Robert G. Ingersoll

"Science is the great instrument of social change," wrote A. J.
Balfour in 1908; "all the greater because its object is not change but
knowledge, and its silent appropriation of this dominant function, amid
the din of religious and political strife, is the most vital of all
revolutions which have marked the development of modern civilization."
The Birth Control movement has allied itself with science, and no small
part of its present propaganda is to awaken the interest of scientists
to the pivotal importance to civilization of this instrument. Only with
the aid of science is it possible to perfect a practical method that
may be universally taught. As Dean Inge recently admitted: "We should be
ready to give up all our theories if science proved that we were on the
wrong lines."

One of the principal aims of the American Birth Control League has been
to awaken the interest of scientific investigators and to point out
the rich field for original research opened up by this problem. The
correlation of reckless breeding with defective and delinquent strains,
has not, strangely enough, been subjected to close scientific scrutiny,
nor has the present biological unbalance been traced to its root. This
is a crying necessity of our day, and it cannot be accomplished without
the aid of science.

Secondary only to the response of women themselves is the awakened
interest of scientists, statisticians, and research workers in every
field. If the clergy and the defenders of traditional morality have
opposed the movement for Birth Control, the response of enlightened
scientists and physicians has been one of the most encouraging aids in
our battle.