4. Do you believe that knowledge which enables parents to limit their
families will make for human happiness, and raise the moral, social and
intellectual standards of population?

We sent this questionnaire not only to those who we thought might agree
with us, but we sent it also to our known opponents.

When I arrived at the Town Hall the entrance was guarded by policemen.
They told me there would be no meeting. Before my arrival r executives
had been greeted by Monsignor Dineen, secretary of Archbishop Hayes, of
the Roman Catholic archdiocese, who informed them that the meeting would
be prohibited on the ground that it was contrary to public morals. The
police had closed the doors. When they opened them to permit the exit
of the large audience which had gathered, Mr. Cox and I entered. I
attempted to exercise my constitutional right of free speech, but was
prohibited and arrested. Miss Mary Winsor, who protested against this
unwarranted arrest, was likewise dragged off to the police station. The
case was dismissed the following morning. The ecclesiastic instigators
of the affair were conspicuous by their absence from the police court.
But the incident was enough to expose the opponents of Birth Control and
the extreme methods they used to combat our progress. The case was too
flagrant, too gross an affront, to pass unnoticed by the newspapers. The
progress of our movement was indicated in the changed attitude of the
American Press, which had perceived the danger to the public of the
unlawful tactics used by the enemies of Birth Control in preventing open
discussion of a vital question.

No social idea has inspired its advocates with more bravery, tenacity,
and courage than Birth Control. From the early days of Francis Place