The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-02-20
PREVENTION AND RESCUE,

present age mat the state is ifHhhi9 anu oPeiHS
erappliug with the prohlm q social vice Men
and women have known that the social evil ex-
ts.ed. but II has been talked about with batod
breath, and It has reached it's present appalling
and zneaacng proportions because open discus
sion Of its evils and consideration Of possible
remedies have been tabooed as unfit. indeed as
In some sense improper, for clean-minded per
sons.
But "the slaughter OF the innocents" has he
come so tremendous that mockrnodesty and
even overseasItiveness are almost criminal.
Pure. clean women. the daughters OF our best
homes. have gone TO their death, have been
rendered childless by the scourge which has
been carried from houses Of vice by unfaithful
husbands Blind. deformcd, sictly children,
many Of them doomed to death in few short
years. mark the trail Of tho social evil from
refinement
It is horrible thing to SIT at ones own FIRE
side. surrounded with all the helpful and de.
hghtful influences Of a Christian home and to
realize that in the same city there arc scores of
women who have gone ont from their fathers
homes to be herded together like beasts, to live
lives of shame which lead inevitably to eternal
ruin And when to this horrible fact is added
the additional fact that the cities Of Virginia
not only contain such places. but that they are
actually set apart by the police, and allowed TO
exist unmolested. and that to these places are
attracted other young women to be involved In
the same inevitable ruin. surely such facts are
enough TO require plain Speech and TO demand
from the legislature that IT make effective the
present law against social vice.
There has been introduced in both houses of
the general assembly bill, patterned after the
sKenyon" bill recently passed by congress The
bill was introduced in the house by Mr., Land
OF Nottoway but it has been very difficult to
get 1T reported out Of the house committee on
general laws II was reported yesterday morn
ing that the committee had passed the bill by
indefinitely We trust that this is mistake
We do not hesitate to assert that this bill is
more important than all the bills on the calendar
peaeerHiag oysters, asa, game, rolling stock or
any purely material thing. The protection of
our sons from the destruction scattered broad
cast by these recognized haunts of vice, the pro
lection of our daughters and the welfare of
generations yet unborn all appeal to the general
assembly for the passage of this bill.
why should the committee on general laws
hold this bill back In committee? Does 1t fail
to recognize the Importance Of this subject?
Does II think the subject unsuitable for dis
russion? Is it opposed to the passage OF any
law On the subject? WHAT Is the reason for
failure OF the committee to report the bill out
savorably? 1t cannot justify the smothering Of
such bill 1t cannot consider it to be uncon-
stitutional for the present bill is in every par
sicular but one. the Kenyon" bill as It was
passed by the seaate and the house OF the ma
sional congress and was signed by the president
Surely the committee on general laws Of the
house Of delegates Of Virginia is hardly equal
10 meeting the responsibility Of killing bill,
which did not receive a single negative vote in
the house Of representatives, Of the United States,
aud which was signed by a Democratic president
Let tia asAt IL had in tire opeu. If the mem
bers Of the committee DO not favor the Kenyon
bill. let them report it to the house with the
recommendation that il do not pass-ana stand
up the floor and state their reasons, and let
The state Of Virginia decide whether the reasons
,rered by these gentlemen are Sufficiently
seighty to justify the defeat Of a bill which has,
10 a certain sense, national appreciation The
time has come to prohibit these segregated sec
lions where vice haunts itself openly without
ofBeial rebake. and which publicly call for