“14. In case any woman manifests a fixed desire to give up her profligate mode of life, the keeper shall make no attempt to turn her from it, and can not, even on account of sureties he may be under, hinder her from carrying out her determination. Moreover, the keeper must present the woman with apparel suitable to a woman of the serving class, in case she should be destitute of the same.”
15. Provides for change of keepers.
“16. The keeper is expected to give all assistance to the commission in their efforts to lead such persons back to an honest livelihood; especially so in their endeavors to suppress illicit prostitution, and to detect the sources of venereal infection.”
CHAPTER XVIII.
LEIPZIG.
Population.—Registered and illicit Prostitutes.—Servants.—Kept-women.—Brothels.—Nationality of Prostitutes.—Habits.—Fairs.—Visitors.—Earnings of Prostitutes.
But very few remarks are necessary concerning prostitution in Leipzig, where no striking peculiarity marks the common women as a class, and the legislation is based on the ordinary German principle of toleration.
If we reckon its garrison as a part of the population of the town, the number of inhabitants will amount to about one hundred thousand, nearly one third of whom are soldiers or transient residents. It is subject to many fluctuations at various times, but the general average may be assumed at the number stated. Of the permanent residents there are about six hundred well known and professed male rogues and blacklegs; these are under the constant and vigilant surveillance of the police. They unquestionably exert a considerable influence on the female morality of the place, not only from their own amours, for which men of this character are notorious wherever located, but by the agency they frequently assume to arrange the “pleasures” of their victims and acquaintances.
It need, therefore, occasion no surprise to ascertain that, in addition to about three hundred registered prostitutes who are subject to medical and police supervision, there are about twelve hundred women who notoriously frequent the city, from the neighboring towns and villages, for purposes of prostitution, whenever a large influx of visitors makes it probable that Leipzig will be a lucrative market for them. These are not directly under any police control. To this number of fifteen hundred avowed and known prostitutes, who are to be found in the city during busy seasons of the year, must be added the class of irregular or private courtesans, mostly composed of domestics. It is estimated there are three thousand servant-girls in the city, and the habits of a large number of them leave no doubt as to the propriety of including them in this enumeration; indeed, those who have had the best opportunities for observation do not hesitate to assert that at least one third are vicious. Assuming this to be an accurate calculation, we have 2500 prostitutes, or one in every forty of the gross population, exclusive of kept mistresses, or those frail women in the more aristocratic circles of society who should properly be classed with them. In this respect we have no reason to conclude that Leipzig is either better or worse than other large cities of the present day.