GERMAN MORALITY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16037, 23 January 1918, Page 6

GERMAN MORALITY.

ENCOURAGING POLYGAMY

MILLIONS OF PAMPHLETS

During the war there have been froquent reports of German schemes tor increasing future man-powor by tue promotion of bigamy or polygamy. There recently reached London trustworthy evidence in the shape of a pamphlet, in its second edition. Which has been published by the firm of Oscar Muller, of Cologne. It is called “The Secondary Marriage as Only Moans,for the Rapid Creation ofahovr and Powerful Army and the Purification. of Morality.” The author, whoso name is Carl Hermann Torges, says' that be is well over 70 years of age, and that ho has ‘ travailed almost every sea, and worked through life with open eyes.” .1 ' The pamphlet is based upon the future needs of. the Gorman army, liecause “the military strength of a people depends in part upon the number of men able to boar arms.” Germany s heavy looses in the war must bo made good, and at the same time every effort must bo made to meet the decline in the birth-rate which was lamented before the war. The writer leads up to his main proposals with a chapter which declares that “the conception of immorality is relative,” and that “good morals are only what the tipper classes of society approve.” The “facts” are said to give Germany “the justification, in case' of necessity, to put the stamp of morality upon what to-day seems immoral.” “In. any case, if the Jailing off in births is to he counteracted bachelordoni must bo reduced- to the minimum which the circumstances require.’ The main proposals are stated as follows:—“Women in all classes of society who have reached a certain age are, in the interests of the Fatherland, not only authorised hut called upon to enter into a secondary marriage, which is supported by personal inclination. Only a- married man may object of this inclination, and he must have the consent of his married wife. This condition is necessary in Older to prevent the mischief which othenvi.se might surely be expected. The offspring of these lawful secondary marriages bear the name of their mother, and are handed over to tiro care of the State, unless the mother assumes responsibility for them. They are to be regarded in every respect as fully equal members of society. The mothers wear a narrow wedding ring as a .sign of their patriotism. The secondary marriage can ho dissolved as soon as its object has been attained.” Elsewhere Herr Torges says he-Ahinks that the objects of his new institution can be fulfilled in 20 years, and that secondary marriages might then be abolished. -The Aargauer Volksblatt, a Swiss Catholic organ, declares that several millions of copies of the- pamphlet have, been distributed gratis to the Gorman soldiers in the trenches, and to all classed of Gorman women at home, and that the pamphlet has been in circulation for more than six months without a single German newspaper making any protest. The pamphlet is therefore described as a piece of official propaganda “against which the whole civilised world must rise up in indignation.”