A STUDY OF PROSTITUTES COMMITTED FROM NEW YORK CITY TO THE STATE REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN AT BEDFORD HILLS
By Katharine Bement Davis, Superintendent.
Sources:—The materials for this study are found in the records of 647 prostitutes committed from New York City to the State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills.[304] Of these, 279 were in the institution at the time the study was made. The remainder were either on parole or had been discharged on completion of sentence. The data are gathered from the girls’ own stories supplemented by information from their families, from correspondence with previous employers, interviews with officials of other institutions, letters received and sent by the women themselves; from the officers who chaperone all visits to the girls while in the institution and from personal acquaintance extending in every case from three months to several years. The difficulties inherent in the compilation of such statistics are obvious. Certain data, such as birthplace, age, size of family, education, religion and previous occupation, are probably very nearly accurate. When we leave the domain of facts easily verifiable and come to the question of causes of prostitution, earnings of prostitution, reasons for coming to New York City, past institution records, conjugal condition, there is always a possibility of error. But we believe the study is, on the whole, a fair picture of the New York City prostitute who is convicted in the New York City courts. It may be said that the women convicted in the courts are not a fair sample of New York prostitutes as a class, for the reason that the more prosperous ones are so protected as not to suffer molestation from the police. A comparison, however, of the tables of the institution cases with the cases of women on the streets which include all grades from those who frequent the more expensive hotels down, will not show wide variations.
Birthplace and Parentage:—New York’s population is composed of as heterogeneous elements as any city on the continent. It is the meeting place of the nations. What effect has this on the composition of a body of New York prostitutes? Does the native-born American who has enjoyed the economic and social advantages of this country contribute a greater or less percentage than the various groups of foreign-born? Interesting from the point of view of our immigration problem is the proportionate number contributed by each of the chief races in New York City.
An analysis of the 647 Bedford cases shows that American-born whites contribute 62.75 percent of the entire number; American-born colored women furnish 13.14 percent while the foreign-born women are 24.11 percent of the total. (See [Table I].) A preliminary bulletin issued by the United States Census Bureau for the Census of 1910, places the native white population of New York City at 57.3 percent, while the foreign population is estimated at 40.4 percent of the entire population. According to this, the American-born contribute more and the foreign-born less than their proportion to the Bedford prostitutes. But 647 cases are a very small number on which to base any judgment. We have at hand, however, some other statistics. The histories of 610 prostitutes in other institutions have been analyzed.[305] Of these, 168 or 27.2 percent were white foreign-born and 68.5 percent were white American-born. In the study of 1,106 street cases, all white women, made in connection with this report, we find 31 percent foreign-born and 68.9 percent American-born.[306] The percentage of foreign-born is here somewhat higher than in the institution cases because practically no colored women were included among the street cases and few in the institutions other than Bedford. Combining the three sets of records, or 2,363 cases, we have 67 percent American-born white as against 28 percent foreign-born; a poor showing for the American-born. (See [page 250], Table XLIX, columns III and IV.)
Taking up a comparison of the different nationalities, we find that in the Bedford cases the countries in the order of their numerical contributions stood as follows: Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Ireland, England-Scotland, France, and Italy. (See [Table XLIX], column II.) Ranking the contributions to the 610 cases in the other institutions in the same way, the first five places on the list were identical. Canada comes sixth and France is relegated to eighth place. ([Table], column III.) Examining the street cases in the same way, Russia comes first, Germany and Austria-Hungary exchange places as do Ireland and England-Scotland, France and Italy occupying sixth and seventh places. ([Table], column IV.) Combining all records, the order is the same as for the street cases with the exception that Ireland and England-Scotland are reversed. ([Table], column V.) Ranking the foreign-born population of New York City in point of numbers, we have Russia, Germany, Ireland, Austria-Hungary, England-Scotland, and France. ([Table], column IV.) Dropping out Italy, the order remains as in column V.
[Table L] shows numbers and percentages. From this, it would seem that, with the exception of Italy, the various foreign groups contribute prostitutes in numbers proportioned to their numerical rank but not in proportion to their percentage of the total population; thus, Russia forming a trifle over 10 percent of the population contributes only about 8.3 percent of prostitutes; Germany and Austria-Hungary come very near to contributing their full quota; Ireland only about half, while England-Scotland send us a very few more and France a good many more than their proper proportion. It is a well-known fact that Italy sends to the United States every year, many hundred unmarried men or men without their families. This probably accounts for the small proportion of Italy’s contribution. It may be argued that this is not a fair rating as we have no complete census of New York prostitutes, but owing to the methods employed in securing our material both in and out of institutions, we probably have here as representative a group of prostitutes as can be found, and a fair cross section of the entire number. It might be a more just comparison if we had the figures for the female population of the various national groups within the age limits of the women studied, but that is not attainable. With the exception of the Italian and possibly some of the component parts of the Russian and Hungarian groups, the figures used here are believed to be fairly comparable.