The Life and Adventures of Ben Hogan, the Wickedest Man in the World

by Ben Hogan

A third question, which from time immemorial has agitated the public mind, has received thorough and careful consideration by Ben Hogan. That question is the social evil.

Let nobody question the right of such a man as the hero of this book has been shown to be to pass judgment upon this all-important subject. It is to men who have gained a practical knowledge of such matters that we must turn for true reform. The theorizers who preach from the pulpits may be all well enough in their doctrines, but the practice of what they preach is impossible. As has been justly said, the wise legislator seeks to enact such laws as may be put in effect. It would be an excellent thing, no doubt, if murder and theft, and crime of every description, could be done away with altogether; but no laws can be enacted to compass this desirable end. The statute book can only throw about society a safeguard; it cannot exterminate the evils to which men are prone.

So, then, in dealing with this perplexing question, we must look the facts squarely in the face. It is a fact, to begin with, that women have prostituted themselves in all stages of the world’s history. It is a fact, from the very nature of society, that this evil will continue so long as the passions of men overmaster and control their reason. It is a fact, that in every city and town of any considerable size in the United States there are a greater or smaller number of houses devoted to the propagation of illicit intercourse. It is a fact that all the laws which thus far have been enacted with a view to suppressing this evil have ignominiously failed of their purpose. It is a fact that man is addicted to folly, and that woman is weak. Until society is reconstructed on a different basis from the present, these things will undoubtedly remain as they now are. How, then, shall the evil be met?

Ben Hogan holds the views of a man who has studied the question in all its bearings. His conclusions may not be in accord with religious teachings nor Sunday-school law makers; but I think they are strictly in accord with common sense.

He claims at the outset that the social evil cannot be exterminated. The one thing, therefore, left to do is to render it as harmless as possible, and to surround it by such legal safeguards as may be practicable. First, let the house of prostitution be regularly licensed. This is no new idea, nor is it untried even in this country. In St. Louis and some other Southern cities the plan has been adopted, certainly with better effects than the abortive attempts to suppress such places altogether. On the Continent of Europe it is the almost universal practice to grant such licenses. Let us consider briefly the advantages arising from such a course.

If a sporting house is regarded as a legal institution—which of course it is, in case of a license—then the law is able to take it in hand, and dictate such rules as it sees fit. This enables such places to become respectable in so far as it is possible for them to be so under any circumstances. A license necessarily carries with it certain conditions and restrictions. Let these be made so binding and severe that it will be impossible for any diseased woman to offer her body for prostitution. Let a board of examining physicians call at the houses at regular intervals, and make a thorough examination of the inmates.

Just here I fancy some over-righteous reader may be tempted to throw down this volume in disgust.

“What!” exclaims such a one, “would you make this miserable traffic more widespread than it already is?”

Common sense, and not morality, must dictate the answer. These places will exist in spite of preachers and police. The sensible, worldly plan should be to make them as productive of as little evil as possible. When a man holds illicit intercourse with a woman, it is assumed that he breaks the law of God; but, unfortunately, no means has ever yet been devised to prevent a man from sinning. He is a free moral agent, responsible for his acts, and accountable for the disposition which he makes of his days on this earth. But while the laws of society cannot prevent a man from breaking the laws of God, it can restrain him from rushing into those excesses which may injure others beside himself.

Another advantage—and this also, it is to be remembered, is of purely a worldly nature—arising from granting licenses to sporting houses would be the revenue returned to the municipal government. Here again the pious reader may take offense at the line of argument. And yet he thinks nothing of profiting by the tax which is laid upon liquor dealers. Nevertheless, rum is as certain an agent of the devil, according to the strict Puritanic view, as anything in the world. “Wine and women are equally destructive to the soul,” say the preachers.