El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-01-20
CLAIMS POVERTY
BREAKS MORALS
Unwholesome Phases of De-
nestle Servitude Also
Mentioned in'Report.

Springfield, Ill, Jan. 20.-Though
poverty is the chief contributing cause
of commercialized vice, unregulated
conditions Of domestic employment are
also an important factor, according to
the report Of the white slave investi-
eating commission of the Illinois SEN
ate, in a report formally rendered to
the senate. The report featured the
recommendation Of an So minimum
weekly wage for women and girls
That poverty is the principal cause,
direct or Indirect OF immortality is
most strongly emphasized
industrial oppression OF the helpless
is declared by the report to be directly
responsible for a large mart of exisf-
ing immortality Thousands of girls. it
says. are driven into prostitution s'be-
cause OF the sheer inability to keen
body and soul together on the wages
received by them"
Condemns Domestic system.
The system of domestic employment
in America is condemned in positive
terms "Unregulated conditions of do
nestle employment, uncertain hours,
absence Of definite social status and
lack Of creative opportunities render
the home, in many cases for the wonn-
an servants breeding place of i'm
morality" says the commissions re-
port.
Investigations conducted by the com
mission, the report says, disclosed the
fact that more women of the under
world fall into dishonOr from domestic
employment than from any other work.
OF 1Sl girls sent TO the state training
school at Geneva. Ill, who had worked
for wage. previous to commitment,
the commission found that lis, or 63.55
percent, had been engaged in domestic
Women Avoid Danger.
ct is a peculiarly strong compli-
ment to the sensing faculty of the fe-
male" says the report, and her intui-
tive avoidance Of sexual danger, that
the occupation proved by actual statis-
tics to be productive OF most prostitu-
ton is the occupation she most shuns."
Wages as Low as 81.
Eight dollars a week is fixed by the
commission as the least amount that
living for a girl employed in a large
city The report says wages were found
to be discouragingly short of this fig
ure. Attention is called to testimony
taken by the commission "of wages
running as low as So a week; OF fore
men who abuse girls in short dresses,
shake them until their arms are black |
ened and occasionally hurl boxes at |
them, and Of the manager who found |
his factor besieged by the agents Of !
professional whiate slavery"
The sCaH GIrT' System.
A condition which the report declares |
strikes directly at the home, is found in l
what is termed the call girl sys- |
en- On this subject the report says in |
lart-
"A detective told of a cali list which /
ne had seized in raid. More than 20 i
names were on the list; first names 1
only being given, then opposite them
he telephone numbers He checked up
he names and numbers Some OF the /
women were respectable married
women Two were young daughters.
others were working girls. The case
u a young mother serving as a call |
girl and using the money she made in
luying necessities for her baby, is
merely illustrative of the character OF
ONE Of the women in this system
Cafes Are Hard Hit.
High class cafes are hard hit in the
epOrt The CONSPICUOUS place of in
Oxicants in the undoing Of many girls
S dismissed as a matter of such gen
raj knowledge as to require no elabOr-
ltiOn- The report says there can be
10 disagreement as TO the effects on !
he young woman Of the alternate |
and dancing as practiced in
many fashionable restaurants
The free and easy manner Of intro
Iuction adds TO the danger. Most Of
he girls who frequent thhe popular
estaurants given over to dancing are
cry young"
The commission found that the high
st standard of morals exists among the
iris in the high schools, colleges and
Of the state