Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-01-13

SON, Chief of Police, delivered
~ a forceful blow at the vice dens
of Harrisburg yesterday when
he reported to court not only the
street numbers of places under sus-
picion and the names of those reputed
to be their proprietors, but the owners
of the properties as well. His action
will be commended by every right
thinking man and woman in the city.
He has done a splendid piece Of re-
strictive work in a Enthusiastically
fearless manner and IL Is to be hoped
that he will continue his investi-
cations until he is able to complete
tho list of houses of ill-repute for the
information of the court and the
public.
District Attorney Stroup, to whom
the list of suspected places was turned
over, may go on with his part of
the proceedings with the full knowl-
edge that he will be supported by the
police, the court itself and the public
Doubtless his task of obtaining first
hand evidence to convict will not be
= easy, now that those who have been
frequenters of the tenderloin district
have been more or less frightened by
the wide publicity Colonel Hutchison's
report has been given, but Colonel
Hutchison should not be criticised on
that score. The interest in the public
lies in the suppression of the vice dens
more than in the prosecution of those
who have been conducting them,
although that is desirable, too. and
the District Attorney will not be ex-
pected to make any sudden or sensa-
tional moves. His duty will be to
keep the suspected places constantly
under the surveillance of trusted Off
GERS and to raid them at the first sign
that business has been resumed.
Above all else not one of those
places mentioned by Colonel Hutchi-
son must be permitted to continue its
work of moral and physical destruc-
ton
Neither Is it to be tolerated for an
instant that any of those whose names
were published yesterday as pro-
prietors of disorderly places shall be
allowed to transfer their evil activities
to other parts of the city. Both the
Chief of Police and the District Attor-
ney will be able to prevent this and
doubtless they have already laid their
plans to do so.
The war on vice dens in Harrisburg
has just begun. The sensational ex-
posures of yesterday were but the
ell oh
is committed to 1t and District Attor-
ney Stroup is vigorously supporting
him. Indeed, the District Attorney
has in some recent instances himself
furnished the evidence for arrests
The court can be expected to deal
vigorously in all such cases. The
authorities are standing shoulder to
shoulder. Wherever the ugly serpent
shows its head it will find a club
lifted to smite it.
This Is no mere spasmodic effort
1t is part of the great sustained move
ment that is sweeping over the coun-
try and having for IT'S object the
preservation of young manhood, the
protection of innocent girls and women
from q fate that is worse than death
the deliverance of wives from the
perils of disease, the saving of unborn
children from blindness or ill-health
to spread the gospel of right living,
to teach the folly of wild oats SOW
ing and to insure for future gen
erations their rightful heritage OF nor
NAL bodies and normal minds.
The time has long since passed
when the house of evil resort was
regarded as a necessary evil" 1t is
recognized now for what it always
has been, a fostering sore in the COM
fnunity. a poson-spreadi pest that
must give way before modern thought
and an awakened public conscience.
Colonel Hutchison hit upon an ex-
cellent plan when he caused to he
published the names of the owners of
the properties given over to these evil
purposes. He has struck at the very
root of the evil there and a few more
such exposures will no doubt c,ulse
5 those who own real estate to be more
careful as to the uses to which they
permit 1t to be put.