Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-28
THE FALLEN WOMEN.
Proposition of the Grand Jury Further
Discussed by Fair Play lis
Prostitution a " Necessary"
and IS Beneficial"
EVils

EDITORS APPEAL-The two grand Jury
men who reply through the columns of the
APPEAL to my structures on their recon-
mendatlon that the State constitution be
changed so as to give men more power to
tread unchaste women in the mire of degra-
dation, leaving unehaste men free to roam
whittier they will, reafirm their belief that
the prostitute class is necessity" and even
boldly proclaim the opinion that it is not only
a necessity, but that it is highly useful and
beneficial In its results to every community in
which it exists. | have long known that
some men hold this opinion, and hereby offer
my thanks to our grand jury for its free and
frank expression of that opinion Errors of
belief, if openly expressed, are less dangerous
than when secretly cherished. When open
to discussion their falsity, their hideous
wrong, can be exposed and people may oe
taught to hate the wrong and turn to the
right. One of oqr grand jurymen says:
The evil has a palliating feature-it
does to some extent protect virtue. "
Consider this, ye thoughtful men and women
of TENNESSEE The sacrifice of certain per
cent of our christian born women is neces-
sary to protect the rest from insult and per-
sonal violence, But for the existence of
he female prostitute Glass;" says grand
Juryman, the occurrence referred to in
Ohio, namely, the supplying of two little
girls, aged ten and eleven, and the violation
occurrence. Andi another grand jury man
says: ut is a necessary evil to protect our
wives and daughters from insult upon the
streets. Great God, what an admission is
this! Are the majority of men so savage
that the civilized minority could not hold In
check their beastly aggresslons? Is civiliza-
ton an utter fallureP Is religion a dream?
Did no Christ die on the cross? Is morality
a mythe? Are the laws of the land cobwebs
and powerless to provide or sustain? Do
grand jurymen really hold the hideous be-
lief that the only way to save our women
from insult upon the streets and our little
girls from outrage is to encourage the
growth of the wretched prostitute class? Is
it possible that men, claiming to be chris
doctrine that the only way to protect our
wives and little girls from the
coarse and cruel assaults of men
is to offer as sacrifice to the terrible Moloch
of sensualIty, which stalks our streets day
and night seeking whom it may deyour-
offer on the foul affairs of lust certain per
cent. of our christian born women, in the
fond hope that by such sacrifice of portion
the rest may to some extent be protected 2"
Do not these grand jurymen know they en-.
courage male sensualists in their nefarious
business when they assert that the prostitu-
ton of woman is necessary and ''bene-
6cial' thing? Are these grand jurymen
afraid to offend these brutal men, to whose
brutality they endeavor to pander by punish
ing only helpless women, by driving from the
sight OF decent women the down trodden vic
tins of male lust and leaving those males
free to carry on their evil work? Is this
the position the men of this State wish
to assume toward the social evil? If this evil
Is necessity; if it protects virtue, then it is
right, and 1t Is wrong to punish people for
dong the night No man not an idiot can
deny this logic. That all men are not dam
gerous to our wives and little girls one grand
juryman gives evidence when he testi6es TO
his own sinless conduct. The question arises.
Are there not enough decent men in Tenues-
see to put curb on the indecent? /, for one.
would vote for law to shut up men whose
violence would make the n dangerous to our
wives and little girls just as we shut up any
dangerous animal, or, what might be better
render such men physically incapable of
harniing ,eO1en and children. Surely even
a grand juryman can see that this plan would
be more just than the one they propose, and
for more beneficial to the race.
FAIR PLAY.
Boston, July q: The State Republican