Certain of the women are well known as "stars." Their reputation follows them wherever they go and madames vie with each other in securing them for their particular houses, in much the same way as a business firm is constantly looking for clever salesmen who have a reputation and a record for increasing business. The author has in mind a particular woman[5] whose customers follow her wherever she goes. There are in this business many such "stars" or "big money makers," looked upon with envy by their less attractive and less prominent rivals. The secret of their popularity lies frequently in the perverse practices to which they resort. The manner of carrying on the business has been somewhat modified in recent years. Formerly, the madame gave the girl a brass check for each customer. After business hours she cashed in her checks, receiving her share of the proceeds, usually fifty cents on the dollar. Nowadays, madames or housekeepers have a punch similar to those used by railroad conductors. When a customer is secured, the inmate hands the madame a square piece of cardboard, in which she punches a hole. Among the exhibits obtained during this investigation is a series of sixteen such cards with the names of sixteen inmates written upon them. They are literally filled with holes, all representing the business done on July 9, 1912, in a notorious one-dollar house on West 28th Street. The largest number of holes punched on a single card that day was thirty.[6] The madames are alive to the importance of assuring their customers that every precaution is taken to guard the health of their inmates. Hence, in practically all the houses here referred to the investigators were assured that the girls have in their possession medical certificates signed by physicians, certifying that the bearer has been examined and is free from venereal disease.[7] In many houses the "doctor" is said to come every week; he makes a hasty and superficial examination, for which he is paid one dollar, one-half of which sum he turns over to the owner of the establishment. Of these physicians, one, a member of the now notorious Independent Benevolent Association--a group of men individually interested either directly or indirectly in the business of prostitution in New York City--has a large practice among the inmates of the cheaper type of house. At times, physicians who make a specialty of this branch are also active in the local politics of their respective districts: these men are in demand, for the keepers hope thus to "stand in" with those "higher up." On April 27, 1912, for example, the proprietor[8] of a house in West 36th Street[9] related the fact that he had recently employed a physician[10] who was being "mentioned" as the next leader in his assembly district. He tried to induce another keeper[11] to take the same doctor[12] because of political advantages to be gained thereby.