Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-22
REPORT REVEALS
BALTIMORE VICE
Names of Trapped Immorals
Suppressed or Social Fabric
Would Be Rent

ba altlmOre, Md, Dec. 2S.-The exist
enCe of startling conditions in Balti-
more city is revealed in the report of
the vice commission appointed by Gov
ernor Goldsborough.
Cndoubted evidence. covering hun
dreds of individual cases, with names,
dates and most minute facts, are in
possession of the commission TO show
Il spread of the social cancer of amaZ-
ing extent, even to those who had
thought themselves we'll posted on the
ramitications of vice. Trusted male
and female workers of the commission
have for months worked in the shops,
stores and factories of the city: have
labored as employees in office buildings
IN capacities ranging from scrub
women and janitors to stenographers
and clerks: have haunted the now
extinct recognized houses of vice and
the hundreds of questionable furnished
room houses; have rented apartments
for announced questionable purposes
in many small and q number of large
apartment houses of the city; have
tested the integrity of the police and
other authorities of the city and Coun-
ties; have tempted with criminal and
moral offense offers leading ministers,
social workers, doctors, midwives and
other persons in the city who have
public or semipublic duties, and have
in h ldred ways found their way
and reported on facts that are of vital
interest TO the community.
Rockefeller Cash Aided
For the purposes of the investigation
the legislature appropriated $4,000,
which amount has been supplemented
by collections of $500 made by DR..
George Walker, chairman, and others
of the commission, making a total of
Sll.5OO spent in making the investi-
cation. Even this amount would have
been totally insufficient for the work
If il had not been for the assistance
pf tho Pnpl<afal1ar Foundation Of "a ri
Gus social and charitable agencies of
the city and a large number of ply
sicians. including those in charge of
inmates at State institutions. The re-
port, comprising 1900 typewriter
pages. covers the work of three years
investigation.
The report comprises sections on
Commercialized vice, immortality in
Baltimore county, Anne Arundel county
and the cities of Hagerstown, Fred
erick and Cumberland, and the traffic
I'm babies.
Probably the most sensational of the
Ffeatures dealt with in the voluminous
report is the traffic in babies. 1t is
asserted that investigators found there
are institutions ir Baltimore to which |
the mother of an illegitimate child
may consign her offspring upon the
payment of an agreed sum and forever
rid herself of legal responsibility for
il. Of the hundreds of children so
taken in charge by the institutions,
the commission AYERS that remark
ably large percentage die and are
buried in heaps in small plots of
ground, one such plot approximately
. feet square having been the tomb
of 5000 babies since 1886.
Highest in Community Tested
The exposure Is the most far-reach-
ing, pitiiess and free from ''protec-
tion"-social, political and wealth-in
any large city in the world since the
startling revelations by the Pail Mall
Gazette, in London, thirty years ago.
No names are mentioned, though
men In all walks of life-ministers,
lawyers. bankers and businessmen
who inferentially stand high in the
community, are implicated. The
names, so VOW members of the COM
mission, shall remain a sacred secret
forever. IF revealed there would ap-
parently be a shaking of dry bones in
family closets and the divorce courts
would be clogged with business.
A succession of remarkable cases
re given of facts learned by investi-
gators. Some of the leaders of Balti-
more's business, professional and in
dustrial life are linked up with women
employees in direct and circumstantial
manner, places and times of acts being
given, along with facts concerning
ages family and business connections.
Wide publication of the facts pos
sessed by the commission in this rela-
lion would cause a social revolution
here. Many of the men connected
with repeated acts of immortality are
leading figures in the church life of
the city.
Charges that political graft and pro-
lection of professional houses of vice
by political leaders of Baltimore and
Anne Arundel counties are freely made
in separate sections of the commits
slon's report.
The commission elaborately discusses
interviews with representative men of
Baltimore on the vice traffic and the
segregation question. To ascertain the
opinions of these people special sets
of questions were sent to physicians,
lawyers and businessmen. The first
query sought the individuals views of
dealing with houses of vice in Balti-
more, whether they should be left as
they were at that time; whether they
should be restricted to a special dis
trict: whether they should be sup
pressed, and what restrictions should
be imposed as to medical examinations,
treatment of those infected, sale of
alcohol, etc. Summarizing. the COM
mission says that 102 out of 141 doc
tors who answered this question fa-
Vored segregation or some form of
tolerance of the houses, 93 believed in
suppression, 81 favored medical in
spection, 8 said 1t was useless.
The majority of the lawyers queried
answered in favor of segregation.
The municipalities duty is sharply
pointed out: that it should see that
popular amusements are not detri-
mental to the moral welfare of its
immature citizens; to strictly supervise
the shore parks and to censor theaters
and moving pictures where the appeal
to sex is present.
Further advice is given to the mu-
nicipality to fight the evil through the
substitution of healthful recreation
and amusement. The substitute urged
Is the creation of more municipal
dance halls efficiently supervised, the
throwing open of the parks and play
grounds and the encouragement of
play and athletics in every way pos
sihle, municipal moving pictures run
by the city and the opening of school
buildings and churches in the evening
for entertainments.
"All young people" says the COM
mission. demand recreation and
amusement. When proper recreation
&. provided many boys and girls will
10 diverted from wrong courses. All