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Chapter 26 of Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Ted Leinhart. Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls or War on the White Slave Trade by Ernest A. Bell.

Chapter 26. Practical Means of Protecting Girls by Harry A. Parkin, Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Chicago. What can be done about it? There could be no legitimate excuse for exploiting the white slave trade in the public prints without the definite and sincere purpose of securing practical and substantial protection

against this terrible social scourge. Such is as surely the purpose of this article as it has been that of the excellent articles by Honorable Edwin W. Sims, which have brought out a vast and interesting volume of correspondence. Many of these letters have been from fathers and mothers aroused to anxiety about daughters who have been allowed to seek a livelihood in large cities without suitable oversight or protection. In some instances, the worst fears of these parents have been, by definite investigation, shown to be all too well-founded.

Other letters have come, by the score, from public officials and from public-spirited men and women who have at last been stirred to a realization that there is an actual, systematic, and widespread traffic in girls as definite, as established, as mercenary, and as fiendish as was the African slave trade in its blackest days. and practically all these letters indicate that very few of those who have been finally aroused to the enormity of existing conditions have any clear idea of what should or may be done to protect these daughters of our own people from the ravages of the white slave traders.

A letter from the mayor of a Connecticut city is typical of the common misconception among cultivated and well-informed public officials who have not given the legal phases of the repression of the white slave trade a special and exhaustive study. The mayor writes, quote,

I should think that the federal government would have to pass stringent laws providing a heavy penalty for all who are engaged in this business. The law would then be the same in all states, and people could not escape from its provision as they would if the states tried to take up the matter

and passed conflicting statute. 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 matter. End quote.

While it is probably true that the federal government has power to prohibit the carrying of women from one state to another for immoral purposes, that power has not yet been specifically established by actual tests in court and is therefore in a sense undefined. On the other hand the states under their police power have a remedy in their own hands and it would seem both logical and natural that this power be exercised in the

protection of its own homes and daughters. As a matter of fact we have found literally scores of cases in our investigations relative to the importation from foreign countries of girls destined for immoral houses, where American-born girls have been lured or kidnapped from a home in one state and carried to some large city in another state, there to be broken to the life of shame. The federal investigations in Chicago and other localities have clearly established the fact

that, generally speaking, houses of ill fame in large cities do not draw their recruits to any great extent from the territory immediately surrounding them. For obvious reasons, the white slavers who are the recruiting agents for the vile traffic prefer to work in states more or less distant from the centers to which their victims are destined. In view of all this, it must be clearly apparent that the need of the hour is legislation which will make it as difficult and

dangerous for a white slaver to take his victim from one state into another as it is for him to bring a girl from France or Italy or Canada or any other foreign country to a house of ill fame in Chicago or any American city. Therefore, it is suggested that if each state in the Union would pass and enforce severe and stringent laws against this importation, this terrible traffic would be dealt a blow in its most vulnerable part. Such an enactment might well be worded as follows,

quote, whoever shall induce, entice, or procure, or attempt to induce, entice, or procure, to come into this state any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or concubinage, or for any other immoral purpose or to enter any house of prostitution in this state, shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one nor more than five years and be fined not more than $5,000.

One of the strangest results brought about by the recent white slave prosecutions in Chicago and the publicity which they have received has been the astonishment of thousands of persons, as evidenced by letters, at the fact that such a wholesale traffic is actually in existence. But what is still more astounding, not to say discouraging, is the reluctance of the other thousands to believe that many hundreds of men and women are actually engaged in the business

of luring girls and women to their destruction, and that this infamous traffic is being carried on in every state of the union every day of the year. Perhaps the actuality of this awful avocation may be made more clearly apparent to the innocent and unsophisticated doubters whose awakening and moral support is needed if I cite one or two instances which have come to my personal knowledge within the last few days. In a comfortable farm home, an estate bordering upon Illinois,

is an uncommonly attractive young girl who has, almost by accident, been delivered from the worst fate which can possibly befall a young woman. Through secret service operations, one of the most dangerous procurers of this country was traced to the home in which this beautiful girl had been adopted as a daughter. The white slaver had already ingratiated himself into her confidence and that of her foster parents, and arrangements had practically been made by which she was to

accompany him to Chicago, where he had a fine position awaiting her. If he had not been located and his character made known to the household at the time when this was done, she would now be a white slave in a Chicago den. Another case which has had a less fortunate termination is that which involves the fake marriage, a subterfuge common in this wretched traffic. A young man made the acquaintance 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 advancement, were apparently flattered that he should bestow his attentions upon her, when, after very brief courtship, he proposed marriage. They offered no objections and even set aside their own wishes when he suggested that he held prejudices against being married by a clergyman and against having a formal wedding. Consequently, they went before a justice of the peace, who pronounced them man and

