The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-01-18
By E. A. Peters

lots that the state should be-
come dry, they vOted-all
unconsciOusly, perhaps-On
second great problem.
They made the business of
professional immortality SO
Improbable that 1t will be
reduced to a minimum I'm u
very short time.
Not only are the professional
women of the street being driven
out by prohibition, but the semi
prOfessionals-the street walkers,
the Chickens" are speedily be-
coming thing of the past.
These statements are based on
the observations of one of the
veteran police officers of the
Northwest, Capt. of Detectives ID.
o. Smith of the Tacoma depart
ment, who is to become head of
the department Feb. /.
In just two weeks a remarkable
transformation has occurred in
the underworld. Women of shady
character are packing up and dis
appearing. Where? That's some
thing the police do not know
or care. California and Montana,
they think, are proving the dump
ing grounds.
First to disappear was the
semi-professional type. They
formed the bulk of the class who
frequented second class cafes,
slipping stein of beer all even
ing and ready with sidelong
smile to greet some unwary male.
Many were women who worked
at obscure and underpaid employ
ments by day, and were forced
to sell their souls in order to eat.
Others were women--and girls
attracted by the bright lights,
the nerve-stimulating liquor, and
the temporary fascination of
wrong-doing.
II have found through
personal observation and re-
ports of my officers that the
cafe type, or the semi-profes-
siOnal woman of the streets,
has already disappeared"
says Captain Smith.
"They will not sit at
table and drink soft drinks,
while waiting for male com-
pany. The stimulant that
nerved them to do 1t has dis
appeared, just as the absence
of the same Stimulant has
caused men to cease seeking
them in such places"
Night Detective Captain Adam |
Wiley declares that there is a
marked decrease of street
since the first. In fact |
there is practically cessation of |
1t.
AS for admitting that either of
these practices had existed in Ia
course, high police Of
ficial is chary of it, though any
officer will admit privately that
they. did exist. But the risk of
arresting an innocent woman byl
mistake caused policemen to
think twice before attempting to
break in on the occupation.
I'm the days when Tacoma's
saloon business was wide open,
the city was over-run with disor- |,
Derby women" said Capt. Smith
today. "In two weeks, with
liquor out of the way, there has
been the most remarkable de-
crease in the number of women
here that / ever saw
In the years from 1892 to 1898,
when Tacoma was wide open,"
there were between 5000 and
4 600 professional painted wom-
en- in the city. Today. there are
not more than so, the police es-
innate, and many of these are
ready to leave as soon as they
can realize enough cash to buy
railroad tickets to more profit
able marts.
Members of the pink-cuff gen.
have been
received roughly by the local Of
ficers, and there are few here
now.
There always Will be bad
women in Tacoma" says Capt.
Smith. But" unless saloons agia
are licensed, believe we are
done with the professional inn
moral woman. That class cam
not ply Its traffic profitably un-
less there IL liquor to inflame the
minds Of men.
1.-THE other classes--the
ones that will roniain--wiII
be the Iight-headed young
girls who do not know any
better, and who do not eel
monetary gain, principally. !
sud TIE ones who ere forced
by circumstance 70 earn n