New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-06-25

aDce TIE most geDItel dIu Iauy' uhe vi TIC Wolieu
v no grace Broadway fair afternoon, are courte-
cans, lie a fact well known to our citizens, and
not long concealed from strangers. That hundreds
of sumptuous palaces in the beet and most fashion
able quarters of the town are the brothes in which
these fair but deceitful women hold revelry is
equally well known, and to their cost, too both by
citizens and strangers. But the mass of men aud
women know little of the end Of these things; only
the few professional and ministerial agents Of the
law. and fewer lsymeD, ever take the trouble to
follow to its fearful termination the path Of her
"whose feet go down to death, and whose steps
" take hold on hell"
Upon the causes and extent of Prostitution in
New.York, and its effects morally and physically upon
the people, some terrible facts presented in the
latest official report of DR.. VIM. W. Sanger the Re-
sident Physician of Backwel's Island This report,
which has been prepared with extreme care, EN-
braces the annual history of all the medical nstitu
tions under the charge Of the Governors of the
Alms- House; but our present purpose involves
only the returns from the Penitentiary Hospital,
the great lszar house for the lowest and most
degraded Of the army Of prostitutes, and the equally
low and degraded of their male victims.
1t appears that during the pact year 2, O53 cases
of disease have been under treatment in the Peni-
Tertiary Hospital, or decrease of 20 per cent. on
the number treated in 1855, of which % LILO per
cent were cases of venereal disease, or increase
on the lastyear Of IA lilo per cent, and on 1854
of over 35 per cent, showing without doubt great
increase of the disease in the City Of New-York.
As nearly 500 Of the patients treated in the hos
pital were cursed by this disease of vice, and
large proportion of the remainder ws,s1y conclude
from the lndyeet 81 e hospital are in fact the sta
tistics Of RIGHTEOUSNESS.
One Of the first facts which strikes us is that
though nominally members Of Pententiary Hos
pital, only $40 out of every 100 are really Court
prisoners, the remaining 90 2-lO per cent being
simply sick persons who have been obliged to re.
port themselves as diseased Migrants, in order to
be treated in this Hospital. Thus to woman of
this class, the last stage Of degradation-the pub
licly reporting her own shame-must be reached
before she is an object of this public charity.
OF the number admitted last year, it appears
that 20 lilo per cent were foreigners and 90 $40
per cent natives; of these last, New-York has
20 3. 10 per cent, and New.Jersey follows next.
Oftbe foreigners, Ireland has IS 6l0 per cent, and
Germany only $40 per cent. When We regard
the years of the patients, We find that over 20 per
cent are under 80 years ofage, and that about 400
are almost children, being l6 years and under.
That such persons are ignorant and unframed, is
to be expected-and We are not surprised that
about ~ per cent are or less uneducated, and
that nearly 700 are utterly unable to read aud write
Their habits are of course of extreme indulgence
Of appetite, and though intoxicaton is perhaps as
often with women result of Gcentousness as
cause, still the morast will not find 1t unnatural
that prostitution and drunkenness are so intimately
allied, as the facts in this Report make evident
OF the whole number, only IA 9-lO per cent claim
to be temperate; - $40 are moderate drinkers;
Il Flo per cent confess themselves addicted to the
use Of intoxicating liquors, and 20 9-lO per cent.
are Incorporate or habtual drunkards.
In inquiring into the causes Of this crime, one
must be struck at once with the dark revelations
made by this report, as to the HABITS OF TIE
parents of these patients. q" Ii we examine
Z" tables NJ and n, in connection with each
other" Gays DR.. Sanger, /" we shall lind
that tie parents of % clio per cent We're
" temperate; and Of the children of these parents
81 81 $40 per cent. continued temperate, 10 $40
"per cent had become moderate drinkers, 81 LILO
"per cent had fallen to intemPerance AMI 10 o-lO
per cent had reached the bottom OF the gulf and
&" scknow lodged themselves habitual drunksrds
Thirty three and two-tenihs per cent. oil the
parents were moderate drinkers; very few OF
their children were temperate, not quite IN
every 100; % l. per cent. followed the parents
example and were moderate drinkers; IL Clio
per cent. were incorporate, and ~ i-lO
"per cent. were habitua drupkards. The in
temperate parents amounted to ~ clio per
81 cent: and of their children 8 2'lV per cent.
= were temperate; 40 per cent. were moderate
d" drinkers; Il Ito per cent. were interiperste
- ard 81 per cent were habitual drunkards
A." -Four ard four-tenths of the parents We're ha-
- biiual drunkards; and Of their children, 26-lO
d" per cent. were temperate; 9-lO per cent. were
=. moderate drinkers: 80 $40 per cent. were inteu
perate, and 80 2-lO per cent. were habltual drunk
- ards-followng their parents example to its fall
e extent"
OF the nominal religion If these women, but
Little account is to be made It'll, it is worth motto
ing II at only 50 per cent. Protestants, and 81
4 10 per cent Roman Catholics. That the most Of
them are idlers, is to be expected. Over a per