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I.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I.

THE "LET ALONE" SYSTEM.

The facts contained in the English Blue Books, to which reference will be made in the following pages, are doubtless familiar to many persons. No apology, however, is needed for again bringing them forward, for it is a duty not to allow them to be forgotten. Some Parliamentary papers of temporary interest may drop out of sight, but these should be kept in view, and urged upon the conscience of every parent in the land; for to the conscientious parent, equally with the statesman, the importance of this evidence can not be exaggerated. A knowledge of facts is the more necessary at the present time, on account of the renewed endeavors to establish a false principle of legislation, which are now being made.

It may not be generally known, that in consequence of the serious facts brought to light in relation to an actual trade in buying and selling young English girls for evil purposes on the Continent, a Select Committee of the House of Lords was appointed in ​1881, to examine this subject.^[1] The Committee was directed to inquire into the actual facts relating to this traffic, and also to consider whether further legislation can remedy the evil.

Although the work of the Committee was limited to the facts of this infamous traffic, and to the legislation which is necessary to suppress it, the evidence laid before it covers much wider ground. This evidence reveals, both directly and indirectly, facts of the gravest significance in relation to our own condition, as well as to that of our neighbors, in respect to social vice. It thus renders important assistance toward the solution of weighty but perplexing problems, which are now being widely discussed amongst us.

The great body of facts brought forward in this report, relate to two different but false methods of dealing with vice, methods which have come prominently forward in the present century, in connection with the marked decay of the older forms of religious faith.

The distinctive national tendencies of the French and English nations are strikingly shown in the attitude they have gradually assumed toward the subject of prostitution; the French with their remarkable organizing power tending toward tyranny, the English ​with their innate love of liberty toward license. These opposite national characteristics, with their results in what may be termed the "let alone" and the "female regulation" systems are here instructively revealed.

The first method to be considered is that of "letting social vice alone" to run its course unchecked. This is the system employed in London.^[2]

No systematic and efficient action is taken to check public manifestations of licentiousness. The great Metropolis is not kept in decent order day and night. Solicitation by men and women is not treated as a nuisance in the public thoroughfares, but the streets are allowed to become the assembling places of vicious persons, openly plying a disgraceful trade. Brothels are allowed to flourish, the most abominable acts are left unpunished, and infancy and youth become the prey of every species of corruption.

The facts which reveal the condition of the Metropolis are furnished by unimpeachable witnesses. They are given by such men as Sir James Ingham, the Chief Magistrate of London, a Magistrate of thirty-one years' experience; Mr. Dunlap, Police Superintendent during fifteen years; Mr. Hardman, ​Chairman of the Surrey County Sessions; Messrs. Arnold and Morgan, Superintendents in the London Police Force, etc., all men of exceptional experience. The following facts are proved by the testimony of these competent witnesses, viz.:

(1.) Coffee-houses and taverns are often used as brothels and assignation places, and registry offices as decoys. See numbers 886, 824, 858, report 1.

(2.) Even the very young are left practically defenceless. They are corrupted in infancy, and vast numbers of children are encouraged in vice by their parents for the sake of gain; 811–15, 579.

(3.) The streets are filled with vicious men and women, native and foreign, plying a vile trade, and tempting the innocent; 152–3, 732–75, 88–96, 915, 12.

(4.) The police are left without instructions, by their superiors, to arrest individuals when they find them actually engaged in the most demoralizing acts; 718, 652–4.

(5.) The magistrates seem often to be without sufficient power (or are not sufficiently stimulated by public opinion) to punish offenders when the offence is a sexual one; 224, 244.

(6.) Brothels are treated as inviolate, except in searching for unlicensed liquor; 230–31.

(7.) At Somerset House certificates of birth are given without hesitation and inquiry, even when it is ​strongly suspected that they will be used for fraudulent purposes.

The above are some of the chief points brought out by indubitable evidence. They prove the evils and dangers which grow up in all large towns where an energetic public opinion has not begun to restrain the growth of vice.

The most serious danger involved in this state of unchecked evil is the increasingly youthful age of those who are corrupted. A vast and growing number of girls (and boys also) lead a life of youthful corruption. The evidence on this alarming tendency is full and positive. Only a few representative facts given in evidence can here be quoted.

It is stated: "There are houses in many parts of London where people procure children for purposes of prostitution at fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen years of age, without number; the children live at home, but go to the house at a certain hour, with the connivance of the mother, for the profit of the household" (579).

"There is a great deal of juvenile prostitution in my district, quite children, as young as twelve years of age." "The mothers treat it indifferently. I sent for a mother concerning her girl of fifteen; she said, 'I can not help it, she must do as she likes; I had to look after myself at her age, and she must do the same " (717).

