LIFE AND MORALS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3095, 28 May 1917, Page 6

LIFE AND MORALS

THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG

FACTORY CONDITIONS

Tho maimer in which ministers of religion can co-operato in the campaign against -venereal disease, was considered at a meeting held on Friday in thasDall Queen's Hall, Langk»m Place, London. The conference was called by the National Council lor Combating Venereal Diseases. *

The Archbishop of Canterbury presided, and among those on the platform wero the Bishops of Winchester, St. Albans, S'outhwnrk, and Stepney, the Dean of St. Paul's, tin- Chief Rabbi, the Rev. J. Scott Lidgett, Jl'gr. Brown, and Mgr. Jackson.

In the body of the hall there was a large attendance of ministers of the various religious communities.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said the clergy and ministers of religion were there to listen rather than to speak. Probably for the first time in history, the problems, physical, mental, and spiritual, which belonged to human beings wero no longer Tegarded as separate and distinct, but as forming parts of one whole. The forces, causes, and problems which medical science s'et itself to handle'in lnmian life were akin to, and in close touch with, the forces, causes, and problems which the ministers of religion were meant to handle. He looked to that meeting to increase' knowledge and stimulate enthusiasm in dealing with a form of evil the- magnitude of which was now, for the first time in English life, and perhaps in the life of any nation, realised, and the urgency of which was simply incalculable. In "fighting this evil, the two agencies, medical arid ecclesiastical, must co-oper-ate. Host of them had been wofully, perhaps culpably, ignorant of tbe details of this terrible matter. They were all startled by the recent report of the. Royal Commission, and that meeting, and others like it. were the outcome of what followed on that Commission, or accompanied it—the formation of the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases.

Disease as Punishment. Sir Malcolm Morris said that many good, earnest people thought that venereal diseases were 6ont by Almighty God as iv punishment for sinful men. Cler°vmen, discussing the subject with him, asked: "What right have you to interfere with the course of diseases which arc brought about 'by immorality .- The answer of medical men was that the names of the diseases were a misnomer; ft large proportion of them had no relation to the venereal question at all. The number of people who had innocently acquired those diseases was enormous. The sufferings of innocent wives, who got the diseases from their husbands, and of children born ot dir seased ■ parents were well known. In his experience he knew of medical men, niidwives, and nurses who innocently caught those diseases in the course of attending affected patients, and for years suffered tortures from diseases most dttiicult to eradicate from''the system. Almighty God never intended that those innocent persons should suffer. (Cheers.) In the same way, to those who objected to persons suffering from the diseases through their own fault being given private and free treatment at local hospital clinics under the Government scheme, his reply was:—"lt is done for the good not of the individual alone, but of the community as a whole." (Cheers.) One thing he asked the clergy to' do, and that was to encourage early marriages. If people married young there was less risk of their going wrong. Besides that, the country wanted more marriages and more babies. The manhood of the country was disappearing fast. A member of tho audience asked whether there was not a danger of the vice becoming more rampant by making the euro so eusv. Sir Malcolm Morris said he thought 'the facility of the cure would have no effect, one way or the other, on the prevalenco of vice. That would depend on the organisations for the spread of sexual purity. (Cheers.) • Another inquiry from tho body of the 'hall was whether ,6alvarsan, the remedy to be used at the treatment centres, was not of German origin. To this Sir Malcolm Morris replied that all good things from Germany .were not to be rejected because some of the people there had gone mad. But it so happened _ that the secret of salvarsan had been discovered, and it was now made in this country. s ' The Munition Factories. Sir Thomas Barlow said that bad housing conditions were a fruitful source of moral degradation, and ; there were many houses in which the maintenance of purity was impossible. He hoped the clergy would preach the improvement of the houses of the poor, even at the expense of .political economy, as one of the crying needs of the age. In tho last resort, it might be an imperative duty on every municipality to provide healthy homes for the people, just as it was incumbent upon them to supply good water and good drainage. The time had come for the clergy to be less reticent iu warning young people of tho dangers of impurity. Straightforward and enlightening addresses on the gelations of the sexes should be given to boys and girls Separately. They would find that city children,'however early they began to instruct them, had a premature knowledge of sexual relations, but a. very inadequate knowledge of how to guard against their dangers. Investigation among munition workers had shown tho amount ot nastiness which existed among quito young girls. Thoro were some lactones which a, girl could not leave in order to go to another place of business, becauso their reputation was so atrocious. Ho had not much .Until in physiological teaching in tho schools. Nature study and elementary lessons in botany iverc good in themselves as conveying to young minds the purpose of sex, but was l'utue to expect children to derivo from them any t'.clenco against impurity. It was to continuation classes for boys and girls alter they had left school that they must look as the host agencies for conveying knowledge of tho facts of life. Lessons in tho functions of tho body should be accompanied by warnings of the dangers of impure sexual intercourse. But they should never forget that knowledge, com. portable social circumstances, and refinement were but poor safeguards in themselves against sexual vice and disease. Venereal diseases took a large' toll of the comfortable and educated classes. Tho iirst two years of university life were the period when tho diseases were most contracted by students. Convivial indulgenco was one of the chief incitements to unc'hastity. In recent years, however, there had been a great improvement in .sexual continence among young men at the universities. He was confident that large numbers' kept chaste through their student period. The vote of thanks to Sir Malcolm J\[orris and Sir Thomas Barlow was moved by Mgr. Brown, seconded by the llev. J. Scott Lidgctt, and supported by the Chief Uabbi.

'Hie Archbishop of Canterbury said be was sure the,ministers of religion present hail been moved by what they had heard to a deeper and almost bewildering sense of their responsibility to co-operate in the movement.