MORALS AND DEGENERACY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1329, 5 January 1912, Page 2

MORALS AND DEGENERACY.

A UNITED CONI'ERENCE. At the invitation of the Dean of Westminster, a Conference on Public Morals ill Relation to Bace Degeneration was held in the Jerusalem Chamber, at Westminster Abbey, on Monday, November 20. The Bishop of Durham, who presided, spoke optimistically of the awakening of public opinion on questions of racial morality, and regarded it as an "omen of luorey." The. National Council of Public Morals was endeavouring h raise the level of public opinion. The declining birth-rate closely concerned the conscience and the sense of duty. He moved a resolution to draw the attention of the Churchy Parliament, the press, and the public .to the facts and. tendencies of i the national life a.s indicated by the falling- birth-rate, the continuous ami widespread sacrifice of infancy and childhood, the multiplication of mental and moral degenerates, the lowered standard of parenthood, and the disintegration of the home and family life. The Churches, the Legislature, the press, and those who direct the education of the young were urged to.make increased efforts for the. protection of motherhood, the permanent carp", of the mentally defective, the education of the nation's adolescents for parenthood, 'the purification of public amusements. '.am\ the wider diffusion of wholesome literature for : the reading. of youth.'. ■■".■■•".'

M'Jif.thp cafe of the feeble-minded, Sir Victor Horsley denounced the degradation of motherhood, from the woman at. one end of the social scale who nursed a lap-dog rather than a.' baby, to the slum-dweller at the other end who found a fatal refuge in the public-house from, the evils cf her environment. Eugenics .might be served bsst by the work of social service leagues, the pu-shiug forward of housing reform,,,and restricting* jf .nor abolishing, the custom of taking alcohol. There were 150,000. feeble-minded in this country, and 6000 feeble-minded children had to have provision for them in London. '

The maternity benefit in the Insurance Bill was warmly praised by Dr. Saleeby. . Lady Wjlloughby. de Broke urged tho necessity of instruction being given to young girls that would safeguard them against moral danger.

: Sir .Tallies Yoxall, M.l'., pointed out • that teachers had tried to do this, but parents objected.- ;".."". " •" . '■'■ .Miv John ■.Murray, 'the publisher, on ■ the 't|Uestion- of impure literature, did 'not see-much possibility of good in a censorship, but good would result from' ■a consensus rf editors who would ajrrec never' to ''mention defiling books. The police should deal- with the worst class of literature. '■ ' • •

Mr. St. Loo Strachey, editor of '"flip Spectator,"'endorsed this 'view, and said, he declined to ajlvCTti.se undesirable literature by reviewing it, and lie would not' bs deterred by the accusation that he was setting up a censorship. ; ' : I!e\\ F. B. Meyer, dealing with public amusements, urged (l\at if anything was staged that, stirred up impure passion, it should be stopped. He had no objection to pure humour or. to mimicry—even such mimicry, of the parson as ho had lately witnessed. ' ' . ■ ' '

■The Bishop of. tlnndaff and Professor ■(lolln'ncß warmly approved the objects of the conference. .\ ..