ed in rather more than forty-seven cases out of one
hundred. A study of the figures of births of ante-nuptial
conception makes it obvious that in a very large number of
instances pre-marital intercourse is not an anticipation of
marriage already arranged, but that the marriages are forced upon
the parties, and would not be entered into were it not for the
condition of the woman" (cf. Powys, _Biometrika_, vol. i, 1901-2,
p. 30). That marriage should be, as Coghlan puts it, "forced upon
the parties," is not, of course, desirable in the general moral
interests, and it is also a sign of imperfect moral
responsibility in the parties themselves.

The existence of such a state of things, in a young country
belonging to a part of the world where the general level of
prosperity, intelligence, morality and social responsibility may
perhaps be said to be higher than in any other region inhabited
by people of white race, is a fact of the very first significance
when we are attempting to forecast the direction in which
civilized morality is moving.

It is sometimes said, or at least implied, that in this movement women are
taking only a passive part, and that the initiative lies with men who are
probably animated by a desire to escape the responsibilities of marriage.
This is very far from being the case.

The active part taken by German girls in sexual matters is
referred to again and again by the Lutheran pastors in their
elaborate and detailed report. Of the Dantzig district it is said
"the young girls give themselves to the youths, or even seduce
them." The military manoeuvres are frequently a source of
unchastity in rural districts. "The fault is not merely with the
soldiers, but chiefly with the girls, who become half mad as soon
as they see a soldier," it is reported from the Dresden district.
And in summarizing conditions in East Germany the report states:
"In sexual wantonness girls are not behind the young men; they
allow themselves to be seduced only too willingly; even grown-up
girls often go with half-grown youths, and girls frequently give
themselves to several men, one after the other. It is by no means
always the youth who effects the seduction, it is very frequently
the girls who entice the youth to sexual intercourse; they do not
always wait till the men come to their rooms, but wil