The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-16 00:00:00

LEAVES FROM FRANCO'S NOTE BOOK.

" Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,
That to be hated needs bnt'to be seen
But daily seen, familiar with the face,
We first eadnre, then pity, that( embrace'.'"

LEAF STREET-WALKER.

We
havetraced the progress of the " Fast" Young Mart
through the inierinediate stages of pleasure and crime ; wu
shall now descend lower in the sphere of evil, and have fa
do with the opposite sex. I allude to 0164 depraved and
corrupt creatures that infest our streets and thoroughfares,
and are the bane of our' social existenCe. lb what do tal
owe .this curse, what is the primary calm of such fcarfut,
immorality? What was the first state of these lost
wretches! It is easy to perceive that they were not always.,
of their pieseni case but have fallen in" fatal progression
from a beinj of frivolity and levity. Let us consider by
What means.

An innocent and uncorrupted girl holds a situation, a
a milliner or dressmaker, or she may live in service, or any
menial station. - While in this situation She is unfortunate
enough to attract tin notice of a fashionable and showy
iepog nuzn, who pays her continuous and flattering attm-
•timye. She is- ignorant;' and inexperiene d--esheis elated
and fletterq, by his regard —she is won by his exterior—
ehe is cajoled by dream of future
.greatn
,ss. He treats
her to the theatre o,•la some house of entertainment, and
frequently makes her presents f).f trinkets o- dreseses, conti-
nual yioziring4nsidious poison into .her ear, with promises
of making her a lady some time or other. He seizes on
all her weak points ; he flatters her vanity, and panders to
her love of display. Whet need to explain-the result ?
We ca n;lil imagine the short conflict theipoor gi,l endures
before trusting her entire wealth —her horeourand herself—
lo his keeping. From the moment, hersbetter ang:l yields
precedence, she is irrecoverably lost. He enjoys her for
lime, hut the' finds -her innocence was dearly, barteeecl ;
and, attracted by a- neue face or novel fancy, he ultimately
casts her off.- These seducers do. net purpose the ruin of
their victims for any-special design, they are merely im-
pelled by mice desire of a passing gratification, and, to their
shame beA spoken, the generality of them are married
men e Oh, may . every young and_artlese girl teak with
stapiaion• "upon every: 'admirer in a superior statten to
herself, and be on her guard against all adulation coming
from one with. whose character and: antecedents she is not
perf etly acquainted! The denseqUences of a false step are
&cake:llole and infinite. Temporal ruin must ensue;
perhaps .eternal! Who knows?
Her. character gone, her peace destroyege her hopes
blighted, C est'oef by leer fries-Is and driven to de:cevair, she
is lost to hope and recovery. All avenues of spelt'''' are
cute off none will receive her, the world is deef to her re.
morse (for the world can be very deaf aid very incredu-
lous regerding the repentance of any heterodox outcast),
what can she do? She has pawned or disposed of the few
articles of clothing left her; and she is utterly destitute.
The _only refuge that appeaes acceptable to her she seeks.
From the Hell of her accusing conscLaiee she flies to an
external and-material Hell, kept by accursed fiends in a
human form : and she henceforth derives the support of
her miserable eefistence in a " Dress House.".
These establishments are maintained by a set of aban-
doned old hags, who employ a-quantity of younger females
to earn the Wages of sin. The Dress.house" is, in fact, a
degraded academy, alw ,ys boasting of a complement of
disciples. • Any girl possessing a passable exterior is wet.
cone here; she is supplied with dress and spending-money,
and is expectedto bring in a bount eves harvest in payment
of her board and keep. But the old procuress takes care
to keep the young Pro.fogee constantly in debt, so as to ac-
quire an entire ascendancy over her; she is compelled to
drink inordinately and Wear expensive clothing, which is
retailed to her from her fiendish mistress. eby this means
she is completely in the latter's power. As long as the
prostitution of her person produces a considerable revenue
she is cajoled and flattered to the highest e.rteeit ;bast when,
her fearful eareer has broitght on total enervation of con-
stitution and phys;cel loitthso neness,: and she is, of little
use to the wretch who supported her, she is exposed to the
most biletal and violent treatment, prior to being at last
turned into thee street, more utterly lost and incalculably
worse off than when she entered. the infe nal doors of the
earthly Tandeinonium. Our town abounds in these prepa-
ratory schools for crime. There are no less than fifteen of
the first.clase in Hotham street, five in Sidney street, and
seventeen in Finch street; Houghton street contains six,
and many others are to be found in djerent pats of the
town. These are absolutely academies for the education of
prostitutes, and, differing f, one the more numcerliee brothels
Of a lower class, they number in all nearly two hund;l4.

