Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its CureBall, Eustace Hale
General
Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its Cure
Ball, Eustace Hale
Crime -- Fiction
"Why, Burke, a magistrate who sits in Night Court has told me that
medical investigation of the street-walkers he has sentenced revealed
the fact that nine of every ten were diseased. When the men who
foolishly think they are good 'sports' by debauching with these women
learn that they are throwing away the health of their wives and
children to come, as well as risking the contagion of diseases which
can only be bottled up by medical treatment but never completely cured;
when it gets down to the question of men buying and selling these poor
women as they undoubtedly do, the only way to check that is for every
decent man in the country to help in the fight. It is a man evil; men
must slay it. Every procurer in the country should be sent to prison,
and every house of ill fame should be closed."
"Don't you think the traffic would go on just the same, doctor? I have
heard it said that in European cities the authorities confined such
women to certain parts of the city. Then they are subjected to medical
examination as well."
"No, Burke, segregation will not cure it. Many of the cities abroad
have given that up. The medical examinations are no true test, for
they are only partially carried out--not all the women will admit their
sinful ways of life, nor submit to control by the government. The
system prevails in Paris and in Germany, and there is more disease
there than in any other part of Europe. Men, depending upon the
imaginary security of a doctor's examination card, abandon themselves
the more readily, and caution is thrown to the winds, with the result
that a woman who has been O.K.'d by a government physician one day may
contract a disease and spread it the very next day. You can depend
upon it that if she has done so she will evade the examination next
time in order not to interfere with her trade profits. So, there you
are. This is an ugly theme, but we must treat it scientifically.
"You know it used to be considered vulgar to talk about the stomach and
other organs which God gave us for the maintenance of life. But when
folks began to realize that two-thirds of the sickness in the world,
contagious and otherwise, resulted from trouble with the stomach, that
false modesty had to give way. Consequently to-day we have fewer
epidemics, much better general health, because men and women understand
how to cure many of their own ailments with prompt action and simple
methods.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account