National Republican., 1873-06-05
THE soc, sociAb HyiI PROBLEM.
I. Its Resuiaiisn Pe-;blet-Fsrieus Opin'
lens for ssa Asaisst tho License systcu'-
The Eshsyieres q plnsrss, c.a.iris-,

....'f A..
The soelai problem, as II affects fallen |
women, has created moro argument m an
Client as we'll "a modern tithcs, than almost
any other subject. The history Of tho efforts
TO subdue or regulate the <Allc In body and
soul for pccunlaIy gain would MI volumes,
yet Il is true that no declsiSc results which
can silonco Argument on either sldc have
been attaipcI. Methods, some apparently
rationail and Others wholly impractlcable,
have been snggcstcd, and sometimes adopted,
yet to-day the discussious OF the problem arc
more heated than ever before. All attempts
TO entirely eradicate the evil have failedi and
there Is no reason 70 hopo that such result
will ever DO reached. Nor can the subject be
ignored. BraEen.taccd, gaudily dressed pros
tltutes meet ono on avery sldei the doors OF
their iens are thrown open To innooent girls,
and procurcrs employed 10 seduec them 10
lives Of shame. =, !, 'g.
Asto the system ia vogue In thl1 city the
arguments arc powerful, both for and
against. To ictalise prostitution is horrible,
and were the question slinply one Of taste,
tho propoaltlon would mover DO entertained
for n moment On Tho, other hand, tho
promise, however indefinite, to check the
propagation VI disease for tho sake Of the
Innocent deserves confederation, Another
question to DO solvedhi Does Nc plan lcssen
from so-callcd necessity for the first timer"
On these considerations the hrguments, 70 be
effective, must be based. Extreme reformers
who tako either side Of tho question slmpiy
destroy whatever good results aru reached,
without contributing To q solution Of the
problem. Tho following extracts are taken
from q work published two years ago, and
are rcpubllshed because Of the increasing iu-
tcrcst the subject Is exciting
~ AaAtsBT TuBbrsTEN.
Edmund Andrews, NJ d., Of the Chicago
Medical College, draws from brief history
uf the evil deductions unfavorablc TO the plan
Among The Roman empsrors, Constantine
the Great, Thcodosius |, Theodosius ii, aud
Justlniail, enacted severe measures against
prostitution but, "a they ruled over cities
whose corruption was so profound ~ TO DO
almost inconceiyabie to modern minds, II Il
not likely that they met with any great sue
cess IN thelr efforts at repression. Hl
About the year l25i, 81. Louis, Of Ffnncc,
after his fefurn from Palestine, made two
finally forced to tolerate prostitution In GER
tain quarters Of the citioa.. In 1890 an edict
ordered the suppression Of AL the houses IN
France. Tho corrupt public sentiment gave
no support 10 the law, aud In Paris great pop
ular resistance was made; however, In about
cccded In dosing all the brothuls In the city,
but there sprang up such number OF private
places of vice that tho evils of these secret
dcns, combined with the difficulty Of main
tanning a constant police tursion against pop
ular sentiment, caused = relaxation Of tic
efforts and return 70 q sort of variable mix
turc Of liberation aud repression.
In Spain the poralar corruption became so
great that toyos the clergy and tho converts
were contaminated. The Government at
tcmpte>a to stem the torrent by several severe
prosIlbItory odirts, but In vain. Discouraged
" bad success, toward the cnd Of the fifteenth
century q system Of federation and regula-
tion was adopted, but In l6S there was so
much dissatisfaction with that plan that
Philip ~ again resorted to repression. In
100 the Government seemed TO become again
discouraged with that policy and abandoned
II, doing nothing more OF any consequence
until ave years ago, when they again took up
the toleration and regulation system.
In Berlin prostitutes were tolerated In q
do-nothlng Kind Of way until the reforma-
tlon, when repressiyc moasnrcs were at
tempted, but with such poor ,ucccss that, ai-
Ger some variations, they were abandoned.
