The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1913-01-04

HEART OF MAGDAI.ENE.
From the Public:

From the Public:
"A small, severe, prim, puritanic-
looking woman" So she is described.
Not in reports from Jerusalem 1000
years ago, but in dispatches from New
York last week. She has "shrewd
eyes that are yet kindly, that fill up
easily with sympathetic tears, and
that are half hidden behind gold eye
glasses" Her blond hair, braided
plainly, is beginning to turn gray at
the temples. her chin is soft, cleft
With a dimple, but her mouth is the
grim, straight mouth of a fighter
And "she dresses quietly this Mag
dalene of New York and now, "her
only jewelry a wedding ring For
the first time we have here Magda-
lene who bares the heart Of here sis
terhood. Others have spoken for them
in charity or in contempt, to lift them
up or to trample them farther down;
but in her voice. ringing through the
newspapers of a continent, that sis
terhood of all the centuries speaks for
itself.
Mary Magdalene is not her name.
1t is Mary Goode. She owns and
manages New York house Of prosti-
tuition. Her testimony before an
aldermanic committee in New York
Is described as shocking in it's revela-
tons about the amount of money the
police wiring out of the fallen sister,
hood for protection" in their poverty
driven pandering to the vices Of men.
When asked for a newspaper inter-
view, she sadly replied: what more
can I say than I said on the witness
stand?" But she spoke again,
whether to say more or not than on
the witness stand; and we'll would it
be If the spirit of what she said were
anniversary season.
Let Magdalene be heard: Every
one is so hard on us; everyone con-
dennis us utterly. We are all out
casts, from whom good women draw
away their skirts; yet we are not
wholly bad. There's some little green
spot still left in our hearts. 1 do
not boast of what I have done, but
have saved many a girl. I have
sent many a poor, pretty little fool
anxious to see the world back to her
home. I never let good girl come
into my house. have never led any
girl into evil. Women-good wom-
en-think that women such as I, and
resorts such as keep, are their
greatest enemies. They do not know
the truth, and that is that WE are
not the home breakers. The girls
that wreck families are the pretty
flirts. This brings me to what I told
IN
is that the social evil can never be
regulated until we women Of the un-
derworld help you do it. We are the
only ones that can cure it. How
would we do it? First, by having
people recognize a situation that has
always existed, and that always will
exist, and deal with it honestly in
stead of hypocritically."
A situation, that always will exist
Yes, as long as the necessity for it
is tolerated as mans necessity, while
the crime of it is denounced as wo-
mans crime. For every female prostt-
tute in human society there must be
many who are men; else this age-old
profession could not persist. Why
then, do We always condemn the
woman? segregate the woman? quar-
antine the woman? sanitate the wom-
an? police-regulate the woman? Our
Magdalene answers US. It is because
we are hypocrites. She gives an in
stance, only one, and there are worse
ones higher up and nearer to the
altar, but here is hers: II was
raised by God-fearing parents, and
last Sunday I went to church. I
crept in like thief. and knelt by
the door, 80 humble I scarce dared
raise my eyes to the altar. Az
knelt, there. - big police official went
by with his chest thrown out and
marched himself to q front pew. d
knew his pockets were lined with the
money Of women such ass I am. and
that when they refused to pay tribute
| he broke down doors and threw Nm