they fail to see the patent fact that there are not now enough competent
teachers for this work; no, not one teacher for every hundred schools.
Another example of futile legislation is the California law requiring the
reporting of cases of venereal diseases. One could easily list a score of
laws in the domain of sexual morals which are ineffective, either because
in their very nature they could not be enforced, or because the public do
not wish to have them enforced. Perhaps there are no factors of the social
emergency so frequently left out of account as the relation of public
education to public opinion and the relation of public opinion to the
possibility of law enforcement.

As a matter of fact the educational phases of social reform are of most
immediate importance. Nothing can so profitably occupy the attention of
social hygiene societies as the education of the public. If groups of
social workers come to serious disagreement on other phases of the
present emergency,--if the discussion of restricted districts,
minimum-wage laws, health certificates for marriage, and reporting of
diseases divides the group into warring camps,--all can unite in favor of
spreading certain truths as widely as possible; and it is not difficult to
agree on at least a few of the many methods which have already proved
effective in educational campaigns.

At the outset of our attempt to educate the general public in matters of
sex, we face certain factors which govern the scope, time, place, and
method of any successful efforts. Failure to give these factors due
consideration has brought many attempts to early and unhappy ends, and
convinced some people that ignorance is safer than such education.

We must reckon carefully with the centuries of social tradition which have
resulted in the taboo on the subjects of sex and reproduction. It may be