St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1913-02-15
WHITE SLAVERY.

Ii WAS EcCCIleAy 0ioSOsSASo, "a
New York City, that there were
men selling young American girls
for immoral purposes at a price
ranging from twenty-five to
thirty dollars a head. It is GER
tainly time that the people OF
this great United States of ours,
do something in the way OF pre-
venting this detestable and al
most unbelievable trade of hui
man souls for money. The ne
groes were slaves, but none
were in such hedious predica-
ments and such villianous hands
as are those unfortunate girls
who are enticed to be sent from
one city to another, thinking
that they will find there good
comfortable positions. D a y
after day, hundreds and hun
dreds of poor innocent girls are
shipped off, almost like a farmer
would ship his cattle, to differ
ent cities and are brought to
some house of ill-repute, where
they are locked UP and carefully
guarded, until their souls are SO
deeply buried in sin that they
are ashamed to get out and face
the world once more, fearing
that their friends back at home
would torment them to death for
their foolish and blinded lust for
money.
The girls themselves are not
always their only cause for fall
ing in such hands, as often times
the lack of the watchful eye OF
their fathers and mothers are
greatly responsible for it: per-
haps the indirect cause, al.
though, they would rather die
ten thousand i%gnominious deaths,
than to see their dear young
daughters leading such shame
full lives. Fathers and mothers
are often blinded by the fac
that they think their daughter
would have too much honor, ane
are too 1Auch like themselves t
do SUCH 8hiSgs, but they forget,
that perhaps the weakest thing
in the g9rld 1a young lady JUS
blooming into Womanhood; they
forget their daughters are human
and are easy preys to temptation
II they would stop talking abou'
the daughters of others ane
think about theirs more, perhap.
there would not be such a thing
as white slavery. If they would
guard over their daughters more
closely and be assured at al
times their whereabouts thu
world would be better off nova
days.
An approximate amount o.
sixty thousand poor innocen'
girls are secured each year fol-
immoral purposes. Think Of thai
enormous number! Did you
ever stop and ponder who ano
what girls are those that dissa.
pear each year? 1t makes one
shudder to think that perhaps
his own sister or daughter might
be one of these sixty thousands
next year.
To the pride of our own dear
State of Louisiana there are very
few of our girls that are in the
hands of these demons of the
under world, but we should not
on that pride, but strive, not
only to extricate this damnable
trade from our midst, but lend
. helping hand to the many
other places that are working
hard to abolish it altogether; be
on our guards and not allow
such a thing to get the best of
even one of our girls.
The national as well as the
Iocal officers in the city Of New
Orleans. our metropolis, are to
be congratulated for their splen-
lid work in trying to keep white
slavery out of the Crescent City.
f all such officials in other large
titles would fulfill their duties as
and as diligently as
,hese men, the United States
would have hopes of one day be-