All countries, from the most despotic to the most liberal, from the most conservative to the most radical, have left this question of the social evil to the police, and have not dared, through their legislative bodies, to thoroughly consider and pass laws to eradicate it. Such meager legislation as has been passed has been ignored in the congested centers of population, and generally such legislation has not been supported by the public sentiment of those communities. Legislation has been generally of a merely prohibitive character, ignoring existing conditions, together with the army of human beings living upon vice, for whom some provision must be made. Even if the legislatures could be induced to take up this question and pass general laws, it would necessarily follow that such laws in their generality must look to the future, rather than to the present, and existing conditions would have to be left to some other authority. In every large city there are thousands engaged in prostitution. They can neither be exterminated by the fiat of law nor reformed by the passage of proclamations. Public morals, like private morals, can be improved only gradually. It is not so much the theoretical question of to be or not to be, but the practical situation summed up in such phrases as: It is—it will for a time remain. The future—what is it to be? Would it not be wise to ask the legislature to pass a law requiring every city to appoint a body of men to draft, and from time to time revise, a code of laws to regulate, suppress, exterminate, and generally to deal with, this problem of prostitution? To it must be given authority. It must be vested with legislative power. It should have its own employes—call it a morals police force, if you wilt—to carry into effect the rules, regulations and laws passed by this commission. That men could be obtained to act upon such a commission, public-spirited, representative students of social questions, I fully believe. No one would accept a place on such a board who was not interested in the welfare of his community. The responsibilities would be fearful; the criticism would be severe. No one without a blameless life would dare to act. Whether or not ultimately the regular police force could be used by such a commission would be a question of policy. At any rate, for the present, I believe it would be unwise.