In Brussels, where regulation was held to be perfect, and a model for other countries, English girls were found enslaved, and the chief of police resigned after being exposed as a partner with the white slave traders.
In India, regulation went the abhorrent length that an army circular memorandum, under authority of Sir Frederick, afterwards Lord Roberts, made the army itself a procurer of prostitutes, saying: "It is necessary to have a sufficient number of women; to take care that they are sufficiently attractive; and to provide them with proper houses"—free quarters. When Dr. Kate Bushnell and Mrs. Andrew, two American ladies, exposed the frightful conditions existing, by authority, in India, Lord Roberts at first said that they spoke falsely, but afterwards said, when convicted of the truth, "I apologize to the ladies without reserve."
In Hong Kong, under regulation, government money was used by detectives to induce women to sin with them, in order to enroll them as public women. In India and Hong Kong alike, under the reign of Queen Victoria, of happy memory, these registered women were called "Queen's women." Under such shameful misrule Hong Kong became the base for the shipment of Chinese slave girls to California, by which Mongolian brothel slavery was introduced into America—a horror worse than the bubonic plague.
BLAMELESS GIRLS ENSNARED IN CHICAGO.
In this First Ward of Chicago, said to be the most influential and richest ward in the world, are nearly two miles of indecent resorts. Since a district in this ward was thrown open to this most diabolical commerce, blameless Chicago virgins have been lured to apartments on Wabash avenue, under the shadow of churches of cathedral importance, and then sold into the adjacent white slave market—the illegal red light district. This was shown in court at Harrison Street, before Judge Newcomer, June 1, 1907.
Intoxicating liquor has been sold illegally, without a license, in hundreds, perhaps thousands of resorts in the city, against the protest of the Chicago Law and Order League repeatedly addressed to the Mayor. Surely this will not be allowed to continue—the virtual payment of a bounty of a thousand dollars a year, the price of a saloon license, to the keeper of an indecent resort. Surely the First Ward debauch in the Coliseum will never be allowed again.
REPEAL OF REGULATION NOW DEMANDED IN EUROPE.
The International Bureau for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, representing every country in Europe, except Turkey, has recently written:
"We are anxious to call the attention of our readers to the fact that when we started the work for the suppression of the white slave traffic, we maintained that, apart altogether from that direct work, the respective governments would have their attention drawn to the importance of the question of the repeal of the system of regulation of vice. Our anticipations are being fully realized in different countries, where the National Committees are declaring by vote that the White Slave traffic is promoted and kept alive by the government regulation of vice, and are calling upon their respective governments to abolish the system." (23d Annual Report of the National Vigilance Association, London, page 17.)
The only righteous attitude of government toward all crime and vice is eternal antagonism. The government should educate the people concerning the frightful effects of vice and never encourage these ruinous practices. The responsibility of government in this connection are nothing less than awful.