Norwich bulletin., 1913-05-19
Vice Rampant
 In New York
APPALLING FACTS CLEANED BY
 INVESTIGATORS.
THOUSANDS ENTANGLED
Methods Employed to Lure Victims to Ruin-Respectable Landlords Re- ceive Severe Condemnation.

New York, May 1S-Fifteen thous- and women of the under worId-a scarlet army no census has heretofore enumerated-ply their trade in one borough of Greater New York alone In1s is the estimate of the Bureau of Social Hygiene, an organization of which John D. Rockefeller Jr. is chair man, as made public tonight in an .ab- stract of a forthcoming report by George J. kneeland. a special inyesti- gator, after painstaking inquiry into connercialized vice conditions in Manhattan, extending over period of nearly ten months.
 The report Suggests no remedies, fixes no responsibilities That phase is to be dealt with later on It pur- ports merely to describe accurately vice conditions in New York City with the sole purpose of bringing out the facts." The hope is expressed that subsequently, a satisfactory policy to check the evil may be worked out.
 Over 300 Massage ParIors.
 MT. Rockefeller himself contributed the foreword to the volume Future reports will deal with conditions in other large cities in America and with methods and their results of combat ing the problem in Europe. Existing preventive, reformative and correct i've agencies in New York are des- cribed as wholly inadequate, to their task
 Aside from a series of chapters deal ing in minute frankness with the ope- ration of notorious resorts through out the city. the report treats of the dance hall evil and of the alarming spread of the so-called massage par lors Over three hundred of these exist in the city" says the report and in many of them not the slight est effort was made to cloak the i'm moral nature of the business Ope- rators for these establishments are oft en procured by advertising in the news papers"
 Of the dance hall the report says.
 Evils of Public Dance Halls.
 "The public dance hall was found to Justify the worst that has been said of It. or 75 dances reported on only five were characterized by the inyestte9f- ors as decent" Nor are these dances attended only by hardened profifgates oung girls-some innocent=others if not entirely innocent at any rate not wholly depravsd. and voting men not yet altogether vicious, attend the gatherings in search of amusement and change. Many are innocent working girls. who seek legitimate re- creation. The sinister element in at tending Is the hired cadets, who at tend with the cold blooded purpose of finding new subjects of debaucherv and of subsequent exploitation for gain. These agents of commerciali- 1zed vice are usually we'll dressed. we'll hammered, and introduce themselves politely and easily. to strangers They often pretend to love at the first sight and exhibit marked devotion by which the girls are deceived and to which they too often yield. When the se- duction of the girls is accomplished. they are put on the street, and their ruin Is complete"
 MT. Kneeland argues. contrary to the expressed views of so many investi- gating bodies, that girls do not as a general thing take up a life of shame because of the pinch of poverty. He holds that oftener they are victims in their ignorance of the agents of com mercialized vice.
 Cunning and Unprincipled ExpIoiters.
 Tt is idle" he says, ito explain the phenomena on the ground that they are the results of the inevitable weak ness or human nature ;- human weak ness would demand far fewer and less horrible sacrifices. Most of the wreck age, and the worst of it. is due to per sistent, cunning and unprincipled ex- ploitation; to the banding together in infamous enterprises of madame nro- curer, brothel-keeper and liquor vend- CT to carry on deliberately a cold piopueu udulc TOT tnelF Jolnt profit, a traffic, be it added, from which inc girl involved procures at the most. with few exceptions, her bare subsis- tence, and that only so long as she has trade value"
 ''The eXploiters'' and the ramiica- tions of their traffic Is treated at length. By means of money and shrewdness. says the report, the traf- fiekers usually evade the law. Thirty houses in the Tenderloin were long operated as a combine, it is cited.un- der the direct control of fifteen or more men, Most of them have been engaged all their lives in the sednc ton and exploitation of women. New YOrk Is their Mecca The report how ever, follows their tracks through Argentine, Brazil, Cuba. Canada Alaska and the large cities of our own country-San Francisco, Portfa nd, Se- attic. Tacoma, Butte. Denver, Omaha delphia. Finally they realize their hopes in New York City. Here they have made q centre, and from this centre they go back over the old trail from time to time.
 Respectable Owners of Property Con.
 denned.
 One of them, the report continues. is known as the King" He is inter- ested in eleven houses. He is sup posed to have great influence with the authorities, and it largly depends upon his judgment whether houses are openly and fagrantly, or quietly and cautiously conducted. When ex- ternal conditions are unfavorable these men ship their women to points where conditions are more propitious Variations in public option and in the attitude of the municipal authorities are quickly reflected in the market Just before the Rosenthal murder prices were prohibitively high: since that date they, have steadily declined.
 Owners of realty, ostensibly re- spectabIe come in for severe con- demnation at the hands of the inves- tigators. A woman investigator the report sets forth. visited 122 real es- tate agents, of whom only IF declined to let premises for immoral purposes. A group Of S8 well known" men, il Is said. own and operate 28 houses in Manhattan. The value of shares moves up and down" says the report, according a conditions are more or less favorable to the conduct of the business"
 Receipts of 30 Resorts $2,oo,o00 Year
 An attempt Is made to estimate the vast receipts Of the esorts. of ill., fame, vet the Investigators are frank Tn stating that the sums are so large