SRL E

&

H$
3$ 1
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PR E FA C E
No apology is needed for this book
times

$S

We are livin g in

p eril

This great nation of ours bought wi th the price

,

blood and saved again by the same sacri ce is in danger

,

departin g from the principles of our fathers

The truths we write about will be told in
ann e r
:

but we

trust

very humble

the people will read think an d

,

a ct,

fore it shall be too late to stop the tide of immorality an d

i me

that bid fair to swee p

us

to destruction unless soon

It is a warning a plea from one whose heart

,

and

soul burn

ith a desire to bin d up the broken hearted and save the

-

st ones from eternal death

ay

Let every reader pray that we

return to God before it is too late

Let

us

be

Nation

hose God is the Lord : els e we cannot claim His pro mi ses
1d

secure His everlast in g blessings

Yours for the uplift of the people

T he S ha m e

G re a t N a tio n

CHAP T E R I

S T RE NGT H O F N A TI O NAL L IFE

T HE

In his rst message to the United States Congress President

Roosevelt said :
There are two pillars upon which every

nation mus t rest namely Chr istianity and E ducation

All
goo d people agree with thi s declaration an d many of us are
of the conviction that we should p ractice it in our govern
mental affairs God must be the ruler of our temporal a ff airs
if we are to have H im guide us in the etern al Jesus Christ
must be the Saviour of the state as well as of the in dividual
or there is no authori ty for righteousness or deliverance from
evils which aff lict the p eople and take them to physical mental
and moral decay
On e half of the people cannot allow the other half to
remain in i gnorance and not be held back by this hinderin g
inuence If one half the Nation is left in ign orance it will
hang like a millstone of destruction aroun d the necks of those
who strive for peace and safety
The sa me principle holds good in a moral sense If one
half the pe 0 p 1e live in vice and immorality in creasing the
population with o ffspring possessed of the same low st an dard
of purity the whole nation will become morally diseased and
degeneracy must follow as an unchan geable re asult
It is not the indus trial v alue the commercial power or
,

The Sh am e of

10

Gre a t N a tion

milit ary strength that really saves and keeps the people from
h arm and brings su ccess but the honesty piety and virtue
of her people
Immorality not only clouds and destroys the intellect It
brings physical disease and decay as well as spiritual death
The conditions of social vice an d sexual impurity in exist
ence to d ay in the United States are horrible pitiable and
alarmin g We must try to cause an arrest of thought an d
teach a higher grade of ideals or n o one can foresee what the
awful results will be Indeed the sickening tales of impuri ty
and sexual vice th at can be told are enough to frighte n every
person really interested in savin g the people from destruction
Not only the present but the future welfare of our people
are at stake

We must begin to
cry aloud and spare not
The
tendency of the people always has been to refus e to be
alarmed un til the dan ger is at our doors To allow the en emy
to go un checked until it is ready to swallow us up
We
tolerate wrong an d become p rot sharin g partners and legal
protectors of crime and then shudder when God lays His

hand upo n us and says

Thus far shalt thou go and no

farther
an d deman ds compensation to the in jured robbed
and murdered victims of the crime we have encour aged
The Government that promised we shoul d all have an equal
chance to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness un dertakes
to gain revenue by selling to an un principled class of people
the special privilege of looting the homes and lives of the inn o
cent as well as of the wi llin g victims of sin ; forgetting that in
the Holy Word is written woe unto them that take reward to

slay the inn ocent and jus t person

Woe un to them that buildeth a town with bloo d an d

establisheth a city by iniquity

,

The S t rength

of

N a ti ona l L if e

11

Woe un to them that justify the wicked for reward $ Woe

unto him that giveth his n eighbor drin k

Perhaps they have n ot considered well these words of 1 Cor

But t ake heed lest by any mean s this liberty

8 th chapter :
of your s becomes a stu mblin g block to them that are weak
For if any man see thee which hast knowledge ( the man of
inuence ) sit at meat in the idol s temple ( do those things
which are wrong an d forbidden ) shall n ot the conscience of
him which is we ak ( the one not so str ong and able to resist )
be emboldened to eat those things which are off ered in sacri
ce un to idols ; and through thy kn owledge ( y our inuence
teachin g an d example ) shall the weak brother perish for
whom Christ di e d But when ye sin so a gainst the brethren
an d woun d their we ak conscience ( cause them to go astray )

ye sin against Christ

Wherefore if meat m ake my brother to off en d I will eat

n o esh while the world st andeth lest I make my brother to

off end ; whi ch being interpreted means that if an ythin g we

are doin g even though w e may be able to keep self control
all our lives will ca us e us to put a stumblin g block in our
weaker brother s way whereby he will commit sin an d go to
ruin and death we are expected for the sake of the weaker
brother to deny ourselves the indul gence
We must remember th at it makes a great di ff erence as to
how we are born and brought up in li fe Some of us had the
good fortun e to b e born of Chr istian parents who from the
time of our co n ception kept us surroun ded with right
thoughts an d teaching who train ed us in the way we
sh ould go and kept us livin g in an atmosphere of Christian
in uen ce an d pure teachin g We c a me fr om cle an bodies

pure souls and were not allowed to just grow up like

Topsy in the wilds of the street an d vice of the alley
.

The Sh ame of

12

Gr e a t N a t i o n

Co mp are these conditions with the lives of million s of chil

dren born every year of diseased bodi es depraved h abits
dwarfed intellects They see n othi ng but lth They hear
nothing but oaths and the vilest of language
They play
aroun d doors that look into saloons and brothels The drun k
ard and harlot are in the majority of the peo p le they see
until they become old enough to push out into the world they
do not kn ow that there is a spot di ff erent from that where
they have lived
If we are fair minded in our decisions we cannot help but
kn ow those born un der these terrible conditions of impurity
cannot be well equi p ped for the battles of life They will not
have the same physical and mental strength to resist the evil
They will not have the same ment al p ower to de ne right and
wrong

For this reason God said The strong are to help bear the

inrmitie s of the weak

and made us
O ur brother s

keeper
It is certainly our duty to protect the weak aga inst the
strong To abstain fro m thin gs that to us might n ot work
any harm for the sake of helping others to abstain who could
not practice the same self control and wou ld therefore be
property and vested rights We are all entitled to the chance
to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that our fore
fathers bought for us with their sa cri ce and blood whether
we be a majority or minority A government fai ls in her
mission entirely an d violates her agreement if she allows the
majority to rob and oppress the minority O n e of the most
importan t purposes of govern ment is to protect the minority
if necessary from the crimes of the maj ority
There are some of us who still cling to our rst prin ciples
and are determined with the hel p of God to restore to th e
,

The S tre ngt h

of

N a ti ona l L if e

13

people that which has been stolen by corrupt thievin g gr aft

in g politicians in the name of the Govern ment
We are fu lly aware of the fact that many will resent the
st atemen t tha t we are the wo rst fooled people on earth to day

We talk about bein g a government of the people for the

people and by the people when the facts prove we are a gov
for the politician s by the poli
e rnment of the politicians
tician s an d they are a govern ment of the trus ts for the
trusts and by the trusts No won der the cra ck in ol d Liberty
B ell continues to widen and fears are entertained for its
bein g able to hold together Call it anarchy tre a son or
whatever you wish It is true Men us ed to be sent to C on
gress and the Legislature beca us e they had brains and virtue
Now they can go if they have money enough with which to
buy their way and are kn own to be e asy tools for the un
prin cipled men to handle who care for n othin g but money
and power ; and who are ready to sell us out body an d so ul
They will walk over broken hearts sobbin g women and chil
dren robbed of home husband father and son to accomplish
their p urpose and sec ure the enactment of laws that will give
them a legal right to prey u p on us lik e vultures for their own
personal prot
The most un just and horrible thin g of all is that the inn o
cent helpless childr en who are brought int o this world by
no will or petition of their own suff e r most of all
,

l ong $ How l ong 0 crue l N ati on

W ill you se e k to move the w o l d on a chil d s h e art
A nd cru sh be ne a th y o u r f e e t its p alpi tation ;
An d stride onw ard to y o u r g oa l ami d its ma rt
B ut th a t bl oo d splashe th u pw ard 0 G o l d h e ape r
A nd its purpl e sh ow s y our p ath
For a chil d s mo an in the si le nce cu rse s d ee per
T ha t a strong ma n s in its wrath
H ow

CHAP T ER II

WOR DS O F GREA T ME N

TH E

George Washington in his inaugural address sa id :

What
ever measure have a tendency to dissolve the Union or con
tribute to violate or lesson sovereign authority ought to be
considered as hostile to the Liberty an d Inde p endence of
America and the authors of them treated accordin gly
Unless we can be enabled by the concurrence of the states
to participate of the fruits of the revolution or enjoy the
essenti al benets of civil society un der a form of government
so happily guarded against the
so free an d un corrupted
dan ger of oppression it will be a subject for regret tha t
so much blood has been shed and so much treasure l avished
for no purpose That so much suff ering has been encountered
without compensation ; and so m any sacri ces have been mad e
,

Where is the man to be foun d who wishes to remain in debted

for the defense of hi s own person an d property at the exer
tion s the bravery the blood of others without one generous
e ff ort to p ay the debt of ho n or and gratitude
In what part of the contin ent shall we n d any man or
body of men who would not blush to stand up and p ro
pose measur es purposely calculated to rob his fellow of his
due ; the soldier of his sti p end ? Were it possible th at such a
agrant instance of in justice could ever happen would it
n ot excite the general in dign ation and ten d to brin g down
n the authors of such measures the a ggravated ven gean ce

of Heaven ?
,

14

The Wo rd s

G r e a t Me n

of

15

There is no denyi n g the fact that we are livin g in the

shameful time of just such me asures
Th e re have been man y measures enacted durin g the past

twenty ve years which lessen sovereign authority

Meas
ur es whi ch were in tended to rob the people of liberty and
independence
There is n o liberty of speech and freedom
of ballot any more You may talk if you will talk to suit
the controllin g politician s You may vote if you wi ll march
up to the tun e of the party l ash ; but if not you are told you
will lo se your job and be boycotted in business

The country to day is full of Penroses and Cann ons

li q uor dealers bums crimin als and political traders who are
not only willin g but glad to be indebted for the defense of
their person and prosp erity to the exertion s expense bravery
an d if n ecessary the blood of others
They not only fail to ma ke any e ff ort to pay back the debt
but they continue to plun der and oppress with the tyranny
of a Czar of a heathen people
Without a tin ge or a blush of shame they propose measures
( an d see to it that they are put through ) whi ch are purposely
c alculated to rob their fellows of their due
It ought to
excite the general in dign ation of the people and brin g down
upo n these political h awks the venge ance of the people But
pity is tis true the people seem to love to have it so
God may n ot always choose to have it so The cries of the
oppressed are goin g up to the thr one of God and who knows
but that H e sh all come un expecte dly and terribly one of
these days as He has come to n ations an d in dividuals in
other times
O ne of our rich men says he is going to devote his money
an d time to avert a revolution It is n ot fan atical to say
that the spirit of discontent an d resentmen t i s on the incre ase
.

T he

16

S ha me of

Gre a t N a t i on

and un less a peaceable way can be foun d soon to right some

of these wrongs more serious results may follow
The conditions of oppression to d ay are equal to those
whi ch caus ed our fathers to deman d j ustice Whether we
will demand the yoke to be lifted or allow it to go on until the
wound will never heal is a question the peo p le must soon de
cide
Abraham Lincoln the greatest President this coun try has

ever kn own said in his inaugural address

If by the mere
force of numbers a maj ority should deprive a minority of
any clearly written constitutional right it might in a moral
sense justify revolution
It certainly would if such right

were a vital one

This coun try with its in stitutions belongs to the people
who inhabit it ( We mi ght add who pay the bills )
You have no oath in heaven to destroy the Govern ment
while I have a most solemn one to preserve an d defend it

Woe unto the world because of o ff enses ; for it must needs

b e that oen se s come but woe unto that man by whom the

o ffense cometh
If we shall sup p ose that American slavery is one of tho se
o ff enses which in the Providence of God must needs have
come but which havin g continued through His appointed
time He now wills to remove and that He gives to bot h North
and South this terrible war as the woe due them by whom
the offense cometh shall we deem them an y departure from
those divin e attributes whi ch the beli evers in a livin g God
always ascribe to Him ?
Fondly do we hope fervently do we p ray that this mighty
scourge of war may s p eedily pass away If God wills that it
continues un til all the wealth piled by the bondsman s two
hun dred and fty years of un re quited toil sh all be sun k and
.

Wo r d s

T he

of

G re a t Me n

every dr op of blood drawn by the lash shall

with blood dr awn by the sword yet shall we a
God is merciful and just and righteous altoget
us to carefully consider the se un chan ge ab
the universe for He is the same yesterday

rever ; and what is written is written

money Judas took for selling our Lord into th
enemies was no more blood money than tha
ved in revenue from the li quor busin ess an
deals w ith un principled men whereby the
robbed by unjust demands of taxation
f it be true that God hears the widow s cry the
chi ldren tortured robbed and killed by the mercile :
miserly men and a Nation that sells th
leaves them to be preyed upon by these
human form then it must be that some day He w
His wrath to drive the money changers out o
the world and set the captives of their greed and
,

3e

We shudder sometimes when we think of how God

in d that we pay back all the money gain ed in
)m

the liquor trafc every dollar of it representing

sery and woe Desolate destitute
d all the unspeakable horrors that follow

9 ser p ent of the

still
We wonder sometimes h
irs of the broken hearted wo men and children
id back If it be by some terrible scourge or a
His wrath that shall sweep away every doll
the Gove rnment by this trafc in the
1 13 of h e r enslaved people ; if it plea ses God to
the tears shed by the innocent and helpless
p aid back by the blood
,

T he

18

Sh a me o f

G r e a t Na ti on

it possible for thi s most horrible of all slave trades to

yet we will turn our faces toward Heaven and say
,

lived beyond God s time of endurance

These convictions are not the result of the wild hallucina

has

Let us not refuse to believe His

destruction

CHAPT E R III
I N C O N S I STE N CY

or

T H E GO VER NM E NT

William E Gladston e that great E nglish statesman said :

It is the duty of every government to make it as easy as pos

sible for her people to do right an d as di fcult a sp ossib le

for them to do wrong

Certainly no other policy is becoming to a n ation pre tend
ing to be civilized and Christianized
Under the present system of li censin g the li quor tra f c it
makes it as easy as possible for men to do wrong and as diffi
cult as possible for them to do right
The evil is encour aged and strengthened instead of bein g
checked an d weakened Men are taught that it is a necessary
evil ; a desirable industry ; a sort of a respectable indulgence
E very enticement that can be thought of every t rick that
can be plan ned every trap that can be set is used by these
un princi p led men of the liquor trade to draw the men into
their dens of iniquity to spend their hard earned money
for that which destroys soul and body ruins reputation and

character and scatters home comforts and blessin gs

They

set traps they catch men

The saloon is the mightiest
weapon the devil has for beatin g souls into his infernal
kingdom Yet good men believe in it and vote for it not
realizing that by so doing they become p a rtakers of its fruits
They forget that surely God will hold them responsible for its
crimes The liquor tra fc is not the only peril of this Nation
but it is not p uttin g it too strong to say it is the greatest evil in
.

19

20
our

T he

S ha m e of

G r e a t N a ti o n

midst the one deserving above all others our rst attention
,

and best endeavors

The minute the saloon goes down that instant many other
dens of vice will cease to exist for there are many of these
entirely dependent on the saloon for their life and trade
Wh en the sa loon p roblem is solved then and not un til that
time will a large number of other vexing questions be settled
We are more and more astonished at the discoveries we make
alon g this line when with an un p rejudiced mind we search
for the truth
We do not say that all wrong would be made right if the
liquor trafc were abolished ; but we do kn ow that the people
would be amazed at the decrease of woe misery and crime
which this evil produces
It is an oft repeated statement that ought to be told again
that o f cial reports prove that two thirds of the inmates of
penal institutions and almshouses are there directly or in
directly through drin k
For twenty eight years the writer has been traveling all
over the United States and in other coun tries She always
visits the prisons and jails reform schools and almshouses
homes for the feeble minded and other dependents
There
has never been a solitary exception to the rule that drink
d irectly or indirectly sent the victims to these institutions
the expense o f which is met by the taxp ayers who are so
deluded as to beli eve that the liquor trafc is a n ancial bene t
to the taxpayer Facts prove continually that the saloon is
n ot the tax saver but the tax maker If the expense charged
up to the people for the maintenance of all these houses of
refuge and pun ishment for the victims of the saloon were to
be cut out it would take away an avalan che of taxation No
one can disprove this st atement an d yet men go blindly on
.

the

of

In co n si st en cy

G o v e r nm en t

21

believin g the li quor b usiness to be a n ancial bene t an d

ga sp for breath when they say

Yes but if you abolish the

liquor business what will we do for revenue ?

The Government goes on protecting bonded warehouses an d
pays heavily for the privilege

T ruly we need to pray

O pen thou our eyes that we may
see and our ears that we may hear and our minds th at we

ma y heed
The Government thinks she is deriving revenue from the
business when the truth is she is paying vast sum s of money
tha t ought to go to legitimate sources to protect an industry
that long ago should have been denounced and prohibited

as a Leg alized O utlaw

She gets one dollar for granting a special privilege for a
criminal busin ess then pays twenty to take care of the
wrecks of its trade and teaches her people to believe that
her greatest source of in come would be ta ken away if the evil
were abolished
Never in the history of the world were a people more de
ce ive d by cun ning teachings of evil doers
Although the Government p romised by her declaration of
prin ciples to do her best to remove evil from the pathway
of the people sh e not only permits and p rotects it but hinders
states and mun icipalities from exercising their vested rights
to destroy the monster within their own boun daries

Under the head of How the United States Government

Protects the Liquor Trafc Mr Finley C Hendrickson says :

No Prohibition State or dry area can proj ect its govern

men ta l policy upon license territory But license states an d
wet territory are permitted through the powers delegated
to the Federal Government to annul the laws of the Probi
,

T he

22

S ha me o f

G r e a t N a t i on

bitiou S tates and dry a reas This is don e in three direct

ways :
First By Con gress permittin g the drink tra fc the rights
of inter state commerce to break down the prohibitory law
through inter state liquor shipments As the law an d practice
now stand all of the forty six states might adopt state pro
b ibitory laws but the liquor interests concentrating in the
District of Columbia alone for instance could virtually ann ul
the internal poli cies of all the states through the shipmen t of
inter state li quors to every point in them li mited only in
this nullication policy by the cost of transportation
S e cond B y permi tting tra fc outlawed in the maj or por
tion of the area of the states un limited mail facilities through
which the liquor interests di rect the lawless how to eva de or
defy the laws of the respective states
T hird B y the rule of the Treasury D epartment whi ch
sells Federal li q uor licenses to all applicants regar dl ess of
the fact that many thousands of these applicants are tramp
lin g state liquor laws un der foot in both li cense and dry
territory This bad practice is buttressed by the rule of the
Treasury Department that internal revenue collectors hav
ing in their possession the best evidence of lawless intent
must not testify in the state courts ag ainst these lawbreakers

Nothin g could now add greater lustre to con stitutional

freedom of which this Re public is the leadin g exponent than
to demonstrate to both its friends and foes that the American
people are cap able of suppressin g in these states through the
orderly fun ctions of government this i ntern al evil of the
drink tra fc To deny this right and power to civil liberty
is but to strengthen the apologists of monarchical govern ment
,

of

Inco n sistency
who stil l hope
in stitutions

to

the

G o v e r n men t

23

discover some intern al weakness in free

The movement again st the drink traf c in Am erica is now

While
p ronoun ced in p oliticis in ethics and industrialism
other n ation s are movin g against it the agi ta tion in the
United States has reached such a point as properly characterizes
it as an American move ment
In p olitics in ethics industrial
ism education medical science inventions an d throughout
every avenue of American activity the protest a gainst the
drink traf c has gone up The Am erican people h ave come
to realize that they do not lack stimulation in all the glorious
history of the past and the splendid prospect which li es
before They are realizin g also that sin ce it is n ecessary to
Oppo se the drink trafc in the avenues of ethics education
industry econo mi cs and n an ce it is all the more necessary
to Oppose it politically Success in this movement therefore
mean s an Ameri can victory and failur e would be declared
The outcome will make new comparisons
an American defeat
between the relative merits of free institutions and mon
archical government
An i mated by the wider prospect as well as the duty which
lies at hand w e renew our political task declarin g now as
heretofore that mi n or political considerations based on ly on
short lived expediency divorced from the fun damental prin
cip le s of right and justice shall not draw us from our political
course O ur devotion to the cause of civil liberty which is
but the cause of humanity will continue to be our rst p o
litical consideration
We are supposed to h ave a system of state rights an d muni
cip al control but it is entirely nulli ed and utterly destroyed
so far as the liquor tr af c is concerned
.

S hame of

T he

24

G re a t N a t i o n

For many years the people opposed to this murderin g and

thi evin g business have been trying to get a law thr ough C on
gress to prevent li quor being shi p ped into Prohibition States
and towns by givin g the state absolute control in the m atter
an d so xing the law that they may have power to cons cate
the illicit goods and treat the oen de rs as any other criminal
Thus far all petitions and plea din gs have failed It is not
at all di f cult to guess at the reason why this very great
deman d sho uld be granted Some of the Congressmen are
openly in the liquor busin ess while many others hold large
stock interests Men of reason and average intelligence can
readily see that the ballot must be applied to send a dierent
class of men to Washington if we mm to correct this gross
injus tice and the determination of the Gove rn ment to inter
fere with State rights
It is just such unfair un reasonable op p ressive legislation
that kindles in the hearts of the people a spiri t of revolution
The people will not always submit to this crushing un just
treatment We need not have a revolution of blood The
only knif e or bayonet that need be used is the ba ll ot applied
with cannon power to the p oliticians who prefer to stand
for evil rather than good and rob the people of their rights
rather than to protect them from the pirates who steal in upon
them to plunder their peaceful homes
The position of the Government in this matter is the great
est hi ndrance of all to the better enforcement of the pro
hib itory laws of states and mun icipali ties
To grant to the states and cities the right to vote out an
evil yet retain the p ower as a nation to give federal licenses
for it to continue is like letting the sheep into the shelter
to be sheared It is the most inconsistent unjust act a n ation
was ever guilty of
,

'

In co n sist en cy

of

the

G o v e rnmen t

25

When a state or commun ity decide that the sa loons are a

menace to the life liberty and p ursuit of happiness of the

people the Government ought to be made to withdraw federal
licenses which largely nullify all good results
On this question the Governm ent is like many individuals ;
namely right in sentiment but wrong in practice She hopes
to appease the de mands of the people by handing out a half
loaf lled with poison
Clinton N Howard says : We are everywhere for that
local Prohi bition that gives us the right to vote out the saloon
But do not ask us to stop there We cannot We will n ot

With
Christian voters marchin g as to war with

the cross of Jesus goin g on before

do not ask us to limit
our endeavor to a campai gn in town an d coun ty ag ainst an
organized enemy that is investing the entire eld stretchin g
its battle line fro m court house to capitol and infesting the
politics of the n ation from po liceman to President
We
cann ot an d we will not consent to the inconsistency of voting
out the sa loon in the town and county an d voting in the saloon
power in st ate an d nation
We are not opposed therefore to Local O ption as a meas
ur e to give the people the power to vote a saloon out of their
town or the saloons out of the coun ty but if any one supposes
that method will root up the liquor evil they are mi staken
It is hel p ful sometimes as a local measure but will n ot solve

the problem
We mus t kee p in mind continually that Local O ption not
only confe rs the right to vote the saloon out but like w ise to
vote it in We are ve ry glad to have it do what little it
can to vote them out ; but any method which bestows the right
of the majority to vote in an evil is wrong in p rin ciple and
inadequate as to the solution of the problem
,

The S ha m e o f

26

G r e a t Na t i on

The states that have gone fro m Local O ption to Prohibition

have done so because Local O ption was tried and found want
ing Its failure helped to establish state Prohibition rather
than its success
Another very serious weakn ess in the p lan is that Local
O ption does not do away with the manufactur e of alcohol
and so long as any law or method stops short of closing th e
li quor factories the drunkard shops will remain open
We would not deprive any town of the privilege to vote
the saloon out but beg them to consider the fact that if the
saloon is an e vil an d a menace to them it is to all and ask
them to therefore do as they would like to be done by an d
whi le they cast a ballot for their own deliverance from the
curse put on e in to banish it from the state an d Nation As

Mr Howard p uts it :
To vote it ou t of the town and coun ty

and then vote it in the state and Nation is doing evil that

good may come

an d largely undoing what little good has
been accomplished
If it is wrong to have the saloon anywhere it is wrong
every where Its work of destruction is the same in any case
and the attempt to establish two dierent standards of morals
and makes confusion and works harm
The Anti Saloon League claims to have spent an average
of thr ee to six hun dred thousan d dollars a year for the past
nineteen years to secure Local O ption laws If that amount
of money had been used to teach State and Nation al Prohib i
tion we do not be li eve there would be a brewery or distillery
st andin g to day turn ing out poison for beverage purposes or
a saloon an ywhere waiting lik e a thief in the n ight for his
victi ms or a pirate at sea to sink a ship that he might plunder
the drown in g people
While it is claimed that Local O ption is used as a steppin g
,

I n co n si st en cy

t he G o v e r n men t

of

27

ton e to St ate Prohibition it i s positively true that it is very

oft en urged as a substitute for State Prohibition It is pretty
near time for the people to learn that you cannot climb a hill
by walkin g down an d that to attempt to kill a mad dog by
chop ping off an inch of his tail at a time is a ve ry slow pro
ce ss at best Why not strike him in the head an d be don e
with it ? Is it not possible that the time an d money spent
to coax people to cut off a pinch of the evil must be us ed
over an d over again until we reach the head ? Why not begin
to teach that the sur est an d qui ckest way to kill a tree is
to cut it down That the way to stop the stench of a hog
That we cannot expect to kill the
p en is to destroy the pen
saloon by giving it legal right to exist or even yet to keep
on sayin g whether it shall or shall not be
It is a sort of a teeter board plan O ne day you are up an d

the next tim e the saloon is u p A Rin g around the Posy

game O ne moment you knock the saloon out but the next
game the saloon kn ocks you out
If we depend upon Local O ption to settle the problem we
wi ll be many centuries yet winn ing the victory If all half
way measures an d compromisin g plans would be dropped and
everybody turn in to accomplish what we all know must be
done in the end namely secur e State and National Prohi b i
tion we would not only save years of time and barrels of
money but millions of murdered bodies and lost souls Fewer
homes broken up and mothers hearts healed that must other
wise break
The good men of this coun try must kn ow if they stop to
reason it out that we must go to Washington and the state
legislatures to kill the li quor tra f c
Why waste so much time and money on the slow Local
O ption accommodation when we can take the Prohibition
s

The S ha me of

G re a t N a t i on

cial

that makes but one stop between home an .

an d that is for lunch at the State Capitol
We shall be obliged to face the originators of tht
protectors of the evil some day Why lose so
as hours at way stations ?
.

CHAPT ER I V
L I $ UOR

B U S INE SS U N C O N S TI T UT IO NAL

Whether we shall ever se cure a verdict or not n o one who

investigates the situation with intelligence shorn of all p re j u
dice can fail to conclude that beyond any question of doubt
the L i uor Tra f c is un constitutional
Any busin ess whi ch interferes with the appli c ation of our
expressed p rinciples as voiced in the Declaration of Inde
p endence and contrary to the spirit of the Federal C onstitu
tion cann ot be legally right
The Government itself is performin g an act of treason
toward the people to even allow such an evil to exist an d
doubly so when it gives it legal san ction and protection

We have a ll been guaranteed a chance to life liberty an d

the pursuit of happiness ; ye t an evil is licensed that robs

millions every year of all their God given an d Government
p romised blessings

We are told that No man has an inherent right to sell

liquor w ithout a li cen se because he does not have an inherent
right to engage in the sale of anythin g th at will work harm
to his fellow man Yet the Government commits the crime
of grantin g a special privilege f or the sake of revenue to
unprinci p led men to steal and kill and utterly destroy the
peace and happiness of the p eo p le

The Supreme Court says

The legislative bodies cann ot
barter away the public morals ; the people themselves cannot

do so ; much less their servants the legislators

Then in the face of these declarations the Govern men t
,

29

The Sh a me of

30

G r e a t Na t i o n

the state legislatures p ass laws to license evil minded men

to comm it all these crimes against the people a ff ectin g mil
lions of innocent helpless an d unwilling victims of the crime

It is also written in Supreme Cour t documents that

No
man has the inherent right neither can he buy that right
at any price to do that which will barter away the publi c

health the morals and the safety of the people

Wh o is so
mentally blind that he cannot se e and so stubborn that he
will not admit that when the Government and states grant
li censes to engage in this heart breaking home robbin g body
killing soul destroyin g hell llin g bus iness every law of de
ce n cy
of fair play and civi c honesty has been violated and
the greatest act of treachery committed which ever sold a
Were it possible to do so every partici
p eople into bondage
p ant in this crime Should be arrested for contempt and se
v e re ly pun ished
We wonder how much longer the people will submit to these
oppressions an d consent to be robbed of their rightful due
There is not the least thing about this infern al busi ness
that can recommend it to the toleration of the people
It demoralizes those who make it those who sell it those
who drink it The legislature that passes the law is de moral
iz e d
The governm ent that enters into the scheme of crime is
demoralized
From the time it issues from the poisonous
rooms of the distill ery until it empties into the hell of crime
dishonor and death that it demoralizes everybody who tu oche s
it It is liquid crime and treason ; forgery and bribery torment
and plun der the whole way of its slimy tracks
Go along the banks of the stream of death and look at the
suicides the i n sanity the poverty the i gn orance the distress
the little children tugging at the faded dresses of weepin g
mothers ; look at the blanched faces of desp airin g wives
an d

i u o r B u sine ss Un co n st i t u t i o n a l

31

asking for bread ; the men of genius it has wrecked ; the mil
lions strugglin g with the imagin ary serpents it has produced
in their minds Then think of the jails the almshouses the
asylums the prisons the scaffolds upon either hand ; How in
the name of common sense decency and justice can a govern
ment n d any excuse for the licensing of such an evil as an
industry from which to derive revenue ; and how can a sen
sible people be so long suff erin g so blind to the welfare of
themselves and fellow men as to allow it to be ?

We have heard much of late about checking corporate

aggression ; in dividual impositions ; plun derin g of the R e

b u t we are told
p ublic under guise of corporate privileges
in the same breath that to interfere with a busin ess that does

all this and more is to rob the people of thei r Personal

liberty and Constitutional rights

We talk about revealing the corruption of o f cials in public
places and condemning them to the fate of cri min als then
pass laws to legalize outlaws and permit men to commit c rime
in the name of the Government if they w ill only hand over
a share of the plunder
We read about trying to save cities from further sackin g

by aldermen and grant men legal privilege to sa ck the

homes the happiness and lives of the people
We grow eloquent when we talk about rescuing states from
con scation at the hands of thei r own legislators ; yet allow
men in the liquor business to con scate the people legislators
and all We declare the people must be saved from the p o
litical thieves who have stolen every accessible thing from
a postage st amp to an empire of land ; then p ass laws to
give these pirate liquor dealers right of way to steal everyt hing
in sight from the child in the cradle to C ongress The an cient
l andmarks of our fathers are being removed by these men
.

S ha m e o f

T he

32

Gre a t N a ti on

who get fat and grow rich upon the carc asses of those they
have killed and robbed The posts stain ed with blood set
along the highway to g ui de us to life liberty and happin ess
have been torn u p by these wolves of greed and avarice who
have been licensed to prowl aroun d all hours of the day an d
night seeking whom they may devour ; and they are non e
too good to devour everything that can b e swallowed from
the sweet little curly headed boy and angel faced girl to the
tottering old man who just before he dropped into his
drunkard s grave to sink on dow n into a drun kard s hell
wen t into a mur der shop and dro p ped his last nickel into
the saloon keeper s money drawer This story of the re i gn

of King Alcohol is the bloodiest one ever written

It
could never be told ; yet we are asked not only to tolerate
the crime but a ctually make it a protected industry
Yet dark as the pictur e is we believe we are in the
words of that grand un comp romiz in g hero Dr S C Swallow

Far past the sun ri se of that glorious day whose settin g shall
witness the unfoldin g of our n ation s ensign over a country

redeemed from the curse of beverage intoxicants

a nation
redeemed from the blot and blight of the greatest slave trade
that ever blackened its good name Then and not un til then
have we a right to sing
.

gl d B

A nd the S tar S pa n
0 , on may it
-

l g
e r the l a nd

A nd the

Here are some

tra fc in 1 9 0 8 to
It is estim ated
came addicted to
,

w ave

of

the

ome of

anne r,

ree

the

brave

gures

for men who supported the liquor

think about :
that
boys in the United St ates b e
the use of alcohol in that year The same
.

i u o r B u si ne ss Unconsti tu ti ona l

33

year
babies were smothered to death by drun ken p a
rents Wallowed over in their beds and killed as anim als
would kill their o ffsp ri ng ;
8 6 wives were mur dered by
drunken husbands ;
murders were committed by persons
under the in uence of liquor There were
suicides as
a result of drink ;
deaths were brought about by
drunken cab drivers and chauff eurs ;
wives and moth
ers were lost husbands and sons as a result of drink ;
p ersons were made in sane through intoxicating liquors and
men women and youths went to prison durin g 1 9 0 8
as the result of alcoholi c drinks Yet the government d oes
not recogni z e this business as an evil menacing the welfare
of the peop le but treats it as an industry from which to de
rive reven ue
The dominant political parties ignore the question an d say
it is not an issue for political parties to ta ke up Worse than
all this professed Christian men vote for men and parties to
rem ain in power who are so blind and so inhumanly selsh
they cannot or will not see that in licensing the liquor busi
ness the government and the states are protecting slaughter
ing houses that kill every year their millions of victims who

otherwise would have a fair chance to their promised lif e

liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Let every man who votes for licen se parties and whiskey
men remember that he cannot escape being held responsible
in the sight of God as well as the people for the products of
these murder mi lls
.

