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
After an experience in rescue missionary work for women and girls, not
only in this city but in New York City and Boston, there is one
conclusion which I am forced to come to and more and more is becoming an
undeniable fact.
It is this, that our country girls are in more danger from white slave
traders than city girls. Were I alone in making this statement, I should
not hesitate for one moment in what I have to say, but others agree with
me in this, among them being United States District Attorney Sims, who
has written much on the subject of white slavery. One reason for
reaching this conclusion comes from the personal hand-to-hand and
heart-to-heart touch with these girls themselves. The country girl is
more open to the enticements of city life, being more truthful,
perfectly innocent and unsuspecting of those whose business it is to
seek their prey from girls of this class.
A girl reared in the country is not taught to suspect everyone she
meets, unless a rare occurrence presents itself, and when involuntarily
the defense instinct asserts itself. While, on the other hand, the city
girl has had it drilled into her, as it were, from the time she could
walk, that she must regard people with distrust, not speaking to
strangers anywhere, accepting nothing from anyone, her own people being
the only ones she should make confidants of.
Mr. Sims says: "There is a definite but undefined danger in the very
atmosphere of the city for the girl or young woman, which demands a
constant and protective alertness, while on the other hand, life in the
rural districts is comparatively free and unrestrained." Again he
states, and through his investigation of the white slave traffic has
reached the conclusion, that the best and the surest way for parents of
girls in the country to protect them from the clutches of the white
slaver is to keep them in the country.
While this may be the safest, surest, easiest course to take, it would
not be advisable in all cases, for many girls have an ambition and aim
in life, which they are seeking to attain, and the city offers
advantages for this development which the country does not, and we
should not seek to put obstacles in her way, but to protect her in
carrying out her purpose in life.
But if circumstances should seem to compel a change from country to
city, the only safe way is for parents to accompany their girls and see
them settled, though this would have its disadvantages, as many parents
are just as ignorant as their children regarding the perils of city
life.
A TIMELY WARNING.
Parents who do not believe in the warnings given on these lines but say,
as many do, "Wait, time enough when they are older, then let them find
out for themselves; experience is the best teacher," should remember
this: Ignorance is not innocence, and it is but the preface to the book
of vice. To parents is given the first and greatest opportunity of
fortifying their children with the true armor of knowledge and purity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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