Neo-Malthusianism ca. 1900

Though there is some evidence that the activities of the NMB were considered scandalous enough, opposition was at first mostly a conspiracy of silence. The respectful phrasing of the publications of the NMB can have contributed to the absence of elaborate protests in the first decades of its existence. The NMB remained a small organization. A more agressive Malthusian tendency was evident in the 1890s when two pensioned officers from the Dutch army and navy carried on. Captain W.M.H. Anten and lieutenant E. Kempe organized the spread of knowledge of contraceptives as if it were a military campaign against poverty. "Het Middelenboekje", a leaflet describing the "means to avoid large families" became legendary in the Netherlands.