wife, a fake justice who was merely a confederate of the white slaver. They went at once to San Antonio, Texas, he having claimed that he held a very profitable position in a large business concern in that city. When they arrived there, the poor girl had her awful awakening, for she was promptly sold into the life of shame without hope of escape from its degrading servitude. Another very effective regulation, which every state will do well to adopt by enactment of its general assembly,

is that making the premises leased or used for a house of ill fame liable for any and all fines against its lessee. The following seems to me a desirable clause covering this point. Quote, Whoever keeps or maintains a house of ill fame, or a place for the practice of prostitution or lewdness, or whoever patronizes the same, or lets any house, room, or other premises for any such purpose,

or shall keep a lewd, ill-governed, or disorderly house to the encouragement of idleness, gambling, drinking, fornication, or other misbehavior, shall be fined not exceeding $1,000. When the lessee or keeper of a dwelling house or other building is convicted under this section, the lease or contract for letting the premises shall, at the option of the lessor, become void, and the lesser may have like remedy to recover the possession as against a tenant holding over

after the expiration of his term, and whoever shall lease any house, room, or other premises, in whole or in part for any of the uses or purposes finable under this section, or knowingly permits the same to be so used or kept, shall be fined not exceeding $1,000, and the house or premises so leased, occupied, or used, shall be held liable for, and may be sold for, any judgment obtained under this section. End quote. Some enactment of this nature is

particularly desirable for two reasons. First, because actual experience has shown that judgments obtained against keepers of such houses are difficult of collection and that the ones against whom the judgments are obtained are remarkably resourceful in avoiding punishment even after conviction. Second, it seems obvious that when a property owner knows that his real estate is particularly available for houses of this character, he is, if unprincipled enough to

do so, bound to encourage the use of his premises for that which will bring him the largest money returns. This puts him in the way of fattening upon the wages of the social vice without incurring danger of punishment. Naturally, he becomes a friend of the traffic and ready to aid and abet it wherever and 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 infamous trade. As the owner of the

property on which unlawful acts are persistently committed, and as a sharer in the unlawful profits 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 purpose of harboring fallen women, he is a link in the chain which draws innocent womanhood to its doom and that he must suffer to the full proportion of his guilt.

Again, it is the first instinct of the lessee or keeper of such a house on coming in contact with the law to flee and forfeit his or her bonds. By making the property itself liable to forfeiture, absolute security against this kind of thing is established, thereby preventing many a miscarriage of justice and of just penalties.

Since the beginning of the recent prosecutions in Chicago, a score of keepers, realizing their guilt and fearing prosecution, have fled the country and have not yet been apprehended. If both the federal and the state governments had a law of this kind, the escape of these criminals would not have involved a complete defeat of the law in their

cases, for prosecution could have been brought against some person connected with their establishments, and when a conviction was secured, the property occupied by them could have been closed out. A statute of this kind, or ever enacted, can scarcely fail to prove one of the most powerful and effective of all possible weapons against the white slave traffic. And the smaller the city, the more effective 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. One of the greatest weapons in the hands of the white slavers and of the keepers of houses of ill fame to prevent the escape of fresh recruits and to submerge them into hopeless slavery is the system of indebtedness 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 white slaver is to break down all hope of escape from

the life of shame and bitterness into which she has been entrapped. Nothing has been found so effective a means to this end as the debtor system. The first thing a girl is compelled to do on being thrown into one of these houses is to buy an expensive wardrobe at from five to six times its actual value. To be more definite, I have in my possession bills rendered against certain inmates taken from the dens. In these bills, stockings costing 75 cents have been charged at

