Question. Are these children living with you, or where are they?
| Numbers. | |||||
| Children | living with the mothers | 73 | |||
| " | boarding at the expense of mothers | 247 | |||
| " | "with mothers’ relatives | 140 | |||
| " | supporting themselves | 129 | |||
| " | living with the fathers | 59 | |||
| " | in public or charitable institutions | 36 | |||
| " | adopted by families | 20 | |||
| " | unascertained | 28 | |||
| Totals | 659 | 73 | |||
| 73 | |||||
| Aggregate of children | 732 | ||||
This table shows the social influences to which the survivors of this ill-fated band of children are exposed. There are seventy-three stated to be living with their mothers, and, so far as they are concerned, no reasonable person can entertain any hopes as to their future morality. Born in the abodes of vice, their dwelling is in an atmosphere of squalid misery or sordid guilt; they never have a glimpse of a better life; they are marked from their cradles for a career of degradation; they can fall no lower, for they stand already on the lowest level. Such as these are denominated “dangerous classes” by the French authorities, and from their ranks are obtained many of the inmates of prisons and brothels. The children stated to be with their fathers, fifty-nine in number, it may be concluded were born before the mother’s fall from virtue, and are decidedly the most fortunate of any coming under notice, while those living with the parents or relatives of the mother, amounting to one hundred and forty, or boarding at the mother’s expense, of whom there are two hundred and forty-seven, stand less chance of contamination than if actually residing within the domains of vice. Those living in public or charitable institutions exhibit one cause of taxation upon the general body of the citizens, and show that, indirectly, every man in New York is compelled to contribute toward the maintenance of vice or its offspring. A visit to the public institutions on Blackwell’s and Randall’s Islands will prove that this is but one item of the expenses which prostitution inflicts upon the community.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
NEW YORK.—STATISTICS.
Continuance of Prostitution.—Average in Paris and New York.—Dangers of Prostitution.—Disease.—Causes of Prostitution.—Inclination.—Destitution.—Seduction.—Intemperance.—Ill-treatment.—Duties of Parents, Husbands, and Relatives.—Influence of Prostitutes.—Intelligence Offices.—Boarding-schools.—Obscene Literature.
Question. For what length of time have you been a prostitute?
| Time. | Numbers. | ||
| 1 | month | 71 | |
| 2 | months | 49 | |
| 3 | " | 76 | |
| 4 | " | 62 | |
| 5 | " | 51 | |
| 6 | " | 126 | |
| 7 | " | 129 | |
| 8 | " | 17 | |
| 9 | " | 21 | |
| 10 | " | 32 | |
| 1 | year | 325 | |
| 2 | years | 55 | |
| 3 | " | 245 | |
| 4 | " | 203 | |
| 5 | " | 125 | |
| 6 | " | 87 | |
| 7 | " | 56 | |
| 8 | " | 69 | |
| 9 | " | 32 | |
| 10 | " | 26 | |
| 11 | " | 8 | |
| 12 | " | 14 | |
| 13 | " | 6 | |
| 14 | " | 7 | |
| 15 | " | 9 | |
| 16 | " | 13 | |
| 17 | " | 3 | |
| 18 | " | 4 | |
| 19 | " | 8 | |
| 20 | " | 4 | |
| 21 | " | 2 | |
| 22 | " | 1 | |
| 23 | " | 2 | |
| 24 | " | 2 | |
| 25 | " | 1 | |
| 27 | " | 1 | |
| 29 | " | 1 | |
| 30 | " | 1 | |
| 32 | " | 1 | |
| 34 | " | 1 | |
| 35 | " | 1 | |
| Unascertained | 53 | ||
| Total | 2000 | ||
It has already been stated that the average duration of the life of a prostitute does not exceed four years from the commencement of her career. This is one year beyond the estimated duration as given by some English writers, but very far below the average, as ascertained in Paris, in which city, at the time M. Parent-Duchatelet instituted his elaborate system of investigation, he found in the gross number of 3517 prostitutes, two hundred and forty-two who had led that life for upward of fourteen years, and six hundred and forty-one who had continued their course upward of ten years. What a contrast to the table given above! In Paris, 6⅔ per cent. had survived the horrors of courtesan life for fourteen years; in New York, only 2¾ per cent. have reached the same period. In Paris, 17½ per cent. existed; in New York, 3¾ per cent. exist after ten years of exposure; or, in other words, where seven exist in Paris, only three have survived in New York, or where seventeen exist in Paris, only four survive in New York. It can not be asserted that Paris is a more healthy city than New York, and this difference must arise from the fact that, while judicious arrangements are enforced in the former, a similar policy has not been recognized in the latter. If this relative mortality were the only fact known on this matter, the economy of human life would be an irresistible argument in favor of measures of supervision judiciously conceived and promptly executed.