Wh at

g i n g t d d f i nd
I n th y
th t i t
me
T b ni h thi n di h h n d f d th
m
ng
Wh
i
um ?
a re

ose

we

e ar

e sse

er

e ar

o,

co

s r

r e

s,

ea

The S hame of

34
S

h ll

f ld
h
d

we

A s he

our

as

one

the e n

et

S till p o

ill b k
S ti ll d i

St

u th w
mi ng hi l d ?
wing m th
i t wil d ?
tort

er

hi

er s

s our

g yh i d i ?
y ung u l ?
n
g twv
th lik
ll
t n ti n
the

ra

rave

s o

a re

ea

re a

o e

e ar

s re

so

e ar

re a

ro

s ev

A nd

lift

With

w e ak

or

may spe ak

w a rning h a nd d e ar f i end s

a cry

or

dding v i t
L ik
m
d
o ce

e ru

oo

or

o or a nd

so

so

s,

ul p
I n ll thi g dly l n d ;
B t g in t thi
il w d
A n d l ift
w rni ng h nd
is not

r e

o o

s s

a e

e ar

o co

s r se

T he re

mi ss

e a rt ?

i n n th d f i nd
m ?
I n th y
th t i t
i nd d u w k
If n t l t u
A g in t thi
um
pi i t f

Is t

ra ve

y wif

e ar

s s er

e s re a

Bo rro

ar

re

co

ill b i ng t th g
S till m ty th b
T ill th t m f d
g
O
th w h l

St

him pass,

o e?

the

the

r ve

bid

s and

the

re a

h nd
be f r

d till

son

Gre a t N a ti on

me

ea

h rth
v i
till

a nd

i t
th kn ll

o v o ce

ea

o ce

o er

the

the

rth

ea

u nd

so
.

w avering sh a ll h ea r
A nd the f a i nt grow b ra ve a nd strong
A nd the tru e a nd g oo d a nd great a nd wi se
J o in h a nd s to right thi s wrong
A nd the

w ea k

a nd

the

CHAPT E R V
WHI TE S LAVE TR ADE

THE

Fo rsa ke n b y
B Y 13

In

d k

and

ar

Wi th

NO R

b u t J esus
AW .

IN B

l one ly ch ambe r
ring gi rl one ni gh t
,

w and

ay a

a ll

d
u nd h
A nd d th
m
ng
in igh t
A th y
hi ng f h d
th d h
Wil dl y t ing w ith th p in
nd
m th
ying
O
th

m
w
n
Tw f
l i
th t Ch i t
her

i g

ea

comra

e rr n

so o

es

er a

o er

O nce

as

she

w as

Walki ng

in the

e sa

as s a

l ove d d a ughte r

w ay s

ea

r s

re ,

estro

she re sts

f ul d

B ut the
N ow

e re ca

or

ore

e r,

er ac

o ss

ro

er

e sse

of

G od ;

ugh t

e r so

be ne a th

he r ;

the so d

kin d h a n d outstre tch e d to save her

S o she w ande e d f a a w a y
While the sa d and w ee ping moth e r
No

Pra

y df

Wh e n

or

he r re t

the mot

hd

rn e a c

a y.

l o ok e d upon he
so co l d a nd w hi te

er

r,

ying th
W d f p mi f m th S i u
igh t
M d h f l th t ll w
h th t J u
Tw f
uh
l ving t nd w d
S id th
B thi ng h p nd mf t t u

T h y th t kn k h ll
b h
L

e re

or s o

as

ro

er

ose

re a

as r

es s

er

or s,

co

oc

35

or

s,

e er

as s e

o
e

av o

ee

or s c

ro

se

ear

T he

36

S ha m e of

ght O L d nd ll
Wi th T hy S pi it nd Thy l
i u d
0 h l p nd l d

C ome to ni

or

av o

r,

T o the

e a r,

re al

of

pe ace

eer

b ove

e e rr

oo

ve

e av r,

e ve r

or

us

ea

y th t w m y n
il
h ing w d t gi
B t wi th th h lp f G d nd

B id th
i ng L k nd l i
A n d w e p ra
Fa
the c

us

ov e ,

ms

G rea t N a ti on

ve

The greatest shame of our n ation to day is that not on ly

the liquor trafc is licensed and protected by the Governmen t
but that other great evils are allowed to go on un molested
We shall consider the unspeakable horror known as the

White Slave Trade

as another great peril of this pro
fessed civili z ed Christianized Nation
The greatest story of shame ever told in the history of the
world must be given to the peop le in the narration of this

horrible T ra ic in girls
There are many who will say
such a story Should never be told The exposures of municipal
o f cers and even those higher up in authority should not be
made
It must be done however if we are to stop this
buyin g and selling of human esh and immortal souls into
the most shameful pitiful horri fying sinful practice that
men who pretend to have a spark of civilization in them ever
engag ed in
In the beginning of this story we will reprin t in full the
article written by S S McC lure and printed in their splendid
magazine in November 1 9 0 9
Let no one say these things are not true They are too
horr ibly so and what is true of New York is also true of many
other cities in the count ry
-

The Whi t e S l a v e T ra de

37

TH E T A MMA NY IZIN G O F A CI VILI ZATI O N

By S

McClu re

For a thousand years the Germanic races have bui lt up

slowly and laboriously the p resent civilization of the West
the great and complicated structure that now lifts the whole
race above barbarism an d bestiality and gives the in di vidual
the guaranties of security and justice and decency that make
civilized life more worth livin g than savage ry
The three
leadin g n ations in which this development has come about
ha ve been E nglan d Germany and the United States The
United States had every prospect from the traditions an d
motives and stock of its founders of carrying this develop
ment to its hi ghest point
But for at least half a century strong reactionary forces
have been continuously at work in thi s country to drag its
inherit ance of ci vi liz ation down again to barbarism
The
lowest point that they have ye t attained is their nation wide
organ ization for the sale of the bodies of women described

in the article
The D aughters of the Poor by George Kibbe
Turner in this number of M cClure s The deep seated and
in stinctive disgust of every n ormal p erson for this transa c
tion proves beyond any demonstration its essential nature
It is n ot a mere attack on individual morals It aims at the
disintegration and degradation of a civilization and the social
training of centuries se t in the bones and marrow of the
race revolts against it
,

How A M ER ICA

C IVILIZ AT I O N H A S BEE N DE GRADE D

This fty years of struggle to degrade the standard s an d

guaranties of civilization in America has come about largely
through the popul ation s of cities This is perfectly n atural
.

The Sha me of

38

G r e a t N a ti on

For forty years la rge American cities have cont ained great
masses of primitive peoples from the farms of E urope trans
ported to this country as laborers together with a considerable
proportion of negro slaves liberated by the Civil War To
this body of people absolutely i gnorant in tradition or prae
tice of the development and operation of civilization by self
government was suddenly given the domination of Am erican
city life by manhood sura ge From the beginning of the
shifting of power into these un accustomed han ds the develop
ment inevitable to this class of population since an d before
the time of R ome has been in progress
They h ave been
exploited on every han d and through them the entire popu
lation of Americ an cities ; in the meanwhile they have been
kept in control by their exploiters through systematic largesse s
of public wages charity or entertainment I n this ample
eld for their enterprise have sprun g up organiz ations for
the pro table debauchin g of populations such as have r arely
if ever been equaled in the history of the world
The obvious way to exploit and degrade pop ulations of this
kin d has been along two lin es of strong primitive appeal
their sa tur ation with alcoholic liquor an d the development
of sex ual license
The whole system has been a perfectly
natural social growththe exploiters as well as the exploited
And the in centive necessarily behin d the process has been the
pro t th at co ul d be made by abrogatin g the laws so as to de
velop and exploit to the li mit the appetites and passions of
the great body of the least trained and most un defended
population
,

S E VE NT Y YE ARS O F T AMMAN Y H ALL

The oldest and most infamous organization in America for

exploiting this population is Tammany Hall of New York
,

T he

Whit e S l a v e T ra de

39

whi ch the great classic historian Professor Gugli elmo Ferrero

recently compared to the very similar org anizations that were
formed for exploiting the city of Rome durin g its decadence
For f ty years an d more this body has perverted civilization
in New York us in g the great politically untrained population
for this purpose Its political saloon keepers have killed un
numbered multitudes of these people through excessive drink
in g ; its political procurers have sold the bodies of their
daughters ; its contractors and street railway magnates have
crowded them into the deadly tenement districts by defraud
ing them of their rights of cheap and decent transportation ;
and its sanitary o fcials have continuously murdered a high
percentage of the poor by their sale of the right to continue
fatal and lthy conditions in these tenement distri cts con
Me an time they have kept control of the p opula
trary to law
tion they have exploited by their cunn ing distribution of
wages and chari ty
The story of the development of this organization for the
promotin g of barbarism is illuminating enough to justify giv
in g the following outlin e of its progress durin g the past
seventy years taken from Gustavu s Myers history of the
society :
In 1 8 4 2 Tammany organized i mmigrants into voting gangs
In 18 51 the Co mmon Coun cil rst became generally known

as
The Forty Thieves
The city government was thor

oughly organized for

graft
from the receipt of large
bribes by the aldermen for franchises to the payment by the
police of a regul ar schedule of prices for promotions
By 1 8 56 the saloon power had grown un til it controlled the
politics of the city
The saloon keepers furnished cheaply

gangs of illegal voters ballot box stuffers and shoulder hit

ters to intimidate citizens and smash ballot boxes

,

The Sha me o f

40

G re a t N a ti on

Between 18 65 an d 1 8 7 1 including both city appropriations

an d bond issuesNew York City was robbed of about $2 0 0

by Tammany Hall un der the rule of Boss Tweed

I n 1 8 6 9 the impossibility of obtain in g justice under the
corrupt T ammany judiciary brought about the serious sug
gestion published in a standard magazine that a V igilance
commi ttee be formed in New York along the lines of that
of that organ ized to clear up San Fran cisco in the days of its
rst lawlessness
In 1 8 7 1 the exposures of Tammany Hall rule together with
the arrest of Tweed made its name a b y word across the earth
for political corruption It was beli eved to be crushed
In 1 8 7 2 Samuel J Tilden August B elmont Charles
O C onor and other leading citizens were elected Tamm any
sache ms
I n 1 8 7 4 Tammany H all again secured control of New York
City government ( by the familiar plan of advancing respecta
ble and n otable men to the prominent places in their organiza
tion ) Fully three quarters of its ofce seekers in the election
were connected with the liquor trade many of them being
keepers of low groggeries Nine out of fteen Tammany can
didates for alderman were former creatures of the Tweed ring
one of them being under two indictments for fraud
In 1 884 came the Broadway street railway sc an dal which

gave the word boodle to the language and resulted in

sending many aldermen to the p enitentiary
In 18 9 2 revenue from vice assumed great pro p ortions The
estimated annual blackmail by the Tammany police alone was
,

In
cial

the Lexow Committee s investigations showed of

encouragement and cultivation of vice by the Tammany
19 04

The

Whit e S l a v e T r a de

41

Hall admin istration which astonished an d horri ed the ciliv

,

MR M oss O N
.

THE BE GIN N I NG O F T HE POLI TICAL PRO CURER

Myers history closed before the development of the pro

cur er and merchant of vice as a power in Tamman y Hall was
fully comprehended
However the n e w development of
vi ce in the Tammany districts of the E ast Side ten ement sec
tion of New York was bein g watched an d un derstood by com
petent observers
In 1 89 7 Frank Moss ex president of the New York Police
Board trustee of the City Vi gilan ce League and coun sel of
the Society for the Prevention of Crime described conditions
of life in the red light district of the E ast Side in his book
The A mercan
as follows :

Women of all n ationalities have drifted into the district

There has grown up as an
an d are un able to live out of it
adjun ct of this herd of female wr etchedness a fraterni ty of
fetid male vermin ( nearly all of them bein g Rus sian or Polish
Jews ) who are unmatchable for impudence and bestiality
and who reek with all unmanly an d vicious humors They
are called pimps
A number of the m are on the roll of the
Max Hochstim Association They have a regular federation
and manage several clubs which are inuential in local poli
ties and which a fford them the power to watch their poor
women V ictims to secure their hard and ill earn ed money
and to pun ish them when they are refractory
They
stand by each other and by the aid of the powerful politicians
of the ward and of professional witnesses they send re f rac
tory women to the Island

ubli h d by
T h t i th

s e

s,

ose

l ate P F Collie r f ou nde r o f C o llie r s We e kly

w ho w o u l d not p a y th e i r e arni ng s to th e i r mana ge r

the

The Sh a m e of

42

B I S HO P PO T TER

G r e a t N a t ion

PRO T E ST A GAI N S T T AMMAN Y

E $ P L O I T A TI O N

In 19 0 0 the moral forces of New York aw

oke to an under
standing of the great political power of the purveyor of vice
under the Tammany administration of Mayor V an Wyck
The late Bisho p Henry C Potter who was p articularly active
among the Protestants of the time summarized the existing
conditions as follows :
.

A corrupt system whose infamous details have been

steadily un covered to our increasing horror and humiliation
was brazenly ignored by those who were fattening on its spoils
and the world w as presented with the astoun ding spec
tacle of a great mun icipality whose civic mechan ism was
largely employed in trading in the bodies and souls of the
defenseless
The situation was treated in great detail by Bishop Potter
in his open letter to Mayor Van Wyck on November 1 5 1 9 0 0 :

But the thing that is of consequence Sir is that when a

minister of religion goes to the headquarters of the po li ce of
his district to appeal to them for the protection of the young
the innocent and defenseless against the leprous harpies
who are hired as run ners and touters for the lowest and
most inf amous dens of vice he is met not only with contempt
and derision ( of police o fcials ) but with the coarsest insult
an d obloquy

I a frm that the virtual sa feguarding of vice in the city

of New York is a burning shame to any decent and civilized
comm un ity and an intolerable outrage upon those whom it
especially and pre eminently concerns

But I approach you Sir to protest with all my power

against a condition of things in which vice is not only toler
,

Whi t e S l a v e T ra de

The

43

ated but shielded an d encour aged by those whose sworn d uty

it is to repress an d discourage it and in the n ame of un sulli ed
youth an d innocence of youn g girls and their mothers who
livin g un der conditions often of privation and the hard
struggle for a livelihood have in them every instinct of virtue
and purity that are the ornaments of any so called gentle
woman in the land

I know those of whom I speak their homes their lives

their toil and their aspirations Their sensibility to outrage
or Insult is as keen as that of those who are in your own house
hold or min e and before God and in the face of the citizens
of New York I protest as my people have charged me to do
again st the habitual insult the persistent menace the un ut
terab ly de lin g contacts to which day by day becaus e of the
base comp licity of the police of New York with the lowest
forms of vice and crime they are subjected

And in the names of these little ones these weak and de

f ense less ones Christian and Hebrew alike of man y races
and ton gues but of homes in which God is feared and His
law reverenced and virtue and decency honored and exempli
e d I call u p on you Sir to save these people from a living
he ll de ling deadly damn in g to which the criminal supine
ness of the constituted authorities set for the defense of de
cency and good order threatens to doom them
The situation which confronts us in this metropolis of
America is of such a nature as may well make us a b y word
and hissing among the nations of the world
,

S UCH A CO NDI TI O N NO WHERE EL S E O N EAR TH

For nowhere else on earth I verily beli eve does there

exist such a situation as deles and dishonors New York today
Vice exists in many cities but there is at least some persistent
,

The S hame of

44

G re at N a ti o n

repression of its extern al manifestations an d the agents of the

law are n ot as here widely believed to be fattening upon the
fruits of its most loathsome an d unn amable forms

I come to you Sir with this protest in accord an ce

with the instructions la tely laid upon me by the Convention
of the E piscopal Church of the Diocese of New York

In all the se months ( of protest ) the condition of things

in whole n eighborhoods has not improved but rather grown
worse Vice not on ly aun ts itself in the most open ribald
forms but hard working fathers and mothers nd it harder
th an ever to d ay to defend their households from a rapacious
lie ensiousne ss which stops at no outrage and spares n o ten
Such a state of things cries to God f or ven
d erest Vi ctim
ge ance an d calls n o less loudly to you and me for redr ess

HE NR Y C PO TTER
,

T HE

B ishop

f N e w York

CO MMI TT EE O F F IF TEE N

The horrible revelations of conditions un der the V an Wyck

administration aroused p ub lic interest to such an extent that
a body of citizens was ch osen to investigate the conditions
of the white slave trade Thi s was the Committee of Fifteen
rarely if ever has an organization of such able and p rominent
me n taken part in the public a airs of New York as will be
seen from the followin g list of its members :
The late William Henry Baldwin Jr ( chairman ) Harvard
1 885 ; president of the Long Isl an d R ailroad Company
Felix Adler C olumbia 1 87 0 Ph D Berlin ; professor of
H ebrew at C ornell 18 7 4 to 1 87 6 ; founder of Society for E thi
ca l Culture
The late Joel Benedict E rhardt ; prominent business man
and soldier ; from 1 88 3 to 18 8 4 Police Commissioner of New
:

Whi te S l av e T ra de

T he

45

York City ; president of the L awyers S urety C o mp any and a

trustee of the B owery S avin gs B ank
Austen G Fox Harvard 18 69 ; Special Assistan t District
Attorn ey in the prosecution of poli ce ofcials after the Lexow
investigation ; chairman of the Comm ittee of Nin e on the Po
li ce Problem in 1 9 05
John S Kennedy prominent banker
William J O B rien master granite cutter an d a promin ent
labor un ion leader
The late Alexander E O rr several times president of the
Produce E xch ange and of the New York Chamber of C om
merce ; President of the Board of Rapid Transit Commis

sioners

George Foster Peabody prominent banker ; trustee of the

Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institution
George Haven Putn am publisher
The late John Harsen Rhoades president of the Green wich
Savin gs Bank and director of many banks and n an cial insti
,

Jacob H Schi ff member of the rm of Kuhn Loeb

C om
p any bankers ; director of the National City B an k and va ri
ous other institutions
A J Smith professor in the Medical Dep artment of the
University of Pennsylvania and various other me di c al insti
tutions ; author
Charles S p rague Smith educator lecturer and writer
Cha rles Stewart Smith ex president of the Chamber of
Comm erce ; director in a large number of nan ci al institu
tion s
E dwin R A Seligman professor of political economy ;
promin ent in various movements for mun icipal reform in New
York City
.

The Sha me o f

46
T HE

G re a t N a t i o n

C O MMITTEE O F F IF TEE N O N THE POLI TICAL PO WER O F V n

This body of men published in 19 0 2 a book covering th.

investigation of the social evil in New York City Their sta
ments showed conditions so inconceivable that they w on
scarcely be credited on lesser authority
Concernin g t
power whi ch the purveyors of vice had n ow secured in t
political machin e they sa id :

The employees ( of these disorderly hou ses ) openly cri

their wares upon the streets and children of the neighb orho
were give n pennies and candy to distribute the cards of t

prostitutes A syst em of watch boys or lighthous es vs

als o adopted by which the news of any impending dan g
could be carried throughout a precinct in a very few minu t

H onest police o fcers who attempted to perform th

duties were de ed by the cadets and lighthouses

For a police o ff icer to incur the enmity of a p ow erl

madame meant the transfer of that o fcer for the good
the service if not to another p re cint at least to an un dee
able post in the same precinct A virtual reign of ten
existed among the honest p atrolmen and the ignoran t citiz c

of these districts
,

CO MMI TTEE O F F IF TEE N DE S C RI BE S

T HE

C ADE T

The C ommittee of Fifteen describes the cadet

the n
political power of whom Mr Moss had written in 189 7
follows :

His occupation is professional seduction By occasiOI

visits he succeeds in securin g the friendship of some attract
S hOp girl
By apparently kind an d generous treatment a
by givin g the youn g girl gli mpses of a st an dard of livi
which she has never dared hope to attain this friends]

The White S l av e T ra de

47

rapidly widens into in fatuation The Raines law hotel or the

furnished room ho use with its ca f e on the groun d oor is
soon visited for re f reshments After a drugged drink the
girl wakens and nds herself a t the mercy of her supposed
friend Through fear and promises of marriage she casts her
fortunes with her companion and goes to live with him The
compan ion disappears ; and the sh Op girl n ds herself an in

mate of a house of prostitution

-

CO MMI TTEE O F F IF TEE N O N D AN GER S O F C HIL D RE N IN

TENE M E NTS
.

The committee s inve stigation of the condition of the tene

ment house showed how almost impossible it was for the
chi ldren of the poor to grow up honest and virtuous un der
thi s thorough organization of vice and procuring by Tam
many politicians Con cern i n g this it says :

The revenu e produ cin g power of the sale of i mmun ity by

the police seemed to make the appetite of the police insatiable
The infamy of the p rivate house with all the horrors arising
from the cadet system did not satisfy oicial greed The
tenement houses were levied upon and the prostitutes began
to ply their trade therein openly In many of these tene
ment houses as many as fty children resided An acquaint
an ce by the children with adult vices w as inevitable The
chil dr en of the tenements eagerly watch the new sight s in
their midst The statistics of venereal diseases amon g chil
dren and the many revolting stories from the red light district

tell how completely they learned the lessons taught them

.

UNI T ED HE B RE W C HAR I TIE S O N JE WIS H CO ND I TI O NS

The condition of life amon g the Jewish people who were

subj ected to the inuences of this district was desc ribed
,

The Sh a me o f

48

G re a t N a ti on

by a statement published in th e Twenty seventh Ann ual R e

p ort of the Un ited Hebrew Charities of New York in O ctober
19 0 1
This said

The horrible congestion in whi ch so many of our co

religionists live the squalor and lth the lack of air an d
sunlight the absence frequently of even the common de
e e ncie s are too well kn own to require repetition at this writ
in g E ven more pronounced are the results accuring from
these conditions : the vice and crime the irreligiou sness lack
of self restraint indi ff erence to social conventions in dulgence
of the most degraded and p erverted ap p etites which are daily

growing m ore pronoun ced and more offensive

When it is realized that the Jewish people in New York
number over
and that a great p ercentage of these are
very poor so poor that from
to
persons a o
cordin g to reli able authorities are more or less dependent
upon alms the danger arising fro m the tempting and ex
p loiting of members of such a population by political pro
curers can easily be se en
-

GOVER N M E NT REP OR TS O N PRE S E NT W HI TE S LAVE TR ADE

It was the hope of the Committee of Fifteen that the system

of political procuring in New York City was on the wane
But two United States Government investigations and a
State investigation dealing with the problem indicate that this
is far from true The ndin gs of the Fe deral investigators are
not given out for publication at the time this is written but
they will soon appear They wi ll show a shocking condition
condition throughout the United States and a general drift of
the merchan dising of women into the han ds of procurers
Students of the problem believe that at le ast two thirds of the
.

The Whi t e S l a v e T ra de

49

prosti tutes of the coun try are controlled by in dividual c a dets

and th at in New York City the proportion is much higher

NE W

YORK S T A TE REP OR T O N WHI T E S LAVE TR AD E

O R GANIZA TI O N

The report of the Commission of Immigration of the St ate

of New York pub lis hed last summ er treats the present condi
tions of the white slave trade in New York as follows :

In the State of New York as in other States an d countries

of the world there are organized ramie d and well e q uipped
associations to secure girls for the purp ose of prostitution
The recruiting of such girls in thi s coun try is largely among
those who are poor ignorant or friendless The attention of
the Commission has been called to one org an ization incor
p orate d un der the laws of New York State as a mutual benet
society with the alleged purpose to promote the sentiment
of regard and friendship among the members an d to ren der
assistance in case of necessity
This society is in reality an
association of gamblers procurers an d keepers of disorderly
houses organized for the purpose of mutual protection in
their business Some of the caf$s restaurant s and other places
conducted by the members are meetin g places for those en
gaged in the business of importation The organization in
clu des a membership of about one hun dred residents of New
York Ci ty and ha s representatives and correspondents in
various cities of the country notably in Pi ttsburg Chicago

and S an Francisco
,

TH E

TR ADE IN P I TTS BU R G

The conditions existin g in the three l arge centers of the

white slave trade all uded to by the State Commission have

been previously described in this m agazin e In May 19 0 3
.

The S ha m e o f

50

Gr ea t Na ti on

Lincoln Steif ens wrote of the situation in Pittsb ur g as follows :

Disorderly hous es are managed by ward syndi cates Per

mission is had from the syndicate real estate agent who alone
The syndicate hires the hous es fr om the own
can rent them
ers at say $ 3 5 a month an d he lets it to a woman at from
$ 3 5 to $ 5 0 a week For furniture the tenant mus t go to the
w ho delivers $l 0 0 0 s worth of x
o cial furniture man
ings for a note for
on whi ch high interest mus t be
paid For beer the tenant must go to the oi cial bottler
an d pay $ 2 for a one dollar case of beer ; for wines and liquors
to the oi cial liquor commissioner who charges $ 10 for v e
dollars worth ; for clothes to the ofcial wrapper maker
These women may not buy shoes hats j ewelry or an y other
lux ury or n ecessity excep t from the o ff icial concessionari es
and then only at the o f cial monopoly prices If the victims
have anything left a police or some other city o f cial is
said to call an d get it ( there are rich ex police o fcials in
Pittsburg )
.

L AR GE B US INE

TH E

S IN CHICA GO

In A pril 1 9 0 7 George Kibbe Turn er after an investig ation

of several months described the situation of this political in
dustry in Chicago as follows :

The largest re gul ar bus iness in f urn ishin g women how

ever is done by a company of men largely composed of Rus
sian Jews who supply women of that nationality to the trade
These men have a sort of loosely organized association extend
ing thr ough the large cities of the coun try among their chief
centers bein g New York Boston Chicago and New O rleans
In Chicago they now furn ish the great majority of the pros
titute s in the cheaper district of the West Side Levee their
women havin g driven out the En glish speaking wo men in the
,

V
8

The Whi te S l av e T r a de

51

l ast ten years From the best returns available there are
some ten or a dozen women off ered for sale of the hous es of
prostitution in the E ightee nth Ward every week The price
paid is about fty dollars a head In some exceptional c ases
seventy ve dollars has been given This money paid over to
the agent is charged up to the debt of the woman to the
hous e She pays that is for her own sale In addition she
gives over a large share of her earnings to the man who

places her
What this means to the victims is thus described further
on by Mr Turn er :

To the average individual woman concerned it me an s the

expectation of death under ten years ; to practically all the
longer survivors a villainous and hideous after life There
is a great pro t in this business however Chi cago has it or

i
z
e
from the supplying of youn g girls to the druggin g
a
n
d
g
of the older an d less salable women out of existencewith the
ni cety of modern industry As in the stock yards not one

shred of esh is wasted

,

A C HICA GO NE WS PAPER DE S CR IB E S

T H E LO CAL M AR KE T

The Chicago papers carry articles dealing with this business

almost continuo usly ; indeed that city is now in the midst of
the discussion of its perennial municipal scandal concerning
the protection of the tra f c in women by city ofcials O n
O ctober 22 19 0 6 durin g on e of the p eriodical outbreaks of
feeling again st the tr ad e in Chicago the D aily N ew s said

Vice and depravity are openly traded in as a commodity

in Chicago and the streets of a district traversed daily by at
least one third of the city s popul ation are its marketplace
The district is bounded by S angamon Halsted Lake and
Mon roe streets and is known as the West Side Levee This
,

52

S ha m e o f

T he

G r ea t N a ti o n

empo rium of immorality and de gration e xists by virtue

of a re gularly organized protective association whose mem
bers laugh at law successfully defy those who have tried to
cope with them and through some mysterious inuen ce are
enabled to continue their trai c with a license an d aban don

that makes of the West Side Levee an Open brothel

p ublic

C HI CA GO O R G ANIZ E S

To

F I G H T TRAFFI C

In Chicago as throughout the coun try the moral and con

structive forces among the Jews have been gre atly exercised
by the ap p earance of the Jewi sh cadet an d girl in the whi te
slave trade
During the past summer a police insp ector
E dward M cC ann was tried for receiving money for the pro
te ction of the traic in women on the West Side of the city
I n this trial it appeared that Jul ius Fran k who with his
brother Louis has been for years n otorious as a lea der in
the bus iness in women there was the president of a Jew ish
church congregation
This revelation caus ed great ex cite
ment among the Jews of Chic ago and has resul ted in bring
in g to a head a general movement to organ ize again st the
white slave trade of that city The Chica go N e ws of Septem
ber 2 5 19 0 9 tells the story of this movement which is led
by Jews an d whose counsel is to be Cliff ord G Roe the youn g
Chi cago attorney who has been the most promin ent gure in
the local campaign against the white slave trade in Chi cago
during the past two years The N ews says :

Traf c in white slaves and pan derin g are to be stamp ed

out in a wide and far reachin g crusa de in C hic ago pl an s for
whi ch were made kn own to day by Adolf Kr aus one of the
guiding spirits in the movement This vi ce is to be attacked
in a systematic way accordin g to Mr Kraus who talk ed of
the aims of the movement followin g disclosures in the recent
,

The Whi t e S l av e T ra de

53

trial of Poli ce Inspector E dward M cC ann Big chur ch an d

civic organ izations regardless of creed are to back the move
in a n an ci al w ay The B u ai B rith of which Mr Kr aus is
president and the Commercial Club are two of the big asso
ciations behi nd the crusade

Cliff ord G R oe former As sistant States Attorn ey who

un der the a dministration of John J Healy as State prose
cutor h an dled the white slave tra fc cases has been engaged
and will direct the obtaining of evidence to be laid before the
State s Attorney in the campaign against pandering
.

RE S UL T O F AR TICL E IN

M C C L URES

Mr Kraus said he and others had been investigating thi s

trafc for almost three years an d that the law on the statute
books now was a result of exposures that came three years ago
*
in an arti cle prin ted in M cC lure s Magazine
This dealt with
the Jewish phase of conditions and was the rst information
that Jews in C hi cago had that members of their race were
engaged in thi s illegal trafc

Mr Kraus and others questioned the article an d asked the

author to submit proof or apologize
Proof w as forthcomin g
said Mr Kr aus and the ght has been on ever since an d is
to be broadened n ow so as to take in all denominations
The a rticle appearing in M cClu re s s aid Mr Kraus
came as a shock to us Two years ago a bill was drafted and
sent to the legislatur e as the rst move to remedy con di tions
This measure was n ally passed upon by Judge Mack Samuel
Alschule r an d myself I went down to Spring eld and with
the assistan ce of Speaker Shurtleff it was pus hed through the
.

iy

Th

C t

M cC lm e

of

h g

C ica

M a gazine f or

o,

by

ril

Ap

G e or

19 0 7

Kibb e

T urner

ublish d
e

in

The S hame of

54

G re a t N a ti on

There w as no law on the books then whereby it was pos

sible to pun ish those who engaged in so called whi te slavery
The law as it has been amended is more severe now th an it w as
as ori ginally enacted As there was no law at the time we
were afraid to make it too severe for fe ar the legislat ure might
reject it
In two years the people became educated to the gr avity
of the situation and it was made more severe by the last
legislatur e by amen dments
There is a movement now on foot by different organiza
tions regar dless of creed to stamp out this tr af c in Chicago
The Jews have prided themselves upo n the chastity of their
women and their moral family life ; and when the article in

M cC lure s M agazine came out many felt that it ought not to

be talked about and thereby made to give more publicity and
possibly create prejudice Better jud gment prevailed after
ward and it is the un iversal Opinion that those who pro t

by such practices must be punished

-

NAM E O F G OD A ND JE w PRO FANE D

As

NEVE R BEF O R E

Dr E mil G Hi rsch preachin g at the Sin ai Temple in Chi

ca go on Septe mber 2 5 1 9 0 9 on the Jewish connection with
the tra f c in women said :

We have learned in a recent infamous trial that ri ch

men in our ra ce are pro ting through leasin g their property
for pur poses of evil

You who are here to day have man y of you given la rgely
of your mon ey for charities but now a crisis has arisen that
mak es it n eedful that you give more than money You must
give of your souls to regener ate those of our race who have
allowed their ideals to be lowered

O ver on the West Side the worst thin g has occurred that
.

The Whi t e S l av e T ra de

55

has ever happened to our race The name of God and Jew

has been profaned as n ever before

.