$3. Shoes costing $2.50 are charged at $8, and kimonos costing $4 are charged at $15. As the goods themselves were seized as well as the bills for them, I am able to make this statement. In every case, I have found that the girl was compelled to renew her outfit of finery whenever the keeper so dictated, without regard to her need of it. Our investigations have all shown that when a keeper imagined that a girl, an inmate, is intending to leave the place,

either openly or secretly, a new outfit is forced upon her at absurd figures, and she is told that she cannot leave until every cent of her indebtedness has been wiped out, and that if she attempts to do so, they will put the law on her. In the dozens of cases which I have examined, there has not been a single one which has failed to show evidence of this kind. I have in my possession numerous copies of bills rendered against these wretched women

in which their costumes reach as high a figure as $1,200 and even $1,500. This indebtedness system is mutually recognized and enforced between the keepers of all houses. In other words, no girl can leave one house and enter another unless she is able to show that she leaves no indebtedness behind her. As this phase of business in the underworld is one of the main props of white slavery,

it is well to go into it with definiteness and to give examples which illustrates its operation. In one of the recent raids, a big Irish girl was taken and held as a witness. She was old enough, strong enough, and wise enough, it seemed to me, to have overcome almost any kind of opposition, even physical violence. She could have put up a fight which few men, no matter how brutal, would care to meet. I asked her why she did not get out

of the house, which was one of the worst in Chicago. Her answer was, get out, I can't. They make us buy the cheapest rags and they are charged against us at fabulous prices. They make us change outfits at intervals of two or three weeks until we are so deeply in debt that there is no hope of ever getting out from under. Then, to make such matters worse, we seldom get an accounting oftener than once in six months, and sometimes ten months or a year will pass between settlements,

and when we do get an accounting, it is always to find ourselves deeper in debt than before. We've simply got to stick, and that's all there is to it." To frame an enactment which will knock this prop of indebtedness system out from under the white slave business might appear to be a most difficult matter. And yet I believe that the legislature, which enacts a statute of which the following clause is the essential part, will go a long way towards accomplishing this most desired result. Quote,

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 than two or more than ten years. End quote. There is only one other enactment which all legislatures should be urged to pass, and that is one which strikes directly at the white slaver, the procurer, the owner, or the fellow. Keepers of houses of ill fame have discovered that the hideous task of keeping

the unwilling white slave in subjection is much easier if a certain ownership of her is vested in a man. In many cases, this man is the one who is directly responsible for placing the girl in the house. But this is not invariably the case. When it is the case, he receives not only a lump purchase price down on the delivery of his victim to the house, but he is recognized by the keeper as her owner and master, the one to whom a certain percentage of her income is paid and with whom all

settlements on her account are made. What 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 escape, he must cajole, threaten, or beat her into subjection. In one of the recent raids, I chanced to come upon visual demonstration of how this peculiar phase of white slavery operates in actual practice. One of these fellows was disciplining a girl whom he owned and doing so by the gentle process

of forcing her against the wall with hands at her throat. Some of these fellows owned two or three or perhaps more white slaves, and on the income of their slavery, these brutes live in luxury at expensive hotels, maintain expensive automobiles, and lead lives of luxury, idleness, and dissipation. While some states have statutes directly aimed at this system, it has been found extremely difficult to secure convictions against these most contemptible of all white slavers,

for the reason that all of the existing statutes, so far as I am informed, make it necessary, at least by implication, for the prosecution to establish the fact that they derive their entire support from white slaves under their control. In other words, it devolves upon the state to demonstrate that the man on trial has no other visible means of support. As a consequence, the defense setup is almost invariably calculated to prove that the man on trial is a solicitor for

a tailoring establishment, a laundry, or some other legitimate business enterprise. In view of this fact, it seems to me an enactment drawn upon the following lines would be effective. Quote, Any person who shall knowingly accept or receive in whole or in part support or maintenance from the proceeds or earnings of any woman engaged in prostitution shall be deemed guilty of a felony

and on conviction thereof shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than three years and find not exceeding $1,000 or both in the discretion of the court. End quote. Not long since I was asked how many persons I supposed Chicago contained who would come under a statute of this kind and who ought to receive sentence under it. My reply was this, quote, probably there are 5,000 women in Chicago today following the so-called profession of prostitution

and it would seem to me from the testimony obtained in the course of the recent white slave prosecutions here that at least one-fourth that number of male parasites are supported in whole or in part in this manner, and would therefore come within the meaning of such a statute. End quote. So much for specific legislation which ought, as a protection to the young womanhood of this country, to be passed by the legislature of every state in this country,

not already having statutes which adequately cover all the points involved in the clauses which I have suggested. The next practical question to be raised, and which I hope every reader of this article will ask, is this, quote, how can the legislatures be induced to make these needed enactments, end quote. Or, to express myself a little differently, if each reader were to ask me, quote, what is the quickest and most practical way by which I may get action on the legislature

of my own state, end quote, I would suggest the following methods. Find the names of the men who represent your district in the general assembly of your state and write to each one of them a letter substantially as follows, quote, Honorable Blank, Dear Sir, I am in hearty sympathy with the legislation against the white slave traffic proposed by the woman's world and urge you to secure the passage of laws which shall embody the clauses and enactments suggested in the enclosed

