Question. How long have you resided in New York City?
| Length of Residence. | Numbers. | |||
| Under | 2 | months | 46 | |
| " | 3 | " | 30 | |
| " | 6 | " | 56 | |
| " | 1 | year | 140 | |
| " | 2 | years | 236 | |
| " | 3 | " | 189 | |
| " | 4 | " | 128 | |
| " | 5 | " | 135 | |
| " | 10 | " | 388 | |
| 10 years and upward | 427 | |||
| From Birth | 185 | |||
| Unascertained | 40 | |||
| Total | 2000 | |||
These tables require no comment. The attention of the reader may merely be called to the fact that three hundred and ninety-four women have been already reported as born in the State of New York, of which number three hundred and fifty-three have resided within its limits continuously from the time of their birth, and that one hundred and eighty-five, or nearly one half, were natives of New York City, and have resided therein from the day they were born. This fact alone demonstrates that the influences of metropolitan life are not very favorable to the advance of female morality.
Question. What induced you to emigrate to the United States?
| Reasons. | Numbers. | |
| Came as stewardesses | 2 | |
| Ran away from home | 18 | |
| Ill usage of parents | 34 | |
| Came with their seducers | 39 | |
| Came to improve their condition | 411 | |
| Sent out by parents or friends | 81 | |
| Came with relatives or to join relatives already in the United States | 619 | |
| No special cause assigned | 34 | |
| Total of foreigners | 1238 | |
This table shows that a majority of the prostitutes of foreign birth were induced to emigrate to the United States either by considerations of policy—four hundred and eleven assigning as their reason a desire to improve their condition in life—or from family connections, six hundred and nineteen having arrived with relatives and friends, or with the purpose of joining relatives and friends already in this country.
It will not be denied by any one familiar with the subject that one main reason for emigration is always found in the comparative difficulty of earning a livelihood in the place of the emigrant’s nativity, and the expectation of doing better in a strange land; a conclusion sustained by the fact that a prosperous year in Europe serves to check the arrivals here, and vice versa. With the difficult problem of labor and remuneration in the Old World it would be out of place to interfere; but it may be remarked that, badly as many branches of female employment are paid for with us, they are still worse paid for in England. Reference to a previous chapter, treating of the causes of prostitution in that country, will at once establish this point, and the instances therein quoted of the wages paid in London will remove all surprise that this country should be a receptacle for underpaid operatives, or that the hope of realizing better wages should be sufficiently powerful to sever all ties of birth-place and home. But many of these impoverished women were actually dependent upon friends for the payment of their passage-money, and consequently arrived here almost literally penniless, with very slight prospects of obtaining work, and frequently with but one alternative, and the only one they had before coming here, which they must embrace or starve.
Another class assign as a reason for expatriation the ill usage of parents, in itself a prolific cause of prostitution under any circumstances, but more especially when its effects have been to drive the girl a distance of four thousand miles from home.
From an examination of these causes alone, it is apparent that, however well qualified, physically and morally, to add their quota to the prosperity of the United States, had their exertions been properly directed, yet the circumstances under which these women emigrated were so embarrassing as to render them easy victims to those whose special business seems to be to ensnare the friendless and unfortunate.
This branch of inquiry may be continued by a reference to the following table, giving a summary of answers to the