MANIFESTO ON MORALS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1036, 29 August 1911, Page 4

MANIFESTO ON MORALS.

A manifesto on public morals has been organised by the National Council of Public Morals, Holborn Hall, Eondon, W.C., secretary Rev J. Marchaut. It runs as follows : “ To the people of Great and Greater Britain. 11 We, the undersigned, desire to express our alarm at the low and degrading views of the racial instinct which are becoming widely circulated at the present time, not only because they offend against the highest ideals of morality and religion, but also because they therefore imperil our very life as a nation. THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE. “ Many cases, old and new, are conducing to the evasion of the great obligations of parenthood, and the degradation of the marriage tie; evidence of this being found, to some extent, in the decline of the birth-rate. PERNICIOUS LITERATURE. “Our youth of both sexes is in danger of being corrupted by the circulation of pernicious literature, for which no defence can be offered—a circulation which has to-day reached an extent and developed a subtle suggestiveness without parallel in the past. This is an evil that can be controlled, and so long as we knowingly permit it to continue, the serious consequences lie at our door. MORAL EDUCATION OE THE YOUNG. “ The situation is further aggravated by the fact that our systems of education too frequently ignore the sacred and responsible functions which comfort the young on reaching maturity. The tendencies of the age make it imperative that they should be taught to entertain high conceptions of marriage, as involving duties to the future of the nation and the race. The great truth must be enforced that the racial instinct, as this term declares, exists not primarily for individual satisfaction, but for the wholesome perpetuation of the human family. Such physiological knowledge should also be imparted as shall protect our youth, at any rate to some extent, from those who would seduce their innocence or trade upon their ignorance. THE NATION AND FEEBLE-MINDED. “ Certain laws of heredity and development, no less natural or divine than other laws which are universally acknowledged, must also receive due recognition. A high proportion of immorality and inebrity is due to neglect of the incurably defective-minded, whose progeny, lamentably numerous under present conditions, too frequently resemble their parents, and largely reinforce the ranks of degradation and shame. These cases must receive permanent care apart from the community, that they and posterity may be protected. “We believe that only along these lines —by raising the ideals of marriage, by education for parenthood, and by intervening to prevent degeneracy —can wc cope with the demoralisation which is sapping the foundations of national well-being. We earnestly commend these suggestions, therefore, to all who love the good cause, and desire to maintain through the coming time our national traditions of marriage and the home.”