The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-16
TO CHECK WHITE SLAVE TRADE.

TO CHECK WHITE SLAVE TRADE.
 The social plague called the white slave trade,'' has spasmodically at tracted the attention of the penologists with no other result than that it con-
 tinues to be on the increase, as the great social evil' in many countries
 seems to demonstrate. The National Vigilance Association of London took
 up the question in 1899 ana organized an international congress, during which
 were discussed the two following
 points: What should bL dcne to group the individual efforts which have been made? What should be done to pro- yoke legislation, intervention and diplo- matc action? The Revue f enitcntIare (Paris) published in extcns0 tle pro
 ceedings of the London congress, and since then has kept track of tfe moTc- ment which has been scientifically handled by the daily press. The imtne-
 diate result of this congress was the creation of an international bureau. which called together OcS"ber 3, 1901 at Amsterdam, the delegares of the fol- lowing nations: England, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France. Italy, Ncr- way, the Netherlands, Russia ana Swift
 zerland. The traite des blanches was again discussed at length and the Am sterdam congress adjourned to meet in Paris June 16. 1902, to take final action. Albert Giot, former chief of the
 Paris police, who is an authority on the
 subject, was intructed with the tas.. of | been considered thoroughly by the con-
 gress without being formally adopted.
 There are many difficulties in the way | of efficient action. In many countries, ] like England, for instance, it is almost impossible to secure direct legislation. In other countries, like France. as was l justly said by M. Felix Voisin-also a
 former chief of the Paris police-"How
 can we suppress the traite des blanches if we regulate by law the status of those who profit by the traffic?'
 In order to secure a reasonable sup pression of the traffic it would be neces- sary for each country to establish spec ial legislation with special penalties against the traffic Furthermore. extra
 dition laws should not only be enacted
 but a special police should be estab-
 lished under the control of the dlplo-
 matic or consular agents to watch the
 ports through which the traffic is con
 ducted. The great difficulty, it appears is to establish the crime unless the vic
 tim is a minor, and even then evidence
 is very hard to secure. A statement by
 M. Albert Gigot, which is supported by
 special inspectors of the prefecture o1
 police, throws considerable light on the subject. He asserts that the traffic wa:
 particularly extensive between Pafls New York and Amsterdam. yet he was never able to put his hand on the cul brit on account of defective laws. On' 1 man referred to was accompanying { minor to New York. He had engaged her as a governess in England. Find { ing that the trip was very long sn B spoke to the captain of the ship. Wh' 9 brought the couple back to Cherbourg The only thing accomplished was tha
 the girl was returned to her parents.
 It would be an error to believe tha
 the people engaged in this nefariou
 trade are poor and without status Il . life, Most of them have money and ap
 parently are engaged in some other pro fession: they hire criminals or declasse , to attend the dangerous part of tn /, work; they are organized, protect eac other. and always know where to fin l aforged birth record and other lega ) documents when passport is Wante t for the victim Another thing hard believe is that the victims themselVe e abject to the protection of the polio . when it is offered to them, and til
 same thing may be said of their parent Baltimore Sun.