The unfortunate wretch, driven from kir former mise-
rab.'e home, first enters the world on her own account.
From frequenting the neighbourhood of Lime street and
the Amphitheatre she is row compelled to resort to the vi-
cinity of Whitech,apel, and the lower haunts of a yet mo-e
degraded class. She has taken to constant drinking ; she
is often to be seen in a public house; she is in the habit of
pilfering anything she can lay her hands upo ti ; she is con.
versant with the interior of Prigewel. khe is now a prey
to a frightful disorder, infecting every one within her
reach, and derives a miserable living principally from
harpying on sailors. But continual drunkenness deprives
her of even her present support, anti by gradual degrees
she sinks lower and lower in the scale of humanity, till her
lodging is in a vile cellar, and her subsistence a scanty
morsel, while every effort to Osten existence brings her
nearer the grave. She now prowls about the docks—the
lowest degradation of ail—in the hopes of obtaining the
means of supporting life; and from frequoitly visiting
the Lock Fro pital she has imb'be l a horrible disease, which
finally hurries her to eternity, perhaps in her noxious
cellar, perhaps in the ward of the Workhouse. 7his is the
ave-ag3 ca)eer of those miserable creatures, who gene, ally
owe their ruin from a foolish vanity or desire for pleasure,
and in most cases fall in the manner here described. Very
few of the poor children born in such dishonour survive to
follow in the path of their abandoned mother ; they die, or
are made away with, or disappear—heaven knows how—
and the, existing generation of profligates mostly spring
from a primeval state of comparative innocence. Young
women, who might eventually attain to a respected and ho-
noured positi ,n its socic'y, thus doom themselves to certairs
destruct on, by heeding the promptings of a vein and irra-
tional mind.

There is another class of St rect-wa'kers nwre dangerous
to associate with than the actual pr;stitutes, though, per-
haps, less corrupted and physically d formed —these are en-
titled, in slew? phraseology, " Picking-up Atolls." They
are respectably attired, and are, by their own account,
married womoi or servant girls out of a situation, who
profess great modesty and horror, and exhibit se-uples of
conscience against the advances of the unsophisticated in-
dividual who may favour them with their regard; but, at
the same time, give the latter a sufficient hint that for a
trifling remuneration they will accede to their wishes.
Should any foolish fellow he lured into some unfrequented
spot for thi purpoe, his "es gn is disagreeably interrupted
by the appea,ance of a male confederate of his fair com-
panion, known as a " Bludgetter" or " Stick Carri'r,"
who is generally summoned by the seductress after she has
denuctd the victim of his superfluous cash, watch, or jewel-
lery. The champion of violated innocence now honours his
rival with a se, ies of personal attacks, so as to ficiiitate the
escape of the heroine, and the unfortunate recipient of such
affection merts with a poor conclusion to his sapposed grati-
fication. 7 hese women prowl al ouethe ne,ghbozeriwod of
Lime. street, Jsling on, I ondon-road, h ount-plea ant,
Rodney-street, Renshaw-street. and the environs. One may
nightly meet fifty of such in the districts here enumerated.
My next " Leaf " shall be devoted to an expose of the
" Pimps" of the professional establishment, and their
worthy coa4iutors • the " 6harpers" or "Blacklegs," with
an elucidation of their modus operandi.

Nuts, May 14.—The state of the Argentine confedera-
tion is far from satisfactory. There exists a great agitation
which embarreses the government. The project of estab-
liihing the Anglo-Italian Legion in the p ovince of
Corientes has not been found possible, and the contract
has been annulled. Admiral Johnson, commanding the
British F quadron on the Brazils and La Plata station, has
just returutd from his tour in Upper Paraguay, where he
was well received by President Lopez.

ON THE FIRST PRACTICAL STEP IN MONETARY

REFORM

TO THE EDTTOR OP THE NORTHERN TIMER.

