Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls; Or, War on the White Slave Trade
History
Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls; Or, War on the White Slave Trade
Prostitution
There is only one other enactment which all legislatures should be urged
to pass, and that is one which strikes directly at the white slaver, the
"procurer," the owner or the "fellow." Keepers of houses of ill-fame
have discovered that the hideous task of keeping the unwilling white
slave in subjection is much easier if a certain ownership of her is
vested in a man. In many cases this man is the one who is directly
responsible for placing the girl in the house, but this is not
invariably the case. When it is the case he receives not only a lump
purchase price down on the delivery of his victim to the house, but he
is recognized by the keeper as her owner and master, the one to whom a
certain percentage of her income is paid and with whom all settlements
on her account are made. What is more important in the eyes of the
keeper is that this man is held absolutely responsible for the girl's
subjection, and if she attempts to escape he must cajole, threaten or
beat her into subjection. In one of the recent raids I chanced to come
upon visual demonstration of how this peculiar phase of white slavery
operates in actual practice. One of these "fellows" was disciplining a
girl whom he "owned"--and doing so by the gentle process of forcing her
against the wall with his hands at her throat.
Some of these "fellows" "own" two or three, or perhaps more, white
slaves, and on the income of their slavery these brutes live in luxury
at expensive hotels, maintain expensive automobiles and lead lives of
luxury, idleness and dissipation.
While some states have statutes directly aimed at this system, it has
been found extremely difficult to secure convictions against these most
contemptible of all white slavers, for the reason that all of the
existing statutes, so far as I am informed, make it necessary, at least
by implication, for the prosecution to establish the fact that they
derive their entire support from white slaves under their control--in
other words, it devolves upon the state to demonstrate that the man on
trial has no other visible means of support. As a consequence the
defense set up is almost invariably calculated to prove that the man on
trial is a solicitor for a tailoring establishment, a laundry or some
other legitimate business enterprise.
In view of this fact, it seems to me an enactment drawn upon the
following lines would be effective:
"Any person who shall knowingly accept or receive in whole or in part
support or maintenance from the proceeds or earnings of any woman
engaged in prostitution shall be deemed guilty of a felony and on
conviction thereof shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than
one (1) nor more than three (3) years and fined not exceeding one
thousand dollars, or both, in the discretion of the court."
Not long since I was asked how many persons I supposed Chicago contained
who would come under a statute of this kind and who ought to receive
sentence under it. My reply was this:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account