How these girls are retained.—If there is one thing above another which it seems to be difficult for people to generally understand, with reference to the white slave traffic, it is with regard to the manner in which these girls are led to continue in their immoral lives and to surrender their earnings to the white slavers after the physical restraint, to which they are at first subjected, is removed, and they are placed in assignation houses or other houses of ill fame, or are forced to engage in street soliciting. While the facts as to this matter will probably never be fully understood, there are many circumstances which throw light upon the situation. In the first place it should be remembered that when these girls fall into the hands of procurers an attempt is made to debauch them, as speedily as possible, to such an extent that they, themselves, as well as everyone else, will feel that they are hopelessly lost and can never again be received by their families and friends, and that there is absolutely no chance for them to go back to their old modes of life. Many of these girls disappear in such a manner that their relatives and friends never know what has become of them. Their relatives sometimes fear the truth, but they hope against hope that they are mistaken, and when, after a time, they receive from the girl a communication—written at the dictation of her master—to the effect that she is engaged in some legitimate occupation and is happily situated, they are only too ready to believe that such is the case, and the girl, herself, no doubt takes comfort in the thought that her relatives and friends know nothing of the depths of degradation to which she has been driven. These circumstances serve the procurer well. He makes it his business to obtain full information as to the relatives and friends of the girl, and knowing the real facts as to her life, and knowing that she feels that it would be better to perish in that life than to bring shame upon her mother or father, or her other relatives or friends, he uses this knowledge as a club to force her to do his bidding. If at any time he sees a disposition on her part to leave him and to return home or to engage in some legitimate occupation, he threatens to tell her mother and her friends all about her, and to represent to them that she has voluntarily engaged in the nefarious business into which he himself has driven her.
These creatures also frequently represent to their poor slaves (whether truthfully or not it is not for me to say) that they “stand in” with the police authorities, and are able and ready at all times to protect them from arrest, or to secure their release by furnishing bail, or otherwise, in case of arrest,
provided they do their bidding. They also threaten to cause their arrest and imprisonment if these poor victims fail to do their bidding.
These representations and others, which readily occur to these unscrupulous traffickers, who hesitate at nothing in order to hold their victims, usually serve to induce girls to at least postpone the time when they will change their mode of living, and often enable these men to control them without physical restraint, other than an occasional beating, after they have had possession of them for a few months. One of the principal representations that is made by these men to the girls, in order to continue to hold them under their control, is that they are saving the money for them, in order that both may, within a short time, quit their improper mode of life and take up some legitimate line of business. The date when they are to take this step is, of course, put off from time to time, as necessity arises, in order to hold the services of the girl, and many false representations are made as to the manner in which the money is being saved, the whole purpose of the white slaver being to retain possession of the girl during the period of her greatest earning capacity, and eventually to drop her, or turn her over to some other trafficker when he finds it to his advantage, and opportunity arises, to procure a younger or more attractive girl for his use. Meanwhile the traffickers themselves take practically all of the earnings of their girl, or girls, as the case may be—except that portion which is appropriated by the madam of the house in which the girl is located—and spend it for flashy clothes and in gambling and drinking, they in some cases spending a portion of their time in soliciting trade for their slaves.
In most of our cities of any considerable size there are numerous restaurants and other places where these slavers congregate for the purpose of drinking, smoking and discussing their affairs. With them the girls are merely chattels, and are lightly spoken of by them as their “meal tickets” or their “stock,” and deals are made between them for the exchange of girls or for the turning of them over to other traffickers. As for the girl herself—between the madam, who usually receives one-half her earnings, and the man, to whom she is generally required to turn over all of the rest of her earnings, and by whom she is also held to a strict account, and is frequently beaten and otherwise abused if her earnings are not sufficient to satisfy him—the poor girl is indeed in a miserable plight. No other form of slavery which has ever been devised can equal her condition.