| Excess of poverty, absolute destitution | 1,441 |
| Loss of father and mother; expulsion from home; complete desertion | 1,255 |
| To support aged and infirm parents | 37 |
| Eldest of the family having neither father nor mother, to support brothers and sisters, and sometimes nieces and nephews | 29 |
| Widows and deserted wives, to raise a large family | 23 |
| 2,785 | |
| 53% of a total of 5,183. |
The author says among other things: “Poverty, often pushed to the most frightful extreme, is still one of the most active causes of prostitution. How many girls abandoned by their families, without parents, without friends, unable to find refuge anywhere, are obliged to have recourse to prostitution in order not to die of hunger! One of these unfortunates, still susceptible to feelings of honor, strove to the last extremity before taking up a part which she regarded as extreme, and when she came to register herself it was shown that she had not eaten anything for three days.”[146]
“One would hardly believe that the career of prostitution has been embraced by certain women as a means of fulfilling their duty as daughter or mother; yet nothing is more true. It is not unusual to see married women who have lost their husbands or been deserted by them, become prostitutes with the sole purpose of not leaving a numerous family to die of hunger. It is still more common to find young girls who, not earning by their labor enough to provide for the wants of their aged and infirm parents, ply the trade of prostitute in the evening to make up what is lacking. I have found the marks peculiar to these two classes of prostitutes too often not to be convinced that they are more numerous in Paris than one would believe.”[147]
In the “Reports of the Select Committee, etc.”, which I have already quoted several times, are found the following figures:[148]
England.
| To provide for the needs of her mother | 11 |
| To,, provide,, for,, the,, needs,, of,, her,, idle husbands | 35 |
| As a consequence of poverty or lack of work | 164 |
| 210 | |
| 6.8% of a total of 3,076. |
[[344]]
(We must take into consideration the fact that in the case of many of the 37.9% who are put down in this same set of tables as seduced, poverty was a contributory cause.)
Ferriani gives the following table:[149]