“Had I confined myself to simply answering the queries propounded as regards the institutions under my medical charge, simply given you the gross numbers, with the percentages of those who have suffered or are now suffering from venereal disease, such reply could have been sent to you long ago. A report of this kind from this department would have been looked upon by the public at large as containing the history of nearly all the prostitution in the city, and particularly would a majority of the public have believed that nineteen twentieths of the disease resulting from prostitution found its home here. Such is not the fact. Great as is the number of prostitutes annually sent here, and enormous as is the number of cases of venereal disease yearly treated here, yet these compose but a small fraction of the sum total actually existing in this city. There are but few more prostitutes on the island than are to be found on the same number of acres in certain portions of the city; and as for the venereal disease, why, gentlemen, the island has the advantage. It is the least dangerous locality.
“Believing these to be facts, I could not bring myself to think that any practical good would be accomplished by giving you the statistics of these institutions alone. It would have been merely doing what has been done before, and would have yielded no additional information for your guidance. But it appeared to me that the time had come when your attention might be solicited to the various facts attending the aggregate prostitution of the city; for, despite all our prohibitory laws, it is a fact which can not be questioned or denied that this vice is attaining a position and extent in this community which can not be viewed without alarm. It has more than kept pace with the growth of our city. Unlike the vice of a few years since, it no longer confines itself to secrecy and darkness, but boldly strides through our most thronged and elegant thoroughfares, and there, in the broad light of the sun, it jostles the pure, the virtuous, and the good. It is in your gay streets, and in your quiet, home-like streets; it is in your squares, and in your suburban retreats and summer resorts; it is in your theatres, your opera, your hotels; nay, it is even intruding itself into the private circles, and slowly but steadily extending its poison, known but to few, and entirely unsuspected by the majority of our citizens. The whole machinery of the law has been turned against these females without success; its only result having been a resolve, on their part, to confront society with the charge of harsh, cruel, and unjust treatment.
“From these considerations, I felt it my duty to obtain all the facts which could possibly be collected having any relation to the vice in question, assured that you were desirous of taking a comprehensive view of it; and hence the resolve, if possible, to trace to the fountain-head prostitution and its attendant diseases, so as to be enabled to bring the subject before you in a form which should exhibit it in its proper colors and dimensions.
“The first step in this investigation was to obtain ample and reliable information of the extent of the vice as it exists outside of these departments—a step which would have been beyond my power alone. From the bold and reformatory stand which his honor Mayor Wood had taken in regard to many matters connected with our city government, it was believed that he would render his assistance if convinced of the propriety and prospective usefulness of the investigation, and the result of an application by President Isaac Townsend to his honor fully justified the correctness of this supposition. He was found not only willing to aid in this great work, but fully alive to its necessity and importance. The plan adopted to forward the inquiry was to take a census of the city, so far as regards prostitution, including the number of houses of prostitution; the number of prostitutes; the causes which led them to become such; their ages, habits, birth-places, early history, education, religious instruction, occupation, etc., and which census is now being taken by the Chief of Police, George W. Matsell, Esq., and the Captains of Police.
“Simultaneously with this, inquiries are also being prosecuted concerning the extent of venereal disease in New York, which will afford interesting information. This, of course, will be done without individual exposure, nor will the report, when completed, assume the form of a guide-book by which persons can find houses of ill fame. I am desirous of obtaining the aggregate facts of the vice, and shall be cautious to take no steps toward gratifying a prurient curiosity or lacerating a rankling wound.
“When these facts are before you, they will be their own argument for the necessity of action.
“I do not trouble you on this occasion with any remarks upon the deadly nature of the venereal poison, but when you are informed as to the facilities for its diffusion will be the proper time to do so. Neither would it be consistent with this stage of the inquiry to enter into any discussion as to the plans that could be adopted in mitigation of the vice; for although prohibitory measures have failed to suppress, or even check it, yet, until its full extent is known, I do not imagine that you would deem it prudent to attempt to grapple a monster whose strength was not fully ascertained.
“You perceive that to obtain all the information necessary on this matter will be a work requiring both time and labor, and I respectfully ask your forbearance, with the assurance that I will lay the result of my inquiries before you at the earliest possible opportunity, and with the hope that the magnitude and importance of the subject will be an apology for the time to which it is necessarily protracted.
“I am, sir, yours, very respectfully,
“William W. Sanger, Resident Physician, Blackwell’s Island.”
To aid the police officers in the duty of taking the census alluded to above, a schedule of questions was prepared.[5] This was submitted to the Board of Governors by Governor Townsend, and a resolution was adopted at their meeting of October 23d, 1855, sanctioning the plan adopted, and authorizing him to have a sufficient number of copies printed. The mayor, the district attorney, the chief of police, and the captains of the several districts, willingly and zealously co-operated with Governor Townsend and myself, and every possible exertion was used to obtain accurate and extensive information. It became my duty to assist the officers in the execution of their task, and I am thus enabled to speak with certainty as to the authenticity of the statistics given, which were mainly collected under my own observation.