Mr. Tait assumes the population of Edinburgh at about two hundred thousand, the number of public prostitutes at eight hundred, and of private prostitutes at nearly twelve hundred, or a total of two thousand abandoned women. This gives one prostitute to every thirty-two adult males, if we adopt his system of calculation; or one prostitute to every twenty-five adult males, if we adopt the system of calculation which has been applied to the United States in the present work. From his own figures, then, it can be seen, that although New York City is so awfully irreligious, it has less prostitution than pious Edinburgh.
Again: on page 189, while speaking of the demoralizing effects of theatrical representations, Mr. Tait says:
“In the report of the House of Refuge in New York, it is stated that one hundred and fifty boys and girls, out of six hundred and ninety, are guilty of theft and impurity to get a seat in the theatre.” He does not mark this as a quotation, nor does he state the report from which it was extracted. As he has printed it, it must be supposed correct, although we must confess we can not see very clearly what connection exists between the New York House of Refuge and prostitution considering the ages of children generally admitted to that institution; and while we have very little doubt that many of the inmates thereof have committed theft for the reason he assigns, we are rather dubious as to the acts of impurity alluded to, except in a very few exceptional cases.
Farther: on page 194, Mr. Tait quotes “The address of the Rev. Mr. M‘Dowall on prostitution in America” as follows:
“At the very hour in the morning, afternoon, and evening of every Lord’s day when the people of God assemble for religious worship, then, in a special manner, do the children of the wicked one meet in troops at harlots’ houses. On the Sabbath days the rooms are so filled with visitors that there is no place for them to sit down, and on that account many are refused admission at the doors.” These palpable exaggerations require no contradiction. They show, however, the extremes of misrepresentation to which an enthusiastic and incompetent writer may be led.
Inclined to exaggeration as Mr. Tait has been proved to be, he yet protests (in page 251) against some opinions upon infanticide by prostitutes in New York, advanced by his informant, the Rev. Mr. M‘Dowall, and quotes the opinion of Parent-Duchatelet to prove that mothers are generally very fond of their children. This fact warrants the conclusion that his other opinions upon social morals in New York are entirely derived from Mr. M‘Dowall, who is shown to be any thing but a credible witness. His reliance upon such a source is much to be regretted as materially impairing the value and truthfulness of his otherwise interesting and useful volume.
The following extracts from the “Compendium of the Seventh Census of the United States, 1850,” will be interesting, from their relation to various points which have been discussed in the progress of this work. They have all a more or less direct bearing upon the subject of prostitution, and the condensation of them here will give readers an opportunity of verifying many of the previous remarks.
The estimated population of the Union at the present time (1858) has been already given as 29,242,139 persons (including slaves). The proportion of females to males at each census from 1790 to 1850 is stated as follows:[402]
| 1790. | 1800. | 1810. | 1820. | 1830. | 1840. | 1850. | |
| Males | 100· | 100· | 100· | 100· | 100· | 100· | 100· |
| Females | 96·4 | 95·3 | 96·2 | 96·8 | 96·4 | 95·6 | 95· |