The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1910-06-03
A DANGER SIGNAL

ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be
wise. Sometimes the bliss of ig-
norapce is followed by an awaking
to tragedy and tears. The prudent
foreseeth the evil, the simple pass
on and are punished. II the pun
ishment fell only on ourselves, 1t
would be easier to bear. II only
the tears we're ours and the tragedy
ours! but, alas! often the penalty
of our folly falls on those whom
we should have protected, and their
tears are bitterer and their tragedy
more tragic.
The War on the White Slave
Trade, by Earnest A. Bell
is terrible reading. So is the re-
port from the Immigration Com
mission to the Senate on the same
subject (Senate Document 1867. But
these are terrible facts of American
life which these publications tell,
andignorance of them Is no preser-
walton of innocence. 1t is an invi-
tation to disaster worse than death.
Whether there is a personal devil
in anothere sphere influencing us
in this we do not undertake to say
but that there are devils living in
America, male and femnlc, is an
unquestioned fact. Influenced
partly by lust, partly by greed OF
gain, partly by mere devilish de-
light in wickedness, these veno-
nous human spiders spin their
webs with more than cunning and
with more than callousness to
human suffering of Mephistopheles
Says Mr.. Edwin A. Sims, United
States District Attorney of Chica-
go: "There is really trade in the
ruin of girls as much as there is a
trade in cattle or sheep or other
products of the farm. And again: !:
"The recent examination of more
than two hundred white slaves'
by the officers Of the United District
Attorney at Chicago has brought
to light the fact that literally
thousands of innocent girls from
the country districts are every
year entraped into life of hope
less degradation and slavery, be-
cause parents in the country do
not understand conditions as they
exist, and how to protect their
daughters from the white slave
traders who have reduced the art
of running young girls to nation
al and international system. And
again "The evidence obtained from
questioning some two hundred and
fifty girls taken in Federal raids
! on Chicago houses of ill repute
: leads me to believe that not few Ell
: than fifteen thousand girls have
been imported into this country in
, the last year as white slaves" He
adds that this is, of course, only q
guess, but he believes it is a con.
D servative one. And this guess il
!, confirmed by the judgement of th'
immigration Commission who say
In the report to Congress: SIN th'
3 judgement of practically any on'
. who has had an oppurtunity TO
careful judgement, the number
imported run we'll into the thous
ands each year.
But the importation is not onl!
nor chiefly from abroad; it is fron
\ the country to the city; and from
. every part of the country int
: every city of considerable size
" And every variety of art is prae
. ticed to capture these slaves
Sometimes the young girl trave
r ing alone to the city is accosted b
: a specious-looking man, who fall
II into conversation with her an
10 offers to toke her to quiet, re'
1t pectable boarding g-house. Som'
r times the hackman whom unsus
1t pectingly she employs at tn
j. station delivers her at the priso
house. Sometimes the travelin
a man of this infamous traffic, lool
a ing for victims, makes her acqu,
,s intance in her village home, offel
!, her promise of employment, an
d with the consent of her unsuspec
ing parents, conveys her to tt
/. city, and to what is worse ths
lc death. Sometimes, If che be Q