Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls; Or, War on the White Slave Trade

by Unknown

I hardly need to say anything about syphilis. You know what the leper of the Orient used to be required to do and perhaps to this day—when any one met this leper, you know, he had to stand back and raise a warning hand and say "Unclean, Unclean." But the man who has syphilis, does he have to raise any warning hand? No, he mingles in the best society; he drinks from our drinking glass and the innocent child perhaps uses the same drinking glass in the railway train. Fortunately, there is only a short period of time when he can transmit it through the drinking glass, but during that time there is nothing to restrain him, so far as I know.

When I was a student in the medical school a quarter of a century ago, it was a common thing to pass over with some jocose remark the disease of gonorrhea. But that isn't done any more. Why? Because it is now proven to the medical profession that gonorrhea is quite as dangerous as syphilis. But the people in general do not know that. Let us tell the young men, especially, that they cannot afford to run the risk of gonorrhea, because it may not only wreck their own lives but the germs may lurk there and may be transmitted two or three or more years later to some innocent bride.

QUESTION FROM WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: Couldn't the husbands be examined?

DR. HALL: That is a perfectly fair question. I have a daughter and I want to just say this that no man is ever going to take that daughter from under my roof until I am sure that he has not got tuberculosis, for one thing, and syphilis and gonorrhea for another.

CHAIRMAN BOYNTON: I am sure it is a matter of congratulation that we have physicians in the city of Chicago who can talk as Dr. Hall has talked to us this morning. I am glad the time has come when we can sit as men and women and hear the truth and be unashamed.

I am sure we are all glad to have with us Judge Julian W. Mack of the Circuit Court, who will address us.

JUDGE JULIAN W. MACK: Ladies and Gentlemen: I am on the program for the closing words. I have no particular subject to talk about but it is a great gratification to listen to the words, particularly of Dr. Hall, and to see the response that they receive in a mixed audience such as this. Too long have we buried our heads in the sand; too long have we been silent on these great subjects; too long have we lied to our little ones, and thereby helped to bring about the destruction of so many of them.

I am not one of those who believe for a moment that salvation lies in education alone. Most drunkards know the evil of drink. Most men that yield to these temptations have some idea of the evil that they are going into, but girls in great numbers do not know. The young boys in great numbers do not know. Just as Dr. Hall said, you cannot appeal to a thousand school or college men, putting before them the truth, bringing them to the knowledge of terrible danger—and get any but one response. Our young people are noble and brave and we can rely upon them. If we could not, there would not be much hope of our country. We must educate them. We must tell them the facts. It isn't many years ago that the physicians were most guilty on this subject. If they had but told the men of our generation what we are now endeavoring to tell the young people of today, there would not be as many of these operations as there are now. But they passed off these matters so indifferently, as they might a slight cold, and that is what they all did practically about ten years ago. It was a crime against the young people of that day. The physicians, the clergymen and the laymen have all been awakened to a realization of our duties, at least, so far as education is concerned. It is up to us to see to it that all the boys and girls know something of the mystery of life that they may guard against the dangers and the temptations that confront them.

Dr. Hall spoke of some of the evils that await the innocent wife. Let me carry that a step further and apply it to local conditions. In our County Hospital we have a floor in the children's ward for the treatment of these cases among the children. Dr. Billings, President of the State Board of Charities and one of the, if not the leading physician in this section of the country, and Dr. Frank Churchill, one of the leading children's specialists of this city, told me a few days ago that there are from forty to sixty children at all times in that department, and that this disease is so virulent, so contagious, that there is grave danger to every child that enters that building and is treated for other diseases in other distinctive parts of that building, and that the great and crying need for the children—the sick children—today in Chicago and in Cook county, is not one floor devoted to this, but a distinct, separate building so that the children who have not yet become afflicted and are taken to the hospital for other contagious or non-contagious diseases, may not become infected and carry into their own homes gonorrheal trouble that comes through contagion, and it is up to this Vigilance Association, the Society of Social Hygiene and the other organizations, to see to it that the innocent children who are sick and as yet not afflicted with this disease, taken to our county institution do not come out worse than they enter. It is up to us to demand that they provide a proper children's department, a proper children's building, for the treatment of these cases.

The Society of Social Hygiene is but three years old. Similar organizations exist in the large cities of the country. They are due to the awakening of the people. They are spreading among the young people the knowledge of the conditions that confront them. It is up to the rest of us to do our share in other ways. Each of us can be an inspiration in his own family, in the public and in the private schools. We, the educated people of this community, can instruct the lesser educated parents so that they may realize their duty to their children. Our children and their children come together. We cannot escape that brotherhood, even if we wanted to. Our children, no matter how well we care for them, come into contact with the rest of the children of the city. We do not do our duty by our own unless we do our duty by the others too, and unless we see to it that they are properly cared for also, danger awaits our own children. That is putting it on selfish grounds, but I put it to you on the broader ground of brotherhood to man. Let us all join. On this great question at least we are one. No matter how we may differ on other social problems, on this question of the white slave traffic every decent man and woman stands on the same ground.