Number of Prostitutes in Paris.—Their Nativity, Parentage, Education, Age, etc.—Causes of Prostitution.—Rules concerning tolerated Houses.—Maisons de Passe.—Windows.—Keepers.—Formalities upon granting Licenses.—Recruits.—Pimps.—Profits of Prostitution.—Inscription.—Interrogatories.—Nativity, how ascertained.—Obstacles.—Principles of Inscription.—Age at which Inscription is made.—Radiation.—Provisional Radiation.—Statistics of Radiation.—Classes of Prostitutes.—Visit to the Dispensary.—Visiting Physicians.—Punishment.—Offenses.—Prison Discipline.—Saint Denis.—Tax on Prostitutes.—Inspectors.—Bon Pasteur Asylum.—(Note: Duchatelet’s Bill for the Repression of Prostitution.)
It remains to describe the state and system of prostitution at Paris at the present day. The vast importance of the subject will doubtless justify the length at which it must be treated.
It was usual, during the last century, to estimate the number of prostitutes in Paris at twenty-five or thirty thousand. Even as late as 1810, the number was said by good authority to be not less than eighteen thousand.[211] The police rolls show that these calculations were wide of the mark. According to them, the average number of prostitutes inscribed had risen, from about 1900 in 1814, to 3558 in 1832, the last year of which we have any record. Assuming that the number at present is 4500, or thereabouts, which would suppose an increase equal to that noted before 1832, the prostitutes are one to every two hundred and fifty of the total population. Of these the city of Paris furnishes rather more than one third. The remainder come from the departments; those bordering on Paris being the most fruitful of prostitutes, and the north being largely in excess of production over the south.
The vast majority of these prostitutes are the children of operatives and mechanics. Of 828 fathers, there were
| Weavers | 19 | |
| Peddlers | 12 | |
| Masons and Tilers | 28 | |
| Water-carriers | 11 | |
| Stage and Carriage Drivers | 35 | |
| Shoemakers | 50 | |
| Farmers and Gardeners | 31 | |
| Servants | 23 | |
| Individuals employed in Foundries, etc. | 18 | |
| Day-laborers | 113 | |
| Carpenters | 31 | |
| Liquor-sellers | 22 | |
| Smiths | 23 | |
| Grocers and Fruit-sellers | 18 | |
| Soldiers, on pensions | 30 | |
| Clock-makers and Jewelers | 16 | |
| Barbers and Hair-dressers | 16 | |
| Persons without trade or calling | 64 | |
| Tailors | 22 | |
| Plasterers, Pavers, etc. | 21 | |
| Coopers | 11 | |
| Painters, Glaziers, and Printers | 25 |
Whereas there were only
| Surgeons, Physicians, and Lawyers | 4 | |
| Teachers | 3 | |
| Musicians | 9 |
The inference drawn by M. Parent-Duchatelet from this is, that brothels are supplied from the classes of domestics and factory-girls; and that girls not bred to work rarely find their way into them. Rather more than one third of the fathers of these prostitutes were unable to sign their names.
Of the prostitutes born at Paris, about one fourth were illegitimate; of those born in the departments, one eighth were illegitimate.
Rather more than half the Paris prostitutes could not write their names; a degree of ignorance which argues very remarkable neglect on the part of parents, for at Paris every one may learn to write gratuitously, and a person who can not write will always experience difficulty in obtaining employment.