Читать книгу The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World - William W. Sanger - Страница 5

“At a meeting of the Board of Governors of the Alms-House, held January 23, 1855, the following interrogatories were presented by the President:

“1. What proportion of the inmates of the institutions on Blackwell’s Island under your medical charge are, in your opinion, directly or indirectly suffering from syphilis?

“2. Are, or are not, the number of such inmates steadily on the increase?

“3. Do not patients in the different institutions, particularly in the Penitentiary Hospital, often leave before the disease is cured, so that they are liable to infect other persons after their departure?

“4. Are not the offspring of parents affected with constitutional syphilis subject to many diseases of like character, which cause them to become a charge upon the city for long periods of time, and often for life?

“5. What are your views in reference to the best means of checking and decreasing this disease, and what plan, in your opinion, could be adopted to relieve New York City of the enormous amount of misery and expense caused by syphilis?

“6. You will reply in full to the above queries at the earliest possible date.

“Resolved, That a copy of the above be sent to the Resident Physician, Blackwell’s Island.”

To reply to these questions, especially to the fifth, I discovered that it would be requisite to extend my investigations beyond the limits of the institutions on Blackwell’s Island. This idea was communicated to President Townsend, who joined me in appreciating the necessity of such a movement. He also was the means of interesting Mayor Wood and other officers of the city in the investigation as subsequently carried on, while his continued exertions and earnest support aided me generally in the prosecution of the labor, and merit my most sincere and grateful acknowledgments.

The steps thus taken are fully detailed in the following letter to the Board of Governors, that letter, or preliminary report, having been called for in connection with the reports from the Medical Board of Bellevue Hospital, and from the Resident Physician of Randall’s Island, which will be found, in extenso, in Chapter XXXVII. of this work:[4]

“Isaac Townsend, Esq., President of the Board of Governors.

“Dear Sir,—In reply to your letter asking for answers to certain interrogatories on the subject of prostitution and its diseases, I have to state that I am not prepared to report, nor can I do so for some considerable length of time to come.

“Had I confined myself to simply answering the queries propounded as regards the institutions under my medical charge, simply given you the gross numbers, with the percentages of those who have suffered or are now suffering from venereal disease, such reply could have been sent to you long ago. A report of this kind from this department would have been looked upon by the public at large as containing the history of nearly all the prostitution in the city, and particularly would a majority of the public have believed that nineteen twentieths of the disease resulting from prostitution found its home here. Such is not the fact. Great as is the number of prostitutes annually sent here, and enormous as is the number of cases of venereal disease yearly treated here, yet these compose but a small fraction of the sum total actually existing in this city. There are but few more prostitutes on the island than are to be found on the same number of acres in certain portions of the city; and as for the venereal disease, why, gentlemen, the island has the advantage. It is the least dangerous locality.

“Believing these to be facts, I could not bring myself to think that any practical good would be accomplished by giving you the statistics of these institutions alone. It would have been merely doing what has been done before, and would have yielded no additional information for your guidance. But it appeared to me that the time had come when your attention might be solicited to the various facts attending the aggregate prostitution of the city; for, despite all our prohibitory laws, it is a fact which can not be questioned or denied that this vice is attaining a position and extent in this community which can not be viewed without alarm. It has more than kept pace with the growth of our city. Unlike the vice of a few years since, it no longer confines itself to secrecy and darkness, but boldly strides through our most thronged and elegant thoroughfares, and there, in the broad light of the sun, it jostles the pure, the virtuous, and the good. It is in your gay streets, and in your quiet, home-like streets; it is in your squares, and in your suburban retreats and summer resorts; it is in your theatres, your opera, your hotels; nay, it is even intruding itself into the private circles, and slowly but steadily extending its poison, known but to few, and entirely unsuspected by the majority of our citizens. The whole machinery of the law has been turned against these females without success; its only result having been a resolve, on their part, to confront society with the charge of harsh, cruel, and unjust treatment.

“From these considerations, I felt it my duty to obtain all the facts which could possibly be collected having any relation to the vice in question, assured that you were desirous of taking a comprehensive view of it; and hence the resolve, if possible, to trace to the fountain-head prostitution and its attendant diseases, so as to be enabled to bring the subject before you in a form which should exhibit it in its proper colors and dimensions.