TH E

FOR W A R D

ON

JE WI S H W HI TE S LAVE TR AD ERS

The Forw ard made a special investigation of the matter

an d devoted a large amount of its space to the situation I n
an edi tori al it sa id :

The facts that were un covered at the trial of In spector

McC ann are horrifying Seventy ve per cent of the whi te
slave trade in Chicago is in Jewish han ds The own ers of most
of the immoral resorts on the West Side are Jews E ven in
Gentile n eighborhoods Jews stand out prominently in this
nefarious busin ess

The shame woul d n ot be so overwhelming if the thin g

st opped there For a fte r all we could say : What can we
do if such creatures persist in calling themselves Jews ? But
we could say this only if these outcasts had remained where
they belong an d had n o stan din g in the Jewish communi ty
of thi s city Wh en these men however ll publi c o fces in
the Jewish commun ity when they parade and are designated
as m odel citizens in certain quarters of the Jewish pop ulation
we no longer can remain on the defen sive

O ne of these prominent Jews is Julius Frank Julius

Frank confessed openly that he is the owner of a number of
disorderly houses
He confessed that he pai d protection
money to the police so that his hous es might not be raided

Th is creature this Julius Fran k is president of the Con

gre gation An she C alvaria Twelfth an d Union Streets

Julius Fran k self confessed own er of disorderly houses

is the head of a Jewish con gregation $

Can you Jews of Chi cago conceive it fully ? A Jewish

synagogue a holy temple which should be the clean est the
,

The S hame of

56

G re a t Na t i on

lofti est the most beauti f ul place an d inst itution in our liv es
such an institution gives away its most honorable r ank and
post to a man who lives on the mon ey earn ed by runnin g dis

orderly houses $
,

S AN FRANC IS C O

RI O T

VICE

or

AN D

CRIME

The situation in S an Fran cis co w as shown by G eorge Ken

nan s description of the mun icipal scan dals there publ ished in
M cC lure s Magazine in November 1 9 0 7 :

The entire government of the city therefore fell into the

hands of blackm ailers e xtortion ers an d thi eves ; an d the cor
ruption af fected the whole body of citizen s simply bec ause the
whole body of citizens w as brought directly into conta ct
with it

Under the rule of Schmi tz an d Ruef men were forced to

pay for protection and priv ileges which they ought to have
had without paym en t ; the work of the city w as badly done
or wholly neglected ; an d professional law breakers could buy
the right to commit almost any crime short of burgl ary high
way robbery and murder

In consequence of th is exercise of un limite d power for

selsh purposes by an un scrupulous mun icipal bureaucra cy
the cre di t of the city w as impaired ; vice an d crim e in their
most d an gerous forms were encou raged or protected ; thou
san ds of boys and girls were tempted in to evil courses ; life
and propert y became insecure ; and the moral stand ar ds of
the whole commun ity were gradually lowered and deb as ed

Ruef Schmitz an d their confederates n ot only robbed

San Fran cisco ; they debauched it as well because they made
graft bribery an d vice so common and so familiar that
they seemed almost to be n ormal features of business an d
social life

The Wh it e S l av e T ra de

57

At that time according to Police C apt ain Mooney the

area of the Tenderloin had greatly in creased

The saloons generally had thr own off all restraints of

law brothels gamblin g dens and assignation hous es multi
plied an d ourished un der admin istrative protection ; women
lur ed men to dives and deadfalls and assisted in the work
of drugging and robbin g them ; charges brought against
law breakers were dismis sed or inde nitely postponed
Police Co mmission an d the poli ce courts ;
b y the
hon est o fcers who tried to enforce the laws were trans
ferred to quiet and un important resident distric ts ; nickelo
deons disreputable theatres and penny arcardes corrupted
the y oun g ; street walking prostitutes in tercepted even men
who were on their way to chur ch and gave them cards ; drun k
e nn ess
imm orality and di ssipation in every form became
comm on ; all night drug stores sold opium morphin e and
chloral without regulation or restraint ; an d the n umber of

drug ends in the city in creased to about eight thousand

,

C I T IE S A ME RICA N S D AN GER PO IN T

It is not n ecessary to go beyon d the examples of these three

well known cities The same political forces engaged in de
gradin g civilization in to barbarism are at work wi th gen eral
success in all the larger cities of the country
The ght
against them is the greatest single governmental p roblem of
to day As Bishop Potter well said there is absolutely noth
in g on earth similar to the degraded rule in American cities
Many n ations and cities have races of inferior breed or train
ing among their population but n owhere else is the control
of the government t aken over by cri minals organ ized to
break the law for the purpose of exp loitin g the appetite an d
criminal weaknesses of such populations for their own pro t
-

The Sh a me o f

58

G re a t N a ti on

the me anwhile the stock of the immi grants entering the

United States and especially its cities is gro w in g const an tly
worse Drawn rst from the higher and more intelligent
types of n orthwestern E urope our immigration has degener
a ted const antly to the p oorest breeds of the eastern an d south
ern sections of the contin ent
We have made the United
States an asylum for the oppressed and in competent of all
nations and have put the government into the hands of the
inmates of the asylum We are now permitt in g the coun t ry
to become the Botany Bay of the world The most in com
petent and vicious settle down in our gre at cities ; an d there
an army of political criminals like Tammany trained by h alf
a century of political crime exp loit and degrade an d corrupt
them, and with them our whole civilization
In

IN S E CU RIT Y O F H UMAN L IFE

T HE

The results of this de g

radation of society cannot be traced
in all things but where they are observable they show startlin g
results One point that can be clearly seen is the comparative
insecurity of human life against murder
Twenty ve years ago D Appleton
Company published a
Cyclopedi a of Biography whi ch contain ed
names of
the most eminent Am eric ans the n ames of the men who had
laid the foun dations of the United Sta tes an d had fought
through the Civil War O f these
n ames northwestern
E urope contributed
the E nglish s p eaking sections of
that is all but
it contributed
At this time in
1 88 4 the annual murder rate of the United States w as
per million inhabitants ; that is there were
murders
for n ea rly
inhabitants
As years went by the
murder ra te in creased with frightful rapidity reachin g its
maximum in 1 8 9 5 when 1 5 2 p eople per million per ann um
,

The Whi t e S l a v e T ra de

59

were murder ed Sin ce th at time the average has run consid

The extraordinary
e rab ly over 10 0 per million per annum
prevalence of murder in the United States now as compared
with twenty eight years ago is shown by the followin g table
of homicides compiled ann ually for that period by the Chi
cago Trib une
.

1 88 1,

IL 2 G6

1 89 5 ,

1 88 2 ,

IL 4 67

1 89 6 ,

1 883 ,

IL G9 7

1 89 7 ,

s
i 5 20

1 8 84 ,

2L 4 6 5

189 8,

'

1 88 5 ,

IL 8 0 8

1 89 9 ,

1 886,

:L 4 9 9

19 00 ,

1 88 7 ,

2A3 3 5

19 0 1,

1 8 88 ,

11 84

19 02,

1 88 9 ,

21567

19 0 3 ,

1 89 0 ,

1 29 0

1 9 04 ,

1 89 1 ,

519 0 6

19 0 5 ,

18 9 2 ,

(17 9 1

1 9 0 6,

L 84 O
(A22 5
212 7 5
L 8 52
EL S 3 4
19 7 6
14 8 2
s
i z12
SL 3 60
s
r7 1 2
IA9 52

'

19 07 ,

1 89 8 ,
$18 0 0

18 9 4 ,

OUR

19 0 8 ,

H U GE M U RD ER RA TE

The immi gration of people from sections of southern and

e astern E urope n oted for their high murder r ate had much
to do with this condition But still more potent is the fact
that once in thi s coun try the criminal element among these
immigrants is protected by and strongly allied with the
political criminals who manage our cities Among the Itali an s
of New York for example murder is less dangerous to the
murdered on the average th an the stealing of a ve dollar
bill by a clerk from his employer If the murderer is ar
,

The Sha me of

60

G re a t N a ti on

rested he is rarely convicted The operation of the coroner s

court in New York in dealin g with the average murder is one
of the ghastliest travesties of j ustice in human government
As a result of all this the murder rate in the United State s
is from ten to twenty times greater than the murder ra te of
the British E mpire and other w orthw e ste rn E uropean coun
tries The northwestern coun tries of E urope which are the
only nations worthy of comparison with the United Sta tes in
their civilization would require n early a billion inh abitan ts
that is more than half of the population of the world
in order to brin g the n umber of their mur ders up to that of
the Uni te d States with its eighty to ninety million s of popu
lation C an ada would re quire a billion and a quarter to h ave
as many murders as the Un ited States has at the present time
Murder has in creased man y tim es as rapidly as p opulation
for the l ast twenty ve years During the past fteen years
the n umber of murders in the United States has been a c
cordi n g to the ann u al records of the Chi cago T rib une
The entire n umber of men in the Union army who were killed
in battle or died of woun ds w as
in both the Union
and Confederate forces it w as
.

FOU R TEE N T IM ES

As

MANY J UD GE S

AS

IN E NGLAN D

This insecurity of li fe in the United States is but one in

dica tion of the lapse fro m civi liz ation that the whole popula
tion is suff ering as a result of its government by criminals
The huge size of our machinery of justice is certainly due in
large p art to the amoun t of crime it has to deal with New
York an d Illinois have together a pop ul ation under 1 4
these two States require 5 7 2 judges in their courts
E ngl an d an d Wales have a population of about
over this population there are 9 2 judges of the same general
.

The Whi t e S l av e T ra de

61

r ank as that of the 5 7 2 who serve in New York and Illinois

that is the two Am eri can States h ave about fourteen times
as man y judges in proportion to their population as E ngl and
an d Wales
,

TAF T AND ELI O T O N A M ERICAN L AWL ES S NE S S

The great excess of crim e in this country over that in other

civilized lan ds is recogn ized by all students of Americ an life
President Taft spe akin g in Chicago on September 16 of thi s
year s aid :

It is not too much to say that the admin istration of cri mi

nal law in thi s country is a disgrace to our civi lization and
that the prevalence of crime and fraud which here is greatly
in excess of that in the E uropean coun tries is due largely to
the failure of the law and its admin istrators to bring criminals

to justice
E x President Charles W E liot of Harvard University said
in New York on D ecember 1 6 1 9 08 :

We are to consider how American freedom has made pos

sible lawlessness in many forms
The defenses of society
against crimin als have broken down
The imp un i ty w ith
which crimes of violence are committed is a disgrace to the

coun try
These conditions have arisen chi ey for one reason : our
large cities and many of our States are governed by organized
cri minals But back of thi s more obvious lapse toward barbar
ism is a second still greater though less obvious disintegration
of society due to the same forces that were responsible for the
rst
Spe akin g broadly the excessive use of alcohol and the
presence of venereal disease are the two greatest dangers of
the coun try to day The slum politicians who t hrough their
delivery of great numbers of votes have a controllin g grip
.

The Sh ame o f

62

G re a t N a ti on

the administration of law in cities have for years drawn

their chi ef revenue from the saturation of the population with
li quor an d the promotion of the public prostitution of women
To d ay they are as Mr Turn er s article clearly shows almost

exclusively responsible for the white slave tr ade in the

Un ited States If they did not arran ge to break down the
laws of civilization to allow a market for the bodies of youn g
girls these girls would n ever be sold
in

Tw o

C HIE F D AN C E R S O F C IVIL IzA T I ON

Al cohol as is well known has lled our poor hous es insan e

asylums an d prisons for fty an d a hundre d years But the
proportions of the other great danger to our population are
little appreciated An excellent an d authoritative statemen t
of this danger may be secured from the caref ully edited book

A Report on O ur National V itality

compiled by Professor
Irvin g Fisher and published by the United States Governm ent
in 19 0 9
I n this D r Prince A Morrow the famous specialist
-

The e xtermination of social diseases would probably mean

the eli min ation of at le ast one half our institutions for de
-

f ectives

D r Morrow further says that the number of syphilitics

alon e in the United Sta tes has been estimated at

and n ally makes this terrible assertion :

Possibly ten per
cent of men who marry infect their wives with ven ere al dis

ease
The worst pun ishment of a mutin ous regiment in the t ime
of Ro me w as decimation a word that has passed in to our
lan guage as a term for fearful pun ishment
By th is one
soldier in ten w as chosen by lot to be killed Accord ing to

D r Morrow s estimate decimation by venere al diseas e is now

.

The Wh ite S l av e T ra de

63

taking place amon g the wi ves of Americ a ; that is one out

of every ten innocent women who are married is destin ed to
be aff ected with diseases as frightful in their consequences as
leprosy
Across the entire United States a standin g army of tens of
thous an ds of cadets and prostitutes p ractically all of them
diseased is maintained by the politicians of its large cities
for the perennial in fection of the population A n army of
lepers of equal size would be far less dangerous The very
existence of the present force demonstrates that it is daily
infectin g thous an ds of p eople with on e of the most terrible
diseases known to medicine
,

THE

WA STE O F H UMAN L IVE S

It is the fashion of the time to place the chief emphasis in

the ght for better city govern me nt upon n an cial considera
tions The real consideration is far deeper than this The
cities of the United States are not conce rned merely with the
ste aling of a few millions of dollars by political thieves : they
are ghtin g for their civilization The E vening Post of New
York on September 2 7 1 9 0 9 stated this excellently in re
spouse to the an n ouncement of O tto T B ann ard the R epub
lican can di date for Mayor that the ght against Tamm any
Hall was to be con ducted on a business issue It said :

Mr Bannard denes the anti Tamm an y issue as w as te

Waste there is but the waste of money grave as it may be
is the least p art It is the waste of human lives that appalls
the co nsumptives in the lug blocks dying in dark inside
rooms the waste of chi ldren in partly inspected rattle trap
tenements the waste of womanhood and man hood that comes

with a wide Open town No Mr B ann ard The chief issue

is Tamm an y H all in all its unspeakable vileness ; with all its
.

The Sh a me of

64

Gre a t N a ti o n

smatterin g of respectables to len d the cloak of virtue chock

a block with the Sullivans with panderers to vice and vile
ness of every description ; with its rich treasury lin ed by con
trib u tions of corrupt or cowed corporations of brothels an d
saloons of all the powers that prey an d also from the edu
The issue is
cate d rich who pay for o f ce or for immun ity
Tammany itself bec ause it is still as for one hun dred y ears
past a league of men banded together by the cohesive power
of publi c plun der without conscience without a spark of
civic pride or patriotism like R ichard Croker working for
their pockets all the time The issue is Tammany becaus e it
is a veritable Juggernaut crushin g beneath its wheels the
prostrate poor it pretends to succor and befriend A mons ter
of hypocrisy an d greed it is a disgrace to the city a double
di sgrace to the n ation under whose ag it ourishes
There
is but one issue an d that is whether the Imperial City shall

be in chains to Tamm any

,

A M ER ICAN C I TIE S MAD E P AR T NER S WI T H CRIMINAL S

Besides the convinc ing statements of the late Bishop Potter

Charles W E liot President E meritus of Harvard Un iversity
the President of the United States the Comm ittee of Fifteen
and of other authorities we invite the readers of this article
to weigh carefully the few points in which statisti cs en able
us to un derstand the present conditi ons of the United States
an d to compare ourselves with other nations :
The fact that
murders are ten times as frequent in the United States as in
other civilized countri es ; the fac t that in the l ast thirteen
years the deaths by murder in the United States have equaled
the entire losses by death or woun ds of the Northern armi es
in the entire four years of the War of the Rebelli on ; that
more than ten times as many judges are requir e d in the
,

The Whi te S l ave T ra de

65

United States as in E ngl an d to a dminister justice ; and th at

the white slave trade pressin g the sale of women to its ulti
mate point ha s in cidentally an d enormously spread the most
terrible di seases
But above all it must be remembered that these co ndi
tions e xist primarily becaus e dominating factors in the gov
e rnment of most of the large cities of the United States are
men engaged in the prop agation of crime and in pan derin g to
vice T hi s is true in no other civilized coun try in the world
There is crime in all coun tries an d the white slave traf c
exists everywhere but thi s is the only coun try in which this
trafc is supported by the political forces that govern cities
It is the only country in whi ch honest policemen h ave every
thing to fear in enforcing the law and in which the police in
general are engaged in degradin g the commun ities that they
are supposed to serve It is principally the re sult of this
fact that the white slave trade with all its unn amable cruel
ties and atrocities has become so fastened upon the United
States Under normal conditions with such government as
the cities of the United States have a right to expect the
number of prostitutes in the country would decrease by two
thir ds It is a crown in g shame to Americ an democracy that
while the whi te slave trade is being driven by the authorities
of the ent ire world inclu ding the pioneer coun tries of South
ern Af rica and South America it is growin g and fattening
in the United States with the connivance of the authorities of
our cities themselves
,

WH A T

ARE

THE C HU R CH E S GOIN G

To

Do AB O U T I T ?

The C hristian World of September 2 5 makes this pertin ent

comment upon the situation in New York :

It is a sad thing to hear such words as tho se of a Jap an

The Sha me o f

66

Gre a t N a tion

recently spoken to a friend of the writer

He sa id :
Christi anity is gre atly discounted in Jap an because of its
see ming impotency in your own country
He then referr e d
to the corrupt an d pagan condition of our own cities remark
ing that the missionary w as completely h an di ca pped in Jap an
by these revelations of the impotency of Chr istian ity to re
deem the so called Christian countries from p agani sm We
presum e he had been reading the S urve y with the di sclosur e
of the in human social practices of Pittsburg an d the recent
numbers of M cClure s M agaz ine and H amp ton s Magaz ine
with their articles by General Bingham on the misgovernment
of New York General Bingham has stirred the whole coun
His contention that
try by revealing the secrets of his o f ce
New York is govern ed by a band of professional crimin als he
substanti ates from in controvertible proofs of his own exp e ri
ence as Police C ommissioner There is no doubt in man y
people s minds that he w as dep osed from o f ce because he
would not fall in with the corrupt political schemes of some
party boss We cannot quote from him here but would ad
vise everybody especially every citizen of New York to read
these arti cles As the Mayoralty campaign approaches the
q uest ion becomes vital to the churches of New York as well
as the people What are the churches going to do about
New York ? Are there n ot enough members of church an d
syn agogue to lift the city out of this slough of iniqui ty ? The
New York State Conference of R eli gion is strivin g to un ite
the leaders of all denominations in such a campaign as has
n ever be en seen in the city We wish that every minister
might use every moment in p ulpit and out in arous ing people
to the pagan condition of the city If he is not alre ady on
re with indign ations let him read Gener al Bingh am s a rti

cles
es e

The Whi te S l a v e T ra de

67

There is one thin g that will chan ge this and on e only

The loc al govern ment of cities must be taken from the hands
of criminals and pur veyors of vice This is perfectly ob ivious
The re ason it has not yet been done is that the American
people have never concentrated their attention on this one
main issue The best forces in our life have in fact scattered
their energi es disastrously The cities of the United States
are lled to overowin g with organ izations of all kinds to
Oppose crime and to dis pense aid to the masses of crimin als
an d un fortun ates who are created by present con ditions ; law
a nd order societies
temperance organizations college settle
ments committees to put down the tra fc of women All
these work well and earnestly but their efforts are either the
work of salvage after the great damage is done or at most
attempts at a very partial cure
They assist the p opula
tion in very much the same way that a servant might who
w as hired to dr ive away the i es from the table of a dinner
party set upon the edge of a cesspool What our coun try
n ee ds is not more societies to remove ies but the removal of
the cesspool
.

RE M E DY C IT Y GOVER N M E NT B Y CO MMI S S IO N

TH E

For this it i s only necessa ry to concentrate the attentio n

and interest of the whole public upon the one main issue
local government This will take place just as soon as the
general public is given a clean
cut un derst an din g of present
conditions an d the power to see that these are changed
There is a great deal of silly talk about city populations not
wanting decent city government This is exactly equivalent
to sayin g that the aggregate of individuals in a comm un ity
desire to be robbed murdered and have their daughters sold
as prostitutes The re al trouble is that un der present forms
,

The S ha me of

68

Grea t N a ti on

of city government the general public can n ever know the

truth an d if it does it can almost invariably be defrauded
of its power to exp ress its w ill The n ecessity of the time is
not an incentive for a change but a system of loc al govern
ment for cities that wi ll do two things : rst give an in telli
gent idea o f the management of city affairs ; an d second
allow the public to express its will accurately an d subj ect to
no change
E xactly such a system has been developed and well tested
in America during the p ast ten years It is called the Gal
veston or Des Moines plan of commissio n
In
reality it is merely New E ngland town govern ment by select
men the most famous and successful sin gle development of
democracy in America adapted to the use of the city T his
system elects a bo ard of ve or si x members from a city at
large and gives them the entire power of government ; each
member is given charge of one of several gen eral divisions
of the government In this way the best specialist s in the
pop ulation are chosen to manage the big departments of the
city such as n ance streets and police There is no Shirk
in g or shiftin g of responsibility ; on e well known man is al
ways responsible for one department An d careful and con
cise reports show the public periodically just what is be ing
,

This movement st artin g with Galveston Texas is sweeping

across the West an d Southwest an d a large group of citi es
have already adopted the n ew governmental pl an in cluding
,

by
h as

comp e te

Mr

on o f

the

i pti

e scr

on o f

in M cC lure

be en freq
u entl y

issi

T u rne r

me nt

o e rn

by

co

mmission w as p ubli sh e d

T his article
ne w spa pe rs b y per

M a gazine f o r Octobe r,

ubli h d

re p

ma g azine

gv

s e

hl t

in pa mp

e s

and

19 0 6

The Whi t e S l av e T ra de

69

such large cities as Kan sas C ity Kansas whi ch has already
put it into operation an d Memphis Tennessee whi ch is about
to do so
New York City un der such a system could command the
servi ces of the ablest men in the Unite d S ta tes ; a position in
its government would oer not only one of the greatest honors
in the United St ates, but a salary as large as those paid by the
greatest corporatio ns in Am erica
The entire government
of the city exceptin g only the judi ciary would be given over
to ve men The secon d greatest city the world would not be
govern ed as n ow by an association of crimin als ; it co uld an d
n atur ally would expect to secure the di rection of a bo ard of
men of the caliber of the following ticket
Mayor Theodore Roosevelt
Commi ssion er of Fin ance J Pierport Morgan
Commissioner of Police General Leonard Wood
Commi ssioner of Public Work William G McA doo the
builder of the Huds on Tunn els
Comm issioner of Law Senator E lihu R oot
A board of men of this ability accordin g to the experience
of other citi es could be elected by an overwhelming vote to
take charge of New York Ci ty O nce elected they woul d not
only sa ve it mi ll ions of dollars but would entirely change
the quality of its civilization
It is clear that some change must take place soon in the
government of American cities if we are to retain the quality
of our civili zation
Many careless and indi fferent p e rsons
may choose to doubt this Any one who wishes a clear under
stan ding of the barbarism of the forces that dominate the
present management of our cities need only read such articles
as the autobiography of Judge B en Lind sey now running in

E very b ody s Magaz ine showin g typical mun icipal conditions

,

The Sh a me of

70

G re a t Na ti on

in D enver ; or those of Mr Turner on C hicago published by

us in April 19 0 7 and on New York in Jun e 19 0 9 ; and

The Daughters of the Poor in the presen t

nally that on
magazin e The valuable reform that Mr T u rn er s rst arti cle
started in Chicago has alre ady b een Shown
The presen t
article is printed
the hope that it may lead to a movement
of national scope against the vilest and most d angerous growth
of present conditions in America which it describes Only by
the most thorough an d revolutionary reforms along this lin e
is there hope for the future Am erican democracy
.

This lovely lan d thi s glorious liberty the de ar purch ase

of our fathers are ours ; ours to en joy ours to preserve ours
to tran smit Generations past an d generations to come hold
us responsible for the sacred t rust O ur fathers from behind
a dmonish us with their an xious patern al voices ; posterity calls
out to us fro m the bosom of the futur e ; the world turn s hither
its solicitous eye all all conjure us to act wisely an d faith

fully in the relation which we sust ain

WEB S TER
,

C an an y man read thi s article which in truth puts the sit

and n ot realize that we h ave re ached the
u ation mildly
greatest crisis in the history of our coun try We are stan d
ing at the threshold of the most important dec ision a people
ever made Whether we will continue to allow these politic al
thi eves murderers and despoilers of our homes rule us an d
se ll us body and soul at will or whether the good men of the
coun try will prove themselves loyal an d courageous enough
to deman d a political separation from these political vultures
who are ready to prey upon any who may be considered val
u ab le g ame
Men of Am eri ca if we are goin g to be redeeme d from these
,

The Whi t e S l av e T ra de

71

terrible conditions you must be willing if necessary to cut

loose from political parties un der whose name and protection
such men as Mr McC lure describes h ave been able to secure
an d maintain the control of the government from Washin g
ton down to these great cess pools of crime an d in j ustice
ca lled cities Which do you love more the n ame of a political
party or your coun try s redemption fromthese terrible con
di tion s of shame ?
If we are to redeem and save our blood bought civilization
every ma n who loves the truth and right let stand up an d be
coun ted at the ballot box an d be sure that he does n ot vote
for men or parties who are known to tra in with these g an gs
of thieves and murderers If it means severin g your con
n e ctions with a politi ca l par ty with which you have lon g a fl

iate d be brave and tru e enough to break aw ay at an y cost

Unless men are willing to do this we are destin ed to re main
the captives of the political thieves who have been sellin g us
out body and soul home an d coun try until good men g as p
with fear as they recogniz e the condition s of our time
E very citizen must value hi s ballot as a sacred trust ; a holy
weapon of war to be used for the defense of the people and
the redemption of his coun try from the hands of the spoilers
He must remember it ought not to be sold to the hi ghest p o
litical bidder whose only purpose in buyin g it is to manipu
late it for his own gain no matter how much he may rob
others of their just due E very good man mus t consider it to
be his duty to vote remembering his ballot may b e n eeded
to kill the power of some bum or thief ; politic al grafter and
sl ave trader
If the ma nhood of the nation will assert itself we may be
saved from moral dec ay an d civic destruction If n ot we are
doomed an d the e nd is not far away
,

CH APT ER V I

TH E DAUGHT ER S O F TH E P OO R

A PLAI N S T ORY O F T HE DEVEL O P M E NT O F N E W YORK C I T Y

A LE ADIN G CEN TER O F THE WHI T E S LAVE TRADE
O F THE WOR L D UND ER T AMMANY HALL

As

B y G eorge Kib b e T urne r

The test of civilization is the estimate of woman

G eorge

William

C u rtis

There are now three prin cipal centers of the so called whi te
slave tra dethat is the recruitin g an d sale of youn g girls
of the poorer classes by procur ers The rst is the gr oup
of cities in Austri an and R ussian Pol an d he aded by Lemberg ;
the second is Paris ; an d the third the city of New York
In the p ast ten y ears New York has become the lea der of the
world in thi s class of enterprise The men en gaged in it
there have t aken or shipped girls largely obtain ed from the
ten ement distri cts of New York to every continen t on the
globe ; they are n ow doing bus iness with C en tral an d So uth
Americ a A frica and Asia They are drivin g all competitors
before them in North Americ a And they have established
directly or indirectly recruiting systems in every large city
of the Uni ted States
The story of the introduction of this E urope an busin ess
in to New York un der the pro tection of the Tammany H all
political organ ization its extension from there through the
-

72

Th e

D a ughte rs

of

t he P oor

73

United States an d its shipme nts of women to the four corners

of the earth is a strange one It would seem incredible if it
were not thoroughly substan ti ate d by the records of r e cent
mun icipal exposures in half a dozen great American cities
by two in dep endent investigations by the United States Gov
e rnm ent d uring the past year and by the common kn owledge
of the people of the E ast Side tenement district of New York
whose daughters and friends daughters have been chiey
exploited by it
,

POLAN D AND

THE MA RKE TS O F T H E EAS T

The ancient and more familiar white slave trade was the
outright sale of women from E astern E urope into the O rient
thr ough the big general depot of Constantin ople The chi ef
recruiting groun d for this was the miserable Ghetto of E urope
in the old kingdom of Poland, now held by Aus tria an d
Russia where the Jews were herded out of the rest of Chris
This section
tendom by the persecutions of the Middle Ages
is known from Alexandria to Shanghai for its shipment of

women like
Anne of Austria in Kipling s
Ballad of

Fisher s Boarding House in India :

.

T arna u in G ali ci a
T o J aun B a a r she came
T o e at the bre a d o f i nf amy
A n d take the w a ge o f sh ame

From

The recruiting ground for the supplies of women for this

trade E ast on West is always the section inhabited by the
very poor O ut of this racial slum of E urope has come for
unnumbered years the Jewish kaf tan, leadi n g the miserable
Jewish girl from E uropean civilization into Asia The Jewish
church fought the kaftan with all its power In life he was
-

The S hame of

74

G re a t N a ti on

ostracized ; in death dragged to an un holy grave But to this

day he comes out of Galici a an d Russian Pol an d with his
white face and his long beard
the badge of his ancien t
faith and wanders a cross the face of the earth O cc asion
ally members of the fraternity come into New York : men
of seventy sometimes with gray beards followin g their trade
through life to the very end Within the year there w as in

New York an individual of this profession known as Little

B ethlehem from the scene of his former business the Holy

Lan d
.

THE

KAF T AN IN

TH E

NE W

WORL D

In the last part of the last century a new eld open ed for
this E urope an industry Great masses of youn g male labor
e rs wen t westward out of E urope to do the work of estab
lishin g civilization in a n ew hemisphere
There were two
or thr ee men to one woman in this great shiftin g of p opula
tion which is still taking place And the social relations
of the whole world were affected by it O ne great market for the
procurer s sup plies from the time of the Middl e Ages had
been the camps of armies In the last fty years two con
tin e nts have been lled in city and co untry with a n ew an d
simil ar m arket the c amps of male laborers
The Jewish kaf tan for some reason did not try his trade
with North America He exploited South America instead ;
and in Argentine R epublic he foun d a market that rivaled
the E ast He could transfer women there for a lump sum

in to what are known to the New York Trade as slave

houses ; or in accordan ce with the more O ccidental develop

ment of the business co mmon to most Western countries one
youth could marry or pretend to marry one girl travel abroad
wi th her and live with her as her m an ager
.

of

D a ugh te rs

T he

t he P o or

75

So largely have these people emi grated to Argentin a that

there is a considerable colony of them in the suburbs of
Buenos Ai res E xcluded from the S ociety of other persons
of their own race and reli gion they have secur ed burial places
of their own somewhat similar to that which has been estab
lishe d in New York and have even set up their own syn a
gogue in which they hold ghastly cari ca tures of religious
services
The colony is strong on ceremonial forms an d
Jewish holidays are strictly dedicated by the women to devo
tion The people still remain in Buenos Aires But recently
as p art of an agitation extendin g a cross the civilized world
the Argentine Republic has made their busin ess of importa
tion di fcult by new an d strin gent l aws
.

P AR I S

TH E SE C O ND CE NTER O F T HE WORL D

It remained for Paris the secon d center of the busin ess in

E urope to develop the white slave trade w ith North America
The Parisian typ e of trader is so old an institution that his
common n ame m a uere au ( mackerel ) appears in the Fren ch
diction ary His trade became to all intents an d purposes a
recognized calling with a distinguishing costume of its own
consistin g of black velvet trousers a blou se and a peculiar
silk cap kn own as the b ij ou These ma quereaux start in the

m
us
i
nes
s
a
n
d
ost
of
the
remain
in
i
as the m an ager of
t
b
on e girl of the poorer classes whom they place to the best
possible advantage From one the more successful advance
to the business management of a number of girls In all this
theirs is exactly similar to the American type of trade which
has developed in New York The m aquereaux reached the
height of their prosperity in Paris during the fashionable and

amusement loving reign of Louis Napoleon in the 60 s

With the simpler an d more democratic feeling at the begin
,

The Sh ame of

76

G re a t Na t i on

n ing of the pr esen t Fren ch R epublic public sentiment turn ed

more against the traf c Its operators were frequen tly trans
,

p orted

to the penal colonies in New Caledonia and French

G ui ana They gradually discarded their costume and slunk
out of sight And in the 7 0 8 they began to emi grate in
large numbers and n ow may be foun d across the entire
globe
The chief points of export were London and New
York But so much more pro t and fr eedom fro m law we re
obt ained in the capital of the new continent that it very
soon received more attention from the exporters of women
than any other place in the world
.

THE

UNPRO TE C TE D I MMI G RAN T GI RL

Up to this time prostitution had existed in the Unite d

Statesas most people assume that it e xists to day without
h avin g attracted the bus in ess management of men to securin g
an d exploitin g its supplies
So far as it had managemen t
it was entirely a woman s business Its supplies came as th ey
must always come from poor and un fortunate families From
1 8 50 to the present time, the poorest and most un protected
class has been the n ewest E urope an immigrants The most
exposed an d un protected girls are those in domestic service
For over half a century this class of population has been
called upon to furnish the gre at bulk of the supplies of girls
in our large cities an d this class of employment far mo re
th an any other
In 1 8 5 7 the police of New York un der the direction of
Dr W W S an ger the resident physician of the institutions
on Blackwell s Island
gathered statistics on carefully pre
p ared blan ks fro m two thousan d of the si x thousan d pros
titutes then suppo sed to be in New York
O f these over
three f ths were born abro ad an d at le ast three quarters were
-

of

The D a ugh te rs

the

P o or

77

of foreign birth or parentage one half had been servants

before enterin g the profession The new immigr ation of the
time was Irish and Germ an ; it furn ished the greatest num ber
of women simply because of their exposed position in the city
slums More th an one third of the two thousan d women were
born in Ireland n oted throughout E urope for the ch astity
of its women
-

T HE

FRENCH I M P OR TER

S H OR T C O MIN GS

The French maquereau was immediately successful in a

coun try where the business had developed in so haphazard
a way The women he brought to this coun try b e dressed
well ; he kept them abstemious from liquors and implan ted
in their min ds the ambition of acquirin g a competence and
returning to live in France They tended from the rst to
replace the disheveled and desperate creatures produced by
the American slums
But though extremely successful in America at rst and
still prosperous in the majority of our greater cities the
French maquereau was not the typ e n ally a d apted to
conduct the bus in ess in the self governing American muni ci
He intended to return to France after securing a
p alitie s
competency frequented his own e x clusive boardin g houses
and clubs and did not even learn the language H e failed to
identify himself with any political organization He couse
quently had no direct political inuence and obtained
his right to break the law simply by payments of money In
thi s way he occupied very much the same position as the
Chin ese gambler in the co mmun ity of law breakers Both are
always able to do busin ess in a large city but they are much
more liable to extortion and blackmail than persons who are
directly identi e d with the politic al machine It was neces
.

The Sh a me of

78

G re a t N a ti o n

sary for the procurin g and selling of girls to become an inte

gral p art of slum politics as the tenemen t hous e saloo n and
gamblin g houses had been precedin g itbefore it co uld be
established on its present rm footing
-

T AMMANY R E

TH E

D-

L I G H T D I STRI CT

About twenty ve years ago the third great ush of i mmi

gration consisting of Aus trian R ussian and? Hun garian
Jews began to come into New York Among these i mmigrants
were a l arge n umber of criminals who soon foun d that they
co uld develop an extremely p ro table business in the sale of
women in New York The Police Department an d the police
courts before which all the criminal cases of the city were
rst brought were absolutely in the hands of Tammany Hall
which in its turn was controlled by slum politicians A great
body of minor workers amon g thi s class of politician s obtain ed
their livin g in tenement house sa loons or g ambling houses
an d their control of the police and police courts allowed them
to di sregard all provisions of the law against their bus in ess
The new exploiter of the tenement house population a mong
the Jews saw that this plan w as good and organized a lo cal
Tammany Hall association to a p ply it to the business of pro
cur ing and selling girls
The organi z ation which they formed was kn own in th e
Lexow in vestigation as the E ssex Market Court gang but
n amed itself the Max Hochstim Association Among various
o f cers of this organ ization was Mr Martin E ngel the T am
many Hall leader of the E ighth Assembly District in the late
9 0 s ; and with him a gr oup of Tammany H all politici ans in
control of thi s dis trict an d the Th ird Assembly District alon g
the Bowery just to the east
-

The D a ugh te rs

of

the

79

P oor

GE TTIN G S UPPLIES F OR N E W YOR K

This Jewish district as it was when Mr Martin E ngel w as

leader opened the eyes of the minor politician of the slums
to the tremendous n an cial eld that a n ew line of enterprise
the business of procuring and the tra fc in wo men offered
him The red light district operated very largely by active
members of the local Tammany organization gave to indi
vidual men interested in its development in many cases twenty
and thirty thousand dollars a year V ery few of the lead
ing workers in the tenemen t saloons or gambling enterprises
had been able at that time to make half of that fro m the
population aroun d them
The sup plies of girls for use in the enterprises of the p o
litical procur ers did n ot at rst come entirely fro m the fami
lies of their constituents
The earlier Jewish imm igration
contained a great preponderance of men and comparatively
few youn g girls The men in the busin ess made trips into the
indus trial town s of New E nglan d an d Pennsylvania where
they obtained supplies from the large number of poorly p aid
youn g mill girls one especially in genious New Yorker being
credited with gainin g their acquaintance in the garb of a
priest But gradually as the pop ulation grew and the num
ber of men en gaged in the bus iness increased the girls were
taken more and more from the tenement distri cts of the E ast
Side
.

