The Progress., 1893-05-13

picion of tho act Of which n is d@ily
guilty.
(b) Such \ solution would only aga
vate tho evil Ivy emphasizing its clu,c-
namely, a dual standard of right. TIL"
secret of the curse today is that there
are two codes of mOralS-Onc for women,
another for men. Any proposition 10
rcgulat" this vice Is proposition -
erect a dual standard of right. of truth
II procl;in5 the monstrous lie that in
duigcnce in vice Is u necessity for man.
Prostitution Is not weakness it i ,
crime.
W) Therefore the state cannot lcgaliae
crime without committing suicide. The
state has no moro rig9 10 recognize
prostitution "A necessary evil than 1t
has The right - recognize stealing IS i
necessary evil. Stealing viii doubtless
never l." totally suppressed. Is it slr".
Therefore. to say that because we caunot
totally suppress it we must regulate il;
(d) No system of regulation has ever
checked the evils of prostitution. but has
only served to increase them and a@gra-
vatc them. This i tEc testimony iu,ou-
trovcrtitlef~om every experiment whnr"
it has been tried. The result has been
not th' decrease of disease. bat the in
crease of disease. II has not diminished
the evil. Gut increased it III the number
Of those who fall victims. The number
of evil women has increased: the nUui-
ber of young men dcbauchcd has in
creased. \ wider harvest of death has
alway5 been r"apcd. Tho city of Colmar,
GA. has recently abolished the system
of regulation, having pronounced it
dismal failure. The mayor of Colmar de-
clares that the morals of the town have
steadily improved from that day. All
the laws ON the subject of regulation
have been swept from the statute book
of England as a disgrace 10 the
nation. In Russia the system hGa
been pronounced a failure. In Aus
tria it has been pronounced
failure. None of its professions has
ever been carried ont. and in every case
they have fail-d to 10 what was pre-
tended could be done by their promoters.
In Spain CASTILLO states that the means
for regulation are utterly imperfect; that
the visitation provided in law is incf-
ticient and the treatment in hospitals
equally 80. In Germany we have the
Same story Of failure in her great cities
In Italy the laws regulating prostitution
were repealed in 1883. In 1880 the laws
of regulation We're abolished in Dcrn.
Switzerland. and in Christiania. Norway
Denmark swept the laws from her stat
ute books IN 1SS9. In France the failure
has been most dismal of all. The city
of Paris has registered between 600 and
5000 women of i'll rcputc. and yet We
are tcld that in the city there are 100. 900
such women.
THE ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION.
What does regulation amount to!
Paris is the most corrupt city socially in
the world. Contagious diseases are more
prcvalent in Paris than any city in thn
world. What has regulation done for
Paris: Ii has simply de0auchcd the pub
lie conscience and taught the Young
manhood of France that prostitution Is
a necessary evil; that the state rccog-
niZcs IT, and that therefore indulgence il
y question of taste But men say thatis
is impossible to suppress the evil: that it
has always failed where tried. Is TINS
true; Where has it failed: Where has
it ever been tried? We have not vet
emerged from the primitive barbal1sn
that would seek to degrade woman ~
tho process Of regulation. We have never
failed because we have never tried. Man
l,te al
meeting woman upon an equal ground.
Charles Darwin, the great scientist, tells
us that man is the only animal in which
the male Is ever unlSind to the female.
1t was Il subtle FrenchmGn who said. in
view Of the long subjugation of women.
The virtue of woman Is the wittiest in
vention of man."
This is the opinion, know. of certain
leaders of thought in the old world, but
are not better things to be expected of
American manhood? We have be II tho
founders of the world in leading the race
to the heights of liberty and of truth
Shall we crawl back 70 the sewers of tho
dark cities Cf the old world to find the
ways of life: Let American manhood
look to a higher and diviner ideal Well
has Miss Willard said on this point again:
The manhood of America is the noblest
and most mastcrful Oh earth because it
has mastery of itself. Our everyday re-
ligiOn has 50 developed women and re.
fined men that men think of us with re-
spect and reverence" Let American
manhood not crawl to the depth Of IN.
fanny Of the European ideal, which de
grades woman to the level of brute.
who may be deprived of her person. OF
her rights, of her life to feed the lust OF
man.
There is only one possible solution for
this question. and that is suppression.
and it should be wrought in two ways
legally and persuasively. Our laws should
enforce a single standard of truth and
purity. The house of the strange woman
4.