Says Mr. Dunlap: "There are a lot of little ​servant girls about my division, in lodging-houses and other places; they get small wages; they come out on errands and see girls their equals in social standing dressed in silks and satins, while they are slaving; they talk to the girls and are influenced. I have watched the progress of some of these children; they appear with a colored handkerchief over their shoulders, they come two and two through the streets, and after a few days are dressed more elaborately, and at last launch out in silks and satins." "The facilities in the streets are so great that the gentlemen select for themselves" (743 to 46).

A superintendent of fifteen years' standing says: "There has been an increase during my time in the prostitution of very young children. It is a new thing to me. I can not form an opinion as to the cause. This morning, two lads were charged with attempting to steal. A child, not above thirteen, with very short petticoats, her fingers covered with rings, was waiting in the crowd to see 'her man' go down in the van. She found I was trying to get information. She laughed, ran down the passage, and hurried to the Police Court. Most likely she was assisting in keeping 'her man.'"

Says another: "I have been seven years in my district. There are more young prostitutes there than when I first went there. I have noticed during the last six months an increase that I attribute, in a great ​measure, to a line regiment now lying in the Tower. The men associate very much with young girls." "At the East End there is a large amount of prostitution of girls, mainly between fifteen and eighteen. They come principally from the large factories. Nearly all the industries of London are represented at the East End. A great many females do factory work, and are prostitutes at the same time, with the tacit understanding and knowledge of their parents. The younger ones take men to low brothels, the elder ones to almost any coffee-house or brothel in the neighborhood. The facilities are very great" (811 to 15).

Says another: "Young girls from twelve, and even eleven, are accosted in the streets by men, who offer money and make improper overtures to them, and so they are led on by the evil associations of other girls, who are older than themselves, to drift into a life of immorality" (865).

Says an experienced Magistrate: "There are assaults committed upon young girls, in many cases by brothers, and even by fathers" (915). "It is an indisputable fact that there are boys and youths soliciting in the streets. The punishment for sodomy is severe; but the difficulty, not to say danger, of obtaining evidence is immense" (652–4).

One of the most experienced witnesses states the following fact: "There is a low description of ​brothel where the children go. In rooms over a saddler's shop I found two children, certainly not over fifteen, with an elderly gentleman. They laughed and joked me. There were six girls in the house and three men, and the gentlemen were men of mature age" (718).

Let it be noted that the police had no instructions to arrest such moral murderers—men of mature age. There was no one to make a charge against them!

One important fact in this dangerous condition of London must be noted, because it has a direct connection with the system of State-regulated vice, which will next be considered. This fact is the large and increasing number of foreign prostitutes, trained under the foreign regulation system, who resort to London as a free hunting-ground, where men and women can carry on this vile trade unmolested.

Thus it is said: "There are certain districts in London where there are colonies of French prostitutes perfectly well known to the police. The girls brought from foreign countries into this country are generally girls who understand their business perfectly well. They come over here to be professional prostitutes, and they pay the placers to find a house for them" (152–3).

Mr. Dunlap states: "There are large numbers of French and Belgian prostitutes, who use the brothels in the neighborhood" (732).

​"Nearly every one of the foreign women has a man living with her, and we have great trouble with the men, who are also foreigners—great, big, hulking fellows, mainly supported by the women. They do not do a day's work; they go to the various cafes and restaurants and wait there to receive the money from the women" (785).

"A few years ago," says the same witness, "a tradesman in the Quadrant assisted the police very vigorously in putting down this vice, and he said it was the falsest step he ever made in his life. He has never known what peace or happiness has been since. He is annoyed in every shape and way by the women and the men living with them; these people (men and women) are strong enough to exert pressure upon tradesmen interfering with their vocation."

Such is the condition of London, the British metropolis of four millions of human beings, under the let-alone system; the natural family ties between parent and child destroyed; the streets a public exchange of debauchery for vicious men and women; brothels allowed to flourish and multiply; no check put upon licentiousness; the most abominable acts left unpunished; the police paralyzed; superior officials indifferent or perplexed; and foreign vice and foreign influence making itself more and more strongly felt in that great metropolis!

​One noteworthy point comes into view in this evidence, which should be particularly remembered. It is the moral perception and humanity which still exist amongst the English magistrates and police superintendents who give evidence. They have not yet been demoralized by supporting vice. They show an earnest desire to protect the young and check vice. They willingly give their evidence. This book is full of striking testimony to the just and humane tendency of the free and responsible citizen, as contrasted with corrupted and hardened officialism.

1 ↑ See the report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the law relating to the protection of young girls. Aug. 25, 1881. Price, 1s. 10d.

2 ↑ It is well to note the fact that the metropolis of Great Britain is not a municipality. The Metropolitan Police are not under municipal direction, and responsible to the citizens of London; they are under the direction of the General Home Office, and under the control of a military officer.