New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-01-31
REG ULATTNG THE SOCIAL EVIL.

The New-York Legislature proposes TO imi-
tate recent Western efforts at the manage
ment of unmanageable and beastly vice.
Perhaps they might better contemplate
the fate of the Western experiments. The
first law for the regulation Of the So
"cial Evil" (Which is the polite for "Prostitu-
"tion W in St. Louis having proved complete
and somewhat ignominious failure, the ordi-
nance-makers of that city have put their heads
(such as they are) together, and have con-
cocted an entirely new set of regulations,
which, if our memory serves us, are not quite
so different from the old ones as to promise .
gratifying moral success. The truth is, that
in this country all attempts to copy the legali-
cation of prostitution prevailing in European
cities must fail, because we have no police
force trained in action, keen of scent, at once
incorruptible and memorable. Under the
license which we call liberty, the provisions
of any ordinance are without much difficulty
evaded. Having substantially removed the
moral stigma of prostitution by giving
it, if not the sanction at least the
sufferance of law, fallen women without
even the required condition of following their
vocations, will find many secret ways OF ply
ing their miserable traffic in their own diseased
and degraded persons. Once the necessity OF
q polluted class in society admitted, that class
has secured certain status from which it will
not be found easy to dislOdge it. Then it is
that the still-beginning, never-ending trouble
begins The time of tho Police is spent, its
energies taxed, its patience exhausted In hunt
ing up offenders who have retired still deeper
within the recesses of abominatiOn. The public
money is wasted in tracking few miserable
offenders, and before these have been
indicted and convicted the whole work
is to do over again. Standing in
her wretchedness and degradation. q
poor, despised, an unlicensed Outcast, the
fallen woman of st. Louis to whom the Hon
orable the City Council of st. Louis has re-
fused protection accorded to her sisters in
sin, will defy all legal authority, and will find
ways enough to make good her defiance.
But this is not the worst. Women of the
class affected by this special legislation, are
especially sensitive to espionage and control.
They have hatred Of restraint which is pc
culiar to their calling. This is the chief diff
Guilty which retreats for fallen women have had to
encounter. TO one who has been accustomed to
the wild abandonment Of the stews, the quiet,
religious atmosphere, the orderly ways, the regu-
lar habits of a Magdalen Asylum are in
sufferable. The purity disguss, the piety repels,
the restraint tOrments her. 1t will be found
if we are not mistaken, in st. Louis, that these
feelings will render the enforcement of the new
ordinance equally difficult with the enforce
ment of the old one. The cards Of health
will be considered as certificates Of shame
The physical examinations will be regarded
with adherence. The license may be one fol
! which very few will be thankful. There will
always be temptation to " break out" Eu'
ropean prostitution may he kept in better sub
lection, as we have intimated, because OF the
superior power and vigor and acumen OF the
police; but in America it is more difficult Il
secure a respect for legal restraint. The only
result therefore in ST. Louis will be that pros
titution will have received kind OF mdorse
! ment Of its rcspectabilitYI sort OF aeknow'