The daily Gate City., 1914-02-11
KENYON BILL
CLEANED CAPITAL
Washinston's Red Light District, Fam
GUS for Years, is Now but
Memory.
by Burton K Stanaisn. written for
the United Press.

IBy Burton K Stanaisn. written for
the United Press.l
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1.-THE ma
tional capitals vice district is on the
move. The new Kenyon Injunction
and abatem ant" law Will forever re-
move this sewer spot in the city. Be-
cause Washington is the first large
eastern city to adopt this Iowa idea
the operation of the new statute wiz
b. watched with interest ali over the
country.
The Kenyon msasure, in brief, pro
vides that any citizen may obtain an
Injunction against use of any prop
eTty in the district for immoral pnr-
poses. on showing that the property
is thus used Iowa cities adoptec
s7fch a Law half dozen ysars ago
and have succeeded In ridding their
environs Of the segregated vice dis
trict.
Washington's red light section
has been notorious for years. Up un-
tl ten years ago the entire vice sec
ton was qusTferesi in half dozen
streets directly off Pennsylvania ave
nue., and bounded by Twelfth. D, E.
and Fifteenth streets. Polfce recog-
nizsd the boundaries OF this quarter.
kept track OF its denizens, and pre-
served order there.
Indeed. It had long been the boast
of the Washington police department.
that Wasaingtonis tenderloin vas
the safest place In the city" ard
that boast vas not baseless. It war
a rare OCCASION for any Of the unfor-
tunates to be taken into court anG
arrests OF habituss OF the houses or
OF casual visitors were far from fre-
quent.
The Washington tenderloin has
been senli-oficially recognized and
rig:d.ly restricted on the theory that
it nn:ant tllat the residential sections
would be kept absolutely clean
and they have been up to the present.
time, with mighty few exceptions.
Il was also proved by the police
that this semf-oncial recognition anG
segregation meant that Washingtons
streets by day or night were se3so-
iJtely free Of street walkers. Tha
women OF the segregated distr,ca
were known and registered as such,
and they knsw that street walking
would mean exile from Washington.
Persons who nave openly or secret
II opposed the Kenyon measure have
prophested that stamping out Of tn ;
tendsrlutnz will mean taat Washing
tons residential sections viii suffer
as result; that il some OF the WON
en- that are chased ont OF the tender
icin do not spread to other sec
tions, others will come into the city
and manage to live as they do IN New
York, Philadelphia and other CITIES
where such unfortunates conduit srna..
establishments in good neighbor-
hoods.
a vie crusade in 1904 forced
more resfrlcted quarter for the vscs
solution. and q second 'scity OF the
living dead sprang into being in the
aoutaeast section Of the city-a seant
three blocks from tbs capitol building.
The older vice area was within
stones throw Of the postofice buac-
ing and tho treasury department and
within sight OF the white house.
Washinstcn monument, and the de-
partment OF agriculture. The new red
light district DID not supplant the ola,
the poiica crusade suddeniy dying,
for some obscure reason
The passage of the Kenyon meas
're through the senate and house
marked ths end Of ten years fight By
CIVIC reformers. Their pleas that the
nations capital known as one OF the
'cseanest@ cities in the world shouinI
permit organized vice TO fostr ana
gsow N part Ok the city s,s aside