Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-09
TELLS
Of VICE WAR At
CHIEFS MEET
Declares at Convention of Police
Heads of u. S. That Atlanta
Now Is Clean.
Continued From Page /.

tors to rid a city Of an epidemic. but
IL would not take a city long to rid
itself Of a doctor found promoting the
epidemic.
Vice is one thing and protected vice
is another, and public officials are
paid 10 prevent crime. and when they
protect it and assign a place for it,
then they are subject to be i'm
peached.
Physicians declare the system
deadly and unnecessary, Scientists
say that from il come bacteria
binding and blighting Of babies,
manning and killing of wives Soci
ologists pronounce IL the greatest
source Of social impurity. The law
forhids IT as a menace TO morals and
health.
Trouble Is Higher Up."
I dare say that 90 officers out ut
100 would enforce the laws against
the social evil if they knew that their
Jobs depended upon H. They would
not stop 20 think whether Il is neces-
| sary or not The trouble is higher up
Defenders of segregation have
! knowledge Of the world Not with
out sadness they say the closing Of
the houses viii not eliminate the
social evil Some Of them almost
weep In referring TO the antiquity II
the evil. but they forget that theft
was committed a long time ago, and
that murder also is Of ancient ORR
gin, Cain slew his brother Abel be.
fore the brothol had been devised
Imagination staggers at the thought
Of the heights that might have been
attained by the thief and the murder
er I'm their peculiar lines had they
been favored with a segregated dis
triCt In which to ply their iaWless
practices Theft and murder are old
er, but the defenders Of segregation
would never think for a moment ~
advocating their protection.
! understand "a splendid jew has
been leading the battle for deceugy
In the city of Pittsburg. Similar bat
ties are being fought AN over the
country, and the good people are fear
/ lessly standing behind the guns in
the combat against this great peril
| that mcnaCes our girls and threat
| ems our glorious WomanhOOd.
The State that officially tolerates
and guarantees houses of vice as
sumes the role OF procurer The
| same must be said OF cities.
The great city of Berlin has closed
these places Madrid and London
/ have done the same thing Chicago
has closed them, as has eight or ten
other large cities in the United States.
Atlanta's Vice War.
! Under the segregation plan the
open house of vice means police pro-
lection In fragrant violation of the
/ law. In my own city, the city of At
/ lanta, we had a segregated district
until eight months ago. 10 had eN-
] {.y.H ayraf eirRR Atlanta had haRr "a
/ city There had always been sem
| tmeut that such "a district was ueCes-
sary. Where such "a sentiment orig
] mates is question that puzzles my
mind No doubt some men are honest
lin their opinion that segregation is
the only solution. hut / am of the
opinion that this sentiment iS strong
est with the men who receive money
from such places, and men who care
| nothing about the morals NJ the
community
We ordered all the houses known to
use to close their doors The good
people Of our city offered the women
/ assistance IN the way of homes and
money until they could get employ
ment So they could make am honest
/ living About - per cent of them aC-
ccpted this offer but the larger part
Z left the city and Went To- other cities
] " mere NIltA tANtEA NN.IIN NlIt same
7 life
Elimination Is impossible
I do not say we have none of this
class of people now. nor do D ever
expect To see time when they viii
|aU be eliminated from our city but I
I do say there is not one recognized
; house In Atlanta We have mo- more
complaints In residence sections from
I ssiguation houses than when we had
I the segregated district
/ The closing OF the district has had
I the effect Of decreasing crime ana dis
order fully oHe-third. which fact
alone shows the wisdom OF this ac-
tiou. Then. too. we have less trou-
/ bile with the cheap hotels than before
. for the reason that the voprietors
Z know such places are hCiuG closely
watched and that they are under sus-
plCion. Before the closing of the dis
triCt We had much trouble with these
lCheap hotels as they were frequeuted
Z by many younC girls
OF course ! have found much ouro-
sit0n 90 the closing OF tEe district
D but tt comes mainly from the men
I vEo have been making money from ID.
/ for years There were houses rhatI
rented for from four -o eight hundred