Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-05-24
VICE IN CHICAGO
NOTED socIoLoolsT SPEAKS TO
LARGE CROWD AND TELLS NE.
cRoEs TO PROTECT THEIR
GIRLS AND WoMEN-0lscRiMih.
ATING LAWS IN WINDY CITY.

Chicago, Ill-Dean Sumner. the not
ed sociolog!st and chairman OF the
Vice Commission OF Chicago, address
ed q mass meeting OF negroes held I'M
der the auspices Of the Western
league, organized for the protecuon
of colored women, at the Odd Fellows
hall.
Among other speakers was Mrs. Ce-
liza Parker Wooley, lie staunch iriend
and social settle worker among
colored people. ..
Dean Sumner. after an introduction
by Father Massey of the st. Thomas
Episcopal church, Immediately
plunged into his subject: How 10
save our colored girls" He stated
that the subject OF vice was not
race question. and he disliked very
much to discuss It along those lines.
but 1t is very evident that the moral
conditions in Chicago and many 9TH
ers warrant immediate steps to eradi-
cate vice and change the moral s..ua'
ton among the co!ored people.
He gave in detail facts and figures
showing the abominable conditions ex.
listing in Chicago from segregated
vice. '@,t<
According to police regulations
there are districts set apart for the
practice of prostitution, and 1t is gen.
orally located in colored neighbor-
! hoods. Cons equently. those who Will
not submit to their families being sur
rounded by such intolerable conditions
are forced to move into more desirable
neighborhoods; and those who are IN
able to avail themselves OF this 'oppor'
tunity-which seems to be their only
alternative-are compelled to remain
with their young girls and children OF
a tender age, completely immersed IN
| an ocean of vice and corruption OF the
! most degrading sort.
In one segregated vice district there
| are 1,475 colored children, and besides
| coming into unavoidable contact with
the lowest and most degraded kind OF
prostitutes, thieves, robbers and muir
derers, they are permitted to frequent
these resorts and run errands for the
| inmates. Such conditions are out
| rageous, intolerable and should Aot be
permitted for moment.
Upon these facts Dean Sumner laid
| great stress, stating that such condi.
tons would not be tolerated by white
people for an instant. Moreover. there
is a law upon the statute books of ILL
nois which prohibits white girls or
women from ~orking or acting in any
capacity as a servant in house Of
prostitution: while colored girls and
women at any age beyond sixteen are
permitted with the greatest of free
dom to work as servants, he said.
The Everleigh club alone employs
fifty-two colored servants, many Of
them girls and women. Is this right?
Shall this GROWING shame of the age
be allowed to continue? Go unrebuked,
unchecked without a vigorous protest
from our leading colored citizens to
the public authorities, the mayor, city
council and the state legislature?
There is no doubt but that such law
In substance is just and equitable.
But where is the Justice and protec-
ton to human morals in such a law
as this! It Is manifestly unjust, dis
criminatory, class legislation and
therefore unconstitutional. It should
be amended or repealed.
For the leaders of the race to su.
| al IN ho ~
such law, is an obvious resignation
of their inherent rights and privileges
Of citizenship"