The prostitutes were now tolerated, but re-
quirod to 1.-Two In certain quarter Of the city.
This prvtuced such decline Of the value Of
propcrty In that vicinity that real estate
oSners brought great pressure to bear on the
Government, and In 1914 new suppression
: preston, during which IL Ia claimed that vice
and disease increased, the present system Of
federation and regulation was adopted, which,
In Its turn, Is falling into some Ndisrcpute,
from the utter inability Of the police, by their
fraction Of those whom they believe 10 be
prostitutes under registration and control.
In England and the United States no very
decided policy was pursued until recently, the
general plan being to have laws on the sub
feet, but not to push them to any vigorous
execution. In Philadelphia, however, the
polIcu at one timo assalled the prostitutes
with such energy that at length there was not
q single known brothel left In the city. To
what extent this really diminished prostitu-
tlon and Its diseases IL Is not easy 70 say, as
no statistics were collected, but they met with
an evil Of another sort, which appears to
have always cropped out when police efforts
are more energetic than the morality Of the
community Will sustain. Tho trouble re-
ferrcd TO Is this Tho more crafty OF the
strumpets, driven from their usual haunts,
boldly got recommendation OF good chArae-
ter, and took positions Us servants and nurses
In respectable families, and thus carried on
their business under cover, often by the con-
nlyance Of the master Of the house. The
horror Of respectable housckoepen who
chanced to have sous growing 10 manhood,
with such women In daily contact with them,
tnay be easily conceived. This difficulty,
combiucd with the fact that police energy
can never bo kept long strsining at an aim
much above the current morality OF the COM
munlty, broke down tho plan, and caused q
return 70 sort Of federation.
In other cities no system OF any Kind has
been regularly pursued. The police have
nowhere believed that they could eradicate
tho houses and therefore fee OBLIGED 10 give
them kind OF half liberation. They have,
In general, mado practice Of moderately
hafasslng them by "pulllng the houses,
that is, arrcsting occasionally all the inmates
and aning them. There has been, however,
no serious expectation Of breaking them up,
us the women pay their fines and immedi'
ately resume their business In tho same
Tho general result Of all experiments Al
repression ID this, In small towns Of high
moral tone the combination Of virtuous
and educated public sentiment, with Judi
clous police action, 10 ablo 10 make very
encouraging hoadway against this class OF
Offenders; but where there Is large class Of
sailors, immigrants and vicious .persona; In
short, where public sentiment does not gC
hapd-in-hand with all thoir measures, the
police arc left without allies, and can do al
most nothing, Il further appears that when
police action Is NJ once severe aud far ahead
OF the moral sentiment Of the population,
the prostitutes are driven int private faml'
lies aud other places as employees, and be-
come, by contact with respectable young
persons, new centres Of attraction. We
may, therefore, without hesitation, draw
this conclusion, There Is no wonderful
quack remedy for the immediate cure Of this
owl. Il must be attacked with broad plan.
aud wide measures. II will 10 suppressed
lust In proportion a. public virtue and Intel.
lgence grow among all classes, and lend
their support aud power to any police meas
uros which may be adopted. Repression
must bo based on reform.
SECRET REoIsrRArIos OF WOMEN,
The same writer continues Tho police
need for their purpose y list Of these women
but We have seen above that q compulsory
registry Is always q failure, the police ol
Paris enrolling only 3, ,o53 out Of about o., 600
and those Of Berlin only 1850 out of 2d,yjt
Of those suspected. The reasons My h'
women resist the registry We haze already
--dwelt upon, but perhaps the following ough,
to be addedf The great mass VI actual pros
titutes arc not like the lowest class, dc
bauched out Of al shame aud bcreft u hopc
OF better things. They have friends whom
they love, aud who often do not know thell
errors. Thoy have family connections and
some relics Of good roI taiion, as well Al
their liberty 70 preserve. An European
writer remarks thus Fur all these wOmer
,ao,isttat atIau al tina AuFe an dea MmurB mean