“The first step in this investigation was to obtain ample and reliable information of the extent of the vice as it exists outside of these departments—a step which would have been beyond my power alone. From the bold and reformatory stand which his honor Mayor Wood had taken in regard to many matters connected with our city government, it was believed that he would render his assistance if convinced of the propriety and prospective usefulness of the investigation, and the result of an application by President Isaac Townsend to his honor fully justified the correctness of this supposition. He was found not only willing to aid in this great work, but fully alive to its necessity and importance. The plan adopted to forward the inquiry was to take a census of the city, so far as regards prostitution, including the number of houses of prostitution; the number of prostitutes; the causes which led them to become such; their ages, habits, birth-places, early history, education, religious instruction, occupation, etc., and which census is now being taken by the Chief of Police, George W. Matsell, Esq., and the Captains of Police.

“Simultaneously with this, inquiries are also being prosecuted concerning the extent of venereal disease in New York, which will afford interesting information. This, of course, will be done without individual exposure, nor will the report, when completed, assume the form of a guide-book by which persons can find houses of ill fame. I am desirous of obtaining the aggregate facts of the vice, and shall be cautious to take no steps toward gratifying a prurient curiosity or lacerating a rankling wound.

“When these facts are before you, they will be their own argument for the necessity of action.

“I do not trouble you on this occasion with any remarks upon the deadly nature of the venereal poison, but when you are informed as to the facilities for its diffusion will be the proper time to do so. Neither would it be consistent with this stage of the inquiry to enter into any discussion as to the plans that could be adopted in mitigation of the vice; for although prohibitory measures have failed to suppress, or even check it, yet, until its full extent is known, I do not imagine that you would deem it prudent to attempt to grapple a monster whose strength was not fully ascertained.

“You perceive that to obtain all the information necessary on this matter will be a work requiring both time and labor, and I respectfully ask your forbearance, with the assurance that I will lay the result of my inquiries before you at the earliest possible opportunity, and with the hope that the magnitude and importance of the subject will be an apology for the time to which it is necessarily protracted.

“I am, sir, yours, very respectfully,

“William W. Sanger, Resident Physician, Blackwell’s Island.”

To aid the police officers in the duty of taking the census alluded to above, a schedule of questions was prepared.[5] This was submitted to the Board of Governors by Governor Townsend, and a resolution was adopted at their meeting of October 23d, 1855, sanctioning the plan adopted, and authorizing him to have a sufficient number of copies printed. The mayor, the district attorney, the chief of police, and the captains of the several districts, willingly and zealously co-operated with Governor Townsend and myself, and every possible exertion was used to obtain accurate and extensive information. It became my duty to assist the officers in the execution of their task, and I am thus enabled to speak with certainty as to the authenticity of the statistics given, which were mainly collected under my own observation.

I gladly avail myself of the present opportunity to record my obligations for services rendered by his honor Fernando Wood, Mayor of the city of New York; George W. Matsell, Esq., Chief of Police; and to the Captains of Police in the different wards of the city, namely,

Capt.	Michael Halpin,	1st	ward.
"	James Leonard,	2d	"
"	James A. P. Hopkins,	3d	"
"	J. Murray Ditchett,	4th	"
"	Daniel Carpenter,	5th	"
"	Joseph Dowling,	6th	"
"	Edward Letts,	7th	"
"	Charles S. Turnbull,	8th	"
"	Abraham Ackerman,	9th	"
"	George W. Norris,	10th	"
"	Peter Squires,	11th	"
"	Galen T. Porter,	12th	"
"	John E. Russel,	13th	"
"	David Kissner,	14th	"
"	George W. Dilks,	15th	"
"	John D. M‘Kee,	16th	"
"	J. W. Hartt,	17th	"
"	George W. Walling,	18th	"
"	Francis J. Twomey,	19th	"
"	Thomas Hannegan,	20th	"
"	Francis C. Speight,	21st	"
"	Daniel Witter,	22d	"

To Captains Halpin, Hopkins, Ditchett, Carpenter, Dowling, Letts, Turnbull, Kissner, and Dilks, in whose wards is found the greatest amount of prostitution, and upon whom fell the largest share of labor, I am more particularly indebted.

The necessary particulars were finally obtained, and are embodied in Chapters XXXII. to XXXVII. of this work, but there was still an important point to determine, namely, what had been done elsewhere, and what was the result of such action, to check prostitution and diminish the ravages of venereal disease. The Continent of Europe presented a field for this inquiry, and to it I turned for the information required, which is given in the various chapters devoted to the several countries in such a form as to show the measures which have been taken, the effect, and the causes which led to legislative interference, contrasted with those other parts of the world where, as yet, no remedial plans have been tried, notwithstanding the necessity which calls for them.

