Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1912-06-20
fJane Adams, in MccIure's)

aside as outcasts from decent society
that it is considered an improperly
to speak the very word that designates
them. Lecky calls this type of woman
1.-THE most mournful and the most awful
figure in history" he says that "she
remains, while creeds and civilizations
rise and fall, the eternal sacrifice OF
humanity, blasted for the sins OF the
people," But evils SO old that they
are+imbedded in mans earliest his
tory have been known to sway before
an enlightened public opinion, and in
the end to give way to a growing
conscience; which regards them first
as a moral affront and at length as
an utter impossibility. Thus the
generation just before US, our own
fathers, uprooted the enormous upas
of slavery, "the tree that was literal
" as old as the race of 4+man,' al
though slavery doubtless had it's be-
ginnings in the captiyes OF mans
earliest warfare, even as this existing
evil thus originated.
White Slavery as an Organized Traffic
Throughout this article, the phrase
social evil" is used to designate the
sexual commerce permitted to exist
in every large city, usually in segre-
gated district, wherein the chastity OF
women is bought and sold.
The Case of the Girl Imported From
Abroad.
First in value in the white slave
commerce is the girl imported from
abroad, who, from the nature OF the
case, is most completely in the power
of the trader She is literally friend
less and unable to speak the language,
and, at last discouraged, she makes
no effort to escape.
j The Position of the Friendless ln1ml-
~ grant Girl.
Throughout the congressional dis.
cussions of the white slave traffic, be-
ginning with the HoWell-Bennett ACT
in 1907, it was evident that the sub
ject was closely allied to immigra
ton; and when the immigration com
missioners made partial report to
Congress in December, 1909, upon
"the importation and harboring oil
women for immoral purposes" theil
finding only emphasized the report Of
the commissioner-general of immigra
ton made earlier in the year.
The situation is enormously com
plicated by the pharisaic attitude Of
the public, which wishes to have the
comfort of declaring the. social evil tt
be illegal, while at the same time il
expects the police department to regu
late it and to make it as little obvious
as possible. In reality, the police, az
they themselves well know, are no
expected to serve the public in this
matter, but to consult the desires. O.
the politicians; for, next to the fast
and-loose police control of gambling
nothing affords better political mater
ial than the regulation Of commercial
lied vice.
The fortunes of the police are 81
. tied up to those who profit by thi
trade, and to their friends the politi
clans, that the most wen-meaninI
man upon the force is handicapped.
1t is clear that the bulk of the en-
tire traffic is conducted with the you'll
of the community, and that the socia
evil, ancient though it may be, mus
be renewed in our generation through
it's younger members. The fact tina
recent investigation of the white slav
traffic has emphasized the youth o
Its victims doubtless in a measure &C
counts for the new sense of compunt
ton which fills the community. 1t i
safe to predict that in time the live
and temptations of these boyish vic
tins, as well as those of the girls
will be placed beofre the public b
that group of vigorous writer's VIII
have begun to investigate the whit
slave traffic. They are fearlessly TO
lowing the clues they find, even whe
they lead to men of high finance an
to those Of Improbable social stanc
ing, quite as another set of magazin
writer's are Investigating Commercial
corruption, following its ramification
wherever they may lead, into politica
social, or religious life. These writer
have shown that the profits of tn
landlord are no small part of tn
vested interests involved, for It is az
parently difficult to resist the hig
rentals which houses in the segrega
ed districts can command if rente
for purposes of vice.
The PromIscuous Households of tn
Poor and Their Influence on
Young Children.
The little girls brought INTO tn