W hen this misfortun e began to develop among the Jewish

people of the E ast Side it was a matter of astonishment as
,

well as horror The Jewish race has for centuries prided

itself upon the purity of its women Families whose dau gh
ters were taken away in the beginning of the New York traf c
often formally cast them OE as de ad ; amon g the very ortho
.

The Sha me of

80

G re a t N a ti on

there were cases where the family went thr ough the
an cient ceremonial for the deadslashin g the lapels of the ir
clothin g an d sittin g out the seven days of mourn in g in their
hous es But individual families of new immi gran ts o f ten
not speaking E nglish n aturally had little chan ce again st a
closely organized machin e The E ssex Market gan g as was
sho wn in the Lexow testimony not only could protect their
own bus iness in women but had the facilities to prove en tirely
innocent women guilty
dox ,

NE W

YORK

F IRS T E $ P OR T TRAD E

The busin ess grew so rapidly un der these favorin g auspices

that the E ast Side was soon n ot only producing its own sup
plies but w as exp orting them
The rst person to un der
take this export trade with foreign countries a ccordin g to the
verbal history of the E ast Side was a man who later b ecame
a leading spirit in the Tamm an y organiz ation of the distri ct ;
he took one or two girls in 1 8 89 or 1 89 0 to compete with the
the R ussian an d Galician kaf tan in the Buen os Aires market
This venture w as not very success f ul and the de aler soon re
turn ed to New York Since that time a few hun dred New
York girls have been taken to Buen os Aires but gen erally
speakin g it has n ot proved a successful market for the New
York tra de
South A frica on the contrary proved an ex cellent eld
as minin g districts always are In the middle of the 9 0 s
durin g the lean years of Mayor Strong s administrationthe
stories of the fabulous wealth to be m ade in the South Afri can
gold an d diamond elds came to the attention of the New
York dealers and they took women there by the hun dre d
They proved successful in competition with the dealers from
the E u rope an centers in Paris an d Poland an d established
.

The D a u gh te rs

of

the

P oor

81

colonies of New Yorkers thr ough the southern end of the

continent Large sums of money were made there an d a
few considerable fort un es were acquired whi ch their owners
brought home and p ut into various bus in esses in New York

in cluding gamblin g houses and R ain es laws hotels The

E nglish Government in recent years has been more strin gent
against the trade and un der a new law gave imprisonment
and lashing to m en engaged in it O ne man now occupied
in a Raines law hotel enterp rise in New York was among
those im p risoned havin g recently served a sentence of on e
year The campaign against the busin ess made South Africa
a much less attractive eld than formerly ; but there are still
small New York colonies in various cities there
Once acquainted with the advantages of the foreign trade
the New York dealer immediately entered into competition
with the French and Polish traders across the world There
are no boun daries to this business ; its travelers go constantly
to an d fro upon the earth peerin g into the n ew places espe
cially in to spots where men congregate on the golden fron
tiers ; and the news comes back from them to Paris and Lem
berg and New York
After South Africa the New York
dealers went by hun dreds into the E ast to Shanghai an d to
Aus tralia ; they followed the R ussian army through the Russo
Jap anese war ; they went into Alaska with the gold rush
and into Nevada ; and they have camped in scores and hun
dreds on the banks of the new Panama Canal However the
foreign trade w as n ot large compared with the trade with
the cities of the United Sta tes which w as to develop later
The deman d was naturally not so great
,

The Sha me of

82

Gre at N a ti on

I NDEPENDE NT BE NEVOLE NT

T HE

AS S O CIATI ON

In the meantime the business grew and strengthened an d

developed its own inst itutions in its headquarters at New
York The best known of these is the Jewish s ociety that goes
un der the n ame of the New York Independent Benevolen t
Association This organ ization was started in 1 8 9 6 by a p a rty
of dealers who were returnin g from attendan ce at the fun eral
of Sam E ngel a brother of Martin E ngel the Tamm an y
leader of the red light assembly di strict I n the usual post
fun eral discussion of the frailty of human li fe the fa ct was
brought out that the sentiment of the Jews of the E ast Side
against men of their profession barred them generally from
societi es givin g death benets and even caused discrim in ation
again st them in the purchase of burial pl aces in the cemetery
A society w as quickly in co rporated un der the laws of New
York and a burial plot secur ed an d enclosed in Washin gton
C emetery in Brooklyn This plot cont a in s now about forty
d ead includin g some ten youn g children O f the adults abo ut
a thi rd have died violent or unn atur al deaths
,

The Independent Benevolent A ssociation gu arded its mem

he rship carefully but grew to contain n early two hun dred
persons As most of its people were prosperous it w as able
as a body to exert a continual in uence through poli ti cal
friends to prevent pun ishment of individual members Mat
te rs of mutual trade interest were discussed at its gatherin gs
an d later when the more enterprising me n in it foun d larger
opportun ities in the other cities of the country its membe rs
would n at urally in form one another of conditions of busin ess
in di ff erent sections
In New York as various members gre w
to un dertake la rger business enterprises the usual di erene e
of trade interest between the retailer and the wholesaler grew
,

T he

D a ugh te r s

of

83

t he P o o r

the leadin g operators formed a stri ctly trade asso

out among themselvesthe associatio n whose meeti n g
di scovered an d broken into durin g bus iness sessions
by the District Attorney s force in his c ampaign of 1 9 07
an d

YOR K

NE W

CRE A TI O N TH E C AD E T

the freedom of the V an Wyck administration of the late

9 0 s the latest type of Slum politician that New York has
developed demonstrated further hi s peculi ar v a lue to politics
Like the saloon
an d the great rewards of politics for him
keeper before him he had large periods of the day to devote
to plannin g and developin g political schemes ; there were a
great man y dependents and youn g men conn ected with the
busin ess ; and there grew up in the various political an d social

centers of the E ast Side so call ed hang out join ts

s aloons
and co ff ee houses where these men came together to discuss
political and business matters It soon became eviden ce that
these gan gs were exceedin gly valuable as political instruments

in repeatin g or casting a great number of fraudulent votes

Yet in spite of this growth of an entirely n ew element
of p olitical strength Tammany Hall was defeated in the elec
tion of 1 9 0 1 largely because of a revulsion of pop ular feelin g
against some phases of the white slave trade Thi s feeling
was especially directed against the so call ed cadets a name
now us ed across the world to desi gnate the masses of youn g
men engaged in this trade in an d out of New York exactly
as the n ame of maquereau is us ed to design ate the Paris
operator As the women secured for the business are at rst
scarcely more th an children the working of in duc ing them
to adopt it was naturally un dertaken most successful by
youths not much older than themselves
In thi s way the
specialization of the business in New York produced the New
In

..

The Sh a me of

84

G re a t N a ti on

York c adet the most import an t gure in the busin ess in

The Committee of Fifteen which made a
Am erica to day
thorough and world wide investigation bearin g upon the con
ditions of life in New York develo p ed by the disclosu res of
19 0 1 an d 19 0 2 d en e d this n ew Americ an product as fol
lows :

The cadet is a youn g man averagin g from eighteen to

twenty ve years of age who after havin g served a short ap
prenticeshi p as a watch boy or lighthouse secures a staff
girls and lives up on their earnings The victim of the
Of
cadet is usually a young girl of foreign birth who kno w s litt le

or nothin g of the conditions of Am erican li fe

-

T HE

S P READ

O T H ER A M ERICAN C I TIE S

To

A general feeling of resentment becaus e the Tamm an y or

ganiz ation of the E ast Side had developed this new institu
tion an d others connected with it among the un p rotected
immigran ts of that district caused the destruction of the red
light district by an anti Tamman y admin istration an d a
great lessenin g of the freedom of the busin ess in New York
City In a way however this temporary period of reform
was a means of greatly ext endin g the business in United
States an d eventually in New York The larger operators in
the busin ess established thems elves throughout the various
larger citi es of the country ; an d the cade ts still secure d their
sup plies in the old recruit ing grounds of the E ast E ide where
they we re in no partic ul ar dan ger An elaborate campaign
against them a little later resulted in the arrest an d imprison
ment of seven of these men as vagran ts They were rele ased
long befo re the expiration of their term by the inuence of
political friends
T he n e w type of p olitical in d ustry developed in New York
,

The

of

D a ught e r s

the

P o or

85

proved very successful in other cities of the coun try so much

so that it has now establi shed its elf to some extent in at le ast
three quarters of the large cities of the United States The
On e
rst places to be developed were naturally the nearest
of the earliest was Newark New Jersey within ten miles of
New York
A group of members of the Indep endent Benevolent Asso
cia tion came into that city in the early l 9 0 0 s and soon after
the New York red light district had been broken up they ob
taine d control of practically the entire bus iness of Newark
They secur ed as sup plies the ign orant immigrant girls taken
from the E ast Side of New York and they brought with them
from New York or educated in Newark their own sta of

cadets who not only worked vigorously as repeaters in

local elections but returned to form some of the most vigorous
vo ters in the lower Tamm any Hall districts of New York
But in 1 9 07 the attempt of one member of the Benevolent
Association to defraud another out of his business by the
aid of local political forces led to a disruption in the body of
men who were so well established in Newark An expos $ fol
lowed this disagreement which broke u p for the time at least
the local business wt ih its importations of New York women
and temporar ily stopped the return sup ply of illegal voters
to New York The testimony of the time showed that these
men had worked industriously in the interests of the Tam
many leaders in the downtown tenement districts of New
York from which the supply of Newark girls was largely
obtained In Newark the chief of p olice killed hi mself sub se
quently to the exposure
-

T he

86

Sha m e of

G r e a t N a t i on

EM IGRA TI ON IN T O PH ILAD EL P HIA

T HE

group of Jewish operators tran sferred the ms elv es

from New York to Philadelphia They secured their supplies
of women largely youn g immi grant girls from New York
and retained their New York cadets The members join ed the
Mutual R epublican Club of the Thirteenth Ward of Phila de l
phia whose president was the sher iff of the coun ty ; and their
cadets were extremely valuable to the political machine as

repeaters
and as m an agers of the growin g Jewish vote

in Philadelphia These repeaters are in credibly e f cient

some havin g the record of working in three States at Phila
delphia Newark and New Yorkon the same election day
An other

The public expos $ in Philadelphi a did not of course come

through an y political source in Philadelphi athere is but
one political party there
It w as started by the c ase Of
Pauline Goldstein one of the R ussian Jewish immigr an t girls
who was obtain ed in New York an d later thrown out sc antily
clothed upon the streets of Phil adelphia when sick
The
matter was taken up by the Law an d O rder Society Some
hun dred places were foun d bein g Operated by the New York
Jewish group with several h un dred foreign imm igrant girls
The investigation showed that there was a close community
of interest amon g this body of men and th at a small group
had charge of the relations with the politicians an d police

Some sixty men were given jail sentences

Jake E delman
one of the leaders was the man arreste d in the case of the

Goldstein girl H e jumped his bail ; went to join the New

York colony in South Africa ; re turned to be arreste d on the
Bowery in New York ; an d at his trial he w as represent ed by
New York coun sel accompanied by a large group of New
York fri ends The prosecution of these men in Phi ladelphia
,

T he

D a ught e r s

the

of

P oo r

87

was very largely responsible for the eighteen months of re

form administration in that city in 1 9 0 5 and 1 9 0 6 But since
then the New York operator is returnin g to Philadelphia an d
the cadet is rmly established in the local life
.

C HICA GO S AN FR ANCI S C O AND S T LO UI S

.

Chi cago the New York operators secured an even

stronger hold Several hun dr ed New York dealers came in to
the West Side section after the Low adm inistration an d estab
lishe d there an excellen t reproduction of the red light di s
triet At its height it contain ed between seven hundr ed and
fty and a thous and Jewish girls fro m New York largely
new immi gran ts who could scarcely speak the l an guage
Local crusades have sent a great n umber of the New York
men farther west ; but the cadet is now one of the prominent
features of the local slum life and a considerable number
of New York Jews still rem ain in positions of bus iness and p o
litical leadershi p there
A detailed statement of the spread of activities of the New
York dealer and cadet through the United States since the
exodus from New York after 19 0 1 would serve as a catalogue
of the mun icipal scandals of the p ast half dozen years an d
would include the majority of the large cities of the country
The New York Jewish cadets were foun d to be present in hun
dreds in San Francisco at the great expos $ there and took a
prominent part in the rottenness that preceded it ; they were
str ong in Los Angeles before the disclosing of conditions in
their line of business changed the admi nistration there a
year ago ; an d two of the most notorious leaders of New York s
E ast Side were prominent gures in the politi cal un derworld
uncovered by Folk in St Louis To day there are strong
in all the greater cities ; they swarm at the gateway of the
In

The Sh am e of

88

G r e a t N a tion

Alaskan fr ontier at Seattle ; they infest the streets an d res

taurants of Boston ; they ock for the win ter to New O rlea ns ;
they fatten on the wages of the Government laborers in
Pan ama ; and they aboun d in the South and Southwest an d in
the mining regions of the West
.

S LUM PO LI T IC S NE W CO N CE NT RA TI O N

The growth of this new factor in Americ an city politi cs

was due n ot alone to the advantages it o ff ered but to a
general necessity on the p art of the slum politician to coneen
trate his attention upon prostitution as a mean s of gettin g
a liv ing This condition was brought about by the astonishing
success of the campaign against gamblin g beginn in g some
ten years ago both in New York an d in most of the large citi es
of the coun try Policy is almost obliterated p ool rooms are
rapi dly declin in g and little by little gambling at race tr a cks
is dwindl ing thr oughout the country To an y one remember
ing the con dition of public sentiment and the frank and open
operation of gambling in American cities fteen years ago
thi s change is little le ss than startling
On e principal reason for the change was the a waking of
the personal interest of the richer an d more inuential cl as ses
against gamblin g Practic ally all of the gamblin g enterprises
fed upon th e earnings of the p oor a sure tax levied upon the
people by the slum politician who stooped in hi s policy gam es
to pick up the last and mean est penny of the child But
too many small embezzlements from their employers were
made by clerks and book keepers to pay the race track an d
pool room gambler
The imagin ation an d inte rest of the
employin g class be came enlisted and gambling enterprises
were pursued with a vigorous attention whi ch drove them
out The net result of all this to the slum politician w as suc
,

Th e

D a ugh t e r s

of

the

89

P o or

expressed by an observant old time police ma n upon the

Bowery of New York about a year ago :

Where s a district politician goin to get a bit of money

nowadays ? The pool rooms are all shut down policy s gone

There ain t n o place at all but the women

cin tly

T AMMANY

S DELICATE S I TUA TI O N

B ec aus e of this narrowin g tendency in the eld of slum

politics the politicians of Tammany Hall below Fourteenth
Street foun d themselves in an exceedingly delicate position
after the exposure that defeated them in the red light cam
The decline of gamblin g was already evident an d its
p aign
thousands of political emp loyees a mainstay in illegal voting
had been discharged ; and new election machine ry made
diicult the wholesale votin g of broken tramps and town
loafers Not only was some partici p ation in the sale of women
necessary but the u se of the gangs of yo un g procurers and
thi eves who had their beginn ing in the red light days b e
came almost indisp ensable if the politici an s were to secure
the vote upon which their power rested, both in their party
and out
This situation was met with adroitness The district below
Fourteenth Street had now come un der control of the fore
most combin ation of slum p oliticians in the United States
known the coun try over
Martin E ngel the old Tamm an y
Hall leader of the red light district was solemn ly deposed ;
a husky youn g politician was made leader of the district
seriously put on a pair of kid gloves called in the reporters
and poun ded with great pomp and ceremony the persons of
a few unfriended cadets After this drama it was ann ounced
with stern and glassy front that cadets were forever banished
from the district an d one of the most use f ul Tammany myt hs
,

90

T he

S ha m e of

G r e a t Na tion

ever sent glidin g do wn the columns of the local newspap ers

was laun ched on its long way
The distri ct retained the
chi ef disorderly house keep ers and cap ta in s of cadets upon its
li st of election capta in s where it keeps them yet ; and the
bands of cadets and thieves worked in its service as they had
never worked before But in the Third Distri ct about the
Bowery they began to have their real headquarters
It is of course the belief fostered by the great ignoran ce
an d indi fference of the more inuential classes as to the con
di tion s of the alien poor in a city like New Yorkthat the
cadet died out largely with the red light On the contrary
he has largely multi plied as every close observer of the con
The whole coun try has be en
ditions of the E ast Side knows
opened up for the supplies of New York procurers sin ce the
red
light days ; the development of the lonely woman of th e
street and tenement has increased the eld for these youn g
cadets greatly ; and not only the lower but now the Upper
E ast Side of New York City is full of them The wom an
they live up on an d her daily necessity of p olitical protection
brings them into public life an d makes them the most s e
cessible of political workers They have a hostage to fortun e
always on the street
.

THE

EAST S IDE WOR KI NG GIR L AND HE R E $ PL O I TERS

It is interestin g to see how the picking up of girls for the

trade in an d outside of New York is carried on by these
youths on the E ast Side of New York which has n ow grown
un der this development to be the chief recruitin g gro un d for
the so called whi te slave trade in the United States an d prob
ably ih the world It can be exploited of course becaus e in
it lies the newest body of im migran ts and the greatest supply
of un protected y oun g girls in the city These now ha ppen
,

T he

D a ugh t e r s

the

of

P oor

91

to be Jewsas a quarter and a half century ago they hap

pen ed to be German and Irish
The odds in life are from birth strongly against the young
Je w ish American girl The chief ambition of the new Jew ish
family in America is to educate its sons To do this the girls
must go to work at the earliest possible date and from the
population of
Jews east of the Bowery tens Of thou
sands of youn g girls go out into the shops There is no more
strikin g sight in the city than the mass of women that ood
east through the narr ow streets in a winter s twilight return
ing to their homes in the E ast Side tenements The exploita
tion of youn g women as money earnin g machines has reached
a development on the E ast Side of N ew York probably not
equaled anyw here else in the world
It is not an entirely healthy development Thousan ds of
women have sacri ced themselves us elessly to give the boys
of the family an education And in the po p ulation of youn g
males raised in this atmosphere of the sacri ce of the woman
to the man there have sprun g up all sorts of specialization in
the petty swin dling of women of their wages One class of men
for instance go about dressed like the hero in a cook s ro
mance swindlin g unattractive and elderly working women
out of their earnin gs by promising marriage an d borrowin g
money to st art a Shop The acute horror among the Jews of
the state of being an old maid makes s w indling of Jewish
women un der promi se of marriage especially easy
,

T HE

PEO PL E W H O D AN CE

But the largest and most protable eld for exploitation

of the girls of the E ast Side is in procurin g them for the white
slave trafc This lin e Of swin dl ing is in itself specialized
Formerly its chi ef recruiting grounds were the public amuse
.

T he

92

S hame of

G r ea t N a tio n

ment parks of the tenements districts ; now for sev e ral y ea rs

they have been the dance h a lls and the work has been speci al
iz e d very largely according to the character of the halls
The amus ement of the poor girl of New York especially
the very poor girl is dancin g On Saturdays an d Sun days
the whole E ast Side dances after n ightfall an d every ni ght
in the week there are tens of thousands of dancers wi thin
the limits of the city of New York The reason for all this
is simple : dancin g is the one real amusement within the work
For ve cents the movin g picture show
in g girl s mean s
the only com p etitor gives half an hour s diversion an d sends
its audience to the street again ; for ve cents the cheaper

dancing academies of the E ast Side give a whole even in g s

pleasure For the domestic servant and the poorer shOp girl
of the E ast Side there is practically n o o p tion if she is to
have any enjoyment of her youth ; an d not being able to dan ce
is a generally acknowledged source of mortication
,

WORKI NG

T HE

C A STL E G AR D E N

H ALL S

There are three main cl asses of dance halls roughly speak

ing which are the main recruit ing places In two of them
are secured the more i gnorant recent immigrants who appear
in the hous es kept by the larger operators of the In dependent
B enevolent Association The halls of the rst class are known

by the E ast Side boys by the name of C astle Gardens

To these places plastered across their front with the weird
O riental hieroglyphics of Yid dish posters the ne w Jewish im
mi grant girl havin g foun d a j ob is led by her sister domes
tics or shop mates to take her rst ste p s in the intricacies
of American life She cannot yet talk the lan guage but rigid
social custom demands that she be able to dan ce She ar
rives p ays her nickel piece and sitsa big daz ed awkward
-

T he

of

D a ugh te r s

the

93

P o or

childupon one of the wooden benches al ong the wall A

striden t two piece orchestra blasts big soul satisfyin g p ieces
of noise out of the surroundin g atmosphere and n ally a
deli ghtful youn g J e w ish Am erican m an with plastered hair
a pasty face and most n ished and ingratiating manners
desires to teach her to dance Her education in Am erican life
has be gun
The common expression for this process amon g the youn g

dance hall s p ecialists of the E ast Side is to kop out a new

one
Night after night the cheap orchestra sounds from the
bare hall the n ew herds of girls arrive and the gan gs of

loan g boys look them over

The master of the dancing

academy does not teach dancing to these ve cent customers ;

he c an not at the price ; he simply lets his customers loose
upon the oor to teach themselves Some of the boys are

spielers
youths with a talent for dancing who are a d
mitte d free to teach the girls and are given the proceeds
of an occasional dance The others p ay a ten cent fee The
whole thing catering to a class exceedin g poor is on a most
inexpensive scale E ven the v e cent drink of beer is too
costly to be handled at a pro t The height of lux urious in
dulgen ce is the treat at the one and two cent soda stands on
the sidewalk below the dance hall Contrary to the common
belief intoxicatin g liquor plays but a small part in securin g
girls from this particular typ e of p lace These lonely an d
poverty stricken girls ignorant and dazed by the strange
conditions of an unknown country are very easily secured
by promise of marriage or even par tnership
.

TH E

PO LI S H S AL OO N D ANCE H ALL S
-

A class very similar to this but of different nationality an d

religl on
I s furn ished by a second kind of dance hall on the
,

S hame Of

T he

94

G r e a t N a ti o n

E ast Side Just n orth of Houston Street are the long stree ts
of si gn s where the Polish an d Slovak serv ant girls sit in stiff
rows in the dingy employment agencies w aiting to be picked
up as domestic se rvants The odds again st these un fortun ate
.

bland faced farm girls are greater than those against the Ga
li cian Jews They arrive here more like tagged baggage than
human bein gs are crowded in barracks of bo ardin g hous es
eight an d ten in a room at night and in the mornin g the
runner for the em p loyment agency takes them with all their
belongings in a cheap valise to sit an d wait again for mis
tresses E very hand seems to be against such simple an d

easily exploited creatures even in some of the homes for

them
Just below this section of the Poles and Slaves lies the gr eat
body of the Jews an d in the borderland several Hebrews with
good political conn ectio ns have established saloons with d an ce
halls behind them For the past ve or six years the Jewis h
cadets have foun d these p articularly p ro table resorts T hese
girls are so easily secured that in many c ases the men who
obtain control of them do not even speak their lan guage
-

T AMMANY H ALL A ND

THE

GR AND C IVIC B ALL

For a third of a century at least the youn g slum politician

in Tamm an y has d an ced and p ickn icke d his way into political
power The chief gures in New York slum politics followed

this method An d thus arose the grand civic ball of the

Bowery districtO f which perhaps sin ce its completion the
present Tammany Hall Bui ldin g in Fourteenth Street h as
been the center But the recent political gangs that have
formed the chief stren gth of the Slum di stricts of Tammany
Hall have had a much closer connection with d an ce h alls
than an y politi cal bodies before them because their member
,

The D a u gh t e r s

th e

of

P oor

95

ship is so largely composed of cadets Practically all the big

gangs that have gured in slum politics in recent years started
about cheap dance halls
Paul Kelly s began in the halls
about the lower Bowery ; E astman s grew strong about new
Irvin g Hall in the Russian Je w ish district below D elancey
street ; and Kid Twi st s about a dance hall for the Galician
Jews in the far E ast Side
These gangs of political cadets naturally gravitate toward
Tamm an y Hall for their larger aff airs when they are strong
enough to do so I n this way Tammany Hall itself among

the many tough dance halls in the city has come to be the
leading headquarters for disreputable dances It is this class
of dances that plays a most promin ent part in nally produc
in g the American bred girl for the cadet
.

C AD E T

THE

CO NT RIBUT I O N

The American bred J ewish girl does not attend the Castle

Garden dancin g a cademies for

greenhorn s
Generally
she is able to take dancing lessons and her dancing is done
at weddings or balls A large number of these balls are given
by the rising youn g political desp eradoes who form for the
E ast Side girls local heroes exactly as the football cap tains
do for the girls in a college town The cadets who make up
these men s followers become acquainted with the girls upon
the stree t at noon hour or at closing time when the youn g
toughs hang about the curbings watching the p rocession
O f sh Op girls on the walk s
Nothing is more natural than
the invitation to the ball ; and nothing is more degrading than

the association at these balls with the c adets and their ashy

girls
There is liquor at these dances which plays its part in their
in uence
The course of a girl frequenting these E ast
-

T he

96

Sh ame of

G r e a t Na ti o n

Side balls is on e of increasin g S o phi stication an d degra da

tion At its end she is taken over by the cadet by the o ff er
of a pur ely commercial partn ershi p Only one p ractic al ob

to
the
life
remains
to
her
the fear of arrest an d im
i
n
ec
t
o
j
p risonment

That s all right ; you won t get sen t away

says the

cadet
I can take care of that
His indispensable se rvice in the partnershi p is the political
How
p rotection without which the bus iness could not exist
well he performs his work in New York was demonstrated by
the recent testimony before the Page commission of the
legislature of the imm unity of women of this kind from seri
o us punishm ent by the local courts
These three classes of girls form the principal sources of
the sup ply that is secured in New York The i gnorant gre en

horns
are taken over more by the larger o p erators into the
houses The Americ an bred girl is the alert an d e nte rp ris
ing creature who is going through the cities of the Unit ed
States with her man ager establishing herself in the streets
and caf es The ca det in the past w as almost always Jewish ;
now the youn g Italians have taken up the bus iness in grea t

numbers There are a number of dancing a ca de mics in the

Jewish section near the B owery where the Ita lian cadet
secures immigrant girls He attends and conducts balls Of
his own which are attended by both Chr istian and Jewish
girls an d he has developed an important eld for Slavic and
Polish girls in the saloon dance halls of the employmen t

agency distric t j ust n orth of Little Italy in Harlem

.

T HE

GRO UP O F I TALIAN I M P OR TERS

There is a smaller special bus iness in the lower p art of

New York whi ch brings in an d sends out of the city a numb e r
,

The D a ugh ters

of

the

P oor

97

of girls an d which corre sponds more closely in its methods

to the Old white slave trade of the O ri ent For a number of
years a small group of It alians who have been very a ctive in
the caus e of the Tamman y Hall organ ization of the T hi rd A s
has pr ocured Italian girls for the Itali an
se mb ly District
trade in America The girls in the Italian population of New
York are guarded as carefully by their mothers as any class
of girls in Am eri ca an d for this reason are n ot picked up
in any considerable number in the ordin ary way by the New
York cadet It has been necessary to secure them from Italy
The plan that is perhaps most frequently worked is to get

them thr ough various wise members of the great mass of

young Italian laborers who return to Italy every year for the
winter These youths induce youn g peasant girls to aecom
pany them back to America un der promise of marriage
Wh en they arrive here they are satis ed to give u p the girls
to the dealers in New York upo n payment of their p assage
money and a small bonus
In the survey of the conditions of the procur in g business
in the United States during the recent Government investiga
tions no more melancholy feature was discovered than that
of the little Italian peasant girls taken from various den s
where they lay shivering an d afraid un der the lighted
c an dl es and cru cixe s in their bedrooms
Fear is more
e
icacious with this class than an y other because of the n o
torious tendency of the low class I taian to violence and mur
der
These girls are closely con ned see only their man
agers and Ita lian laborers do not talk E nglish and naturally
do not know how to escape At last of course they beco me
de sperate and hardened by the business
The Americ an
trade in them centers in the Bowery Assembly District in
New York From there they are sent in small numbers to
,

The Sh a me o f

98

G re a t N a ti on

various cities where the Itali an laborer is foun d in consid er

able numbers includi ng Phi ladelphia Pittsburg Chi ca go an d
Boston
,

HALF T H E CO U NT RY

S UP PLY F RO M NE W YOR K

This is a rough outline of the system of procuring an d

sending girls out of New York City un der the safeguard of
political protection D etectives of the Federal Government
who have made within the past year a special in vestigation
of this business in all of the large cities in this coun try esti
mate that about One half of all the women n ow in the bus iness
throughout the United States started their career in this coun
try in New York This estimate includes of course the w o
men imported into that city as well as those taken from the
population This estimate may be large but there can be
little doubt since recent developments of New York s growth
to leadership as the chief center of the white slave trade in
in the world
The Galician and Russian kaf tan of Lemberg an d Warsaw
has had one chief market almost dest royed by the recent
drastic laws in Argentine R epublic which leave his present
eld of Operation much narrowed
The same loss of trade
by legal attack has come now upon the French trader in his
greatest sin gle market the United States During the past
year two in de p endent Federal investigationsone by the
re gular government immi gration service and one by a special
commission appointed by C ongress have been conduc ted
Their attention has centered chi ey on the activities of the
French trade
This branch of the whi te slave trade in
Am eri ca has been thoroughly frightened by the Governmen t s
activity an d the number of maquereaux in this coun try has
greatly decreased for this re ason
.

T he
NE W

YOR KERS B E NEFIT

the

of

D a ughte rs

99

P o or

B Y S U PRE ME CO UR T DE CIS I ON S

The movement that is driving the French i mporter out of

America has proved ineffectual again st the Operator from
New York who sec u res immigrant girls after they have lan ded
In the campai gn of the Federal authorities of Chic ago Joseph
Keller an d Louis Ullman the former a member of the New
York B enevolent Associ ation were each sentenced to one and
a half years of imprisonment for harborin g two Jewish immi
grant girls they had brought to Chicago from the E ast Side
of New York They appealed to the United States Supreme
Court and this held that while directly importing girls could
be pun ished by Federal law the provision punishing men for
merely harboring girls taken after they arrive here was not
constitutional ; and that the exploiting of such girls mus t be
pun ished by the Stat e law if at all
Thus while the business out of Poland and Paris has been
severely cur ta iled i n the past few years there has so far been
no pra ctical setback for the trader from New York He has
to d ay several thous ands of girls secur ed from the population
of New York established in various sections of the earth
An d month after month the ranks of these women mus t be
ll ed or extended out of the E ast Side population
This is a
matter of desperate seriousn ess to the pop ulation that is bein g
drawn upon for this supply an d a staring advertisement of
New York s disgrace across the world ; but for the United
States at large it is less serious than another phase of the de
v elop ment of the business out of New Yorkthe extension
of its political cadet system throughout the cities of the
United State s
.

The S ha m e of

100

S P RE AD O F

T HE

G re a t N a ti on

NE W

YORK S YS TE M

During the past six or seven years the poli ce of most l arge
Ameri can cities outside of New York have noticed a stran ge
development which they have never been able to explain e n
The business enterprises for market ing
tir e ly to themselves
girls have passed almost entirely from the ha nds of women
into those of men I n every case these men have the most in
timate connections with the political machines of the slums
any everywhere there has develo p ed a system of loc al ca dets
The date of this n ew development of the white slave trade
outside of New York corresp onds almost uniformly with the
time when the traders and cadets from the New York red
light district introduced New York methods into the other
cities of the coun try in 1 9 0 1 an d 1 9 0 2 Hundreds of New
York dealers and cadets are still at work in these other cities
But much more imp ortant are the local youths whom these
missionaries of the devil brought by their sight of their sleek
prosperity into their trade E verywhere the boy of the slums
has learned that a girl is an asset which once acqui red by
him will give him more money than he can ever earn and a
life of absolute ease In Chicago for example prosecutions
in 19 0 8 conducted by Assistan t State s Attorney Cli ff ord G
R o e caused to be ned or sent to prison one hun dred an d
fty of these cadets nearly all local boys who had procured
local working girls from the dance halls and cheap pleasure
resorts In and aroun d C hicago
.

T HE

DO UB L E I NFL UE N CE O F

THE

NE W

S Y STE M

There is little doubt that from now on to the larger part

of the procur ing and marketin g of women for the United
States will be carried on by the sy stem of political procurers

T he

of

D a ugh t e rs

the

10 1

P o or

developed in New York The operation of this system has a

double inuence upon our large cities On the on e side it has
great political importance for the reason that more and more
with the growing concentration of the slum politician upon
thi s eld the procurer and marketer of women ten ds to hold
the balan ce of power in city elections This is true not alone
in New York ; an alyzers of recent political contests in Phila
delphi a and Chicago have been convinced that the registra
tion and casting of fraudulent votes from disorderly places
in those cities may easily determine the result in a close city
election for false votes by the thous and are cast from these
resorts
Certainly this is not an over scrupulous class to hold the
balance of political power in a comm un ity But it is the
other in uence of the development that counts most its
highly e ff icient system for procuring its sup plies The average
life of women in this trade is not over ve years and supplies
must be constantly replenished There is something appall ing
in the fact that year after year the demands of American
cities reach up through thousands to the tens of thousands
for n e w y oung girls The supply has come in the past and
must come in the futur e from the girls morally broken by the
cruel social pressure of poverty and lack of training The
odds have been enough against these girls in the past Now
everywhere through the great cities of the coun try the sharp
eyes of the wise cadet are watchin g hunting her out at her
amusements and places of work An d back of him the most
adroit min ds of the politicians of the slums are standing to
protect an d extend with him their mutual interests
The trade of procuring and selling girls in America taken
from the weak hands of women and placed in control of acute
and greedy menhas organized an d specialized after its kind
.

