Correspondence.
A SOCIAL QUESTION.
To the Editor of the “Japan Times.�
Dear Mr. Editor,—Will you kindly give the following “facts� a place in your paper. How long is the Government of this land going to sanction a condition of things that permits of such cruel enslavement of her women?—for, Mr. Editor, however the law may “read,� morally, these girls have no liberty; and so long as legalized prostitutes are possible, so long will such sacrifices be forced upon the women of Japan.
If it be true that a nation is judged by the esteem in which her women are held,—is it not time for ambitious Japan to remove this blot upon her name?
In western Japan lives a widow and her three children—two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter when twelve years of age was adopted by another family. Three years later the adopted father died, when the adopted mother desired to be relieved of the child, but had no intention of giving her up without remuneration. She therefore wrote the true mother offering to return the girl on the payment of yen 150, and in the event of the mother not paying this price stating that she would sell the child for three years to a brothel. The price demanded was more than the poor mother could meet, for she was struggling to supply the needs of herself and other children; and this child of fifteen years was sold for “seven� instead of “three� years, the purchase money going into the hands of the foster mother.
Seven years rolled round, and the true mother expected to receive her child, but through the intrigue of the brothel manager and foster-mother—the latter was receiving a monthly percentage of the girl’s earnings—it had been so managed that the helpless girl must earn still yen 300 before her slavery would end. The letters from this victim of man’s passion and greed told only of repugnance of the life to which she was bound, and were full of entreaties to be freed. Finally a letter came saying death was preferable to the life she was leading. In despair the mother journeyed to the city where her child was in bondage, and succeeded in getting possession of her. Ten years of enforced slavery to which “death� is preferable has been this girl’s portion. Happy in her freedom, she is now earning her living in an honest and respectable way, but on this innocent woman, who is but twenty-five years of age, will rest the blot of a soiled life. Where are the patriots? Surely the time has come for such to lift their voices and say these things shall not be.
Yours,
White Ribbon.
Editorial Note, March 3rd, 1899.
The question of licensed prostitution, like every other problem under the sun, has two sides to it, and no judgment can be pronounced upon it until all the pros and cons have been duly considered and weighed. We do not profess to have studied the subject sufficiently thoroughly and dispassionately to record any authoritative opinion about it. But so far as we can see, the community at large certainly fares better from moral and sanitary points of view under a system which localizes social vices and exercises strict control over them, than under the alternative system—or rather absence of system—under which the evil is suffered to stalk about and stare at respectable men and women at every turn in the open streets, as is the case in many Christian cities in Europe and America. It is quite possible that the system of efficient control is not free from individual cases of hardship, cruelty, and injustice, such as that cited by “White Ribbon� in a letter published elsewhere. But the question is whether such cases of hardship upon innocent girls will be removed when the present system of licenced prostitution shall have been done away with. Supposing that there were no licenced houses of ill fame, would not the same greedy and cruel adopted mother in the present case have found some other means of making money at the sacrifice of the unfortunate girl’s virtue? Would the girl’s lot be any the better in such event? Until a times arrives when these questions can be answered in the decided affirmative, it seems to be mere waste of useful energy on the part of social reformers to cry out against the system of administrative control of vice. They had better devote their attention to the elevation of the general moral tone of society.
Dear Sir,—The case of the girl sold by her mother-in-law into a life of prostitution, reported by “White Ribbon� in to-day’s issue of your paper, is certainly not an exceptional one in this country. That the majority of the girls filling the houses of prostitution in this country are there not of their own free will, but are practically held as slaves, is the current opinion among Japanese. That the government does not recognize such “sales� is of course understood. The first and most important step for social reformers undoubtedly is, as you suggest, the elevation of the general moral tone of society. This is the purpose of the “White Ribbon� movement and of much other moral and religious work. I am also ready to grant that, at least for the present, it may be an open question whether the legal control of the social evil is not perhaps the wiser course to pursue. But the question remains; what is the Government of Japan doing towards the elevation of the moral tone of society, making such cases as reported by your correspondent at least hideous in the eyes of the people, and rare in occurrence? Does not the manner in which the Government regulates this vice tend rather towards encouraging than towards discouraging such practice? Henry Norman in his “The Real Japan� has given us a pretty clear insight into the procedure by which girls receive the Government’s permission to lead the profession of courtesan. As Henry Norman says, “the whole system is based upon the theory of a civil contract� and if the poor girl, hating the life into which she has been forced, tries to escape it by flight, is it not true that the keeper of the house of prostitution “recovers possession of her by a civil action for debt against her parents and surety�? Would not much be gained if the Government should cease authorizing the entrance of any girl upon a life of prostitution? If the police were to keep strict account of the number of prostitutes in the houses of ill fame, the medical examination could be continued compulsorily as now; and in this lies, as far as I understand, the great advantage claimed by the advocates of licensing the evil. But if a girl has been allured or has been sold into a life of shame, she could then escape from it without fear of being forced back by a civil suit against her parents or against those who had to do with leading her into it. If any keeper of a house of ill fame advances money in order to have additions to his stock of prostitutes, let him do it entirely at his risk, knowing that there is no legal redress if he loses his money through the flight of the girl.