Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-02-11
S0CIETY'S VICTIMS.
EXHIBITION OF A SKELETON
TO SHAME MEN.
Capitalism'S Cruel Decree Working
People Provide the IdlerS With
a Maiden Tribute"-All
"Ciyilized" Nations
One in Guilt.
W, WILLIS HARRIS in London Justice. "

St. Augustine said, "Remove the
protitutes aud swamp everything
with lust" and he thanked God
they existed, as they saved the yir-
tue of honest women. The b0Hr-
geotsic, though they have not the
courage to openly state this to-day,
by their conduct and by the tacit
consent of "society,' affirm the
principle, and practice it without
the slightest compnnctlon: their VIC
Tins being the women of the poor.
The honor of servant girls, milliners
and dressmakers, they think no more
of outraging than the owners of
chattel slaves did Of debauching
those subject to their yoke. The
young men Of the middle and upper
classes are commended by our social
reformers, political economists and
Malthuslans, for being more prudent
and proyident than those of the
working class, because they marry
late in life; these eXpounders and
eulogizers of the present system of
society conveniently ignore that
these prudent aud provldent young
men usually crafty their passions
by running the daughters of the
working class, which economic con-
ditions offer as a vicarious sacrifice
for the ladies Of the wealthy classes
to whom the poplnjays Of society ul-
timately unite themselves. These
B0UrgeolsIe women express their graf
itude to their poorer and weaker sis.
ters for thus sacrificing themselves
SO that they may not be doiled by
the male members of their own
class, by looking upon them with
loathing, and treating them with the
utmost contempt; whilst they well
come, as respectable members Of
their community, the Williams who
have wrought the ruin of the daugh-
ters of the poor-these husbands
who have euphemistically "sown
their wild oats," and with whom
they unite themselves in matrimony.
The marriage of young women to
rich old worn out debauchees, and
that of young men to dlgusting old
baronesses and rich dowagors-the
old seeking lust and the young
wealth--is almost Of daily occur
ance in the circles of the well-to-
do. And yet, from these classes
and their hirellngs Of the press, we
are told that Socialists would de-
stroy not only the Claw and order"
of our present anarchlcal system, but
marriage and the family from this
holy and moral society. And we
hear this from the class that has
produced from $4,000 to 100, 900
prostitutes in London alone; nearly
all these poor wretches, be it remem-
bered, are drawn from the working
class, whose wives, daughters and
sisters are debauched with the hard
earned money wrung from the IA
thers, brothers and husbands of the
poletariat by the vultures of society.
We are sometimes told that pros
titution is as much the fault Of
women who practice it as the men
who cause it, but anyone who knows
anything of the social evil knows
full well that the vast majority Of
poor wretches who haunt the streets
of our great cities at midnight are
victims either Of the lust or the
avarice Of the vampires that prey
upon society. Some are compelled
to exc out miserable livelihood by
practicing this ncfarious trade, ow-
ing to being exploited of the surplus
value of their earnings by the en-
ploying class, their wages not being
sufficient for them to subsist upon.
Others are first seduoed and then
abandoned to cruel and hypoerit-
ical world, compelled to walk the
streets, to be bullled by the minlons
| Of Warren, drown their sorrows in