Evening star., 1901-02-04

To the Editor of The Evening Star:
In answer to Secretary Roots telegram
asking whether houses of ill-fame are eli
ccnsed protected or in any way encour-
aged by the authorities Judge Taft tele-
graphs that they are not. He then goes on
to admit substantially all the facts charged
and to defend Them. He acknowledges that
even since November, 1898, the military
authorities have subjected the inmates OF
houses of ill-fame to "certifled eXamlna-
tons and compulsory medical treatment,
and that the expense was paid from a
fund in the custody of an army officer
This telegram from Judge Taft, Following
close on the heels of one from Gen Mac
Arthur fatty denying that the social evil Is
licensed, protected or encouraged, shows
the different senses in which words may be
understood. In the eyes of Judge Iaft anc
General Macarthur, a permit Is not a
license and to have prostitutes regularly
examined by army surgeons and furnished
with official health certificates is not to
protect or encourage prostitution On this
point not only the missionaries and the
churches but the common sense OF the aV-
erage citizen will dissent.
The two chief influences that deter
men from vice have been roughly defined
as .'the fear of God and the fear of conse-
ouences" How can it fail 10 act as an en-
couraeement to vice when the military au-
|
under their official supervision, and an
nounCe to our young soldiers that they will
try To make il as safe as possible for them
to sin? Judge Taft telegraphs that this otfi-
cial supervision of vice is a military ne
cessity." But it has never before been tol-
Grated in connection with the American
army. The best of the army men disap-
prove it. Theodore Roosevelt writes: Il
cannot sufficiently express my horror OF the
system" General Grant set his face against
it when the attempt was made to introduce
it in his time.
The efforts made to hide the facts from
the people at home show that those army
officers who have introduced this measure
in the Philippines knew it would incur
strong dsapproval By Judge Tafts own
acknowledgment the system has been in
operation for more than two years; yet
the truth has only just become known in
the United States. Every assertion by mis-
sionaries others in regard to 1t has been
met by disinGenuOus evasion or downright
denial, until Secretary. Roots telegram has
at last wrung out a reluctant acknoWledg-
ment. Judge Taft says: 1.-The system has
greatly reduced the percentage of disability
from this cause" If so, it is the first time
in history Its advocates always claim that
this will be the result but the promised
Improvement never materialiZes. Paris, the
head center of the system, where rigid
! regulation" has prevailed for more than
century, is scourged to a notorious degree
/ by the class of malades against which
! regulation" is designed to guard. Eng
| land repealed her regulation acts after sew
| enteen years experience had proved them
a complete sanitary failure, as well a
| great source of demoralZatio Almost
every religious denominati n in England has
| protested against the continuance of the
| system in some of the remote British de-
| Tendencies where it still fingers. One of
| the latest utterances on this subject was
by the English Catholic bishops Judge
| Taft telegraphs that the present system is
! better than futile attempts at total
| suppression in an oriental city of 100000.
| That is not the question. 1t is one thing
| to recognize that prostitution cannot be to-
| tally suppressed; 1t is quite another for the
United States military authorities to go into
| partnership in the business and to give II
! their official supervision and practical sane
| ton.
| Rev. F. II. Morgan of Singapore, a mis-
| sionary of the Methodist Episcopal board
| who went to the Philippines and personally
| investigated the matter. writes: DO our
| people at home realize what this means
| that their sons are taken from Christian
homes In America and brought to the trop-
les, with all the seductive influences preva-
| lent there and under the sanction of theil
| officers find everything made as easy as
| possible for them to live lives of impurity
and vice; that our Christian government
| through its representatives. provides every
| facility for such sin, and says by actions
If not by words that 1t is necessary. and
that young man cannot be pure away
| from homer"
mothers who never wanted to vote before
are now wishing for the ballot. Every one
who disapproves of this discreditable limo
walton in United States army method:
should write to his congressman on thu
subject, and also write to President Nc
Kinley as commander-in-chief,a asking tha
| official regulation" Of vice shall cease.
H. G. ADAMS.