The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World

by William W. Sanger

In such places vice presents comparatively few attractions, and yet these houses are numerously visited, principally by travelers, clerks from stores, the higher class of mechanics, etc., some of whom will spend in an evening the earnings of a week.

The women who preside over these brothels are usually of the strong-minded, and frequently of the strong-handed order, the latter being those who can by their own strength suppress any riot that may occur without calling in aid from the police, and generally calculate to preserve a moderate decorum in their establishments. Their profits are very large, derived not merely from the board money and extras paid by the women, but also from the wines and liquors they sell. They do not endeavor to screen their own character, as do those of the upper class, but openly acknowledge what they are, and do not hesitate to give their personal attention to the business of the place. Anxious to accumulate money as rapidly as possible, they are not very particular about the means they employ, and although they would not allow any positive act of dishonesty to be performed toward a visitor while he was in the house, on account of the trouble to which it might subsequently expose them, yet they would scarcely consider it their duty to warn him against the proceedings of the men who live as “lovers” with the prostitutes under their roofs. The virtue of these keepers is certainly not of a very rigid order, and their favored lovers are universally selected from among men of the same character as themselves.

The meals provided for boarders are served at about the same hours as in the fashionable houses, but they lack that neatness and arrangement which a good cook would give, the domestic matters being mostly confided to inexperienced servants, and frequently to some old prostitutes who are retained at nominal wages to do as much work as they can, and in their own style.

It has been already stated that some of the second-class houses of prostitution are conducted in a similar manner to those of the first, and therefore no attempt has been made to give any detailed account of them, which would be a mere repetition of what has been once described. The lower class have been taken as illustrating the second grade, and consequently the account must not be taken as a sweeping condemnation of the whole.

The next, or third grade of prostitutes and houses of prostitution may be found very fully developed in the first police district, among the Germans; in the fourth district, where sailors mostly resort; and also in the third, fifth, sixth, and fourteenth districts. A majority of the women in these districts are of foreign birth, the largest proportion being Irish and German. Although rated as third-class houses, some of them are equal in all respects, and sometimes superior in many, to houses of the second class. Most of the women are young, and many of them are very good-looking, while the houses, particularly those kept by Germans, are in general conducted very quietly. Even in those places resorted to by sailors, the principal part of any noise which may occur is caused by the boisterous mirth and practical jokes of the visitors themselves. The houses are, in every sense of the word, “public” places of prostitution, and neither women nor keepers seek to disguise the fact in any manner, the general argument seeming to be, “We live by prostitution, no matter who knows it.”

There are many distinctive features in the several districts, but the first and the fourth will be fair average types of the whole, and these we will notice briefly, commencing with the German houses in the first district.

Here drinking is openly carried on, although seldom to such an extent as to cause absolute intoxication. There is a public bar-room opening directly from the street, where can be obtained lager beer and German wines, as well as the usual liquors sold in porter-houses. This is the reception-room of the establishment, and a stranger in the city, who might walk in to get a glass of lager beer, without knowing the character of the place, or being aware of the signification of the crimson and white curtains festooned over the windows, would find himself followed to the bar by some German girl, who would ask him in broken English if he would “treat her.” If he feels inclined to gaze around him and study human nature in this phase, he sees that the room is very clean; a common sofa, one or two settees, and a number of chairs are ranged round the walls; there is a small table with some German newspapers upon it; a piano, upon which the proprietor or his bar-keeper at intervals performs a national melody; and a few prints or engravings complete its furniture. Two or three girls are in different parts of the room engaged in knitting or sewing; for German girls, whether virtuous or prostitute, seem to have a horror of idleness, and even in such a place as this are seldom seen without their work. Every thing bears an unmistakable Teutonic appearance; from the heavily-mustached proprietor, or the recently-imported bar-keeper, to the mistress, or madame as she is generally called, and the women themselves, all plainly tell their origin. He is surprised at the entire absence of all those noisy elements generally considered inseparable from a low-class house of prostitution. He can sit there and smoke his cigar in as much peace as at any hotel in the city; and if he once tells a woman he does not wish to have any conversation with her, he will scarcely be annoyed again, unless he makes the first advances. If he thinks proper to enter into conversation with the proprietor, he will be certain of a courteous reply, and will frequently find him an intelligent and communicative man. Finally, concluding to resist the temptations around him, he leaves the place in the most perfect security, and without the least fear of being insulted.

The majority of the girls here have recently arrived in the United States. Some have embraced this course of life from absolute poverty and friendlessness; some have followed it in their own country; others have been the victims of seduction; and with some the ruling motive seems to have been a desire to speak and be spoken to in their native tongue. Their pecuniary arrangement with the proprietor, for there is almost invariably a man at the head of each establishment, is that they shall give him one half of all the money they receive, for which he provides them with board and lodging. They are not generally intemperate women, the light German wines being their principal beverage, and although they frequently indulge in profanity, yet, as it is in their national language, it is unintelligible to those who understand only English, and the annoyance is consequently restricted. They are generally honest; in fact, it is the testimony of those best qualified to judge, that there is very seldom much disturbance, and very rarely any dishonesty practiced in this class of brothels. It can not be said that literally there is not much noise, for any one who has been in a room where two or three Germans of each sex were talking and gesticulating with their characteristic earnestness will be of opinion that they talked quite loud enough; but by disturbance is to be understood quarreling or fighting, which sometimes occurs, but not very frequently.

As before remarked, a man and his wife are mostly the keepers of such houses. The man, sometimes with a lad for his assistant, attends to the bar-room, and takes charge of the money, the wife does the cooking and general house-work, and the girls attend to their own rooms. By this division of labor the work is generally done to the satisfaction of all parties, and, the expenses being light, a considerable profit is made. There are mostly three or four girls in each house, seldom exceeding that number, and the rule among house-keepers is to consider any girl an unprofitable acquisition who does not pay them about ten dollars a week. Their rents are low, because they have but little room. The basement of an ordinary-sized house is generally the extent of their accommodation; the front part of this forms the bar-room, and the remainder is partitioned into very small bed-rooms.

There is another feature connected with German prostitution, and exhibited in the same neighborhood, which has already received a cursory notice on a former page, namely, their dancing-saloons. Saltatory amusements are carried on, more or less, in all their houses of prostitution, but in these saloons it is considered a respectable business enterprise, although the morality of the establishments is, at least, questionable. The ball-room is a large, open apartment devoid of all furniture excepting chairs or benches round the walls; the musical arrangements generally comprise a piano and violin, and the dances are national waltzes and polkas. No charge is made for admission, and the bar is the only source of revenue. The “orchestra” occasionally appeal to the charitable for assistance, and the call is mostly responded to in a liberal manner. The business commences in the evening, and is invariably discontinued at midnight. The places are frequented by very few but Germans, and order is well maintained.