Sir, Public opinion seems to be pretty equally divided as
to the merits and demerits of the Bill of 844, and it would
therefore seem that the best that can be done with that measure,
at the present time, is, neither to repeal it nor make it a
fixture, but to leave it, as it now stands, suhject to be repealed
atany time on the House of Commons giving notice to that
effect. Should this course be recommended by the committee
new about to take evidence on the sehj,ct, it will be the duty
of the government or the public to at once reduce to practice
some subordinate measure of reform that may work side by side
with the Bank Charter, and which would be likely to furnish
experimental evidenee on which to base a future of more com
prehensive reform. I will therefore venture a few observations
on what such-subordinate reform should embrace.
In the preceding letter of this series a monetary system was
briefly described, the legal tender notes of which would be
convertible on demand, not inn) gold or any another corm_
modify, but into a proposed new form of stock, called therein
" Commercial Stock." This stock would consist of ordinary
loans on indisputable security, placed under conditions some-
what similar to those of government stock loans, but differing
in the degree of benefit to be conferred on the creditors in the
said loans or stock. It would be a sine qua non of this pro-
posed stock that it should confer such alvantago on the holders
or creditors as would ne,ke it to be, on the average, as desirable
to po:sess any given amount of the stuck as to po,sess the tamp
amount in gold pounds or sovereigns.
Thar reader will, therefore, readily co-nprehend tha; all
questions as to the feasibility of such a monetary system may
be resoly-ed into the very simple and intelligible one—
" Could the proposed stock be made to confer the requisite
advantales on the hold, re—that is, such advantages as would
make one pound of stock to he. on the average, as desirable a
property as one pound iti•gold ?" It fortunately happens that,
without interfering with the Bank Charter on any other existing
money law, steps may at once be taken to submit this question
to the test of direct experiment. All that is necessary to the
attainment of this end is, that means should be provided
whereby they who have occasion to borrow money on real,
funded, or any other equally reliable security, may be em-
powered to deposit their deeds or securities at some central
office, and receive in return the privilege of drawing a cheque,
or cheques, on the said office to any extent warranted by the
character and value of the deposited security. These cheques
would'constitute the " scrip" of the proposed commercial truck,
ind would sell in the money market for prices which would bo
ruled partly by the rate of interest allowed on the
'nook, partly by its conditions as to ' redemption,
and partly by the current condition of the money
market. By this means the proposed stock may be created
and offered for the voluntary acceptance of the public, and
continue to be used and negociated for any required length of
time prior to the issue of currency notes convertible into such
stock. If, while thus used, its value should be found to bear
en the average a uniform relation to 'gol,d, there could then
remain no doubt concerning the propriety of issuing legal
notes on the basis of such stock.
The above-named central office could be conducted either
by the national government or by a joint stock company ;- and
having, in the essays already alluded to, described histilitch an
office may be managed by the national government, it may
here be advisable to describe how it may be conducted by a
pint stock company.

Except for working plant no capital won!d be required by a
'company undertaking the maea,zement of such an office, and of
the stock it would call into ox:atence ; but the creditors in the
*stock would require some very substantial evidence of the
solvency of the company. It me), rem Lin an open _question
how this evldence of solvency should be providod, hut for the
;present we may assume that the best plan would be for the
shareholders to deposit at some suitabLi place any required
amount of real or funded security, and for the creditors in the
stock to have the right of periodically electing a scrutator to
examine such security, and report on he validity. Under
this assumption the following propositions would, perhaps,
embody most of the conditions necessary to the formation and
Working of such a company :--
Proposed :
Ist. That a joint stock company be formed, to he called the
1' Commercial Ste& Company."

2nd. That the object of this company shall be to improve
the conditions of certain claases of commercial loans, by afford,.
ing facility for rasing such loans by means of a negociable
stock, to he called " Commerial Stock."

3rd. That the capital of the company shall be X 1,000,000
arid shall be rased in 10,000 shares of £lOO each.

4th: That - per sharp shall be paid up in cash to
form a fund for covering the working expenses of the com-
pany.

5 h. That the remaining portion of the capital shall consist
of real or funded securky, deposited in some secure place
hey eafter to be d. termined on.

6th. That the company shall open an ofac,l in some central
part of London, to be called the " Cummercial Stock Office."
7th. That persons wishing to raisc money on any indis-
puLabla and permanent kccurity, shall, on depositing such
security at the amauvercial Stock Office, be empowered to
draw cheques on one said office, and that these cheques shall
constitute, sad be treated as the " emir of the commercial
stock.

