Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-04-13

Jne IOuHQduOnS.
One thing has been gained IN America, one
step forward, most necessary, has been taken.
We have abandoned our foolish, cOwardly,
Puritanical hypTOcsy. And at least we have
learned to admit that there is a question that
demands attention.
We no longer turn away, like Pharisees, and
pretend that we do not know what exists.
We have found the courage to turn the light
on the cutters, to see and to hear the cry of
miserable women, struggling in the hands of
Matchmaking officials, struggling and Shrek
ing in the horrible prisons to which the white
Slavers" condemn them.
One young man with plenty of money, and a
great deal of earnestness, John d. Rockefeller,
Jr, has appointed and equipped a commission
for investigating and combating the traffic in
women, which disgraces this country and every
other country in the world.
He is entitled TO credit and thanks for the
moral courage which he has shown. And if he
should succeed in doing nothing more than
compel the public to deal with a great question:
and realize its existence, he would still be
benefactOr of miserable women and bene-
factor of the public conscience.
= =
Unfortunately, the question Is so big, and so
little understood, that the best of intentions and
the most earnest efforts may seem utterly vain
Our system of society is false, our failure to
recognize that men are what Nature has made
them, and that moral laws cannot make them
over, is largely responsible for the vicious
system. the dreadful suffering, and the hideOus
"Vice."
ut ar4h nv
beyond our comprehension. And that power
was determined that we should STAY here, that
we should MULTIPLY and increase, that we
should make PROGRESS.
And, therefore the strongest of all mans pas
siOns is the passion for self-preservatOn. Nature
compelled him, first of ALL to struggle to keep
ALIVE on this earth, in which he was and still
is so uncomfortable.
And the second deepest passion in man is the
passion of reproduction, necessary to the
renewal of the species.
Nature intended that man should not only
stay here. but leave others to stay and work and
suffer as he had done. And hence that domin-
ating attraction which misdirected perverted
and made hideOus we call Vice
And third, it was necessary in the plan nv
whic we are all ruled. that men should
progress, that they should rise from absolute
hestiality and ignorance TO civilization and
knowledge. And the third passion in the brain
of man was AMBITION the desire to achieve.
the craving for change and accomplishment
Those three great passions must be studied
they must be regulated. They must be NOT
COERCED, But DIRECTED AND CON
TROLLED, if this world is to know real civiliza-
ton, and to see an end of what we call Vice
The instinct of self-preservatiOn is in man and
cannot be got out of him. That is the instinct
which makes a man choke another in rush
ing from a burning theatre, the instinct that
sends towards crOwding to the life boats,
trampling over women and children when a
ship sinks. There is no use calling it "Vice"
when a man kills another struggling to save his
own life. 1t is the instinct of self-preservation
hat will not be held down by law or mOraIizing
You must educate the man so that he will have
an ideal above his own life. AND BESIDES
YOU MUST MAKE LIFE SAFE.
And the instinct of reproduction is as UncOn-
reliable as the instinct of self-preservatiOn.
For two hundred thousand years and more men
have lived he lives OF wild beasts, with few
and very few-eXceptiOns.
Women have been sacrificed, by c0nqueriRg
armies. b. ruthless individuals and b. wealthy
nroflieates. All the preaching, ali the mOTaliz-