 12,
1921, Lord Dawson, the king's physician, in criticizing the report of
the Lambeth Conference concerning Birth Control, delivered an address
defending this practice. Of such bravery and eloquence that it could
not be ignored, this address electrified the entire British public. It
aroused a storm of abuse, and yet succeeded, as no propaganda could, in
mobilizing the forces of progress and intelligence in the support of the
cause.

Just one month later, the First American Birth Control Conference
culminated in a significant and dramatic incident. At the close of the
conference a mass meeting was scheduled in the Town Hall, New York City,
to discuss the morality of Birth Control. Mr. Harold Cox, editor of the
Edinburgh Review, who had come to New York to attend the conference, was
to lead the discussion. It seemed only natural for us to call
together scientists, educators, members of the medical profession,
and theologians of all denominations, to ask their opinion upon this
uncertain and important phase of the controversy. Letters were sent to
eminent men and women in different parts of the world. In this letter we
asked the following questions:--

1. Is over-population a menace to the peace of the world?

2. Would the legal dissemination of scientific Birth Control
information, through the medium of clinics by the medical profession, be
the most logical method of checking the problem of over-population?

3. Would knowledge of Birth Control change the moral attitude of men
and women toward the marriage bond, or lower the moral standards of the
youth of the country?

4. Do you believe that knowledge which enables parents to limit their
families will make for human happiness, and raise the moral, social and
intellectual standards of population?

We sent this questionnaire not only to those who we thought might agree
with us, but we sent it also to our known opponents.

When I arrived at the Town Hall the entrance was guarded by policemen.
They told me there would be no meeting. Before my arrival our executives
had been greeted by Monsignor Dineen, secretary of Archbishop Hayes, of
the Roman Catholic archdiocese, who informed them that the meeting would
be prohibited on the ground that it was contrary to public morals. The
police had closed the doors. When they opened them to permit the exit
of the large audience which had gathered, Mr. Cox and I entered. I
attempted to exercise my constitutional right of