[47;xplanatory Note.—These cheques could betsold in the
Stock Market, as above stated, and the money received
for them would constitute the required loan. The buyer
of a cheque would therefore be the lender of _the money
borrowed by means of it; but, although the money may
thus be paid directly from the leiider to the borrower, no
further doonection would necessarily exist between the
two parties. Their business, after that, would lie with the
commercial st ck office, not with each other.]
8 h. That on such cheques being deposited at the office,
they shall be credited to the depositor as Commercial Soacl:,
and dehitted as se,eh fo the drawer.
[EzPla'rato) y Yote —A person lending money through
the medium of this stock would he able to recover pot-
session of his money, without troubling the borrower, -by
selling the stock standing to his credit. So, in like
manner, a borrower may repay the money borrowed, or
do that which would be equivalent to repaying it, by the
simple operation of laying an amount of stock equal to
what may be standing to his debit.]
9'h. That creditors in the commercial stock shall have the
following rights and privileges t—lst. The right to receive
such a rate of interest on the stock standing, severally, to their
credit, as shall render it, on the average, as desirable to possess
any given amount of such stock as to possess the same amount
of gold. 2nd. The right to have their stock redeemed or con-
verted into gold at par, within (say) twelve months from the
date of such redemption being demanded. 3rd. The right to
elect periodically a scrutator of the securities provided by, or
deposited with, the company, which scrutator shall, by virtue of
his election, be empowered to investigate or examine the said
securities, and report thereon to the creditors in the stock. 40.
The right to require the company, at any time, to increase the
the capital or securities, provided by the said company as a
guarantee of its solvency.
10th. That the debtors to the stock shall, collectively and
individually, pay such rates of interest thereon as shall provide
a fund wherewith to cover the following sources of expendi-
ture :-Ist. The money to be paid to the creditors of the
stock in the way of interest thereon. 2nd. The expenses, if
any, of obtaining gold wherewith to convert the stock into
gold, in accordance with the demands of the stockholders
3td. The working expenses of the, company. 4.h. The divi-
dyads to be paid as profit to the shareholders.

l lth. That the profits of the company shall not exceed the
rate of --- per cent per annum on the deposited security,
and -- per annum on the paid-up capital.

Such a company as the above could be organised and incor-
porated under the Joint Stock Act; but it would be necessary
to its complete efficiency that it should have the exclusive
right of acting as the agent for contracting commercial and
other loans on the conditions herein described. If opposi-
tion companies were allowed to start into existence for the
purpose of doing the same class of business, we should soon
havey them as plentiful as assurance cotn?anies now are ; and
as each of such companies would lave a distinct and special
form of stock in the mariet, the general ncgociability of the
stock would be seriously damaged by the difficulty of deciding
which was, and which was net, safe.. Moreover, the public
could be better and more cheaply served by one than by a
number of companies, and the national government could, at
some future time, conveniently make arrangements with one
exclusive company for the issue of notes cenvertible into the
stock—a matter which would involve conaiderable difficulty, if,
instead of one company, the government shonld have to deal
with an almost endless number of them. Bur, of course, in
granting any monopoly of this description, the legislature
weed be careful that the interests ot-the public should. be duly
ptovided foe:
If the above, or some similar company were in operation,
amid men of business adop eel the. rule of drawing bills of
ex herge so as to make them pay No •in commercial stock,
ins ead of in ort°inary legal tender, all such hills could, when
der", bemec or pad with cheques on the Commercial Stock
Office, and their acceptors would thereby be rend red almost
independent of. thy, fiectuatiens in the inane) mi ket. They
would, of courseehave to plev'de saidactory security for the
amount of any cheques issued for such pa pose, but this could
not be deemed a hardahile
A species of stock, similar to the ab,,;va in its general cha-
racteristics, might be ust d, with almost incalculable benefit to
the human race, in making interneional payments. It
would not only constitue a very convenient and economical
method of making such payments, but would faCilitate in an
enormous degree the transfer of capital from cent, ti ice wh .re
it is redundant, to those in which it is comp ire ively scarce.
It is well known that the demands of poor countries for
imported or foreign goods are limited, no' by tlicX wants, but
b ,their means of re-ptyment, and, hence, if neeees were p:o-
-vid d whereby the redundant capital of wealthy countries,
such as England, could be apptopria.ed to the purpose of
.
givmg pet maneht credit for a portion of the goods supplied
to such poor countries, it is obvious they would not only

I

become better customers to the extent of the credit given, but
would also, by thus having a better eupply of capita); be enabled.:
to improve their own powers of production, `acrd so 'attinire'
, greater meant of purchasing and paying for-foreign goods. In
my next I purpose entering somewhat into detaiton the means
for carryin4ouz wen a system Of international payment.
J. BRITTEN.