In the Australian Commonwealth, where birth control is taken as a
matter of course, and information concerning contraceptives is
available to the masses, the births were so well distributed in 1915
that while the birth rate was 27.3, there was an infant death rate of
only 10.7. New Zealand, which is also one of the typical birth-control
countries, had a birth rate of 25.3 and an infant death rate of only
9.1 for the same year. These figures are in marked and happy contrast
with those for the birth registration of the United States, where the
reports for 1916 show a birth rate of 24.8, but an infant death rate
of 14.7. A similar comparison may be made with the German Empire in
1913, where there was a birth rate of 27.5 in 1913 and an infant
mortality rate of 15. In these countries, birth control information is
not so generally within the reach of the masses and, consequently, the
largest percentage of births come to that class least able to bring
children to full maturity, as indicated in the infant mortality rates.
In conclusion, I am going to make a statement which may at first seem
exaggerated, but which is, nevertheless, carefully considered. The
effort toward racial progress that is being made to-day by the medical
profession, by social workers, by the various charitable and
philanthropic organizations and by state institutions for the
physically and mentally unfit, is practically wasted.
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