The Social Emergency: Studies in Sex Hygiene and Morals
Science
The Social Emergency: Studies in Sex Hygiene and Morals
Sex instruction
Can the city afford the commercial exploitations of so much of this
valuable time? The answer must be that it can afford it only when the
ideals of the men conducting these various forms of amusement are as high
as the best that the community would demand if managing similar
institutions. The saloon proprietor is not interested primarily in the
physical and moral welfare of his patrons or in the general social welfare
of the city. He provides various forms of recreation to increase the
patronage of the bar; it is an unwritten law that those who avail
themselves of the card-tables, of the pool- and billiard-tables, the
moving-picture shows in the saloons, and who hear the music, must
patronize the bar. Thirty-six per cent of the pool and billiard licenses
are held by men holding saloon licenses, and in all the large pool- and
billiard-halls, especially in the center of the city, not connected
directly with saloons, liquor is served upon the demand of the patrons.
The evil of the situation is significant when it is remembered that the
larger percentage of the patrons of those places are men under twenty-five
years of age. Profanity is common, and usually gambling is permitted.
Often these pool- and billiard-parlors are the "hang-outs" of vicious,
depraved young men who live upon the earnings of unfortunate women. This
use of the leisure time of men is physically, morally, and socially
dangerous and should not be permitted.
The public skating-rink is fairly free from objectionable features, but
boys and girls attending without proper chaperons often form undesirable
acquaintances. Women of the street and their male companions often attend.
Juvenile court officials are aware of the immoralities springing from this
source.
The amusement parks present almost unlimited possibilities for the
formation of undesirable acquaintances. The fact that they are open in the
evening, and not lighted in all parts, the presence of cafes where liquors
can be had, inadequate police protection, the secrecy possible through the
presence of large crowds, the size of the parks, the distance from the
homes in the city, and the unchaperoned attendance of large crowds of
young people, all make amusement parks dangerous without closer
supervision by public authorities.
In former days the road-house ministered to the legitimate needs of
wayfaring travelers. To-day the name "road-house" is synonymous with the
"bawdy-house" of the city. Located just beyond the borders of towns and
cities, beyond police supervision, catering to men and women who desire
secrecy for their revels and orgies, the road-house is one of the worst
possible institutions now ministering to the leisure time of the people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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