article clipped from that journal. You surely will not question the worthiness or the need of laws of this kind, and I ask the further favor of a reply from you indicating your attitude with regard to this most important matter, yours sincerely, end quote. Also, I would suggest that readers who are members of churches or habitual attendance upon church services take this matter up with the pastors of their churches, each requesting his or her pastor to confer with

the other pastors of his community to the end of preparing a petition to be sent to the representatives from that district in the legislature, urging the passage of the enactments above suggested. If these petitions are vigorously circulated, they will receive the signatures of practically the entire citizenship of every community and will have a powerful, not to say compelling, influence upon the representatives and state senators who receive them. Women's clubs, law and order leagues, Christian endeavor societies, Epworth leagues,

rangers and farmers institutes, young men's Christian associations, young women's Christian associations, and women's temperance unions in every city, village, and hamlet of the country can also exert a powerful and practical influence in securing such legislation as a protection against the ravages of the white slavers by passing suitable resolutions of endorsement and sending those resolutions to the men representing their several communities

in the General Assembly of their state. While, as I say, these memorials on the part of respected organizations will do a useful work in shaping the course of legislation, this will not take the place or do the work of the individual personal letter. And every reader who is sincerely and earnestly interested in securing such legislation,

as I have outlined, will miss the main stroke of influence if he or she fails to write a personal letter to the men representing his or her district in the General Assembly of the State. And whenever such a letter is written, the various clauses given in this article should be incorporated in the letter. This will put your request in definite and explicit terms, a result greatly to be desired. I cannot close this article without recurring to the statement

made at the outset to the effect that many persons still remain unconvinced that the white slave traffic is a thing of widespread and actual existence, that it is the established calling of hundreds of men to lure and kidnap innocent girls into a life of shame and to sell them into houses of prostitution where they are kept against their will in the most revolting of all human slaveries. In my desk at this moment is a letter from which the following is taken, quote,

There are in that house, number blank, two girls by the names of Annie and Edith. One has been there for two years and is not allowed to go out of the house, is not even allowed to write to her own people and whose mail is opened and read before she is allowed to look at it. The other girl has been there seven months and has never been out of the house. End quote. This letter was written by one who knew the facts in the case. A very few days ago, this pitiful case was, in an

official way, brought to my attention. A little German girl in Buffalo married a man who deserted her about the time her child was born. Her baby is now about eight or nine months old. Almost immediately after her husband ran away, she formed the acquaintance of an engaging young man who claimed to take deep interest in her welfare and in that of a certain girlfriend of hers. He persuaded them both that if they would accompany him to Chicago, he would immediately

place them in employment, which would be far more profitable than anything they could obtain and Buffalo. Supposing that the work awaiting her was entirely legitimate and respectable, the little mother took her baby and, in company with the young man and with her friend, came to Chicago. The next task of this human fiend was to persuade this child widow that it would be necessary for her to place her baby temporarily in a foundling's home in order that

it might not interfere with her employment. This accomplished, he took the two young women at once to a notorious house and sold them into white slavery. Thenceforth, this fellow has lived in luxury upon the shameful earnings of these two victims. The young mother has attempted by every means imaginable to escape from his clutches and at last has importuned him into a promise to release his hold upon her on the payment of $300. She is still working out the price of her release.

It is scarcely too much to say that she looks twice her age. One other example from the current history of the white slave trade as it is pursued today. Only a few nights since, a physician was calling professionally at one of the houses of Chicago's Red Light District. Two men and a young woman entered the door just before him and took seats at a table. A glance at her fresh and innocent face was enough to convince him that she was out of her element and probably unaware of the

character of her surroundings. Stepping abruptly to the table, the physician looked the young woman straight in the eye and asked, Madam, do you know that this is a house of prostitution? No, was the trembling answer. Are you a woman of the street, he persisted. She flushed indignantly, but finally replied,

No, I am a respectable woman, and I supposed I was being taken to a ladies' cafe. Her companions bolted for the door and made their escape. The physician then called a policeman, who escorted the young woman to her home and found her statements to be true, that she was a respectable girl and had believed her friends to be taking her to a respectable restaurant.

Tragedies of this kind are happening every day and all over this country. It is time for the decent people of the United States to wake up, realize what is going on in the underworld, and to take strong measures to protect their daughters and their neighbor's daughters from the hands of the most despicable and inhuman of all criminals,

the white slave traders. End chapter 26.