The Sh a me of

10 2

Gre a t N a ti on

exa ct ly as all other bus iness h as don e The c adet does his
procurin g not as an agent for any larger interest but kn ow
ing that a woman can always be sold pro tably either on the
streets or in houses in Am erican cities The larger operators
conduct their houses and get their supplies from the ca det
take him in fact into a sort of partn ership by whi ch every
week he collects the girl s wages as her a gent The ward

politician keeps the disorderly saloon a most n atur al p o

han g out
litical development becaus e it serves both as a
for the gan gs of cadets and thieves an d a market for women
And back of this the politician higher up takes his share
in other ways No busin ess p ays such toll to the slum poli

The First Ward ball of H incky D ink

ticians as this does

Kenn a and Bath House John Coughlin the kin gs of slum

politics in Chi cago ; the Larry Mulligan ball in New York ; the
dan ces of the Kelly and E ast Side and Five Points New York
gan gs all draw their chief revenue directly or in dire ctly
from this source From low to high the whole strong organ i
z ation gorges an d fattens on the gross fee din g from this par
ticula r thing
It is the poor an d i gnorant girl who is capturedthe same

class that has always furnished the whi te slaves of the

world Interestin g gur es made by the police concernin g the
n ewcomers into the South Side Levee di stri ct of C hicago tell
the same story as the statistics of New York in 1 8 57 All but
twelve or fteen per cent are of foreign birth or parenta ge
about one third were of the domestic servan t class before they
entered the life of prostitution
.

NA TI O NAL CE NTER O F

T HE

T HE PRO C URE R

Me anwhile New York the rst in the development of this

E uropean trade in America remain s its center an d its pro
,

T he

D a ugh t e r s

the

of

10 3

P o or

curing interests are the strongest and most carefully organ

iz e d of all The y oun g cadet has his beginn in g as well as the
woman he secures These boys learn in the primary schools
of the farther E ast Side from the semi political gangs in the
dance halls ; step by step as they grow in the profession they

graduate into the Third Assembly District the chief hang

out p lace o f the procurer in the world In all the E ast Side
districts of Tamm any Hall these youths have representatives
who look out for their interests ; but here two thirds of the
active workers are or have been interested in markets of pros
.

titution

Aroun d the district s e astern edge in lower Second Avenue

hang the mass of the Jewish cadets who are members of the
strong E ast Side political gangs Many of them are deter
mined thi eves as well Farther along is a m ixture of the more
leisurely class who devote all their attention to their work
as man agers of women Among them are scores and through
the n ear b y E ast Side hun dreds o f youths who have women
at work thr oughout this coun try especially in the West and
Southwest or abroad but who prefer to remain themselves
in the companionship an d comfort of the national he a d u ar
ters of their trade Correspondence on the condition of the
white slave trade comes here from all over the world O n
the lower B owery and in Chatham Square are the Italian
cadets

There are scores of hang outs for cadets in the Third

District and in all the notorious saloons the waiters are man
agers of women an d receive their j obs on the recommendation
of politicians Special l awy ers defend the cadets when they
are caught and all have their direct access to the political
machine largely through the p olitical owners of their special

hang outs
Altogether it is a colony of procurers not
,

The S ha me of

10 4

Gr e a t N a ti on

e qualed throughout the world in its powers of defense an d

f ens e

of

T HE N E W

YORK AND P ARIS A PACHE

This class of politi cal crimin al has had a di st inct ten den cy
toward greater an d greater license The typ e of youth rs t
known as cadet w as a slin king cowardly person who was
physically formidable only to the more timid foreign immi
grants Now an d especially S ince the youn g Italian has taken
up this profession in New York the g an gs of these men have
constantly grown uglier an d bolder A curious s imil ari ty is
sho wn between these gangs as they have developed in New
York and the Apaches the ban ds of city savages in Paris
whose violent crimes were responsible for the recent re intro
duction of c ap ital pun ishm ent in France A statement by M
Bay, head of the R esearch Brigade in that city concernin g
the outbreak of crim e there in 19 0 2 shows how identica l the
g an gs of New York are with those that have formed in the
capita l of Fran ce about the same busin ess that is their ma in
stay here

Paris
he said
is empty ; the women upon whom the
great m ass of these hooligans prey are un able to obtain money
R esult the scoundrels n on e of whom are capable of doin g
an hour s honest work fall back on the knife the revolver
or the burglar s j immy All of these articles can be p ur
chased cheaply Another reason for the stree t ghts whi ch
take place with revolvers is j ea lousy A woman leaves her
protector and takes up with another man ; the two men at
once become sworn enemi es and a re gul ar vendetta is started
between them
They gather their friends an d in pitched

battl es try to ki ll each other

The highway assaults murders and street gh ts that New
.

The D a ught e r s

of

the

P o or

10 5

York has suf f ered from in the l ast ve years have come from
an exactly sim ilar class of organ iz ation For two years past
the Operations of these gangs have been curtail ed by the ao
tivity again st them of the Police D epartment u nder the a d
Gradually his campai gn
ministration Of General Bingham
led to the higher and more important enterprises which they
made headquarters for themselves and their women It ex
tended rst through the centers about the Bowery Second
Avenue and Chatham S quare and n ally to the associated
summer headquarters at Coney Isl an d Then suddenly Gen
eral Bingham was removed by Mayor McC lellan
The various interests dependent upon the procur ing and
sale of women considered thi s event their rst victory But
now all eyes of these peo p le are concentrated on the main
issue this fall Will or wi ll not Tammany be elected ? The
whole futur e of their career in New York hangs upon the issue
of this event An d they are preparing to work for the D emo
cratic party with every means in their power
.

THE

RE B A T E S O F

SLUM PO LI TICI AN

T HE

The exploitation of a popular government by the slum poli

tician is a curious thing always
I sat some time ago with a
veteran politician for many years one of the leading election
district captain s of the Tamm any Bowery organization con
versing soviab ly in the parlor of hi s p ro table R aines law
.

The peo p le love Tammany Hall

said my host
We
use em right When a widow s in trouble we see she has her
hod of coal ; when the orphans want a p air of shoes we give

it to them
It was truly and earn estly said As he spoke the other half
of the political n ancin g was shown The procession of the
.

T he

10 6

S ha m e o f

G r e a t Na ti on

daughters of the E ast Side led by the open door up stairs

with their stran ge men It w as the slum leader s common
transaction Having wholesaled the bo di es of the daughte rs
at good prot he rebates the widow s hod of coal

The so called human quality is the thr ea dbare defense

of slum politics But all its charitable tran sactions have been
amply nanced From the earliest time is has b een the same
old system of rebates to the poor First the rebate of the
tenement saloon at the death of the drunken laborer ; then
the rebate from the rakin g up of the last miserable pennies of
the clerk and laborer and scrubwoman by the pool rooms and
po licy ; and n ow smiling its same old hearty smile it extends
to the widow and orphan its rebates from the bodies of the
daughters of the poor
It is a source of perennial wonder how much longer the
p oorer classes will be cajoled an d threatened a nd swindled
into taking them
The issues of the comin g campaign for the control of New
York City have been framed in charges to enlist all classes
of the people against Tammany Hall For the rich the gre at
tax r ate for wasted an d misappropriated money ; for the citi
zen of average means the inadequate schools dirty hi ghways
burglari es and violence upon the public streets The re is a
perennial issue for the peo p le of the tenement dis tricts Shall
New York City continue to be the recrui tin g ground for the
collection for market of youn g women by politically organ
iz e d procur ers ? The only practical way to stop it w ill be by
the defeat of Tamm an y Hall

CHAPT ER VII

We Sh all continue the story of this black crime as told

by E dward W Sims United States District Attorney of
Chicago and C li ord E Roe Assistant State s Attorney of
Illin ois
Also Harry A Parkin s Assistant United States

District Attorney
These articles were given to the W 0
man s Worl
and by their permission reprinted in full in
this book
We prefer to give the facts as they tell them Surely no
one would think of disputing these statements made by repu
table ofcers
,

TH E WHIT E SLAVE T RAD E O F T O DAY

-

B y E dwin

S ims, United S ta tes D istrict A ttorney, C hicago

Mr Sims sa ys :
There are some thin gs so far removed
from the lives of normal decent peo p le as to b e simply un

beli evable by them The white slave trade of to d ay is

one of these incredible things The calmest simplest state
ments of its facts are a hnost beyond the comprehension or b e
lief of men and women who are mercifully spared from con

tact with the dark and hideous secrets of the under world
of the big cities
You would har dly credit the statement for exam p le that
things are being done every day in New York Philadelphi a
Chicago and other large cities of this coun try in the white slave
traic which wo uld by contrast m ake the Congo slave tr aders
of the old days appear like Good Samaritan s Yet this gure is
.

10 7

T he

10 8

S hame of

G r e a t N a t i on

almost a literal truth The man of the stone age who clubb e d
the wo man of his desire into insensibility or submission w as
little short of a high minded gentleman when contrasted with

the men who fatten upon the white slave tra f c in this day
of social settlements of forward movements of Y M C A
and Christian E ndeavor activities of air ships an d w ireless
telegrap hy
Naturally wisely every parent who reads this statement

wi ll at once raise the question :

What excus e is there for the
open discussion of such a revolting condition of thi ngs in
the pages of a household magazine ? What good is there to
be served by aun ting so dark and disgusting a subj ect before

the family circle ?

Only one and that is a reason and not an excuse $ The

recent examination of more th an two hun dred white slaves

by the oi ce of the United States District Attorney at Chi
cago has brought to light the fact that literally thous an ds
of inn ocent girls from the count ry districts are every year
entra pped into a life of hopeless slavery and degradation
because parents in the coun try do not un derstand conditions
as they exist an d how to protect their daughters from the

white slave traders who have reduced the art of ruining

youn g girls to a n ational and international system I sin
cerely believe that nin e tenths of the parents of these thou
sands of girls who are every year snatched from lives of
decency and comp arative peace and dragged un der the slime

of an existence in the white Slave world have no ide a that

there is really a trade in the ruin of girls as much as there
is a t ra de in cattle or sheep or other p roducts of the farm
If these paren ts had known the real con di tions had believed
that there is actually a syn dicate whi ch does as regul ar as

steady an d persistent a bus ine ss in the ruination of girls

.

The Whi t e S l a v e T ra de o f T O day

-

10 9

the great packing houses do in the sale of meats it is

wholly probable that thei r daughters would n ot now be in
dens of vice an d alm ost utterly without hope of release ex
cep tin g by the hand of death
Is n ot this then reason enough for a little plain speech

to parents ? I un derstand th at the Woman s World every

month goes into two mi llion American homes average rep re

home
of
the
common
people
and that most of these
n
i
e
v
e
s
ta t
homes are outside of the big cities This is why I have con
sented to respond to the request of a publisher who is cour
a ge ous enough to touch upon thi s forbidden topic
N O other
consideration would move me to write upon this topic
The purpose of all our laws and statutes against crime
is the suppression of crime The protection of the people
of the home of the individual is the purpose which inspires
the honest and conscientious prosecutor This is what the
law is for and if this result of protection to individuals and
homes can be made more eff ective and more general by a
statement such as this then I am willing to make it for
the public good And the most direct an d un adorned state
ment of facts will I think carry its own conviction and make

everythin g like preachin g or denun ciation superuous

The evidence obtained from questioning 2 50 girls taken
within the last four weeks in Chicago hous es of ill repute
leads me to believe that n ot fewer than fteen thousand
girls have been imported into this country in the last year as
white slaves O f course this is only a guess an approximate

it could be nothing else but my own personal belief is

that it is a conservative guess and well within the facts as to
numbers
Then please remember that girls imported are
cert ainly but a mere fraction of the num ber recruited for
the army of prostitution from home elds from the cities the
as

The Sh a me of

1 10

Gre a t Na t ion

towns the villages of our own country There is n o possible

escape f rom this conclusion
Another signi cant fact brought out by the examination
of these girls is that practically every one who admi tted hav
ing parents living begge d that her real name be withheld from
the public because of the sorrow and shame it would bring to

her parents O ne said :

My mother thinks I am studying

in a stenogra phic school ; another stated

My parents in
the coun try think I have a good position in a department
store as I did have for a timeand I ve sent them a little
money from time to time ; I don t care what happen s so lon g

I n a word the one

as they don t know the truth about me
concern of nearly all those examin ed who have homes in this
coun try was that their p arents and in particul a r their
mothers might d iscover through the prosecution of the

white slavers
th at they were leading lives of sha me in
stead of workin g at the honorable callings which they had
left their homes and come to the city to pursue There are
to put it mildly hun dreds yes thousandsof trusting
mothe rs in the smaller cities the towns vill a ges an d farm
ing communities of the United States who believe that their

daughters are getting on n e in the city an d too busy to

come home for a visit or to write much

whi le the fact is
that these daughters have been swept into the gulf of white
slavery the worst doom th at can befall a woman The mother
who has allowed her girl to go to the big city an d work should
nd out what kind of life that girl is living and nd out fr om
some other so urce than the girl herself No matter how good
and ne a girl S he has been at home an d how complete the
con dence she has always inspired nd out how she is livin g
what kind of associations she is keepin g Take n oth in g for
gran ted You owe it to yourself and to her an d it is not dis
.

The Whi t e S l av e T ra de of T o da y
-

1 11

loyalty to go beyond her own words for evidence that the

wolves of the city h ave n ot dragged her from safe paths
It is in stead the highest form of loyalty to her
Again there is in another particular a rem arkable and
impressive sameness in the stories related by these wretched
girls In the n arratives of nearly all of them is a passage
describing how some man of their acquaintance had Offered

to help them to a good position in the city to look after

them and to take an interest in them After listening to

this confession from one girl a f ter an other hour after hour
until you have heard it repeated perhaps fty times you feel
like sayin g to every mother in the coun try : D o not trust any
man who pretends to take an interest in your girl if that in
te re st involves her leaving her own roof
Keep her with you
She is far safer in the coun try than in the bi g city but if
go to the city she must then go with her yourself ; if that is
impossible place her with some woman who is your friend
not hers ; no girl can safely go to a great city to make her
own way who is not under the eye of a trustworthy woman
who knows the ways and dangers of city life Above all

distrust the protection

the
good o fces of any man
who is not a family friend known to be clean and honorable
and above all suspicion
O f course all the examinations to which I h ave referred
have been conducted for the speci c pur pose of ndin g girls
who have been brought into this coun try from other lands in
de ance of the Federal sta tute p assed by Congress February
2 0 19 0 7
This act declares that any person who who shall

keep maintain sup p ort or harbor any alien woman for

imm oral pur poses within three years after her arrival in thi s
coun try shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable
an d imprison ment for v e years at the
to a ne of
.

The Sh a me of

112

G re a t N a ti on

discretion of the court When a departmen t of j ust i ce at

Washin gton decided that this law w as bein g violated the
United States District Attorn ey at C hi cago w as instruct ed to
take such action as was n ecessary to apprehend the violators
of the act an d convict them O ne of the rst steps required
was the r ai din g of the various dives an d houses of ill fame
and the arrest of the girl inmates as well as the arrest of the
keep ers and the procurers of the whi te slaves
While the Federal prosecution is o f cially concern ed only
with those cas es in volving the importation of girls from other
countries there bein g no authority un der the present na
tional statutes for the Federal Government to p roscute those
concerned in securin g white slaves who are natives of this
coun try it was inevitable that the examin ation of scores of
these inmates captur ed in raids upon the di ves should br ing
to oicers an d agents of the department of justice an imme nse
fun d of information regardin g the methods of the white slave
traders in recruiting for their traic from home el ds
Whether these hunters of the inno cent ply their awful c all
in g at home or abroad their methods are much the same
with the exception that the fore ign girl is more hopel essly
at their mercy Let me take the c ase of a little Italian pea sant
girl who helped her father till the soil in the vineyards and
el ds n ear Na p les Like most of the others taken in the raids
she stoutly maintained that she had been in this coun try more
th an three years an d that she was in a life of shame fro m
choice an d not through the criminal act of an y person Wh en
she w as brought into wh at the sensational n ewspape rs would

call the sweat box it was clear that she was in a state of
abject terror Soon however Asst United States D istrict A t
torn ey Parkin havin g charge of the examination convin c ed
her that he an d his associates were her frien ds and protec tors
.

The Whi t e S l a v e T

ra

o f T o da y

de

1 13

and that their p urpose w as to pun ish those who had proted
by her ruin and to send her back to her little Italian home
with all her expenses paid ; that sh e was un der the protection
of the United States and was as safe as if the kin g of Italy
wo ul d take her under hi s royal care an d pledge his word that
her enemies should not have revenge upon h er
Then she broke down and with pitiful sobs related her awful
narrative That every word of it was true no one coul d doubt

who saw her as she told it B riy this is her story : A n e

lady who wore beautiful clothes came to her where she lived
with her parents made friends with her told her she was
uncomm only pretty ( the truth by the way ) and professed
a great interest in her Such attering attentions from an
American lady who wore clothes as ne as those of the Itali an
nobility could have but one effect on the mind of thi s simple
little p easant girl and on her still S imp ler parents Their

heads were completely turned and they regarded the Ameri

can lady with almost ador ation

V ery shr ewdly the woman di d not attempt to bring the
little girl back with her but held out hope that some day a
letter might come with money for her passage to Am erica
O nce there she wo uld become the companion of her American
friend an d they would have great times together
an d the $ 1 0 0
O f course in due time the money came
was a most substantial pledge to the parents of the wealth

and generosity of the American lady

Unhesitatingly she
was prepared for the voyage which was to take her to the
land of happin ess and good fo rtun e According to the ar
rangements made by letter the girl w as met at New York by

two friends of her benefactress who attended to her en

tran ce papers and took her in charge These friends were

two of the most b rutal of all th e white slave drivers who are
.

T he

1 14

S ham e o f

G re a t N a t i o n

tra fc At this tim e she was about si xteen years old

in nocent an d rarely attractive for a girl of her class havin g
the large handsome eyes the black hair and the rich olive
skin of a ty pic a l Italian
Where these two men took her she did not know but by
the most violent an d brutal mean s they quickly a ccompl ished
her ruin For a week she w as subj ected to un spe akable tr ea t
ment and made to feel that her degradation was complete an d
nal
An d here let it be said that the bre akin g of the spirit the
crushin g of all hope for any futur e sa ve that of shame is
always a part of the initiation of a white slave Then the
girl was shipped on to Chicago where she was disp osed of
to the keeper of an Italian dive of the vilest typ e On her
entran ce here she was furnished with gaudy dresses an d wear
in g apparel for whi ch the keeper of the place ch arged her
$ 60 0 As is the case with all ne w white slaves she was n ot
allowed to have any clothin g whi ch she could wear upon the
st reet
H er one object in life w as to escape from the den in whi ch

she was held a prisoner To pay out seemed the su rest

way and at length fr om her w a ges of shame she w as able
to can cel the $ 60 0 account Then she asked for her street
clothin g and her rele as eo nly to be told that she had incurred
other expenses to the amoun t of $ 4 00
Her Italian blood took re at this an d she made a d ash
for liberty But she was n ot qui ck enough and the hand of
the oppressor was upon her In the wild scen e that followe d
she was sl ashed with a razor one g as h straight through her
right eye one across her cheek an d another slittin g her ea r
Then she was given medi cal atten tion and the woun ds gradu
in the

The Whi t e S l a v e T ra de of T o da y
-

1 15

lly healed but her fa ce w as horribly mutilated her right

ey e is always open and to look upon her is to shudder
When the raids began she was se cere te d and arran gements
made to ship her to a dive in the min ing regions of the west
Fortunately however a few hours before she was to start
upon her jo urney the United States marshals raided the place
and captur ed herself as well as her keepers To add to the
horror of her situation she was soon to become a mother The
awful thought in her mind however was to escape fr om as
sa ssin ation at the hands of the murderous gang which op
pressed her
On e recital of this kind is enough although instances by
the score might be cited which differ only in detail and degree
It is only n ecessary to say that the legal evidence thus far
collected establishes with complete moral certainty these awful
facts : That the white slave tra ff ic is a system a syndicate
whi ch has its rami cations from the Atlantic seaboard to the

Paci c O cean with clearing houses or distributin g cen

ters in nearly all of the larger cities ; that in this ghastly

traf c the buyin g price of a goun g girl is $ 1 5 and that the
sellin g price is generally about $ 2 0 0 if the girl is especially
attractive the white slave dealer may be able to sell her for
$ 4 0 0 or $ 60 0 ; that this syndicate di d not make less than
last year in this almost unthinkable commerce ; that
it is a de nite organization sen ding its hunters regularly to
sco u r France Germ any Hun gary Italy and C an ada for vic
tims that the man at the head of this un thinkable enterprise

is known among his hunters as The Big Chief

Also the evidence shows that the hirelin gs Of this trafc
are stationed at certain ports of entry in Canada where
large numbers of immigrants are landed to do what is known

I n other words
in their p arlan ce as cuttin g out work
a

T he

116

S ha me o f

G r e a t N a ti o n

th ese watchers for hum an prey scan the immi grants as they
come down the g an g plan k of a vessel which has just arrived

spot the girls who are un accomp an ied by fathers

and
mothers brothers or relatives to protect them The girl who
has been s p otted as a desirable and un p rotected victim is
p roperly approached by a man who spe aks her lan guage an d
is imm ediately O e re d emp loymen t at good wages with all
exp enses to the destin ation to be paid by the man Most f re
quently laun dry work is the bait held out sometimes ho use
work or employment in a candy shOp or factory

The obj ect of the negotiations is to cut out the girl from
any of her associates and to get her to go with him Then the
only is to accomplish her ruin by the shortest route If they
cannot be cajoled or enticed by promises of an e asy time
plenty of money ne clothe s an d the usual stock of allure
ments
o r a fake marriage
then harsher methods are re
sorted to In some instances the hun ters really marry the
victims A S to the sterner methods it is of course impossible
to spe ak explicitly beyond the statement that intoxi cation
an d druggin g are often used as means to reduce the victims
to a state of helplessness and sheer physical violence is a
common thin g
When once a white slave is sold and landed in a hous e or
dive she becomes a prisoner The raids disclosed the fact that
in each of these places is a room having but one door to
which the keeper holds the key In here are locked all the
street clothes shoes and the ord inary apparel of a woman
The ne ry whi ch is provided for the girl for house wear
is of a n ature to make her appearance on the street imp os
sible Then added to this handicap is the fact that at once
the girl is placed in debt to the keeper for a wardrobe of

fancy clothes which are charged to her at prepost erous

,

T he

Whit e S l a v e T r a de o f T o d a y

117

prices She cann ot escape while she is in debt to the keeper

and she is never allowed to get out of debt at least until
all desire to leave the li fe is dead within her
The examination of wi tn esses have brought out the fact that
not man y of the women in this class expect to live more than
ten years after they enter upon their voluntary or involun tary
life of white slave ry Perha p s the average is less than that
Many died painful deaths by disease many by consumption
but it is hardly beyond the truth to say that suicide is their

general expectation
We all come to it sooner or later
one of the witnesses remarked to her comp anions in the j ail
the other day when read ing in the newspaper of the suicide of
a girl inmate of a notorious house
A volum e could be written on this revolting subject but I
have no disposition to add a single word to what will Open
the eyes of parents to the fact that white slavery is an exist
ing condition a system of girl hunting that is national and
intern ational in its scope that it literally consumes thous ands
of girlsc lean innocent girls every year ; that it is Op erated
with a cruelty a barbarism that gives a new meaning to the
word end ; that it is an imminent p eril to every girl in the
coun try who has a desire to get into the city and taste its ex
citem ents and its pleasures
The facts I have stated are for the awakenin g of parents
and guardians of girls If I were to p resume to say anyth ing
to the possible victims of this awful scour ge of white slavery

it would be this :
Those who enter here leave ho p e behind ;
the depths of debasement and sufferin g disclosed by the ih
v estigation now in progress would make the esh of a seasoned

man of the world creep with horror and shame

.

CHAP T ER V III

S T ORY OF C LIFF OR D G R OE

T HE

No language can describe the horrors of the whi te sl ave

tra fc It is so beastly so repulsive so shocking that it stag
gers the senses It seems like a hideous nightm are of hell an d
yet it is a fact of our eve ryday life un der capitalism and so
engrossing is the struggle for existence th at but little atten
tion is paid to this unspeakable tr af c in the bodies an d souls
of innocent girls who are deceived by human taran tul as an d
l u red to their ruin and death
It is widespread even intern ation al It proved so appallin g
and the public was so un aware of the existence of the preda

tory monster that the Woman s World told its

readers in two tremendous articles by United States District
Attorn ey Sims of Chic a go the facts warn ed them so that
they and the coun try in general might be forearmed
Thus w as it revealed to the people th at there is a white sl ave
traf c
The disgraceful facts are these :
S ome
daughters of American homes an d
alien
girls are the prey each year of procurers in this traic ao
cording to authoritative estimates E ven marriage is used as
one of the diabolical methods of captur ing girlhood and youn g

woman hood and breakin g them in to a life of shame

They are hun ted tr apped in a thous an d w ays ; t rappe d
win g broken sold sold for less than hogs
and he l d in whi te
slavery worse th an de ath
.

1] 8

S t o r y of C li ord G R

T he

oe

119

The daughters of all of us our sisters even our wi ves are

looked upon as prey for the white slave trai c
Here is the story in full as told by Cliff ord E R o e As
sistant State s Attorney of Illinois :
There is a problem of slavery to d ay for the people to solve

The question is :
How sh all the warfare against White
Slavery be waged to blot out this cloud upon civiliz ation ex

O ver two years ago I learned that there w as

p e di tiously ?
a gigantic slave trade in women and with a handful of people
we began to ght the traders That a system of slavery de
basing and vile had grown to enormous proportions before
our very doors seemed beyond belief an impossibi lity and
even roman tic Most people were skeptical of the existence
of a well de n ed an d organized tra f c in girls, and they seemed
to think that those advocating the abolition of this nefarious
trade were either visionists or fanatics The struggle against
this trade in women was a hard one at r st The minist ry
although dazed were nally aroused to an appreciation of the
truth
Having faith in the people an d believing that this republi c
lauds an d honors the chastity and sanctity of women I b e
lieved in brin ging thi s hideous tra fc in girls to the public
notice and when our citizens fully realized its im port an ce
they would rise to the occasion and aid in the warfare to ex
termin ate white slavery The result has been most gratify in g
for churches clubs associations newspapers men and women
in all walks of life have taken up the c ause Great armies
like those of a gen eration ago cannot uproot this slavery but
the slavery of to day must be elimin ated by publicity educa
tion legislation and law enforcement That is the reason the

Woman s World has brought to its readers facts concern

ing this hideous trade
The results of this heroic work have
,

T he

1 20

Sh a m e o f

G r e a t N a ti o n

been wonderful for thousan ds of letters in q uiring about whi te

slavery have been received and associations an d clubs have
formed to ght white slavery an d legislation upon the su b
j cet has been introduced in many states If this great good
to our social life co uld not be brought about by publicity
there would not be an y reason for brin ging before the people
and into the midst of the family circle facts which are so black
and revoltin g But to know an d un derstand we must cast
aside false modesty take off our kid gloves an d han dle thi s
great social problem wit h our naked hands
The trade in women is domestic and foreign local an d in
The Honorable E dwin W Sims and Harry A
tern ational
Parkin Assistant United States District Attorney in Chi cago
have been w a gin g valiant warfare against the foreign and in
The precedin g ar
tern ational trade durin g the past year
ticle s in this magazine wr itten by them have dealt chiey with
that phase of the white slave trade They ha ve explained
also the debt system as a means of keepin g the girls in resorts
after they are procur ed an d sold It is with the domestic an d
local trade I have been mostly concerned In Chic ago alone
there are more than
women leading a life of shame an d
statistics show that the average life of a fallen woman is ve
years Five thousand persons must therefore be recruite d
every year in Chicago alone How many volun tarily go into
this life ? It is estimated that about twenty p er cent $ This
shows us that eighty per cent are led in to it by some scheme
or entrapped an d sold and at least two thirds of this numbe r
are from our own coun try be ing inveigled from farms towns

an d cities
On e may inqui re How is that girls are procur ed

so easily without the public bein g aware of what is goin g on ?

The an swer is that love an d ambition are the baits which
the procurers aunt in the facts of their proposed victi ms
,

The S t o ry of C li o rd G R
.

oe

O ften it happens that promises of positions

12 1

the stage in
stores an d various occupations alluring to youn g girls caus e
many to fall ca ptives in the great net set for them
Durin g the past two years there have been more than two
hun dred and fty white slave cases tried in Chicago un der
the Illin ois law resulting in scores of confessions made by t h e
procurers and statements by hundreds of the girls who were
procured as to the methods employed by the traders
To Show how easily it is don e let me tell you a story of a
girl from E lgin Illinois who was caught by the love scheme
O ne day this pretty little German lass was in a Chicago store
buying Sheet mus ic when a well dressed handsome young
man apparently lookin g at music too asked her the names of
some of the latest popular songs as he wanted to buy them
At rst she turned away and di d not heed him but he was
not to be repulsed and pressing his attentions further up on
her he nally engaged her in conversation A luncheon at a
nearby restaurant in whi ch She j oined him was the result
and there he told her how at rst sight he had fallen in love
with her beauty After lun ch he suggested a visit to his
bachelor apartments but this she refused Seein g that this
plan was a failure he asked her to marry him then and there
The silly girl believing he loved her and enchanted by the
picture he had painted of his father s wealth and n e home in
New York City consented and they were married After

the ceremony he told her that he w as about broke and said

that he would take her to a place where she could make
enough money in a few days to p ay their way to New York
where everything would be lovely a nd as they were married
it would be no one s busin ess how she got the money I m
mediately accoun ts of white Slaver procurers which she had
read came to her mind and she then realized what she had
on

The Sh a me of

1 22

G r e a t Na t i on

fa llen into Lest she might arouse in him suspicion she con
sented to do as he asked but told him that before go ing out
to the resort she wan ted to buy some clothing an d arran ged
to meet him at a certain down town corn er toward even in g
She hurried to the County Court where an escort was given
her and S he was brought to the court where I w as prosecuting
I armed an o f cer with a warrant and he followed the girl to
the a p pointed place of meetin g The youn g man w as there
waiting for hi s victim The o fcer stepped up an d put him
un der arrest an d the next day he was tried an d convicted It
was then learned that he was a well known procurer of girls
Thus saved from a li fe of ruin the E lgi n girl went home
heart broken but wiser for her experience
Recently she
secured in the Coun ty Court an ann ulment of the marri age
Inquiry proved that the girl was from a very respectable
home and that she had always been a good hon est industri
o us girl
Many similar cases have come out in the courts ;
however the girls in most inst ances were not favored by the
same good fortun e which blessed the little girl from E lgin
and the outcome was much more di sastrous This is an il
lustration of the ease with which pan derers make use of love
as a me an s of securing girls for imm or al houses
The other method used by the traders is the one which ap
peals to the girl s ambition Sometimes the procurers have
g ain ed the parents consent to allow their daughters to aecom
pany the supposed theatric al or em p loym ent agent as the c ase
may be to some city think in g that through the daughter s
success their station in li fe would be r aised A girl in a
coun try community or say factory town is working for four
or ve dollars each week when one of these procurers travel
in g un der the gui se Of an agent meets her an d promises ten to
twenty doll a rs a week for work in the city S he may be per
.

T he

S t o ry O f C li o rd G R

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123

sincere and hon est in her intention to better her con

She may want n er clothes, a wider knowledge of the
di tion
world or an education and so she consents to go with him
an d nally again st her will ends up as an inmate in some im
moral place
One of the most recent cases shows how readily girls jum p
at an opportunity to better their station in life This case rst
came before the court the day after last Christmas when
Frank Kelly was arrested for carryin g a revolver with which
he tried to shoot an old man D uring the trial the story de
v e lop e d as follows :
A y ear ago last summer f te en year old Margaret Smith
was workin g about the simple home near Benton Harbor
Michi gan The father employed by the Pere Marquette R ail
road was away fro m home a good share of the time On e day
a graphophone agent called at the house and the family b e
came much interested in one of his musical machines Shortly
afterward thi s agent brought with him to the Smith home
Frank Kelly and introduced him to Maggi e as she was called
by her folks In a day or two Margaret was on her way to
Chicago with Kelly who promised her an excellent position
in the city
Upon their arrival Margaret w as sold into one
of the lowest dives in Chi cago located in South Clark Street
an d own ed by an Italian named Battista Pizza Here she
learned that her captor was not Frank Kelly but an Italian
whose real n ame was Alphonse Citro For a year she was kep t
as a slave in this resort which was over a saloon and the en
trance was through a back alley
The only visitors were
It alians who came for immoral purposes
Learning last
summer that Margaret s father who had been hunting relent
lessly for his daughter was on the track of her the girl was
t aken by Alphonse Citro a lias Kelly to Gary Indiana Wh e n
f e ctly

T he

124

S ha m e o f

G r e a t N a tio n

the father came to the resort with a policeman he foun d tha t

his daughter had gone She was kept in Gary about two
months an d then returned to this disreputable p lace from
which she escaped n ally the Monday before last Chr istmas A
youn g barber took pity on her after hearin g her sad story
an d enlisted the sympathy of his parents who took her to
their home Al phonse Citro ( Kelly ) looked for her for al
most a week an d at last saw her goin g from a store to this
home where she was staying He went to the house and de
m e nded at the point of a revolver that she be given up as he
said :

I am losin g money eve ry day S he is gone

There was a quarrel over the girl during which some people
from the outside were attracted to the house by the comm o
tion Citro becomin g frightened ed down the street an d
as he ran threw the revolver with which he tried to shoot the
father of the barber durin g the quarrel over a fence into
a coal yard After run ning two blocks he was caught and
arrested Upon these facts thi s procurer Citro alias Kelly
was prosecuted and foun d guilty un der the new panderin g
law in Illinois and received a sentence of one year s imprison
ment and a n e of ve thousand dollars The poor old father
and mother distress ed and heart broken were in court dur
ing the trial with their arms around each other sobbing with
j oy becaus e their little girl had been fo und Pizz a the own er
of the place was indicted by the state grand jury but escaped
to Italy This case is only on e of the hun dreds which mi ght
be told to show how the girls leave home u p on the promise of
securin g employment and are in this way procured for places
of ill repute
The meth ods em p loyed to entice young women are quite
similar but as to the particulars each case vari es to some
.