The reader is now in possession of the facts which led to this inquiry. Is it too much to ask his attention to the analysis and exhibition of prostitution as it is at the present time, he being well assured that no assertions will be made that are not supported by good authority, nor any conclusions drawn from doubtful premises?

So far as New York alone is concerned, the evil is known to a large portion of her citizens, although its ramifications are but very imperfectly understood; and the endeavor will be to present all possible information on the matter, and to give a truthful, unexaggerated picture of the depravity. Disagreeable as this must be from the nature of the task, it is hopeful from a belief that the result will tend to public good.

One of the most painfully interesting branches of the inquiry is that relating to the ages of the unfortunate women. Their number includes many who are but mere children; who but recently knelt at a mother’s side, and in infantile accents breathed a prayer to the Almighty; who but recently sprang with eager, joyous bound to the returning footsteps of a father; who, in a happy and innocent home, have but recently given promise of a bright and virtuous life. Therein are also included many who were deprived by death of their natural protectors, and who, thus left unwatched and uncared for, have fallen before the destroyer ere yet the age of womanhood was reached.

The places of their birth form an interesting subject for consideration. In this land the frigid North and sunny South, the busy East and fertile West have each contributed their quota, while foreign countries have sent large numbers to swell the mournful aggregate.

The most useful portion of the subject will be found, it is imagined, in replies to the question, “What was the cause of your becoming a prostitute?” These tend to expose the concealed vices of mankind, and to prove that many of the unfortunate victims are “more sinned against than sinning.” Among the reasons assigned for a deviation from the paths of virtue are some which tell of man’s deceit; others, where the machinations employed to effect the purpose raise a blush for humanity; others, where a wife was sacrificed by the man who had sworn before God and in the presence of men to protect her through life; others, where parents have urged or commanded this course, and are now living on the proceeds of their children’s shame, or where an abuse of parental authority has produced the same effect; and others still, where women, already depraved, have been the means of leading their fellow-women to disgrace. A bare allusion to these wrongs is sickening; but, while the gangrene of prostitution is rapidly extending through society, it becomes an imperative duty to examine its causes completely and impartially.

Another prolific source of female depravity will be exhibited by the several tables showing the description of employment pursued, and the wages received by women previous to their fall, and it will be a question for the political economist to decide how far mere business considerations should be an apology on the part of employers for a reduction in their rates of remuneration, and whether the saving of a small percentage on wages is not more than counterbalanced by the enormous amount of taxation enforced on the public at large to defray the expenses incurred on account of a system of vice which is the direct result, in many cases, of insufficient compensation for honest labor.

In conclusion, it must not be assumed that the information collected from two thousand women in New York City relates to all the prostitutes therein. The many difficulties surrounding the investigation, and especially the secrecy to which prohibitory laws have driven this class of persons, rendered the task impossible; but, from the best information that could be obtained of those whose knowledge of the vice was derived from actual experience, it is imagined that the replies represent about two fifths of the total number.[6] They are presented with full confidence in their general authenticity, and may be very reasonably concluded to offer a fair average of the whole. They unquestionably exhibit an appalling amount of depravity and consequent wretchedness, with but very few redeeming features, and present mournful subjects for reflection to all classes, with forcible arguments for remedial measures. Without this end in prospect it would have been scarcely justifiable, at least in a moral point of view, to institute this inquiry or make these disclosures; but it certainly may be reasonably inferred that many will feel sufficient interest in the advance of virtue to aid in the mitigation of this enormous vice which threatens all social relations; which has already introduced physical suffering into so many families; and the influence of which, increasing in a direct ratio to its existence, will very probably extend its malignant poison, mental and bodily, into all ranks and classes of the community. The necessity for action is apparent, but its successful consummation must rest with the public at large, who have the bane exhibited before them in its actual power, and the necessity of an antidote demonstrated from positive facts, and not deduced from a mere arbitrary theory.

If some antidote be applied, even though a partial one, it will be a satisfaction to reflect that the investigations have not been profitless, nor the labor in vain.

HISTORY OF PROSTITUTION.

[If the reader has not already perused the Introduction to this volume, he is advised to do so at once, as therein are stated the reasons which have called it forth, and extended it to the present dimensions.]