The Social Emergency | Page 2

FOR BOYS. By Harry H. Moore,
Executive Secretary, Oregon Social Hygiene Society 127
X. TEACHING PHASES: FOR GIRLS. By Bertha Stuart, A.B., M.D.,
Director of the Gymnasium for Women, University of Oregon 154
XI. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS PHASES. By Norman Frank Coleman,
A.M., Professor of English, Reed College 168

XII. AGENCIES, METHODS, MATERIALS, AND IDEALS. By
William Trufant Foster 190
LIST OF REFERENCES 203
INDEX 219

THE SOCIAL EMERGENCY

INTRODUCTION
By Charles W. Eliot
This book is a collection of essays by several authors on the various
aspects of social hygiene, and on the proper means of forming an
enlightened public opinion concerning the measures which society can
now, at last, wisely undertake against the vices and evils which in the
human race accompany bodily self-indulgence and lack of moral
stamina.
Till within five years, it was the custom in families, churches, and
schools, to say nothing about sex relations, normal or abnormal; and in
society at large to do nothing about the ancient evil of prostitution, to
provide neither isolation nor treatment for the worst of contagious
diseases, and to regard the blindness, feeble-mindedness, sterility,
paralysis, and insanity which result from those diseases as afflictions
which could not be prevented. The progress of medicine within twenty
years, both preventive and curative, has greatly changed the ethical as
well as the physical situation. The policy of silence and concealment
concerning evils which are now known to be preventable is no longer
justifiable. The thinking public can now learn what these evils are, how
destructive they are, and by what measures they may be cured or
prevented. With this knowledge goes the responsibility and duty of
applying it in defense of society and civilization.

This book is a sincere effort, first, to supply the needed knowledge of
terrible wrongs and destructions; and, secondly, to indicate cautiously
and tentatively the most available means of attacking the evils
described. It is an attempt to enlighten public opinion on one of the
gravest of modern problems--indeed, the very gravest, with the
exception of the warfare between capital and labor. The book is not
intended for children, or even for adolescents, but rather for parents,
teachers, and ministers who have to answer the questions of children
and youth about sex relations, or deal sympathetically with the victims
of sexual vice.
All efforts to deal directly with sex relations in schools, churches, and
clubs are hampered, and must be for some years to come, by the lack of
competent instructors in that difficult subject. So far as instruction in
educational institutions is concerned, it seems as if the normal schools
and the colleges for men or for women must be selected for the first
experiments on class instruction. Family instruction is in most cases
impossible; because neither father nor mother is competent to teach the
children what needs to be taught about both the normal and the
disordered sex relations. The ministers and priests are as a rule equally
incompetent. They can give precepts or orders, but not explanations or
reasons. Considerate managers of large industries ought to have a keen
interest in all social hygiene problems, because they nearly concern
industrial efficiency; but it is only lately that business men have begun
to understand the close connection between public health and industrial
prosperity, and most of them are not well informed on the subject.
Against prostitution and drunkenness governments of many sorts have
been struggling ineffectually for centuries. These two evils go together;
but whether taken separately or together no government has yet
adopted an effective mode of dealing with them. Fortunately medical
science has lately placed in the hands of government, and of private
associations, effective means of defense against the social vices and
their consequences; and the new social ethics call loudly on all men of
good will to enlist in the warfare against these ancient evils, which
to-day are more destructive than ever before, because of the prevailing
industrial and social freedom, and the new facilities for individual

traveling, and the migration of masses of men.
This book is intended to arouse public sentiment, spread accurate
knowledge, check rash enthusiasm, and promote well-informed and
resolute action.
CHAPTER I
THE SOCIAL EMERGENCY
By William Trufant Foster
Concerning matters of sex and reproduction there has been for many
generations a conspiracy of silence. The silence is now broken.
Whatever may be the wisdom or the folly of this change of attitude, it
is a fact; and it constitutes a social emergency.
Throughout the nineteenth century the taboo prevailed. Certain subjects
were rarely mentioned in public, and then only in euphemistic terms.
The home, the church, the school; and the press joined in the
conspiracy. Supposedly, they were keeping the young in a blessed state
of innocence. As a matter of fact, other agencies were busy