S t o ry o f C l i ff o r d G R

T he

oe

12 5

extent After the girls are once within the resort the stories
are about the same Their street clothes are seized and parlor
dresses varying in length are put upon them
They are
thr eatened n ever allowed to write letters never permitted
the us e of the tele p hone never trusted outside the ho us e
without the escort of a procurer until two or three months
have elapsed when they are considered hardened to the life
If they
an d too ashamed to face p arents and friends again
Should ask some visitor to the hous e to help them would he
care to expose his name to the police as he would h ave to
by reporting the matter ? Would he want his friends or the
folks at home to know that he had visited such a place ? No ;
he would let the girl get out the best way she could ; even
though he might p romise to help her Girls are told of or
p erhaps have witnessed others who tried to escape have seen
their failur e and punishment and are thereby cowed in to
submission They are always held upon the pretense of bein g
indebted to the house and thi s indebtedness has lon g been
the backbone of the white slave system From the time the
girl is rst sold into the hous e she is constantly in debt First
for the money the owner gave to the procurer for her next
for her parlor clothes then for the mon ey her procurer bor
rows from the owner on her as his property goods and chattel
The bonds of slavery are thus fastened upon these p oor mor
tals by a system of debt and V ice that the people of this great
country little realized existed until lately
Fighting against thi s slave trade under the archai c Illinois
laws was quite disheartening because it was almost imp os
sible to get more than a n e u p on the charge of disorderly
conduct The laws were so full of Ioop holes that the traders
laughed at the idea of bein g p rosecuted However in Illi
nois at least we have choked the laugh The features once
,

S ha m e o f

T he

12 6

G r e a t N a t i on

wreathed in smiles begin to show the lines of worry and fea r

for a n ew law called the Panderin g Act has been p assed
This went into force July l st 19 0 8 The ne w law is good
but experience has shown where imp rovement is n ecessary
Without exception in cases I have tried, certain wholesome
minded jurors have said after concluding the case that the
penalty was too light for the rst Off ender It should be
made more severe Therefore an eff ort is now bein g made
to make the rst off ense p un ishable by imprisonment in the
penitentiary from one to ten years Then also there should
be a n ew law coverin g the bringing a female person of any
age into the state or takin g her out of the state for immoral
purposes The age limit should be omitted from the present
Illin ois law which does not puni sh those bringing girls over
the age of eighteen into the state While other states are
sendin g for copies of the Illinois pan dering and other white
sl ave laws the st ate legislation will soon be un iform upon
this subject The United States government should be alive
to the situation also At present it has only the immigration
laws regulating the imp ortation of immoral women to fall
back upon A Federal law under the inter state and forei gn
commerce act shoul d be passed at once The Federal Govern
ment has better and more e ff ective machinery for gettin g at
the facts in the forei gn and inter state tra fc in girls than
have the various states
Commerce consists in intercourse
an d traf c
including in these terms the transp ortation an d
tran sit of persons an d property as well as the purchase sale
and barter of persons and property and agreements therefor
A Federal law might be enacted as follows :

B e it enacted by the Senate an d House of R epresentatives

of the United States of America in Con gress assembled that
whoever shall procur e enti ce or encour age any fe male per
,

The S t o r y of C l i f fo r d G R
.

oe

12 7

sons to leave one of the states of the Un ited States of Americ a

to go into any other state in the United States of Am erica
for the pur pose of prostitution or to become an inmate of a
house of prostitution or to enter any place where prostitution
is practiced or allowed or shall attempt to procure or entice
any female person to leave one of the states of the United
States of America to go into any other state for the p urpose
of prostitution or to become an inmate of a house of prosti
tution or to enter any place where prostitution is practiced or
allowed or Shall receive or give or agree to receive or give
any money or thin g of value for p rocuring or attempting to
p rocure any female person to leave one of the states of the
United States of Am erica to go into any other state in the
United States of America for the purpose of prostitution or
to become an inmate of a house of p rostitution or to enter
shall
any place where prostitution is p racticed or allowed
in every case be deemed guilty of a felony and on conviction
thereof be imprisoned not more th an ten years and pay a n e

of not more than ten thousand dollars

Under the recent Federal decisions what can prevent the
enactment and enforcement of such a law makin g the tra fc
in women illegal ? O f course o ffenses comm itted solely within
the state could not b e reached by the Federal Govern ment
O ther needed legislative regulations co ncerning the whit e
slave tra f c such as laws against the p rocuring system and
the indebtedn ess system have been se t forth in other articles
in this magazine However besides these laws it will be nec
essary in each state to create a commission in the various cities
other than the police department which sh all keep a complete
record of all houses of ill fame and their in mates A public
bur eau of in formation shoul d be established by law where
parents and friends could easily learn the whereabouts of
,

T he

128

S ha m e of

G r ea t N a ti on

girls who have not been heard from and this b u reau should
have the names of every inmate of a disreputable house
Such a commission should have power to inquire care f ully
into the life of every girl Statements should be made under
oath and the right to ascertain whether or not these state
ments were true should be given the commi ssion Thereby
the infected spots in every part of the coun try co ul d be cov
ered and every girl and woman in immoral places could be
accoun ted for The fact that thi s has not been done hereto
fore has greatly aided the slave traders because their success
is accomplished by secrecy Let us drag the monster white
Slavery from un der groun d and let the light of day show upon
it and then we shall have gone a long way towar ds extermina
tion of this traf c
That secrecy is maintained as to who the girls are and where
they are from is evidenced by one of the m any letters I have
received of which the followin g is a copy
,

C HI CAG O ILL
,

July

13 , 19 08

C LIFF ORD G R OE
D e a r S ir : Did you receive a letter from my mother Mrs
E f e
from E loise Mich If S O I wish you wo uld come
and se e me so I can tell you everythi ng I have not been out
of the house for three months I have not got any clothes
to wear on the street becaus e I owe a debt I wish you could
come an d see me and I can tell you everythin g then I am a
Wh ite Slave for sure Please excus e pencil I had to write
this an d sn e ak this out Please see to this at once an d help
me and oblige
VI OLA
20 0 1 Armour Avenue

MR

T he

S tory of C li f ford G R
.

oe

12

With people p assin g b ack an d forth on the street an d i

and out of the house every day it seems astoni shin g that girl
However the above appeal for hel
can be kept as slaves
tells the story n ot alone of the writer but of the thous an d
of girls whose lives are bein g crushed, the minds depravec
It was di
and the bodies dise ased by outrageous bond age
covered that Viola had been given a ctitious name ; all ave
nues of commun ication with the outside world were cut O
an d she had lived in constant fear of being beaten if she 16
anyone know who she was At last through a ruse she suc
ce e de d i n gettin g letters to her mother and myself whi c
brought about her rescue and the return of the girl to he
mother who is an inv alid in the Wayn e Coun ty Hospital a
E loise Michi gan
The owners of the resort where she was held were brough
before the bar of justice and the judge in sentencin g ther

sa id :
The levee resort keepers are murderin g the souls 0
girls and women by bin din g them with ropes of illegal debt

thi s pra ctice must be wiped out

The next question which confronts us is what shall we d
with the girls a ft er they are liberated from the houses ? Som
have parents some are ashamed to go back home while other
are diseased Certainly it seems a pity to turn them out an .

let them battle against the prejudi ce of a p ast life

Home
and insti tutions for girls are often lled or the doors ar
barred again st fallen women The solution of the prob len
is a home for white slaves in every large city in the coun try
Such a home should be well equi pped with a hospital t
cure disease contracted in disreputable hous es and then ther
should be schools in the institute for trainin g the girls f o
useful lives where sewin g cooking music art and othe
.

The Sh ame Of

13 0

Gre a t Na ti on

taught In this way the girls would be tted to

ea rn honest and whol esome livelihoods when they go out to
face the world
Letters are sent me from all parts of the contin ent askin g
what can be done to help the white slaves My answ er is
form organ izations everywhere to ght this trame T hrough
these organizations educate the girls in the rural commun i
ties to be careful how they are enticed or persuaded to go to
the cities D emand proper legislation write the sen ators an d
representatives about it in all places see that the l aws in re
gard to disorderly resorts are enforced that the foregoing
proposed commission is established an d help build ho es for
training the girls for better lives
What mockery it is to have in our harbor in New York
the statue of Liberty with outstretched a rms welcomin g the
foreign girl to the land of the free $ How she must sneer at
it an d rebuke the coun try with such an emblem atic monument
at its very gate when she n ds here a sl avery whose chains
bind the captive more securely th an those in the country from
which she has come $
What a travesty to wrap the ag of Am eric a aroun d our
girls and extol virtue an d purity fr eedom an d liberty and
then not raise a hand to protect our own girls who are be ing
procured by white slave traders every day $
Some ministers have said that the subj ect is too black to
present to their congregations It is a problem they said
for the public authorities and slum workers n ot a question
for the high min ded citiz en It is the hope that the readers
of th is magazin e who are church members will suggest tha t
their p astors aid in the struggle against white slavery and
that thr ough them people every where may be awaken ed to a
things

are

The S to ry of C l i ff o r d G R
.

oe

13 1

realization of its importan ce No social problem is too

cl ean for the people to take hold of when the c ause un dermin es
the fairest heritage in li fe our homes For after all the
home is the social un it an d the very foun dation of all
.

CHAPT ER IX
MORE AB O U T

THE TRAFFI C IN S HAME

B y Mrs Op he lia A migh, S up e rintende nt

T raining S cho ol f or Girls
.

the Illino is

One of the most dishe arten in g thin gs in the work of pro

teetin g inn ocent girls and restorin g to us eful lives those Who

have been betrayed from the path of right li ving is the blind
incredulity of a very large part Of the p ublic
There are
hun dr eds of thousan ds of women in the homes of this coun try
who know as little of what is going on in the world so f ar
as the safety of their daughters is concerned
as so man y
chi ldren They are almost marvelously ignoran t of the ter
rible condi tions all about themand all about their childr en
too
O f course their blindn ess to these awful actualities makes
them more comfortable for the time bein g than they could
possibly be if a wake to the perils whi ch beset the feet of
their daughters an d the daughters of their frien ds and n eigh
bors But there is no permanency to this sort of peace
an d thous an ds of mothers of thi s class are ann ually brought
to their senses an d recalled to earth by discovering that their
own daughters have made the fat al misstep an d h ave passe d
under the brand of the pariah
The awaken in g of such
parents co mes too late gen erally to do much good Not d l
ways but in a majori ty of c as es Many man y times after
I have related to a c asual wom an visitor the simpl e deta ils

of a typical case brought here to the State Ho me the caller

.

13 2

M ore Ab out the T ra f c in Sha me

13 3

has exclaimed :
H ow terrible $ I didn t dre am tha t such

things were going on in the world $

Now if you had somethin g of great value which n eeded to
be protected day and night would you select for such a task
a blind watchm an ? or one who was rmly possessed Of the
idea that there was really no danger no occasion for watchful
ness ? C ertainly not $ There is nothing in the world of such
priceless value to a father or a mother as the honor the purity
the good c haracter of a daughter No parent will possibly
question thi s statemen t An d still there are many thousands
of parents entrusted by Providence with the safe keeping
of thi s priceless tre asur e who are themselves in the position
of di schargin g that great responsibility with closed eyes with
dull e a rs an d with a chi ldish belief that there is no real peril
threatening the safety of their daughters $ These parents
do n ot live on earth their heads are in the clouds an d their
e a rs are lled with the cry of
Pea ce $ Peace $ when there

is no peace
As one whose daily duty it is to de al with wayward an d
fallen girls as on e who has to dig down into the sordid and
revoltin g details of thousands of these said cases ( for I have
spe nt the best part of my life in this line of work ) let me
say to such mothers :
In this day an d age of the world no youn g girl is safe $
An d all youn g girls who are n ot surroun ded by the alert
co nstan t an d in telligent protection of those who love them
un selshly are in imminent and deadly peril
An d the more
beautifu l an d attractive they are the greater is their peril $
The rst and most vital step for the protection of the girls
who walk in this path of pitfalls is to arous e the sleep ing
watchm an who are by reason of their p arenthood responsible
for the s a fekeepin g of their daughters
This is why the

The

13 4

S ha me of

G re a t N a ti o n

White Slave articles by Hon E dwin W Sims and others

which have been published in th e Woman s World

have
done great good They have stirred to a sense of alarm thou
sands of p a rents who were asleep in a fals e sense of security
If they accomplish nothing beyond this they will fully have
justi ed their publication
But it is evident th at they will also result in the enactment
of much needed legislation of laws whi ch wi ll make it e asi er
to convict and puni sh those who live from this foul traf c in
the sh ame of girls whose natural protectors are asleep in this
fals e sense of security O f course practically every state has
some laws against that tra f cbut I do n ot know of an y state
in which the laws now on the statute books are adequate to
deal with the situation as it should be dealt with
O ne of the things which comfortable and trusting parents
seem to nd especially hard to be li eve is the point upon which
both United States District Attorn ey S ims and his ass istan t
Mr Parkin have placed so much stress the e xisten ce of an
active an d systematic traf c in girls There is no safety for
the da ughter of any parents who are n ot awake and alive
to the actuality of thi s fa ct $
It is one of the sat isfactions of my life to reect that I
h ave been on e of the agents in sendin g a dozen perh a ps
more persons to the pen itentiary for participating in this
.

'

traic

The dr agn ets of the inhuman men an d women who ply

this terrible trade are spread day an d night an d are manipu
lated with a skill an d precision whi ch ought to strike terror
to the he a rt of every c areless or indifferent parent
The
wonder is not that so man y are caught in this net but that
they esc a pe $ I count the we ek I might almost say the day
a happy a n d fortun ate one whi ch does not bring to my at
.

M ore Ab out t he T r afc in S ha m e

13 5

tention as an o f cer of the state a de p lorable case of this kind

Just to show how tightly and broadly the n ets of these
shers for girls are spread let me tell of an instance which
occurred fro m this institution :
This girl whom I will call Nellie is a very ordin ary looking
girl an d below the average of intelligence but as tractable and
obedient as she is in genuous
She is wholly without the
charm which would natur ally attract the eye of the white
slave trader
B ecause Of her quietn ess her obedience and her good di s
position she was ln accordance with the rul es of the institu
tion p ermitted to go in to the family of a substantial farmer

out in the west and work as a hous emaid a hired girl

her wages to be deposited to her credit against the time when
S he should reach the age of twenty one and leave the Home
She had been in her position for some time and was so quiet
an d satisfactory that one Sun day when the family were n ot
goin g to church the mistress said :

Nelli e if you wish to go to church alone you may do S O

The milk wagon will be along Shortly and you can ride on
that to the vi llageand here is seventy ve cents
You

may wan t to buy your di nner and perhaps some candy

Wh en Nellie re ached town and was on her way past the
railroad station to the church the train for Chicago came in
and the impulse seized her to get aboard go to the city an d
look up her father whom She had not seen for several months
She went to the city and had hardly stepped from the train
into the big station when she heard a man s voice saying :

Why hello Mary $

Instantly foolishly of course she an swered him an d re

plied :

My name s not Mary it s Nellie

.

Sh a me of

T he

13 6

G r e a t Na ti o n

You look the very picture

he responded
of a gir l I
know well whose n ame is Mary and she s a ne girl too $

Are an y of your folks here to meet you ?

No
she an swered
My father s here in the city some

where but he doesn t know I m comin g I ve been working

out in the coun try for a long t ime an d I didn t wri te him

about comin g b ack

Her an swers were so ingenuous an d revealin g that the
man saw that he had an e asy an d simple victim to deal with
Therefore his tactics were very direct

It s about time to eat he sugge sted an d I guess we re

both hun gry You go to a restaurant and eat with me an d
perhaps I can help you to nd your father qui cker th an y ou

could do it alone
She accepted an d in the course of the meal he a sked her

if she would n ot like to n d a place at whi ch to work

I

kn ow of a n e place in Blan k City

he a dded
The wo man

is lookin g for a good girl just lik e y ou

Yes I d be ple ased to get the place b ut I haven t an y

w as her an swer
money to pay the fare with

he quickly replied
I ll buy your
Oh that s all right
ticket and give you a little money besides for a cab and other
expen ses The woman told me to do that if I could n d her

a girl She ll send me back a check for it all

After he had bought the ti cket and put her aboard the
train goin g to Blan k C ity he wrote the n ame of the woman
to whom he w as sen di ng her gave her about $ 2 e xtra and then
delivered this fatherly advice to her :

You re just a youn g girl an d it s best for you not to talk

to anybody on the train or after you get off
Don t show
this paper to anybody or tell an ybody where y ou re goin g
It isn t any of their bus iness anyway And as soon as you
,

M o re Ab out the T raf c

S ha me

in

13 7

yet off the train you ll n d plenty of cabs there Hand your
paper to the rst cab driver in the line get in and ride to

Pay the driver and then walk in

Mrs A
8 home
B elieving that she was being furnished a position by a re

ma rkab ly kind man the poor girl foll owed his directions
implicitly and lan ded the next day in one of the most no
torious houses of shame in the State of I llinois outside of
Chicago How she was found an d rescued is a story quite
apart from the pur pose which has led me to tell of this in
eident that of indicat in g how tightly the slave tra der s
have their nets spread for even the most ordin ary and un at
tractive prey They let no girl escape whom they d are to
a pproach $
It may be well an d to the point to add however that two
other girls who had been in the care of the State Home were
foun d to be in the s ame hous e to which the girl had been
lur ed an d they were also recovered
Almost at the begi nnin g of my experience I received a
penciled note which I have kept on my desk as a stimulus to
my energies and my watchfuln ess along the line of che ckmat
in g the work of the white Slavers It is very bri ef an d terse
but what a story it tells $ Here is a copy of it with the
substitution of a ctitious n ame :

E llen Holmes

has

been sold for

to Madam Blank s hous e at
Armour Avenue

The statement was true and the man who sold her and the
woman who bought her were both sent to the st ate penitent
tiary as a penalty for the tran saction $
An other fact whi ch the publi c n ds hard to believ eespe
cially the public of mothers is that girls who a re lured into

The Sh a me o f

13 8

G r e a t N a ti on

the life of shame nd it impossible to m ake their esca pe an d

that they are prisoners an d slaves in every sense of the word
I recall one instance of a girl from a good home who had
fal en into the hands of a white slave trader an d been sold
l
to a house in the red li ght district Her people were fran tic
over her disappearance and made every possible effort to
locate her but without success Several months after the ex
cite ment an d publicity a rous ed by her disappearance di ed
a w ay a newsboy who had delivered pap ers at her home
which was in a very good residence district of the city hap
pened to be passing along a cross street of the red li ght section
just On the fringe of it in fact Suddenly he heard a tap
on the win dow looked up and saw the anxious face of the
lost girl Then she disappeared
Knowin g the st ory of her strange disappearance he h urried
straight to her home an d told of his experience In stantly
the father secured ofcers and the little newsboy led the
posse back to the house in the window of which he had ca ught
a glimpse of her face They raided the place and rescued
the girl The story of the terrible treatment which she had
received cannot be told here It is enough to say that she had
been held as a captive im p risoned as much as any inmate
of a penitentiary is imprisoned and that if the friendly news
boy had not happened to pass as he did the window from
which she was looking out she would un doubtedly be there
to d ay or in some other similar prison of shame through the
process O f exchan ge
O ne other m atter in this connection needs to come in for
clear and decisive emphasis ; the fact that the run away mar
ria ge is the favorite device of the white slaver for l an ding
victims who could not otherwise be entrapped These alle ged
summer resorts and excursion centers which are well a d
,

M ore Ab ou t the T r a fc in S ha m e

13 9

as Gretna Green s an d as places where the usual legal

and o f cial formalities prelimin a ry to respectable marriage
are reduced to a minimum are star recruitin g stations for the
white slave tra fc I have never seen this point brought out
with an y degree of clearness in any article and I earnestly
ur ge all mothers to give this statement the most serious con
sideration and never to allow a daughter to go to one of these
p laces on an excur sion or un der any pretext whatever un less
accompanied by some Older member of the family A n d even
then there is something unwholesome and contaminating in
the very atmosphere of such a place
D o you think that I overstate the perils of places of this
kind ? O f these gay excursion centers these American Gretn a
Greens ? I hesitate to say how many girls I have had un der

my care who were enticed into a runaway marriage at

these places and then promptly sold into white slavery by

the men whom they had married the men who married
them for no other purpose than to sell them to the hous es of
the red light district and live in lux ury from the proceeds
of their shame
Let every mother teach her daughter that the men who
proposes an elopement a run away marriage is not to be trust
ed for an inst an t , and puts himself under susp ician of bein g
that most loathsome of all things in human form a white
slave trader $
v ertise d

FOR

T HE PRO TE C TI O N O F GIR L S

male parasites live on money taken

From
to
in by the
or
women of evil lives in Chi cago
accordin g to an estimate by Clifford G Roe Assistan t State s
Attorn ey
If this parasitism could b e stopp ed these men
,

14 0

The Sha me of

G re a t N a ti on

would lose on e motive for lurin g inexperien ced girls in to the

whi te sl ave market
A method of putting an end to this evil is outlined in a
bill pen din g in the state legislature It provides that an y
person who lures a girl into slavery and receives mon ey sup
port or mainten an ce from her shall be deemed guilty of a
felony an d on con vi ction sh all be sent to the pen itentiary for
one or more y ears
A compan ion bill makes it a felony, pun ishable by impris
up to ten years to deta in a
onment for one year or more
girl in an evil resort or pay or cancel any debt or obligation
The p assa ge of thi s bill would assist materially in the r escue
O f so me of the
or
rec ruits three fourths of them
coun try girls fr om the middle west estimated to be drawn ah
nu ally in to disorderly houses in this city
.

CHAPT E R X
AD D E D PROO F O F

THE CRIME

In this chapter we give the story as told by

paper T he T rib une :

O ne year ago Chicago stood before the w o

shamed as the greatest white sl ave mart in A l
the situation is changed Chicago n ow stan
scene of the greatest battle in the world bet
for good and the white slavers and it is don
the history of civilization w as waged such a I
fought in Chi cago to d ay for the preservatic
good name and against the un spe akable traic
as white sl avery
The city is rous ed
Its sensibilities at
touched For the r st time sin ce the beginn
crusa des the decent forces of the commun ity
ment Of cials to private citizens from speci c
tions to church bo di es have risen in response
alarm sounded by the leaders
The total re f o
commun ity has been set in motion Chi cago
The kn ell has been soun ded, an d the in f amOI
canker sore on the face of modern civilization
and fought an d prosecuted to his death

Not alone for the s ake of the white slaves

for the sake of civilization

is the motto o
sa d ers and this is the motto tha t has been
varied but consolidated army that will g
shoulder un til white sl avin g in Chicago is a th
,

14 1

T he

14 2

S ha m e of

Gre a t N a ti on

REAL REPRE S ENTA TIVES C O MP OS E

AR MY

The force s that make up the army are as representa tive of

Chicago as a metropolis as an Illinois city an d as a big p art
of the Uni ted Stat es as perhaps could be gathered together
Here is a list of them up to date :
B n ai B rith society Adolph Kr aus president ; Cliff ord G
R oe attorn ey
Chi ca go Association of Commerce
United States District Attorney E dward W Sims
State s Attorney John E W Wayman
Illinois State Bur eau of Labor
All Chicago churches
Comm erci al club
All reform bo di es
H un dreds of private citizens who have volun teered to act as
detectives in runn in g down white Slavers
These are the forces for good Arrayed against the m in
sullen battle foully ghtin g for continuan ce of the terrible
con di tions that m ak e their existence possible , are the white

slavers the owners an d sellers of the un fortun ate enslaved

girls the keepers of unnamable resorts proprietors of tough
saloons the boss politi cians to whom these p eople an d places
are a power in time of election an d a source of rich graft
the year roun d and lastly the unspe akable male vermin who
hang aroun d the fringes Of the red li ghts and live on the
pitiful pitt an ces that fall from the tables of un fortun ate
women It is a ght between the decent element and the foul
bein gs who squirm and toss in the slime of the underworld
It is a ght between the good an d the un speakably bad And
for once the good sta rts out with the determin ation to stay in
the ght till the evil is wi ped from the face of the e arth
,

A dded P ro o f of t he C r ime
S LAVE S BO U G H T AND SOL D IN

14 3

CHI CAGO

It means simply this

sa id Attorn ey C liff ord Roe
C hi
cago at last has waked up to a realiz ation of the fact that
actual slavery that deals in human esh and blood as a market
able commodity exists in terrible ma gnitude in the city to
day It is slavery re al slavery that we are ghtin g The
term white slave isn t a misnomer or a sensational term con
j u red up by sensational newspapers
The words describe
what they stand for The white slave of Chi ca go is a slave
as much as the ne gro was before the Civil War as the African
is in the B el gian districts of the Congo ; as much as any people
are slaves who are owned esh and bone body and soul
by another person and who can be sold at an y time and place
and for any price at that person s w ill That is what slavery
is and that is the con dition of hun dreds yes of thous ands
of girls in Chicago at present
,

It seems preposterous to think of girls youn g innocent

girls girls of any kind to be bought and sold like cattle in
the city but it is too late to regard the matter in a Skeptical
light The thin g exists The trade in girls in Chicago is as
rmly established in its own dark un dergroun d way as the
trade in beeves out at the stockyards O ne thousand women
ann ually needed to supply the demands of the city A part of
these come through the natural channels of the misfortunes
that have produced their kind s ince the world began ;but a
great part are p ut into life through the terrible slavery
,

A syndicate for the procuring enslaving and sale of

youn g girls exists in the city It has scores Of slaves in its
toils as helpless as the slaves in Africa There are scores of
independent slavers un speakable beings who own outright
a woman and live on her earnings They sell her when where
,

The Sh a me of

14 4

an d how th ey plea se
horrible be imagin e d ?

They

Gre at N a ti on

own

her

CR US ADE P LANN ED F OR

B IG

nythin g more

C an

FIGHT

These are the condi tions that the present crusade is organ
It will n ot be a spasmodic crusade It has bee n
iz e d to ght
planned for a long tim e and organized along the lines that
exp eri ence has taught us will bring the results desired
These results are nothing more n or less than to put every
white slaver in prison to rescue the hun dreds of poor girls
whose sl avery is a disgrace to the commun ity and to civiliza
tion and to make it impossible for p an dering and white slav
in g to e xist here In short to wipe white slavery off the face
of the earth, so far as Chi cago is concerned at least

It will be a long ght an d a hard one By virtue Of

the power over his subjects and his inhuman treatment of
them the white slaver is a hard man to nd an d harder to
convi ct His vi ctim often is so i gn oran t as not to be aware
that her slavery is illegal Sometime s she is loath to ha ve
the life she is le adin g exposed An d always she fears the
brute who brought her to her awful condition But now that
the city has been awakened the task is easier An adequate
pandering law gives us a weapon We will have the aid of
hundre ds of good citizens who will furnish e viden ce besides
our own corps of secret servi ce men who will work fro m our
o f ce an d the courts will assist us to the limit of their ability
The doom of the white sl aver in Chi ca go has been soun ded
an d with his going Chic ago will have rid itself of a foul sore

that has shamed its reputation as a civilized commun ity

.

A dded P ro o f

AVERA GE C I T IZ EN

of

t he C rim e

B LIND

To

14 5

COND I TI O N S

The magnitude of this evil and the realiz ation that the

term white slavery actually means esh an d blood slavery

of woman kind comes as a Shock to the average citizen Slav
ery is considered an attribute to the dark ages Modern en
This country
lightenment has no room for it in its economy
could n ot bear the spectacle of black folk enslaved in th e
South and the most terrible civil war in all history was the
result An d yet here in Chi cago the good citizen his wife
an d his sons and daughters ride down town on the street cars
with n ever a thought of the fact that ere he reaches dow n
to w n his way will take him within p istol shot of dens where
women white of skin and civilized of mind are kept in slav
ery under conditions much worse than that of the slave qua r
ters before the war
,

Not n ice is it ? Apt to make one sn i ff and turn to subjects

more pleasing ? $ uite true But it is this disposition of the
public to turn from the subj ect with disgust to refus e to dirty
its well kept ngers with so foul a problem even though it
o urish in our back y ards, that has made it possible for the
horrible traf c in woman esh to exist and to grow and
ourish
,

This o f ce
said United States D istrict Attorney E d

ward S ims
has always known that white slavery existed
It is slavery It is a plain case of women being bought and
sold and held in captivity and slavery For a lon g time how
ever so little has been said of the problem that it has b ee n
impossible to bring the public to realiz e the proportions of
this terrible disgrace What we have said about white slavery
has been disbelieved or discoun tenan ced on many groun ds
But even if the inn ocence of a white slave herself is not est ab
,

T he

14 6
lishe d
tivity

Sha me o f

Gre a t N a ti on

the law holds guilty the person who hol ds her in

RE GIM E I NT OLER AB LE

cap

C IVIL IZ A T I ON

To

E ven admittin g that a wom an goes into this life of her

will the time comes when she wishes to leave it

or wishes to go to another resort But un der the white slave
regime She is held in one place held by force beaten an d
threatened with death if she continues in her rebellion She
is told that she is in debt to the house If she in sists in he r
rebellion she may b e sold bodily to another resort The uh
fortun ate victims Of white Slavery in C hicago are p assing from
one owner to another for cash considerations exactly as were
the black slaves of the South She is a human chattel It is

a condition too foul for words

Can it be true ? asks the citiz en who is wont to regard all
of Chi cago as pretty much civilized
It can Give heed to the story of one Caterin a Bressi 1 9
year old Italian girl who came to visit Chic a go as the guest
of a Mrs S an tina Pezza a coun trywom an of the girl s resid
in g in lower State street Mrs Pezza a dvanced the girl $ 1 0 0
to pay for her transportation to this city and i n New York
sh e was me t at the dock by two men who in formed her that
they had been sent to accompany her as a guarantee of her
safe arrival at her destination Six months l ater Attorney
Sims raided a hous e at 4 6 1 State Street an d foun d Miss
Bress i as an inmate suff erin g from long razor cuts on her
face and neck The story that the girl told in Mr Sims
o f ce subse quently almost pa sses belief
own

A dde d
I

P r oof of t he C rime

14 7

GI RL HEL D IN ABS OL UTE S LAVERY

Her slavery began in New York where the men placed her
in a hous e of bondage and ke p t her for a while I n a few
weeks she was taken to Chicago under guard and placed in
a cheap resort for negroes and Italians at 4 0 7 South C lark
Street Here she was held in absolute slavery un der un print
able conditions She begged for her release and was informed
that sh e was in debt $ 4 00 to Mrs Pezza The girl worked
until this was paid Then she was told blun tly that she was
a slave that she would be held as such until the end
,

Then the Bressi girl tried to run away She was caught at
the door by one of the male attach $s of the place knocked
down like a steer in the pen and whi le She lay helpless she
was slashed about the head with a razor one cut bein g ten
in ches long and destroying one of her eyelids After thus
having convinced her that it was dangerous and impossible
to escap e once she was in the slaver s clutches the girl was
carried upstairs her woun ds were roughly sewed up and
after that sh e was sent to the coun ty hospital for care being
threatened before going that if she di d not explain to the
authorities that she had got her injuries in an accident she
wo ul d be killed
.

The girl got well She was turned out of the hosp ital as
recovered
At the door two men were waiting for her
She was not to gain her freedom They carried her back
to the resort on State Street from the hospital to a place
of prostitution and there She remained un til Mr Sims raid
ers foun d her But for the raid this girl still would be a
slave if she were alive ; and there are hun dreds su ch as she
held un der j ust as bru tal circumstances panting for the air
of freedom in the different vile sections of the city
.

The S ha m e of

14 8

G rea t N a ti on

OCH S NER C AS E T YP ICAL O F O WNER

Take the case of the inf amous Joseph O chsn er a ty pica l

case of an own er of a sl ave who was expose d and caught

There are hun dreds of O chsners in the city men who own
a woman who place her where they please and li ve off her
earnin gs
Joseph O chsner was a German who had le arn ed his uh
printable trade in the Old country The trade was ruinin g
and sellin g girls In a p pearance he was the stolid respec table
German citizen of the mi ddle class ; in reality he w as a en d
In tim e the Berlin poli ce grew suspicious Of him an d his ac
tivities an d it was hinted to him that he had better leave
the country He left but before goin g he m an aged to insinu
ate himself into the aff ections of a youn g girl of good family
an d in the end he persuaded her to elope with him on the
promise that they would be married as soon as they re a ched
Am eric a
They came to South Chicago Then O chsn er with a bru
tality seldom equaled even in hi s own class at once took the
trustin g an d innocent girl to one of the lowest resorts in
the Stran d district removed her clothes lo cked her in a
room an d calmly in formed her that she was his slave that
she must stay in the resort un til he saw t to remove her
and that all her earnings were to go to him
In that resort the girl w as kept in absolute slavery She
was not allowed to leave the house to write or receive a letter
or to have any communication with the oute r world For
months she remained thus enslaved Then she managed to
have a letter m ailed to her parents in Germany the auth ori
ties of this coun try were informed and the result w as her
rele ase an d the arrest an d conviction of the infamous O chsn er
,

A dded P ro of of

the

C r ime

14 9

R OO T O F THE E VI L T H E PAR ASI TE

Get rid of the parasite the creature who places youn g

says Adolf Kraus of B n ai B rith

Place
girls in resorts
him or her in prison and the root of the white sl ave evil will

have been destroyed

But do these parasites prey on our own girls on the girls
born and brought up in Chicago ? asks the skeptical citizen
They do The number of youn g Chicago girls who have
bee n trapped an d doomed to a living death is appalling O ne

case may su fce to illustrate the methods of a parasite cut

tin g out a slave for himself in this city The case still is
fresh in the public min d
Mary McC onn ell age 1 6 met a good look ing well dressed
youn g man named Jacobson at a west side amusement park
The youn g man conducted himself with great propriety paid
for rides and other amusements and at the end of the evening
begged for permission to call on the girl at her home Per
mission was given and when Jacobson came he brought with
him a friend Loui s Brodsky To complete the party Miss
McC onnell called in a girl friend of her own age and intro
duce d her to Brodsky
A few nights later the party of four
went out for an evenin g s amusement Then the youn g men
ann oun ced that they were desperately in love with the girls
that they were rich and that they wanted to marry them
,

I NN O CEN T O F P I T FALL S O F C I T Y

The girls youn g inexperienced and like most Chi cago

children of their age un taught by their parents in the pitfalls
of the city were overwhelmed at the thought of marryin g
money and accompanied the two slavers to South C hi cago
where the marriage w as to be performed But here the dre am
,

S ha m e of

T he

15 0

Gre a t Na ti on

ended In stead of a minister the party w as met at the tr ain

by Abe Wein stein keeper of a South Chicago resort and
Jennie S an dus key his housekeeper The girls were taken to
the re sort ; they were imprisoned their clothes stolen an d
by brute force they were drive n into the dismal life of a white
.

