THE HAGUE (now the headquarters of the Neo-Malthusian League).
1881–85. 1906–10. 1912. Birth Rate 38·7 27·5 23·6 per 1,000 of population. Death Rate 23·3 13·2 10·9[1] 〃 〃 Infantile Mortality 214 99 66[1] per 1,000 living (deaths in first births. year)
1881–85. 1906–10. 1912. Birth Rate 37·4 32·0 29·0 per 1,000 of population. Death Rate 24·2 13·4 11·3 〃 〃 Infantile Mortality 209 105 79 per 1,000 living births.
These figures are the lowest in the whole list of death rates and infantile mortalities in the summary of births and deaths in cities in this Report.
1880–2. 1890–2. 1900–2. Legitimate Fertility 306·4 296·5 252·7 Legitimate Births per 1,000 Married Women aged 15 to 45. Illegitimate 16·1 16·3 11·3 Illegitimate Births Fertility per 1,000 Unmarried Women aged 15 to 45.
1880–2. 1890–2. 1900–2. Legitimate Fertility 346·5 303·9 255·0 Illegitimate Fertility 13·4 13·6 7·7[2]
1880–2. 1890–2. 1900–2. Legitimate Fertility 331·4 312·0 299·0 Illegitimate Fertility 17·4 16·5 13·1
The Neo-Malthusian propaganda in Holland is founded on feministic and economic grounds. Birth Control is the pivot around which both of these important movements must swing. Mr. S. Van Houten, late Minister of the Interior of the Netherlands, says: “Wage-slavery exists as a consequence of the carelessness with which the former generation produced wage-slaves; and this slavery will continue so long as the adult children of these wage-slaves have nothing better to do than to reproduce wage-slaves.”
There has been marked improvement in the labor conditions in Holland during these last ten years especially, wages having increased and hours of labor decreased, with the cost of living taking a comparatively very small rise.
There is perhaps no country in Europe where the educational advantages are so great as in Holland. Many English women and widows with children, living on small incomes, move to Holland on account of the splendid education to be obtained in the public schools.
That the Birth Control propaganda has been a success in Holland any one travelling through that delightful, clean, and cheerful country can testify. There is no doubt that at first there were objections and abuses, but, in the words of Dr. Rutgers, “Certainly there are abuses, but the abuses of knowledge are never so enormous as the abuses of ignorance. And hygiene is the highest form of morality.”