The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1913-07-26
On the Enforcement Of Law ID i; Cities
Continued from Last Week
BIZ BRAND WHlIIA tK.

Continued from Last Week.)
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There is much more that I might
say on the subject, much that I
should like to say, much that per-
haps ought to be said. There is some-
how an impression that these women
and the habitues of the tenderloin
are there because they want to be
there. that they lead the kind OF life
tney 10 because it is happy and
joyous. Some speak Of it indeed, as
If they themselves were deferred
from adopting it only by fear Of some
future deprivation or punishment,
and that for the sacrifice they make
here they are to be appropriately re-
Warded hereafter. But the fact is
that these women are in that condi-
dition not because they want to be
but because they have to be. because
once in it through a mistake, and
generally not a mistake Of their own,
society will not let them seek any
other condition or rise to any higher
level. AS the saying is and as the
general belief seems to be, each with
reference to himself at any rate. they
"have to live" How are they to- live
in our civilization unless they can
get money? And how are they to
get money unless they can get job?
What Job Is Open? -:
And what job is open to them
other than the one they have?
So long as women are kept econ
omically dependent on men, just so
long will this condition exist, just so
long will officials and administra-
tons and society have to choose one
or the other horn of this dilemma.
And until the dawning of better
day in which there shall be equal op-
portunity for men and women, equal
opportunity to find employment and
to earn money and to keep what they
make, just so long will this class Of
poor creatures exist in our commune
ties.
If a man falls he does not lose his
job or his position in society or his
chance Of life, and So economically
that fact does not drive him either to
the river or to the brothel or to the
tenderlotn or to walk the streets at
night to get his bread. In the eyes
Of society or in the conditions of our
civilization it affects him little, how
ever much it may affect him in his
own character. =:
Low Wages and Morals.
But there is another branch Of this
subject. Many girls who find them
selves compelled to make a living
are confronted with the impossibtlt-
ties Of making that living because
the wages paid are too small to live
upon. And herein the employer who
is grasplng profits has a certain res
possibility, and while he may evade
that responsibility in his own mind
or in the minds Of others by COM
planning Of the mayor Or Of the police
do not think he will be able to
evade that responsibility when he
faces that God to whom he prayy.
The recent report Of the govern
ment on the so-called white slave
traffic shows the effect 81 this cause
and bears out assstatement OF the
eminent authority, Dr.. Sanger. who in
his book The History Of Prostitu.
ton" says:
Vice and wages.
"A prolific cause Of female de-
pravity can be found in the several
tables, showing the description Of
the employment pursued and the
wages received by the women prev
ious to their fall, and it will be a
question for the political economist
to decide how far mere business
consideration should be an apology
on the part of employers for re-
duction in their rates of renumera-
ton, and whether the savings of a
small percentage in wages is not
more than counter balanced by the
enormous amount Of taxation en-
forced on the public at large to de-
fray the expense incurred on ac-
count of q system Of vice, which Is
the direct result in many cases Of in
sufficient compensation of honest
labor"
And then there is the more in
direct but no less potent effect Of the
manipulation that goes on under the
form Of law in our country, that
subtle process of exploitation and ap-
preparation which makes million
aires Of a few and paupers and GRIM
1nals Of many. In the first cold
days of winter, the monopolist may
raise the pricee of meat or bread or
oil, and in lordly way give the
proceeds of his facile extortion to
charity, and at the same moment and
because Of what he has donee, some
where in these big cities of ours,
some poor girl succumbs and goes
out on the streets to get her bread.
They Are But Women. =
And when we reflect that these
women are but women after all, that
like their more fortunate sisters
they like comfort and fine clothes, it
will be seen, trust, that they are
not to be altogether and eternally
condemned II, in their desire to have
these things which they see other
women in economic ease and secur-
ityg enjoying to the, point OF luxury
and extravagance, they yield to the
temptations everywhere about them.
TO imagine that this condition can
be cured or even bettered by the
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