Their eventual escape brought about the arrest of Brodsky

and Weinstein all three of whom are now in the jail awaiting
trial
Just one in stance The Brodskys and Ja cob sons prowl the
city from end to end No youn g girl not absolutely sheltered
by home and home inuences is s afe from them The shop
girl on starvation wages the factory girl on the sa me are
their especial victims
E very day the parasites in fest the
do wn town district ; durin g the summer time the amusement
park is their stampin g ground ; and the harvest they rea p is
plenti ful both in num bers and damnation
This is what the present crusade is plann ed to end A s one
French procurer of women in the city wrote to a friend in
Paris :

Chicago is cursed with reform There is n o place for us

here We are being forced out of busin ess It is a city ac

cursed by reformers
There have been other crus ades against the evil The evil
still e xists But here is a crus ade that will not cease crusa d
ing un til the last white slaver has been driven from the ci ty
and the l ast un fortun ate slave given the chance to accept the

tradition that this is the lan d of the free

,

CHAP T ER XI
A S LUM WOR KER

S T ORY

After we have added some facts from R ev E arnest A B ell

.

Superintendent of the Midnight Mission in Chi cago we b e

lieve sufcient evidence will have been given to prove beyond
any question that this awful black tra f c in white girls which
has been allowed to go on for so many years without an
e ff o rt to hun t the Offenders an d mete out to them ample
punishment should come to and e nd R ev B ell says :

However un willing we may be to a dmit facts so shameful

the un deniable truth is established beyond dispute that a
prodigious and appalling commerce in girls is a part of the
colossal business enterprise of our great modern cities The
most hopeful present sign in the war on the white slave trade
is the sense of shame that honest business men feel over the
crimin al use of capital an d business methods to exploit the
youn g people of thi s and other nations
The red light districts like a lake of re are constantly
inguln g un wary and un protected girls an d boys along
with the wilfully depraved The res of these burning mael
stroms the illegal vice districts are kept up in an enterpris
in g and systematic way by the business ability of the mon
strous men who keep the houses of shame No store on State
Street is better arranged to attract purchasers than the crimi
n al resorts are arranged to attract victims of both sexes
Until recently business men an d the plain people generally
could not believe that systematic commerce in women and
girls existed Missionari es and prosecutors who soun ded the
,

15 1

The Sh a m e of

152

G re a t N a ti on

alarm were thought to be suff erin g from an overhe ated imag i

n ation or possibly seekin g n otoriety an d fre e a dvertising
Busin ess men and editors of great newspapers a sked for facts
plain hard facts without exaggeration or rhetoric
Unhap pily it has been all too easy to bring forward the
fr ightful facts by the hun dreds demonstrating to every in
ui rer the e xistence of a white slave market imme nse an d
horrible E arnest shrewd men of aff airs bankers merchan ts
lawyers judges men who n ever allow their own imagin ations
of the imaginations of other men to carry them away n ow
kn ow all too well for their peace of min d that our city is one
of the great centers of the most in famous traf c in the world
However eager the missionari es may be to m ake an end of
sin the lawyers an d bus iness men who are opposing the white
slave trade h ave no illus ions about the speedy ann ihilation
of vice however desirable such annihilation un doubtedly is
Wh at these business men do seek to accomplish is to ex pose
an d as far as possibly destroy the comm ercial exploitation of
the youth of both sexes to their destruction The cri min al
us e of capital real estate busin ess ability and methods in
order to spread ruin an d pestilence broadcast through city
an d coun try can be checked and largely crushed if a few hun
dred capable decent men will invest time an d money in the
ri ghteous cause
It is no impossible task to dr ag a thousan d di ve keepers
procurers renting agents an d gr a fting o f cials before the
bar of justice and put en ough of them in cells to terri fy
the whole in fernal brood making grafters an d dive keepe rs
inmates at Jolie t
It is not en ough to pun ish the small fry Unless the whol e
salers and prin cip als are crushed we are triin g with the hor
rible tr ade The whole ini quity of giving a permit to those
.

A S l um W o rker

S to ry

153

brutes to make comm erce of girls is mon strous

The dive
breeds the procurers an d bree ds the grafters ; this is the his
tori c fa ct We are not in earnest till we strike hard and often
at the principals in the hideous busin ess
It is quite within the power of a dozen busin ess men and
one n ewspaper T he T rib une, to inform all Chicago as to the
ex act facts of the white slave trade an d to expose every person
pro ting by these crimes including those hyp ocrites who live
in Hyde Park and E vanston on the earnings of ruined girls
in Chic ago s un derworld
It is almost easy to alarm the plain people as to the hideous
consequences in the way of diseases that attend the traic in
girls Fifty thousand dollars in the right han ds would make
known to our adult citizens that one fourth of the blind are
blind because o f the S ins of their fathers that one fourth of
the women undergoin g sur gical operations suffer thus becaus e
of the sins of their husbands that about one fourth of the
in san e would be s an e if this pestilen t vice were abolished
In India where I was a mission ary to the heathen some
years before I went to the savages of midn ight Chic a go the
government pays a boun ty to any one who brings proof of
havin g killed a man eating tiger or a deadly serpent Let
our laws provide a bounty of
a head to be paid to any
one who will cage up permanently the wild beasts the dive
keepers who devour girls and youn g men i n Chicago and
with them the slimy sn akes that those crafty scoun drels send
thr ough the lan d to charm silly canaries to feed the cats and

dogs that li ve on girls

.

CHAP T ER XII

W H Y G IRL S

Go

A ST R AY

We are glad to give the version of United States District

Attorney Sims on this subj ect

Why Girls Go Astray
Mr Sims says :

Right at the outset let me say in all frankness that I

would n ever from personal choice write upon a subject of
this character
Its sensationalism is personally re pelle nt
to me On the other hand no matter how carefully the public
prosecutor may preserve the legal viewpoin t and the leg al
temperament his work may lead him into situations where
he feels that he c ann ot in comm on human ity withhold from
the public a kn owledge of the things which he kn ows cann ot
fail to be of a ctual protective bene t to man y homes ; th at to
withhold the facts and disclosures which have come to him
as an o ff icer of the law would be to deprive the inn ocent and
the worthy of a protection which mi ght save m an y a home
from sorrow disgrace an d ruin
Again : The results of this legal work and of the exp lan a
tions of the conditions uncovered in my former article h ave
brought to me a gratifying kn owledge of the practical r escue

work bein g done by the settlement an d the slum workers

of Chic a go They are not only specialists in this eld but
they are as devoted as they are pra ctical More perhaps b e
ca use of their urgent assurance that giving to the public a
state ment of actual conditions has been of a great servi ce to
them in their hand to hand ght than for any other re ason I
a m moved to make an other statemen t
.

1 54

Wh y Gi rl s Go A stra y

155

When the e ditor of the Woman s World urged me to

write Of The White Slave Traf c of To d ay

I felt that I
had an Ofcial knowledge of facts which the fathers an d
mothers of the coun try had a right to know in order to pre
vent the possibility of their daughters falling victims to the
most hideous forms of human slavery known in the world
to day T his consideration moved me to put aside my strong
personal feelings again st appearing in print in connection
with a subj ect so abhorrent Many results of that article
have made me glad that I did so and those results have also
contributed to overcome my antipathy to a fur ther pur suit
of that subj ect
But in following this topic in a second
article I shall again emphasize the fact that I wish to say
what seems to be needf ul in as un sensational a way as pos
sible and that I also wish to do that from the viewpoint of a
public prosecutor who has in the ordinary discharge of his
duties encoun tered this appallin g situation and n ot at all
fro m the standpoint of the sentimentalist
So far as the matter of sensationalism is concern ed that
may be disposed of in the simple statement that the naked
recital in the most formal and colorless phraseology of the

facts alr eady brought to light by the white slave prose cu

tions are in themselves so sensational that the art of the most
brilliant orator or the cunning of the cleverest writer could
n ot add an iota to their sensationalism An d it may as well
be said here that it is quite impossible to even hint in public
print of the revolting depths of shame disclosed by this in
ve stigation
Behind every word that can be said in print on
this topic is a word of degradation of which the slightest hint
can not be given
If there are any who are inclined to feel that the term

white slave is a little overdrawn a little exaggerated let

The Sha me o f

15 6

G re a t Na ti on

them decide on that poin t after considering thi s state ment :

Among the white slaves captured in raids sin ce the ap

p e arance of my r st article is a girl who is now about eigh
teen years of age Her home was in France and when she
w as only fourteen years Old she w as approached by a white
slaver who promised her employment in America as a lady s
maid or comp an ion The wage offered was far beyond what
she could expect to get in her own coun try but f ar more
alluring to her th an the money sh e could earn was the picture
of the life which would be hers in free Am eric a Her sur
roun din gs would be luxurious ; she would be the constant re
cip ie nt of gi fts of dainty clothing fro m her mistress
and
even the hardest work she would be called upon to do would
be in itself a ple asure an d an excitement

Natur ally she was eager to le ave her home and trust
herself to one who would provide her with so enrichin g a
futur e Her friends of her own age seasoned their farewells
to her with envy of her rare good fortun e

On arr iving in Chicago S h e was taken to the house of ill

fame to whi ch she had been sold by the procur er There thi s
child of fourteen was quickly and un ceremonious ly broken
in to the hideous life of depravity for whi ch she had been
entrapped The white slaver who sold her w as able to drive
a most protable bargain for sh e was rated as un commonly
attractive In fact he made her life of shame a perpetual
sour ce of in come an d when n ot long agohe w as captured
an d indicted for the transportation Of other girls this girl
was used as the a gency of providing him with
for his
defen se

But let us look for a momen t at the men tionable facts of

this child s daily routin e Of life and see i f such an exis tence
jus ti es the use of the term slavery
After she had fur

Why Girl s

GO A stra y

15 7

a n ight of servitude to the brutal passion s of vile f r e

u ente rs of the place she was then compelled each night to
put off her tawdry costum e array herself in the garb of a
scrub woman and on her hands an d kn ees scrub the hous e
fr om top to bottom No weariness no exhaustion ever ex
cus ed her fro m this drudgery which was a full d ay s work
nished

Aft er her scrubbing was done she was allowed to go to her

chamber and sleep locked in her room to prevent her pos
sible escape until the orgies of the next day or rather night
began She was allowed no liberties no freedom and in the
two and a half years of her slavery in this house she was
not even given one dollar to spen d for her own comfort or
pleasure The legal evidence Shows that dur ing this peri od
of slavery she earned for those who own ed her not less than

eight thous an d dollars and probably ten thousand dollars $

If this is not slavery I have n o de nition for it
Let me make it entirely cle ar that the white slave is an
actual prisoner She is under the most constant surveillance

both by the keeper to whom she is let an d by the procurer

who owns her Not until S he has lost a ll possible desire to
escape is she given any liberty
Many very many letters have been received from parents
who read the rst article on this subj ect in the Se p tember

issue of the Woman s World

A considerable number of
th em are from ministers of the gospel from o f cers and mem
bers of law and order leagues woman s clubs and kindred
organizations But there is a pathetic remainder which does
not come from the public spirited servants of the comm on
good These letters are from the fathers and mothers whose
fears an d suspicions were aroused by the warnin g that the
girl who has left her home in the coun try gone up to the
city an d does n ot come home to visit n eeds to b e looke d up

158

T he

S ha me of

G r e a t N a t i on

Before me as I write is a letter from a father whi ch is

a trag edy in a page He begins the note by sayin g that the

warning has aroused him to inquire after his little girl

There is a pathetic pride in his admission that she was con

pretty girl when she left her

side re d and un commo n l y
home to t ake a position in Chicago Her letters he states
have been more and more infrequent but that she does oc
casion ally write home and sometimes encloses a sm all amoun t
of money From the ton e of the father s n ote it is evi dent
that while he is a trie anxious he asks that hi s daughter

be looked up rather to con rm his feelin gs of con dence

that She is all right than otherwise
A glance at the address where she w as to be foun d left no
possible question as to the fate which had overtaken this
daughter of a coun try home So far as a knowledge of the
girl s mode of life is concerned no investigation was n eces
sary the location n amed bein g in the center of Chicago s

red light district

H owever the case was placed in the hands of a settlement
worker and at this moment the girl is waiting in a place
of safety for the arrival of her father who is on his way to
take her back to the mother an d brothers and sisters who
have supposed that She was holdin g a respectab le but poorly
paid position They will however welcome a very dif ferent

person from the pretty girl who went out from that home
to m ak e her way in the big city She is pitifully wasted by
the li fe whi ch She has led an d her constitution is so broken
down that S he cannot reasonably exp ect many years of li fe
even un der the tenderest care What is still worse the fact
cannot be denied that her moral bre is much shattered an d
that the work of reclamation must be more than p hysical

The white slaves who have been taken in the co u rse of

,

Wh y Girl s G o A stra y

159

present prosecution have gen erally been very grateful

for the liberation and glad return to their homes It has
been n ecessary for their own protection as well as for other
reasonsto commit some of these un fortunates to various
prisons pending the trial of the cases in whi ch they are to
appear as witnesses an d practically every one of them gives
unmistakable evidence that imp risonment is a welcome libera

tion by comparison with the life of white slavery

Now as to the practical means which p arents shoul d use to
prevent thi s un speakable fate fro m overtaking their dau gh
ters They cann ot do it by assuming that their daughter is
a ll right and that she will take care of herself in the big city
In a large measure it seems impossible to arouse parents
especially those in the coun try to a realization that there is
in every big city a class of men and women who live by
trappin g girls into a life of degradation an d who are as ih
humanly cunnl ng In their awful craft as they are in their
other in stincts ; that these beasts of the human jun gle are as
un believably desperate as they are un beli evably cruel and
that their warfare u p on V irtue is as p ersistent a s calc ul ating
and as un ceasing as was the warfare of the wolf upon the
un protected lamb of the pioneer folk in the early days of the
Western frontier
I cann ot escape the conclus ion that the coun try girl is in

greater danger from the white slavers than the city girl

The p erusal of the testimony of many white slaves enforces

this conclusion That is because they are less S o p histicated
more trus tin g and more open to the all urements of those who
are waitin g to prey upon them
It is a fact which parents of girls in the country should

remember that the white slavers are busy on the train s

co ming into the city and make it a point to cut out an

the

T he

1 60

Sha m e of

G re a t N a ti on

attr a ctive girl whenever they can This cutting on

pro
cess ( I use the technical term ) consists of making the girl s
acquaintance gain in g her con dence and on one pretext or
an other inducing her to leave the train before the m ain
dep ot is reached This is done becaus e the vari ous protective
law and order organizations have watchers at the main rail

road stations who are trained to the work of spottin g an d

quickly detect a girl in the hands of one of these human beasts
of prey Generally these watchers are women and wear the
badges of their organizations
But suppose that the girl from the coun try does not chan ce

to fall in with the white slaver on the train that she

re a ches the city in safety becomes located in a positiono r
perhaps in the stenographic school or bus iness college which
she has come to attend and secures a room in a boardin g
house No hum an bein g it see ms to me is quite so lonely
as the youn g girl from the coun try when she rst comes to the
city and starts in the struggle of life there without acquain t
an ecs Al l her instin cts are soci al and she is for the tim e
be ing almost desolately alon e in a wildern ess of st r an ge hu
man beings
She must have some one to talk toit is the
law of youth as well as the law of her sex to crave constant
companionship And the con sequences ? She is sentimen tally
in a condition to prepare her for the slaughter to m ake her

an easy prey to the wiles of the

white slave wolf
The girl reared in the city does n ot have this peculi ar and
insidious han dicap to contend with She has been from the
time she could rst toddle along the sidewalke ducated in
wholesome sus p icion taught that she mus t not talk with
stran gers or take c andy from them th at she mus t wi thdraw
herself from all advances and in large me asure regard all
save her own people with distrust As she grows older she
.

Wh y Girl s

Go A stra y

1 62

comes to kn ow that cert ain parts of the city are more dan

gerons an d more wicked than others ; th at her comin g

and goin gs must always be i n safe an d famili ar compan y
that her a cquaint anceships and her frien dships must be scru
tiniz ed b y her n atur al protectors an d that a ltogether ther
is a denite but un de ned danger in the very atmosphere 0
the city for the girl or the y oun g woman which demands
const an t an d protectin g alertn ess
The train in g is almost wholly absent in the case of th
coun try girl ; she is not educated in suspicion until the pro
te ctive in st inct acts almost un con sciously ; her intercours
with her world is almost comp aratively free and un restrain ed
she is S O unlearned in the mor al and social geo graphy of th
city that she is quite as likely if left to her own devices tt
select her boardin g house in an un desirable as in a safe 8 1M
desirable part of the city ; and in a word whe n she come
into the city her inn oce n ce her trustin g faith in hum an ity
in gener al her i gn orance of the un derworld and her loneli
n ess an d perhaps homesickn ess con spire to make her a re ad:

and an easy vi cti m of the white slaver

In V iew of what I have learn ed in the cour se of the recen

investigation and prosecution of the white slave traf c

I can say in all sincerity that if I lived i n the coun try am
had a yo un g daughter I would go to any len gth of hardshi]
and privation myself rather than allow her to go into the cit:
to work or to study un less that studying were to be done ii
the very best typ e of an educational institution where th
girl studen ts were always under the closest protection Th
best an d the surest way for parents of girls in the country t

white slaver is t
p orte ct them from the clutche s of the
keep them in the country But if circumst an ces should seen
to compel a change from the country to the city then th
.

The Sh am e of

1 62

G r e a t N a ti on

only sa fe way is to go with them into the city ; but ev en this

has its disadvantages from the fact that in that case the
parents would themselves be unfamili ar with the usages an d
pitfalls of metropolitan life and woul d not be able to protect
their daughters as carefully as if they had spent their own
lives in the city
O ne thin g should be made very clear to the girl who co mes
up to the city and that is that the ordinary ice cream parlor
is very likely to be a spider s web for her entanglement Thi s
is perhaps especially true of those i ce cream saloons an d fruit
stores kept by foreigners Scores of cases are on record where

youn g girls have taken their r st step towards white slav

ery in places of this character And it is hardly too much

to say that a week doe s not pass in Chi cago without the pub
lication in some daily pa p er of the detai ls of a p oli ce court
case in which the ice cream parlor of this typ e is the scene
of some girl s tragedy The only safe rule is to keep away
from places of this kind whether in a bi g city like Chi c a go
or in a large coun try town I believe that there are good
groun ds for the sus picion that the ice cream parlor kept by
the foreigner in the large coun try town is often a recruitin g

station an d a feeder for the white slave traf c

It is
certain that thi s is the c ase in the big city and man y evidences
point to the conclusion that there is a kind of free m aso nry
among these forei gn proprieto rs of refreshment parlors which
wo uld make it entirely natural and convenient for the pro
p r ietor of a ci ty establishment of this ki n d who is entan gled

in the white slave trade to est ablish relations with a man

in the sa me bus iness and of the sa me nationality in the coun
try town
I do not me an to infer by thi s that all the ice

cream an d fruit saloons havin g foreign born proprieto rs

are connected with the white sl ave traf cbut some of

,

them are and this fact is suf cient to cause all

thoughtful parents of youn g girls to see th at
frequent these places
In this article it is of cour se im p ossible to mo
at the protective measures which conscientious
girls should employ in order to make the way s :
daughters There can be no doubt that Judge
Denver Judge Mack of Chicago and Mr E d w

of the Ladies Home Journal are right in in

greater frankn ess between parents and childr e
every child should have a se x education at hom
being compelled to pi ck it up from contamin a
on the street and at school A n d I may add th:
owes a debt to these men who have han dl ed this
di fcult problem in a practical as well as a p ower
an d I feel impelled to add that in face of the ho
closures brought to me in the form of legal e vi
boy and girl of high school age should be taught s
the awful physical as well as the moral conse u
lurk behind allurements of the life in whi ch the
is the central gure These things cannot be pre s
p ublic prints but the father who keeps close to
the mother who is a companion to her daughter
these things in the home in a way which may
un told suf fering And to such parents I would
investigations of the United States District Att c
in Chicago have brought together as legal evidi
of facts as to sanitary conditions in the districl

white slaves are kep t which are horrifyin g

capable of exaggeration
,

CHAP T ER XIII

PRAC T ICAL MEAN S O F PRO TE C T ING G IRL S

Assistant United States District Attorney Mr Harry A

Parkins of Chicago writin g upon this subj ect gives us more
facts to think about We hope we shall not only think about
them but act in regard thereto Mr P arkin says :

What can be done about it ?

There could be no legitim ate excuse for exploitin g the white
slave trade in the public prints without the de nite and sin
cere purpose of secur in g practical and substantial p rotection
against this terrible social scourge Such is as surely the p ur
p ose of this article as it has been that of the preceding articles
by Hon E dwin W Sims whi ch have brought out a vast an d
interestin g volume of corresp ondence
Many of these letters have been from fathers and mothers
aroused to anx iety about daughters who have been allowed to
seek a li velihood in large cities w ithout suitable oversight
or protection
In some instances the worst fears of thes e
parents have been by de n ite investigation shown to be
all too well foun ded
O thers letters have come by the sco re from public
o fcials and public spirited men and women who have
at last bee n stirred to a realization that there is
an actu al systematic and widespread traf c in girls
as denite
as established as mercenary an d as endish
as w as the Afr ican slave trade in its blackest days
And
p ractically all these letters indicate that very few of those
who h ave been n ally arous ed to the en ormity of existing
.

1 64

P ra ct i ca l M e ans o f P r o t e cting Gi r l s

165

conditions have any clear idea of what should or may be

done to protect these daughters of our own people from the
r avages of the whi te slave traders
A letter from the Mayor of a Connecticut city is typical
of the comm on misconception among cultivated and well
in formed public O cials who have n ot given the legal phases
of the expression of the white slave trade especial an d ex
The mayor writes :
haustive study

I should think that the Federal Government would h ave

to pass stringent laws providing a heavy penalty for all who
are engag ed in this bus in ess The law would then be the same
in all states and people co ul d n ot escape from its provision
as they would if the states tried to take up the matter and
p assed conicting statutes
An organization might secure
the passage of such an act by the Federal Government but
it hardly seems to me that it is necessary more than to state
the facts and have the members of Congress take immediate

action that would put an end to the whole m atter

While it is probably true that the Federal Government has
power to prohibit the carry ing of women from one state to
an other for immoral purposes that power has not yet been
speci cally established by actual tests in court and that is
therefore in a sense un dened O n the other hand the states
un der their police power have a remedy in their own hands
and it would seem both logi cal and nat ural that this power
be exercised in the protection of its own homes and daughters
As a matter of fact we have foun d literally scores of cases
in our investigations relative to the importation from foreign
countries of girls destin ed for immoral houses where Am eri
can born girls have been lured or kidn ap ed from a home in
one state an d carri ed to some large city in an other state there
to be broken to the life of shame
.

T he

166

S ha m e o f

G re a t N a t i on

The Federal investigations in Chicago and other localities

have clearly established the fact that generally s p eakin g
hous es of ill fame in large cities do not draw their recruits
to any great extent from the territory immediately surroun d
For obvious reasons the white slavers who are the
in g them
recruitin g agents for this vile tra f c prefer to work in sta tes
more or less distant from the centers to which their victims
are destined
In V iew of all this it must be clearly apparent that the
need of the hour is legislation which wi ll make it as diicult
an d dan gerous for a white slaver to take hi s victim fro m one
state into another as it is for him to bring a girl from Fran ce
or Italy or Canada or any other forei gn coun try to a house
of ill fame in Chi cago or any American city Therefore it is
suggested that if each State in the Union would p ass an d
enforce severe and strin gent laws a gainst this importation
this terrible traf c wo ul d be dealt a blow in its most vulner
able part
Such an enactment might well be worded as
follows :

Whoever Shall in duce entire or procure or attempt to

induce entice or proc u re to come into this state any wo man
or girl for the purpose of prostitution or con cubinage or
for any other i mmoral purpose or to enter any house of
prostitution in this state shall up on conviction be imprisoned
in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one ( 1 ) nor
more than ve ( 5 ) years and be n ed not more than ve thou

sand
dollars
O ne of the strangest results brought about by the recent
white slave prosecutions in Chicago and the p ublicity which
they have received has been the astonishm ent of thousan ds
p ersons as evidenced by letters at the fact that such a whole
sale traic is actually in e xistence But what is still more
,

P ra ctica l M e a ns o f P r o te ct ing Gi rl s

1 67

astoun din g n ot to say discouraging is the reluctan ce of

the other thousan ds to believe that many hun dreds of men
an d women are actually engaged in the busin ess of lur in g
girls an d women to their destruction and that thi s infamo u s
tr af c is bein g carried on in eve ry state of the Union every
day of the year
Perhaps the actu ality of this awful avocation may be made
more clearly apparent to the innocent and un sophisticated
doubters whose awakening and moral sup port is needed if
I cite one or two instances which have come to my person al
lm owle dge within the last few days
In a comfortable farm home in a state border ing upon Ill i
n ois is an un commonly attractive youn g girl who has almost
by accident been delivered from the worst fate which can
possibly befall a young wom an Through secret service opera

tions one of the most dangerous procurers of this coun try

was traced to the home in which this be autiful girl had been
adopted as a daughter
The white slaver had already i h
gratiated himself into her con den ce an d that of her foster
parents and arrangements had practically been made by which

she was to accomp any him to Chi cago where he had a n e

position await ing her If he had n ot been located and his

character made known to the household at the time when thi s
w as done she would now be a white slave in a C hi cago d en
An other case which has had a less fortun ate term in ation

is that which involves the fake marriage a subterfuge com

mon in this wretched tra fc
A youn g man made the ao
quaintance of a handsome girl in the North Side district of
Chicago He was polished and plausible and the parents of
the girl who were ambitious for their daughter s advance
ment were apparently attered that he sho uld bestow his at
tention upon her When after very brief courtship he pro
,

The Sh ame of

1 68

Gre a t N a ti on

posed ma rri age they Off ered no obj ections an d even se t aside
their own wishes when he suggested that he held prejudic es
ag ain st bein g married by a clergyman an d against havin g a

formal weddin g Consequently they went before a justice

of the peace who pronoun ced them man an d wife a fake

justice who was merely a confederate of the whi te slaver
They went at once to S an An tonio Texas he having claimed
that he held a very pro table position in a large bus in e ss
concern in that city When he arrived there the poor girl
had her awful awaken ing for she was promptly so ld in to the
li fe of sh am e without hope of escape fro m its degradin g servi
tude
An other very eff ective regulation which every sta te will
do well to adopt by enactment of its general assembly is that
ma kin g the premises leased or used for a hous e of ill fame
liable for an y an d all n es against its lessee
The follo w in g seems to me a desirable clause coverin g this
p 0 int :

Wh oever keeps or m ain tains a house of ill fame or a

place for the pr a ctice of prostitution or lewdn ess or whoever
patronizes the same or lets any house room other other
premises for an y such purpose or shall keep a lewd ill gov
erned or disorderly house to the enco uragement of i dlen ess
gamblin g drin king fornication or other mis behavior shall
be n ed not excee din g one thousan d
dollars Wh en
th e lessee or keeper of a dwelling hous e or other buildin g is
con victed un der this section the lease or contract for lettin g
the premises shall at the option Of the lessor become void
and the lessor may h ave like re medy to recover the possession
as again st a ten an t hol din g over a fter the expirati on of his
term An d whoever shall le ase an y house room or other
p remises in whole or i n p art for an y of the us e s or purposes
,

P ra ct i ca l M e a ns o f P ro t ecting Gi rl s

169

nab le un der this section , or kn owin gly permits the s ame to

b e us ed or kept , shall be n ed not excee din g one thousa n d

dollars and the house or premises so leased occu

pied or used shall be held liable for an d may be sold for

an y judgment obtained un der this section

Some enactment of this nature is particularly desirable for
two reasons : First becaus e actual experience has sho w n that
judgments obtained again st keepers of such houses are dif
cult of collection and that the ones against whom the judg
ments are obtained are rem arkably resourceful in avoidin g
pun ishm ent even a fter conviction Second it seems Obvious
that when a property own er knows that hi s real estate is par
ticularly available for houses of this character he is if un
prin cipled enough to do so boun d to encour age the use of
his pre mises for that which will brin g him the largest money
return s This puts him in the way of fattening upon the
wa ges of the social vice without in currin g dan ger of pun ish
ment Naturally he becomes a friend of the tra i c and ready
to aid an d abet it wherever an d whenever he can Therefore
it seems to me he Should no longer be allowed to escape the
penalties attached to those who engage in this in famous trade
As the owner of the property on whi ch un lawful acts are per
sistently committed and as a S harer in the un lawful pro ts of
those acts he should be made to share also in its perils and
punishments He should be made to feel that as the owner of
the property used for the purp ose of harboring fallen women
he is a link in the chain whi ch draws innocent womanhood
to its doom an d that he must suff er to the full proportion of
his guilt Again it is the r st instinct of the lessee or keeper
Of such a house
on coming in contact with the law to ee
By making the property itself
and forfeit his or her bonds
li able to forfeiture absolute secur ity again st this kin d Of thin g
,

S ham e of

T he

17 0

G r e a t Na ti o n

established thereby preventing m any a mi scarri age of

justice and of jus t penalties
Since the beginn ing of the recent prosecutions in Chi cago
a score of keepers re al izing their guilt and fearing prose ou
tion have ed the country an d have not yet been apprehen ded
If both the Federal and the State govern ments had a law of
this kind the escape of these criminals would not have ln
volved a complete defeat of the law in their cases for p rosecu
tion could have been brought agains t some person conn ect e d
wi th their establishm ents an d when a conviction w as secured
the property occupied by them could have been closed out
A statute of this kind wherever enacted can scarc ely fail to
prove one of the most powerful and effective of all possible
weapons against the white slave traic
An d the smaller
the city the more e ff ecti ve will this weapon be found which
is only another way of saying that the larger the city the
larger the toleration of the social vice
O ne of the greatest weapons in the han ds of the white
slavers and of the keepers of hous es of ill fame to prevent
the escape of fresh recruits and to submerge them into hope
less slavery is the system of indebtedn ess which is practiced
in these places The one object of those concerned in the
subjugation of a girl who has become a victim of the wiles
of the whi te slaver is to break down all hope of esc a pe fr om
the life of shame and bitterness into which she has been en
trap ped Nothin g h as been found so effective a means to th is
end as the debtor system The rst thing a girl is compelled
to do on bein g thrown in to one of these houses is to buy an
expen sive wardrobe at from ve to six times its actual value
To b e more de nite I have in my possession bi lls rendered
against certain inmates taken from the dens In these bills
st ockin gs costing 7 5 cen ts have been charged at
shoes
is

P r a cti ca l M e a n s o f P r o t ect ing Gi r l s

costin g
are charged at
an d kimon os costin ;
are charged at
As the goods thems elves wer e
as well as the bi lls for them I am able to make this sta l
In every case I have found that the girl was comp e
renew her out t Of n e ry whenever the keeper so dl
without regard to her need of it Our investigations h
shown that when a keeper imagin ed that a girl an inI
intendin g to leave the place either Openly or secretly
outt is forced upon her at absurd gures and she
that she cann ot leave until every cent of her inde b
has been wiped out and that if she attem p ts to do s

will put the law on her

In the dozens of cases v
have examin ed there has not been a single one w hi
failed to Show evidence of thi s kind I have in my p os
numerous copies o f bills rendered a gainst these w :
women in which their costum es reach as high a g
and even
This indebtedness system is m
recogniz ed and enforced between the keepers Of all
in other words no girl can leave one house and enter 2
unl ess she is able to show that she leaves no in de b te dl
hind her
As this phase of business in the un derworld is one
main p rop s of white slavery it is well to go into it wi
niten ess and to give examples which illustrate its oper i
I n one Of the recent raids a big Irish girl was tak
held as a witness She was old enough strong e nou
wise enough it seemed to me to have overcome alm
kin d of o pp osition even p hysical vi olence She cou
put up a ght which few men no matter how brutal
care to meet I asked her why she d id not get out
house which was one of the worst in Chi cago Her

w as :
Get out I can t They make us buy the c
,

172

T he

S ha me o f

G r e a t N a ti on

rags an d they are charged a gainst us at fabulous pri ces ;

they make us change out ts at intervals of two or three weeks
un til we are so deeply in debt that there is no hOp e of ever
gettin g out from un der Then to make such matters worse
we seldom get an accounting oft ener than once in six months
an d sometimes ten months or a year will pass between se ttle
ments and when we do get an accoun ting it is always to
n d ourselves deeper in debt than before We ve sim ply got

to stick and that s all there is to it

To frame an en actment which will knock this prop of ln
deb te dn ess system out from un der the white slave business
might appear to be a most di f cult matter and yet I believe
that the legislature which enacts a st atute of whi ch the fol
lowin g claus e is the essen tial part will go a long way towards
accomplishing this most desired result

And whoever shall hold detain restrain or attempt to

hold detain or restrain in any hous e of prostitution or other
pl a ce any female for the purpose of compellin g such female
directly or indirectly by volun tary or in voluntary service or
labor to pay liqui date or cancel any debt dues or obligation
incurred therein or said to have been in curred in such hous e
of prostitution or other place shall be deemed guilty of a
felony and upon conviction thereof shall be imprisoned in the
penitentiary at hard labor for not less th an two or more th an

ten years
There is only one other en a ctment which all legislatures
Should be urged to pass an d that is one which strikes di rectly

at the white slave trader the procurer

the own er or the

fellow
Keepers of hous es of ill fame have discovered that
the hideous task or keepin g the un willing white slave in su b
j ection is much e asier if a certain ownership of her is vested
in a man In man y ca ses this man is the one who is directly
,

P ra ct i ca l M e ans o f P rote ctin g Gi rl s

173

respo nsible for placing the girl in the hous e but this is not
invari ably the case When it is the case he receives not only
the lump purchase price down on the delivery of his victim
to the house but he is recognized by the keeper as her owner
a nd master the one to whom a certain percentage of her in
come is paid an d with whom all settl ement of her accounts are
made Wh at is more important in the eyes of the keeper
is that this man is held absolutely responsible for the girl s
subjection and if she attempts to esca p e he must cajole
threaten or beat her into subj ection In one of the recent
rai ds I chanced to come upon visual demonstration of how this
peculiar demonstration of how this peculiar phase of white

slavery Operates in actual practice O ne of these fellows

was disciplining a girl whom he owned
and doing so by
the gentle process of forcing her against the wall with his
hands at her throat

Some of these fellows

own two or more or perhaps
more white slaves and on the income of their Slavery these
b rutes live in lux ury at exp ensive hotels maintain expensive
automobiles and lead lives of luxury i dl eness and dissipation
While some states have statutes directly aimed at thi s sys
tem it has been foun d extremely di fcult to secure convictions
against these most contemptible of all white slavers for the
reason th at all of the existin g st atutes so far as I am ln
formed make it necessary at least by implication for the
prosecution to establish the fact that they derive their entire
sup p ort from white slaves un der their controlln other
words it devolves upon the state to demonstrate that the man
on trial has no other visible mean s of support As a conse
u ence the defense set up is almost invariably calculated to
prove that the man on trial is a solicitor for a tailorin g e s
,

T he S ham e

17 4
tab lishment,
te rp rise

of a

G r e a t N a t i on

a laun dry or some other legitimate busin ess

en

In view of this fact it seems to me an en actment drawn

upon the following lines would be e e ctiv e :

Any person who shall knowingly accept or receive in

whole or in part support or ma intenance from the proceeds
or earnin gs of any woman engaged in prostitution shall b e
deemed guilty of a felony and on conviction thereof shall
be con ned in the penitentiary not less than one ( 1 ) nor more
than thr ee ( 3 ) years and n ed not exceedin g one thousand

dollars or both in the discretion of the court

Not long since I was asked how many persons I supposed
Chicago contained who would come un der a statute of this
kind and who ought to receive sentence under it My reply
was this :

Probably there are twenty thous and women in Chicago

to day follo w ing the so called p rofession of prostitution an d
it would seem to me from the testimony obtained in the course
of the recent white slave p rosecutions here that at least one
fourth that number or ve thousand are supported in whole
or in part in this mann er and would therefore come within

the meaning of such a statute

What is the quickest and most p ractical way by which I

may get action on the legislature of my own state ?

