New-York tribune., 1901-10-26
STUDY THE SOCIAL EVIL.
JEROME ADVISES WOMEN TO FORM
THEIR OPINIONS FROM BOOKS AND
To ENCOURAGE MEN TO
LEGISLATE WISELY.
LEGISLATE WISELY.

Men are towards. and you must give them cour-
age" said Justice jerome nearly a thousand
women gathered yesterday afternoon at Carnegie
Hall 10 hear the presentation OF facts regarding the
social eyil as fostered by Tammany You women
must acquaint yourselves with the history ot the
social evil before you can judge what is the best
way 10 treat IT, DO be led by ministers or law
vers OF any sentimentality. but study the subject
from the books written upon II, and then, with
calm, cool judgment. devote yourselves 10 forming
q public opinion that shall give your husbands and
brothers and sons courage 10 legislate wisely and
according 10 their convictions in the matter, they
do not now dare 10 do for fear Of running their
political prospects.
''The first thing you want TO get out OF your heads
Is the nonsensical notion that we can get rid Of
vice. The most that we can do is TO minimize IT,
so that shall least not be Haunted before the
innocent and pure 10 their contamination. There
are about a hundred thousand women in this city
who lead lives Of vice. They cannot be driven into
the deep sea; they cannot be electrocuted; they
cannot in any considerable numbers, be saved
Their lives are hard enough. poor creatures! Seven
years is about its limit. But you can't get them,
when they have once been led driven into IL, to
give Il up and go 10 scrubbing because there is at
least a seunblance OF amusement IN the dance and
carousal.
MORE AMUsEMENTS NEEDED.
What New-York needs is not more libraries but
more innocent amusenents provided for the poor"
Loud applause interrupted the Justice. and then
he continued:
aim at segregation. I cmphatically do not believe
IN segregation. / believe that public morality and
public decency would be better served by a law
that would treat as q nuisance any open display OF
immortality. The woman who sat at her window so
dressed as 20 attract the attention OF passers by
or in any manner solicited them should be pun
shed on the basis OF being nuisance. This would
soon abolish many OF the worst features OF the evil
the would soon learn, IL the law was
executed honestly. 10 preserve an outward decency
I would rather have house fun OF such women
next door to my house than scattered among the
tenement houses. plying their evil trade, as they
do, before children helpless 10 avoid them
Justice Jerome asserted that many men think as
he does on the subject but fear 10 express them
selves openly public opinion believes that legis
iatiOn should aim 10 extermnate vice and will not
be satisfied with remedial measures. He referred
briefly to the horrors OF the so-caled cadet sys-
TEN. in which girls are kept literally imprisoned
and money given them by the keepers OF the
houses in the form OF brass checks. These they
must surrender 10 the men who placed them there,
who get the checks 'cashed" by the keeper.
DESPERATE REMEDIES.
The meeting was presided over by James w.
Pryor. who said IN opening IT:
Desperate diseases it is said. require desperate
remedies. The disease from which this cofnTnnhity
given such facts as have been disclosed is
desperate remedy; Police commissioner Murphy 1
and the vile rufflan Devery have advanced the
grotesque theory that the whole trouble wltn the
Police Department arises from the insoier az am :
given rise 70 that intolerart clamor; The com
nsnlty now knows Il and VII Know u & ngc q not
merely 10 beat Tammany but TO wipe II OUT tAis
world one which deliberately chooses TO be ruled
by organization responsible for incredible nor
tor In one OF the cases In when conNlcuohs were
secured Judge Mcmahon said:
Il accepted plea in this case simply because i
that such a depth OF utter depravity and moral
trpitude existed in any human being Thls trat-
he aS sAdTsR 10 B7een Rqs Eos to STOP Is '0
The ordinary citizen. man or woman. who is told
that this condition exists will say that u Is not
possible. II becomes necessary, therefore TO speak
,l ana 10 present not argnments nut laets ~act 81
sfairs does exist. and that Tammany Han is re-
ronsible.
NECESSITY FOR PUBLICITY.
= the purpose OF this meeting were simply 70
sorify you. 10 appeal your susceptbiiiues and
g excite your compassion, the men who VIII ad-
To, ~ Cou4a nse no H. iV I t a srnnairn
meeting IN The ordinary sense. II is a meeting de-
publicity 10 oompei every man and woman in New
-aofk City 10 listen 10 things or which ordinariikg
Election Day the city OF New-York must think and
tak about this thing and about nothing else. In
lence. 'D'' 'N'S' ''' ''''
District Attorney Phnbln's address was. in the
main, that embodied in the pamphlet Facts for
Fathers and Mothers" which is being sent out by
The WOmans Municipal League. He described the
means by which innocent girls are lured into evil
hFes and the methods brought TO bear upon the po-
nee TO prevent their rescue. Mr.. Philbin declared
mai the TaEamany district leaders secure an in
come from the houses TO which these young girls
are taken. and no policeman would dare TO inter
tere he read a number OF letters addressed TO him
~ residents Of certain districts OF them
mothers whose daughters had been abducted and
lgst calling upon him 10 abolish those awful
places" and assuring him that IL no 20
81 help from the police" The District Attorney
tfnrmed that he had been able 10 secure punish