The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-09
WHITE SLAVERY


Confined from Page onei
they injected a few safeguards. For
instance they provided that men
should be punished for leading only
women of good reputation and stand
ing astray. They provided further
that statutory safeguards for virgin
ity should extend only to women so
years old. When a woman passed the
80 post, she was expected to be able
to make her own deductions as to the
wiles and sins and snares and pitfalls
urovided by sinful man. And when a
woman under the 30-year provision
complained that a man had lured her
from one place to another within the
must establish her own character be-
fore securing a conviction on white
slavery charges.
Protest From Ladies.
That original law was passed late
in February and was published in the
State Journal February 81, 1913.
As soon as that law was published
members of the ladies' lobby let forth
a loud and emphatic protest. They
went right to Speaker Brown with
their trouble. They read him the riot
act and said things that made him
squirm and dodge and explain and Of
fer new promises-so the gossips tell.
And then, it is reported, Brown offer
ed to fix the whole matter to the
satisfaction of everyone.
Whereupon it appears that a con-
ference committee was suddenly and
unexpectedly appointed on the white
slavery bill-altho the measure was
already passed by both houses and had
been published and became law. But
the conference committee sat on the
seemingly imaginary measure for its
consideration, removed the safeguards
injected by the lawyer members of the
house, provided that a woman could
not secure conviction on uncorroborat-
ed testimony, and sent the bill back
to the house and senate for concur
renee. And that day Brown was hap
by. He had won the plaudits of the
women in the galleries and received
a large box of American Beauty roses
as evidence of appreciation.
The new bill-the one which seems
to have come from no place at all
was published March 4, 1913-just five
days after the publication of the orig
inal law. Yet the new bill, Mahin
declares, had most questionable rec
ord, while the bill published February
27. shows a clear record thru the two
houses.
Another charge against the law af-
fects it's constitutionality in seeking
to regulate interstate traffic. The in
terstate question is covered by the
Mann act and the legislature is claim
ed to have left serious defect in the
law by seeking to restrict not only
traffic within the state, but also the
taking of women from one state to
another.
Man Lost, II to 80.
One of the first prosecutions under
the new law in Kansas was in a
northwestern Kansas county where g.
17-year-old boy was charged with
| leading a so year old woman astray.
Many other prosecutions have been
| brought in the state and many keepers
of hotels and rooming houses have
| been called upon to atone for the law
because an impetous man took a wo-
man to the place for immoral pur-
poses
1t is asserted that more than 100
prosecutions have been brought in the
state for violations of the provisions
of the law. Persons convicted of vio-
lation of the law are subject to i'm
years. Nearly rs men have been sent
to Lansing to serve sentences for vio-
| lation of the act.
| It know the record of the law now
on the statute book is not clear and
that cannot be defended in the
courts" said Mahin None the less
number of men have been convicted
and are serving sentence under its
/, provisions. The law as it stands to-
day-leaving out the question of ir-
Irregularities in legislative procedure
is an open invitation to blackmail and
the use of our courts for purposes OF
extortion. The original bill passed
by the legislature afforded a certain
protection, but there is no manner OF
| estimating the number of cases OF
blackmail committed in Kansas be-
cause of the present law"
! Recently Mahin threatened to pre-
sent the record of the measure in al
appeal to the supreme court from
Decatur county. AS a result of the
claims of irregularities in the passage
of the measure, the prosecution wa:
/ dismissed by the Decatur county at.
torney.