I would suggest the following methods : Find the name s
of the men who re p resent your district in the general as sembly
of your state and write to each one of them a letter sub
stantia lly as follows :
,

H on

D e a r S ir :
.

I am in hearty sympathy with the legislation

against the white slave tra fc proposed by the Woman s

World an d urge you to secure the passage of laws which

P ra ct ica l M e a ns o f P ro t e cting
shall embody the claus es and en actmen t su g
closed article clipped from that j ournal

You surely will not question the worth

of laws of this kin d an d I ask the fur ther
from you in dicating your attitude with re g
importan t matte r

Yours sincerely
.

Also I would suggest that readers who

churches or habitual attendants upon church
matter up with the pastors Of their chu rche :
his or her pastor to confer with the other p
munity to the end of preparing a petition
representatives from that district in the ls
the passage of the enactments above su gge s
titions are vigorously circulated they will
tures of practically the entire citizenship of
and will have a powerful n ot to say com
upon the representatives and state senators
Women s clubs law and order leagues Cl
Societies E p worth Lea gues granges and f 2
Youn g Men s Christian Associations Youn g
tian Associations and Women s T e mp e ranct
city village and hamlet of the coun try can a
ful protection and practical inuence in se
lation as a protection against the ravages of
by p assin g suitable resolutions of en dorsel
those resolutions to the men representing
mun ities in the great assembly of their s1
say these memorials on the part of re sp e
will do a useful work in Shapin g the course
wi ll not take the place or do the work of t
.

T he

17 6

S ha m e of

Gre at Na ti on

son al lette r an d every reader who is sin cerely and earn estly
interested in securing such legisl ation as I have outlined will
miss the main stroke of inuence if he or she fails to write
a person al letter to the men re p resent ing his or her district
in the general assembly of the st ate
And whenever such a letter is written the various claus es
given in this a rticle shoul d be in corporated
I cannot close thi s article without referrin g to the statement
made at the outset to the effect that many persons still re
main un convin ced that the white slave tra fc is a thing
widespread an d actual existen ce ; that it is the establ ishe d
callin g of hundreds of men to lure and kidn ap inn ocent girls
into a life of S hame and to sell them into houses of prostitu
tion where they are kep t against their will in the most re
voltin g of all hum an sl averies
In my desk at this moment is a letter from whi ch the follow
ing is t aken :

There are in that house No

two girls by the names
of An nie an d E dith One has been there for two yea rs and
is n ot allowed to go out of the house
is not even allowed
to write to her own people an d whose mail is Opened and
read before she is allowed to look at it The other girl has

been there seven months an d has n ever been out of the house
This letter was written by one who knew the facts in the
c ase
A very few days a go this pitiful case w as in an o f ci al
w ay brought to my attention
A little Germ an girl in Buff alo
married a man who deserted her about the time her child was
born Her baby is now about eight or nin e months old A l
most immediately after her husban d ran away she formed the
acqua intan ce of an engagin g youn g man who claimed to take
dee p interest in her welfare and in th at of a certa in girl
,

r was entirely legitimate an d respectable the

I her baby an d in company with the youn g
The next task 0 1
ar friend came to Chicago

l was to persuade this child widow that it v

7 for her to place her baby temporarily in a f (
e in order that it might not i n terfere with he
This accomplished he took the two youn g w
t notorio us house and sold them into white sla
1 this fellow has lived in lux ury upon the sh at
f these two vi ctims
The youn g mother ha
v every means ima gin able to escape fron
d at last has im p ortuned him into a promise 1
D
ld up on her on the paym ent of $ 3 0 0
She is

lu t
the price of her release It is scarcel:
v that she looks twi ce her age
a
r example from the current history of the
as it is pursued to day O nly a few nights
I was callin g professionally at one Of the h

red light district Two men and a y

s
ered the door j ust before him an d took se ats
lan ce at her fresh and inn ocent face was en
g
him that she w as out of her element and pro$
f the character of her sur roun dings
Ste $
the table the physician looked the youn g w
the eye and asked :
do you kn ow that this is a house of pro
,

as

the trembling answer

The S ha m e o f

17 8

G r e a t N a ti on

a.

Are you a woman of the street ? he persisted

She ushed in dign an tly but n ally replied :

NoI am a respectable wom an an d I supposed I

bein g taken to a l adi es caf$

Her companions bolted for the door an d made their e scap e
The physician then called a policem an who escorte d the y oun g
woman to her home an d foun d her statements to be true

that she was a respectable girl an d had believed her friends

to be taking her to a respect able restauran t
Tragedies of this kin d are happenin g every day an d all
over this coun try It is time for the decent people Of the
United States to wake up realize what is goin g on in the
underworld and to take stron g measur es to protect the ir
daughters an d the ir n eighbors daughters from the han ds
of the most despicable and inhuman of all cr i mi nals the white
Slave traders
.

C H APT E R XI V
L

E T

US Do SO M E THI N G

We have given the extensive statements of these diff erent

o ce rs an d experienced slum workers even though there may
appe a r to be a repetition of some statements We wan t the
reader to see that the repo rts of these reliable Oice rs are
corroborative
There is no end to cases that can be cited provi n g that this
horrible slave trade e xists ; and that it is the blackest vilest
most inhuman evil that w as ever allowed to hide so long in
the town s and cities of a nation that pretends to be the
gre atest civilized and best Christi an ized govern ment on earth
We de serve the greatest cen su re ever meted out to a peo
ple for the toleran ce Of a great crime if we do not vigorously
and speedily demand deliverance from the shame of bein g a
silent endorser of this in fe rn al traf c in these girls
If the gove rnment remains silent an d does not take imm e
diate steps to help abolish this crime it will be an ine x cusable
neglect that should c all down upon the heads of our o f cers
the strongest condemn ation ever heaped upon the heads of
in diff erent cowardly o f cers
If a min e disaster occurs or a ship sinks or a re breaks
out killin g a hun dred victims the papers at once spread the
news of the gre at accident ; and if necessary re lief funds are
raised rescuers are set at work to recover the bodies an d re
lieve the distressed
This is just as it should b e ; but it see ms
strange th at it is so di f cult to arouse the publi c sy mp athy in
,

17 9

T he

18 0

S ha me of

G re a t N a t i o n

beh alf of our boys and girls who are being ki dn app ed in to
these dens of vice
Not less than one hundred thous an d boys and men are vic
ti ms of the saloon every year and
girls go to destru c
tio n disease an d death eve ry year through the brothels
A victim of the saloo n dies every four minutes by the ti ck
of the clock and a girl in the brothel about every ten min
utes an d these e vils whi ch kill more victi ms in our lan d
every year than war pestilence an d famin e combin ed is re
corded as a n ecessary evil and becomes a protected in dus try
of the govern ment from which we derive revenue
The people sleep on and do not seem to know or care
whether rescuers are kept at work or not to save the bodi es
and souls of these girls and boys Ro ckefeller wi ll give one
mi llion dollars to ght the hook worm but he lik e all others
appealed to will not give one hun dred cents to ght the worm
of the still and these demons in hum an sh ape who trap inn o
ce nt girls in these pits of hell and death It will help mightily
i n this ght for the suppression of the whi te slave trade if
our o fcers and workers remember that just as it is true that
so long as the sa loon is allowed to re main open it will slaugh
ter its victims by the hundr eds of thousands every year ; so
it is also true that as long as the brothels are allo w ed to exist
there will be vile men who wi ll catch girls to supply them
Some of the cities li cense the brothels as a source of reven ue
and other cities collect regular n es which amoun ts to the
same thin g
If there were no vice preserves the strongest help to the
white slave ma rket would be secur ed As one has so well put
.

it

This case is thoroughly typical

is taken to

a vic e

p re se rve

ve ry

girl stolen

f or

vice

G O

u s u

re ce i

th at thieves should go free but

should die ; and when his people protested
showed them that without holes into w hic]
plun der even the wease ls will n ot steal
markets an d the white slave tra f c cease :
markets open and you may enact as severe
and the state s attorney s of ce may put
question if th at thing can be imagined it
slave tra fc will go on more or less
The slave traders will know that the

mean bus iness on the day when we e n

forbids the existence of the slave market

A ny city state or nation taking revenu e
is as bad as the trappers themselves It i
to sa vagery and ought to be protested aga l
enough to end the crime
O ur decisions in such matters should
weak against the strong for the subjects
than the o fcers in power who p ermit the
a

law

There should be something more th an n

pun ishment to these traitors who deal it
business is carried on largely by gamb lel
politicians an d pimps agents of the com
established the tra f c and who are carryin
everlastin g disgrace of the state and natiOI
Under this odious and abhorrent trafc
innocent girls are lured to this coun try r1
brothels un der contract to end their blast e
horror
The point above all others to ta ke into a
,

The Sh a me of

1 82

G re a t N a ti on

girls are unif ormly the

the workin g cl ass, and

children o f pove rty the dau ghte rs of

for this r ea so n it is of gr ave signi
can ce and its lesso n should b e gr aven d eeply u p on the hea rts
of all the millions who toil
It is not after all so very stran ge that a capit alist class
supre me court should legalize the whi te slave tra f c seein g
th at the white slaves are all of the working c lass an d a part
of the great bulk of human commodities in which capi ta li sm
trafcs to m aint ain its trust blown power upon a foun dation
of broken he arts and bla ste d lives
The legalizin g of the white slave tra f c is a peculiarly vir
ulent sy mptom of class ruled and class corrupted society
If as some cl ai m the govern ment is powerless to act in this
matter then governments have failed to be a proper protec
tion to the lives of the people
It is n ot a sen sible conclusion to say the United States gov
e rn ment c ann ot do an ythin g about abolishin g a hideous crime
su ch as this slave trade is It can an d shall be stopp ed
,

C H AP T E R
S T R IKIN G

$ V

THE HE AD OF THE

We a ppreciate to the li mit all these g

h ave said in regard to pun ishin g the ke c
an d the own ers of buildings as well as t
mean s of helpin g to stamp out the evil ; b ut
of the problem none have referred to w h
highly importa nt as any poin t of the que
ered an d that is that the deepest root of t
ence of the public homes of shame
Just so long as there are publi c broth.
lice nsed an d protected by the city goverI
sa loon s just so long wi ll there be a deman
ket an d just so surely will there be trader:
innocent girls sacri ced to satisfy the g1
vulturous ani mals called men
To in sist that public houses of shame E
admit we are worse than beasts and that
heathen n ations in morality and pur i ty
To argue that if there were no places
at will to diseased women and buy sexu s
sta mp our men w ith such o di o us characte
spire every man with a sp ark of descency
sent such accusations which place him low e
We h ave con gressme n who will argue th
keep the rank s of our stan din g army ll
the in dulgence of the sa loon an d brothel
of men of such a ch a ra cter are worth ver
,

T he

18 4

S ha me o f

Gre a t N a ti on

of war But this i s n ot true ; it is not the Ameri can soldi er

w ho is clamorin g for the post saloon and brothel but the
be asts of men who wi sh to pro t Off the soldi ers meagre allow
ance backed up by con gressmen who have little wit and less
prin ciple and who go to Congress to make money for the m
selves an d not to protect the welfare of the people
The moral stan dards of many congressmen would not bear
microscopic inspection There may be more truth than we

know in the statement of Mormon Smoots who said :

The
only di ere n ce between me and some other congressmen is

I own my w ives and take care of them an d they do not

If we wish to discourage prostitution and protect inn ocen t
girls from slave traders we must stop teaching that ab omin
able theory that homes of prostitution are necessary Until
we do this these in fern al dens will demand and secure vi c
tims
It is true beyond an y question of doubt that the majority
of women who become inmates of brothels have been de
cie ve d
lured or trapp ed Some have trusted some unp rin
cip le d man too far and her rst act of shame begat her the
condemnation of the people aroun d her and the frown s an d
slights the withdrawal of friendship has cast her out and
hurled her down to ruin
The man who ru in ed her can go on the same as ever an d
if he chooses have his pi ck of the best girls in the town ; but
the vi ctim of his passion and cowar dly friendship must for
ever be a scarlet woman
Why should a man be given liberty to do wrong an d retain
his reputation and a woman he kicked down an d out with the
rst misstep she makes ?
How long will our women help to encourage this double
standard of morals ? The greatest objection to segregation of
.

S t riking the H ea d

of

the E

il

1 85

the social evil is that they p ropose to segregate the wom en

and allow the men to roam aroun d at wi ll Men may go in
an d out of the segregated district to spread low moral teach
in g and bodily disease but the women they visit must be kept
in these pens of vice like pri soners of shame We should
teach that a man who visits a prostitute is not one whit better
th an the prostitute and that if one is a menace to decent so
clety the other is also
Many a girl w i ll allow a youn g man who visits prost itutes
to sit in her home making love to her and if she were to meet
the p rostitute he spent hi s hours w ith the night before she
would not allow her dress to touch the garments of the un
clean woman
Women get this xed in your mind and n ever forget it
that the woman is just a s worthy of your recognition as the
man who layed with her Let us cease teaching the dangerous
doctrin e that men should have the greatest liberty desired f or
sexual indulgence and not be conde mn ed but a woman must
be forever crushed to the ground in sh ame for even one mis
take
,

C HAP T E R $ VI
I NSTR UC TI O N S

To

THE YO UT H

The Prodiga l Da ughter

T o the

f th
tu rning
dig l w ry nd w rn
d with j y nd th nk giving

ome

of

T he pro
I s ree te

ea

w he n

As

the

on

T he

In

l d

urn f

re t

a nd

his pe n te nt

or

morn

u li

in ne line n

c a

is his port on,

s pp a nts b o w,

se vants as

is

his rst na ta

ro e a nd a rin

e r re

urpl

vow

e,

dig l d ugh t r
Wh h w nd d w y f m th h m
H
fee t mu t till pr th d k v ll y
A nd th
th wi l d w i l d rn
m
n th bl
Al n
k b n m unt i n
T h m untai n
d ry nd l d
N
nd i
h
u
h
d
t
t
t
i
n f nd pi ty
H
B ut

ah $

or

as

er

ro

To

h ank t
S till f ll w

T he

o
s

he r

b ack

we akest and e

s,

to the

er

s ee

co

h ph d w h
h p th th y
n th f
kn

the S
the

e,

e ss roa

a rre

s re c

ar

re a

ro

ea

w e l come

s o

ess

so

B ut t

e re

e o

the pro

ose

ors a e

me rc

stre

brig ht mansions of gl ory

W hi ch the bloo d of His sacrice w on
is room f or the pro digal d a ugh te r
A s w e ll a s the pro di ga l

A nd in the

1 86

Instru ct i ons to the Youth

18 7

In order to sa feguard our girls fro m this awful fate w e

n eed to do more th an warn them of the exist en ce of the
slave trade and caution the m how to avoid temptation in the
,

cities They must be taught sex kn owledge

O ur children and youn g people must have a better un der
standing of their physical selves It is a crime against chil
dren to brin g them into this world by no will or petition of
their own and then withhold from them the knowledge they
n eed to help them to kn ow their bodies ; its diff erent pur
pose s an d how to care for them in order that they may have
the very best possibl e opportun ity to grow up stron g an d
pure physically as well as mentally and spiritually
No wonder children go astray $ The majority of parents tell
them n othing in regard to their bodies and sexual kn owledge ;
an d many of them have the gre at misfortun e to be born of
God less parents who leave them entirely i gnorant of the
teachin gs of a Chri stian life
Children from many of the very best fa milies however are
not taught the great mysteries of their bodies a n d when they
learn anythin g in the way of sexual kn owledge they must
pick it up from playmates on the street or the school groun d ;
an d instead of havin g this kn owledge a ccompanied with the
sweet sacred sentiment that should s urroun d it they ge t the
impressions of low sensual teachin gs from dwarfed minds and
vulgar thoughts
It is pitiable beyond description the number of children
tha t have ruined the ms elves by sexual self abuse and se xu a l
relations because parents did not properly safeguard the m
a nd at the proper time impart to them the sex knowledge it
was their right to have
Many thousands have become nervous wr ecks and be en ob
lige d to go on through life with dwarfed bod ies and b rain s
.

The Sh a me of

18 8

G r e a t N a t i on

because of this in excusable neglect of parents to p roperly

warn a nd teach them about their bodies
Not a few of the in mates of prisons almshouses reform
schools and charit able institutions owe their life of folly
crime and failur e to thi s gre at neglect The time has come
when this false modesty of parents wi th their childr en on the
mystery of sex should cease It is not only a failur e of the
performance of duty o n the parents but positively a crime
again st their own childr en to thus rob them of the most im
p orta nt knowledge that can be imparted to them
When the Bishop of London was in this country he came
in contact with some of our good men and women who were
working along these lines of teaching and on his return to
London began to arouse his people in regard to the great
danger and fearful results of withholding from their children
the proper instructions The Bishop Offered to place himself
at the head of a great moral crusade the like of which ha s
never before been seen in E ngland that would seek mainly to
awaken the conscience of the parenthood of E nglan d an d
point out to every father and mother that the future moral
welfare of the United Kin gdom reste d in doin g away with
the present false modesty and in the frank and honest i h
struction of their children

The Bishop sa id :
I am now convin ced that the uplift
ing of the morality of our people lies above all and every
thin g else ln educating the children rationally and morally
I be lieve that more evil has been done by the squeami shn e ss
of parents who are a fraid to instruct their children in the
vital facts of life than by all the other agen cies of vice put
together I am determin ed to overcome thi s obstacle to our
national morality I have not the slightest hesitation in say
in g that the right way has been foun d at last
Thousan ds of
.

Inst ructi ons

to the Yo u th

189

men have asked me why they were

taught the danger of

vice in their youth an d I have had no reply to make to them
I intend now with God s help to remove this reproach from

our lan d

There shall be plain talkin g

says the Bishop of L on

the time has gone by for whi spers and paraphrases

don ;
Boys an d girls must be told what these great vital facts of life
mean and they mus t be given the proper knowledge of their
bodies and the proper care of them No abstractions : the

only way now is to be frank man to man

It is not our intention to go into a lengthy detail of just
what the children and those in adolescence age as well as
older ones shall be taught but rather to try to arouse the
parents to reali z e the necessity of such teachin g There are
plenty of books meeting the entire situation that can be se
cured
It is a positive fact that li ttle children of the most respect
able parents are indulging in sexual relations as youn g as
six years of age It is not at all un common for many of them
to commit thi s awful sin at eight years of age an d those ten
years old indulging is alarmingly large
They do not understand the shame and wrong of it because
no one has taught them the least bit in regard there to
Some
imp ure playmate has taught them that by the act pleasure
can be created and since their parents have never warned
them Of the wrong and danger they ea sily fall into the habit
and a s a result thousan ds of them ruin health ; stunt phy si ca l
and brain power and become moral degenerates
Youn g girls often become mothers because they do not u n
d erstan d that pregn ancy is the natural result of sexual indul
gence Boys in knee pants become fathers for the same re ason
We could cite cases of both kinds
not

The Sh a me of

19 0

G r e a t Na t i on

The father should give special in struction s to hi s boys

at

the right age tellin g them all about their se xual life and
warn in g them Of the horrible results of abuse an d illicit in
dulgence
If the father will not then the mother must
B oys fou rte en an d sixteen years old fre quent publi c
brothels They have n ever been warned aga inst these thin gs
thus when sexual desire becomes strong they are easily led
by low compan ions into these dens where they contract dis
ease th at in many cases causes them to become chr onic lepe rs
who go on spreading the disease as long as they live ; an d in
m an y cases after o ff spring has been brought in to the world
beari n g the marks of their father s crime the mother must
have the kn ife applied an d give up a good share of her body
as further propitiation for the youthful follies and sins of her
husband
In many instances thi s is a ll due to the fact that parents
were too modest
or indi ff erent to properly teach their
children in regard to sex life and sins Girls are allowed to
come to the a ge of puberty without any intimation of this
great change and many are the pitiful results of this neglect
The good father is intent on makin g of money to give his
wife and children soci al advantages and a ha p py home an d
is too busy to re a d and then impart his knowledge to his boys
The mother is too b usy with te a parties whi st and the dance
to spend any time readin g books that will give her knowledge
along these lines She often considers it more important to
have her d aughter well dr essed and out in society than to
spend a few quiet hours with her imp artin g the most im
portant kn owledge th at she is ever to lea rn

It is a horrible fact that in the so called Upper Cl asses

of p eople children rece ive very little more atten tion in the
matter of careful training than do the children of the slums
,

hey should know where the children are and not allow
m to be out at nights alone girls and boys playin g aroun d
dark alleys together We could tell you of some terrible
l gs tha t happen in these alleys at night among girls an d
Their parents sup
s from eight to twelve years of age
e they are indulg ing in innocent play ; but there are shock
things goin g on N O mother who wishes to keep her chi l
n free from vile attacks should allow her children to be
playing aroun d out of her sight aft er d ark We are
akin g from positive knowledge and beg parents for the
e of their chi ldren to heed the warning We wish we
ld cry from the house tops so all would hear ; spend more
e in the home with your children $ Keep them more closely
ler your watchful care $ Teach them warn them again st
ual vice $

'

CHAP T ER X V II
A WOR D

To

GI RL S

Wi ll the girls please suffer a word of kind loving advice ?

O h how many girls as well as boys get into trouble b e cause
they refuse to listen to advice
Don t make the mistake of thi nking you kn ow more tha n
your good fathers an d mothers R emember they are older
and have had an opportunity to see the results of wrong
do ing Some of them have su ffered thems elves and are speak
in g out of sore experience
S o man y poor wretched girls are outcasts white slav es ;
an d some are taking care of a chi ld with no father to claim
it because they thought they kn ew what was best for them
an d would not listen to older wiser heads
The other day a very pitiful in stance was brought to our
notice : A girl gave birth to twins ; she had no clothes to put
A
on them and had j ust enough money for a week s board
working girl away from home and among strangers She
had once been a member of the church b ut got to goin g to
dan ces ; fell in with bad comp any and slowly drifted away
from the church with this awful result
R ight here girls let me re min d you that as some of these
federal o f cers state the dance hall is just where many of
th ese vile men who had j ust as soon ruin you as to look at
you hang out There are very few girls who visit the pub li c
dan ce hall th at do not in the end come to grief
The act of dancing tends to excite sexual feeling an d no
girl who wishes to make sure she will retain her virtue sh ould
,

19 2

A Wo r d

to

Gi r l s

19 3

visit these public traps of sin You cannot be too careful

dear girls Do not be afraid that if you are di gni ed and
rese rved that young men will shun you an d you may be de
stine d to be an old maid
You might better live a sin gle life than to meet the fate
which comes to thousands Of girls every year R emember that
the worthy desirable youn g men who will make good kind
clean husbands are not lookin g for wild boisterous girls who
cheapen themselves by making free with youn g men of low
character Such men search for sweet modest dign i ed girls
When you are in the company of young men alone do not
allow them to be too familiar with you an d above all things
do not permit fondling or caressin g
No youn g man has any right to be fondling you un less he
is b ethrothe d to you to become your lawful husband ; and then
let me warn you to be very careful not to allow too much
freedom for in such cases as that the rst child has been
born too soon and a cloud oversh adows the life of the mother
forever
Remember girls that while a man may do eve ry thing that
is vile and mean an d reform and be respected and ac cepte d
a woman who blackens her name can never entirely erase the
marks Thi s is un fair and un just but somehow it is an e s
tab lishe d rule
Dancing card playin g low theatres all lead to bad com
pany impure thoughts and desires To do these thin gs is
playing with re that bur ns out the virtue from the lives of
the majority who take the risk The p enalties are too heavy
for any dear sweet girl to take chances on You might better
endure a few jeers and sn eers if n eed be than to do things
and associate with company that are so likel y to sweep you
down the river of destruction and death
.

The S ha m e o f

19 4

G r e a t N a ti o n

If y ou knew dear girls how young me n discuss loud bois

i
g
rls ; girls who indulge in coarse jokes an d impur e lan
r
te ous
guage you would be careful and value yourse lves a little
A girl should n ever allow a youn g man to p as s j ok e s
higher
that have the least avor of indecency These things are Often
a forerunner to greater liberties A girl who respects herself
and has the right idea of propriety will not allow it
If he is a
D O not be afraid of o ff ending a youn g man
true noble character he w ill respect you all the more If
he is a vulgar un principled wretch the sooner you a re rid
of him the better Do not be sittin g up all hours of the
night with youn g men who have come only for the pur p ose of
having a fondling time ready to coax you into sexual sin at
the rst opportun ity If a youn g man attempts to turn the
light down turn him out No young man who respects the
girl he i s with or has good intentions toward her w ill do
such a thin g ; and a gi rl who properly respects herself will
n ot allow it
If a man will not call unless he can take such liberti es y ou
are well rid of him
These are plain words ; every one true and we warn y ou
because we love you and want to help sa ve you if possible
from throwin g yourself into the very j aws of sin an d destru c
tion Thousands of girls are shut up in prisons an d reform
schools to d ay bec ause they would n ot listen to the warnin gs
of good parents and kind friends Many thousands more a re
in rescue homes carin g for b abes who brought their grief
upon themselves because they would not obey their parents
an d do wh at was right
You cann ot play with re and n ot get burned Keep good
compan y ; avoid pl a ces where vile men and women congregate
,

A W o rd
GO

to

Gi rls

19 5

n owhere except to the places good paren ts tell y ou

are

right
An other word of caution DO not marry a man to reform
There is only one case in man y thousan ds that works
him
out as you plan Have nothing to do w ith youn g men who
drink Demand of the youn g men who associate with you
the same standard of purity they ask of you S top givi n g
youn g men the license to do as they please and then be your
close companions j ust the same
A good decent respectable youn g man who values his rep
u ta tion an d ch ar acter will not associate in any way with a
youn g woman of questionable character What a pity it is
that our very best girls do n ot follow the sa me rule in their
choice of the youn g men they go with $ Why do you value
yo urselves less th an youn g men value themselves ?
Think carefully about these things girls and you wi ll be
less likely to go astray or come to grief You will b e more
sure to avoid break ing the heart of that dear mother who is
laying awake nights an d wetting her pill ow with tears becaus e
her daughter is disobedient stubborn willful ; frequenting
places of sin and keepin g low company
These words come from a heart lled with love and pity
for you hopin g and praying th at un der the blessing of God
they may save some poor girls from the rocks of destruction
Do not be too much carried away with the love of dress D e
sire for costly dresses an d jewelry has lured many a girl to
her ruin and caused thousands to be easy prey for these White
Slave vultures A working girl shoul d not expect to dress as
well as daughters of men who are receivin g a salary of many
thous ands of dollars a year
You will be much more respected and appreciated if you
dress becoming to your station than if you overdo the matter
.

The S hame O f

19 6

Remember good people

G re a t Na t i on

watchin g your action more than

your clothes They will be far more favorably impresse d with
you if you dr ess moderately instead of gaudi ly
Avoid read ing trashy literature
Cultivate a desire of
high ideals Be willin g to spend a few sen sible moments
l earn in g about the problems of life an d facin g its realities
rather than to be wan ting every moment Of your time crowded
with f un You wi ll h ave to face these thin gs sooner or later
Try to be prepared somewhat for these proble ms when they
come A youn g woman should always make an endeavor to
t herself for the responsibilities of wife an d mo therhood ;
then when the duties come it will n ot be so di fcult to meet
them Follow this road and it will lead you to he a lth and
happiness and make you a blessing to others
are

CHAP T ER X V III
AD VIC E

YO UNG ME N

To

A few words of caution to youn g men may not be altogether

out of place in this humble boo k It seems really more ap
p ropria te for a man to advise youn g men yet there are some
things to be sa id from a woman s poin t of Vi ew
First of all what we have said to the youn g women along
the li ves of pur ity ap p lies to youn g men as well as women
Learn about yourselves your physical nature ; especially y our
sexual life If your father does n ot volunteer to give you the
knowledge you ought to have ask him to tell you Avoid sex
ual sin s
Keep your natur e under control
Shun stron g
drink as you would the most poisonous reptile tha t co ul d
clutch your thro at
N O youn g man can make a success of li fe these days an d
drink alcoholi cs ; especially since the manuf acturing rms
railway com p an ies banks department stores and all the in
du strial organizations and insti tutions are comin g to p ut in

their rules : We will not employ men who drink intoxicatin g

liquors
The use of these bevera ges will stand between you and
some desirable well paying position Thousands of men who
would not listen to advice but allowed themselves to be ruined

by strong drink have said :

Tell the youn g men the only

safe way is n ever to take the rst glass

The power of ap
No young
p etite for liquor is peculiarly strong and horrible
man who wishes to make a success of life can a fford to ta m pe r
It would be a good thing to let tobacco alone also
w ith it
.

19 7

T he S ha me

19 8

of a

It

G r e a t Na tion

is an ex pensive habit and does no good but fre uently

great harm W hile it cannot ui te be t rue that it i s as bad
as whi skey yet it is b a d enough and man y are the phy si cal
and ment a l wrecks due to its use An ything that do es you no
A nything t hat means thousands
go od b a d best b e let alone
of dolla rs in a life time especially if an unnecessa ry indul
gence ha d better be let alone I t is thought by many of our
best medical and scienti c men that the use of it often le ads
to drin k
There is on e thin g which particularly b u rdens our h e arts
I t is the way young men take advanta ge of a girl s love an d
con dence or her weakn ess inducing se x ual relations and
then when there is offspring as a result of it abandon her and
leave her to get along the best she can
There is no punishment too gr e at for a young man who
persuaded a good decent girl to giv e him her virtue and th en
desert her H e might far better go to the women who are
w illing to sell th eir virtu e a s common merchandise than to
c a st a cloud of shame over the life of so me innocent swe et
girl Men who have been guilty of this vile deed have some
times had the e x perience o f knowin g how it feels to h a v e some
other unprincipled fellow play the sa me dirty trick on a sis
ter Just as you felt like beating the life out of him so oth e rs
h a ve felt lik e giving you the same punishment
I t is scarcely possible to conceive a meaner m an than those
who ruin and then desert girls They should be cl a ssed alon g

with the white slave traders

On e has no mor e principle
th a n the other
A good rul e to follow is tre a t every other girl a n d wo man
as you would like to h a ve other me n treat your mother an d
sisters
W hen you nd you a re becoming tempted in the
presence of women beyond self c on trol go away for the ti me

A dv ice to Yo ung M e n

19 9

un til conditions a re suppre ssed which would c ause you to

a sure
ersu
de
a
gi
rl
do
wrong
to
gi
v
e
you
a
moment
s
ple
t
o
a
p
I f you a re so un fortun ate a s to make the mistake then be
man enough to st ay by the girl and help bear the sh a me a nd
re sponsibility The world will respect you for it and G od
wi ll bless you in retu rn for your noble manliness
R e
In all w ays stri v e a fter the good an d shun the wrong
si st each tempt ation as it comes ; keep a w a y from saloons

Wh atsoever
gamblin g dens and brothels R emember that

You can not go out

a man soweth that shall he a lso reap

to sow wild oats without re a pin g a h a rvest that will cause

you pain and sorrow and great loss in m any ways B e true
an d good at any cost and the rew a rds will well p ay you for
the s a cri ces if it is re ally proper to c a ll a cts of m anly re
sistance of wrong sa cri ces
May God bless our youn g men and c ause every on e who
re a ds these words to be inspired with noble purposes May
every such on e be determined to re a ch the heights of true
m anliness and so live th at there m ay not be a man or wom an
he is ash a med to look in the face bec aus e of som e gr e at wrong
done them for his own ple a sure and bene t

W e e a rnestly beseech every reader of this book to try to get

it into a s m any homes a s possible B y doing so you will help
the c aus e and save m a ny a girl from ruin
L et all who can do so kindly send a contribution for the
work R emit to Mrs E N L aw S tate S upt of the work for
Pennsylv ani a a ppointed by the A meric an Purity Federation
A ddress Mrs L aw 3 7 H ayne A v e D etroit Mich
.