# The Girl That Disappears/Chapter 3

III
"WHITE SLAVERY" IS ONLY A PART
WITHIN the last two years the world has heard a great deal of of what is called the white slave traffic, so much, indeed that the average reader probably believes that the white slave traffic is all there is to our social problem. As a matter of fact, it is only a part of it. The trouble is the public does not know the facts. What it has been given is a mass of unrelated and, for the most part, misunderstood or misinterpreted statements.
On the one hand the public has been told that there exists a regularly organized and incorporated body of men who live by enslaving women, that this body exists on an international scale, and that women are shipped like cattle from one side of the ocean ​to the other. On the other hand the public is assured that no such organization is in existence.
In the minds of one part of the public every woman of the under-world is a "white slave." Another half of the population scouts the idea that any woman is a white slave, and there we are.
The fact is that the social problem is a great deal wider and deeper than the published statements about the white slave traffic give any indication. But first let us take up and dispose of this particular phase of the social evil.
There is absolutely no question of the existence to an appalling extent of women who are veritable white slaves. At least 2,000 of them are brought into the country every year; brought in like cattle, used far worse than cattle, and disposed of for money like cattle. They are enticed from their homes by deceit, by promises of big pay for easy ​work in the United States, the land of gold. Generally the picture of what they are to find in this country is painted by one of their own countrymen, a man who has been in the United States and has returned for the fixed purpose of finding girls to take back with him. They do not know his real purpose until they are far from home. My observation and the police records convince me that fully ninety-five per cent. of all the so-called white slaves are foreigners, principally girls from France, Italy, Germany and Hungary. Very few of them understand English at all. This is necessarily so. It is part of the system to keep them ignorant of the language, ignorant of American customs, ignorant of their rights under American law. Otherwise, their masters would have difficulty in keeping them under subjection.
This does not mean, by any means, that girls from our own country—especially girls from small towns—are not drawn into the ​underworld by processes of deception practically identical to those used in Europe. Far from it. Time after time I have found where some scoundrel has lured a girl from home by promises or even by mock marriage and sold her or left her to the underworld. But she does not become a white slave. This distinction is rather difficult to grasp, but there is a distinction. The white slave, as we use the term in the police business, is a woman whose earnings are collected by a man. Why, you ask, would any woman permit that; why would not she appeal to the nearest policeman rather than live the life she lives and get in return the pittance her master allows her? A girl used to the ways of the United States will not submit for long; but a girl in a strange land, among strange people, can be cowed into doing so. Appeal to the police? Why, she has been terrorized into believing they would send her to prison if it were not for her mas​ter. That is why it is easier for a white slaver, when his victim dies—and the average life of a woman in the underworld scarcely exceeds five years—to go to Europe and bring a new victim from there. Easier and cheaper, he figures, in the long run.
As far back as 1902 the governments of Europe were well aware that there was such a thing as an international traffic in women. In July, 1902, delegates from various powers met in Paris and completed a project of arrangement for the suppression of white slave traffic. Within two years the stipulations of this project were signed by the governments of every European state. The Government of the United States was the last to sign, and was the last to bring itself to take any action. By an act of Congress of the United States in February, 1907, there was created a Congressional Immigration Commission to inquire into the traffic. Unfortunately the appropriation made was not ​large enough to enable the work of the commission to be especially valuable.
The white slave agitation reached a high point in 1908 and 1909. Various organizations and individuals became interested in investigations; newspapers and magazines took up the subject, and during the New York municipal campaign in the fall of 1909, one of the chief arguments used against Tammany Hall was the charge that white slavery had flourished in New York City under Tammany administrations.
Tammany, consequently, suffered severely in the 1909 election. The white slave charges got beneath the skin of the men who rule this powerful political organization. Before long the newspapers announced that a special grand jury would be appointed to investigate white slavery. It was obvious that something had to be done to "cleanse the fair name of our city," and incidentally to put Tammany back into some kind of dignity. ​The powers, which had persistently and consistently fought every moment, every piece of legislation which looked to the protection of women and girls, now announced, through a Tammany judge, a special grand jury to make a thorough inquiry into the white slave traffic in New York City.
The grand jury began its labors January 3, 1910. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., at first reluctant to assume the duties of foreman of the jury, finally accepted his responsibilities with earnestness and sincerity. Learning that the District Attorney's office was short of funds, Mr. Rockefeller offered the sum of $20,000 for purposes of investigation. This offer was declined by the Mayor, and the Board of Estimates made a special appropriation of $20,000 for the use of the District Attorney.
Of course none of these things was accomplished in silence. In fact, had the inquiry been instituted by friends and near relatives ​of the traffickers in women's shame, these men could not have been more effectually placed upon their guard. They were fairly megaphoned that they were in immediate danger of apprehension. Every edition of the daily papers shouted threats and warnings of what the special grand jury was about to do.
Charles S. Whitman, who had been elected District Attorney on an anti-Tammany ticket, and his assistants manifestly were working under extremely difficult conditions. White slavers carry on their business so quietly and shrewdly that detection and conviction is almost impossible even under the most favorable conditions. With all the newspapers trumpeting the danger, the white slave forces made themselves most inconspicuous and careful.