Margaret Sanger, "Birth Control and Civilization," 26 Nov 1935.
Source: "Margaret Sanger Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Margaret Sanger Microfilm Edition, Smith College Collections S71:760."
Indias Civilization old--
One of the factors which has definitely influenced a “speeding up” of civilization has been the replacement ↑application↓ of knowledge & Science to control over Nature.
Today in all civilized countries to a certain degree this ↑control↓ is applied to our environment our health, our food, & apparently the more ↑widely↓ it is applied the faster civilization advances.
In the past civilizations were confronted with one last problem-- The pressure of population upon the food supply:
Nature with all her ruthlessness came as the with disease, pestilence, famine, floods & wars & relieved the pressure & settled the population problem for a time at least.
Civilization is gauged by certain factors or conditions which promote enlightenment and progress & bring the greatest good to the greatest number.
One of the recent factors in our civilization has been the control over nature: the control over environment & insistently & applying knowledge, intelligence, science to our lives instead of blind chance.
This especially has been applied to the function of procreation or child bearing as witnessed or a perusal of the birth & death rates in all western countries will demonstrate.
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Copyright, Margaret Sanger Project