Socialism; Women -- Social and moral questions; Women and socialism
It is difficult to estimate the number of prostitutes--impossible
to determine it exactly. The police may approximately determine the
number of women for whom prostitution is the sole or chief source
of income, but they ~can not~ determine the far greater number of
those who resort to prostitution as a partial support. Nevertheless
the numbers that have been determined are enormous. According to
Oettingen at the close of the sixties of the last century the number
of prostitutes in London was estimated to be 80,000. In Paris on
January 1, 1906, the number of enrolled prostitutes was 6,196, but
more than one-third of these manage to evade police and medical
control. In 1892 there were about 60 public brothels in Paris,
harboring from 600 to 700 prostitutes; in 1900 there were only 42.
Their number is constantly decreasing (In 1852 there were 217 public
brothels). At the same time the number of private prostitutes has
greatly increased. An investigation, undertaken by the municipal
council of Paris in 1889, estimated that the number of women who
sell their bodies had reached the enormous figure of 120,000. The
chief of police of Paris, Léfrine, estimates the number of enrolled
prostitutes at 6,000 and the number of private prostitutes at 70,000.
During the years 1871 to 1903 the police inhibited 725,000 harlots
and 150,000 were imprisoned. During the year 1906, the number of
those who were inhibited amounted to no less than 56,196.[106]
The following numbers of prostitutes were enrolled with the Berlin
police: In 1886, 3006; in 1890, 4,039; in 1893, 4,663; in 1897,
5,098; in 1899, 4,544, and in 1905, 3,287. In 1890 six physicians
were employed, who performed examinations for two hours daily. Since
then the number of physicians has been increased to twelve, and
since several years a female physician has been employed to perform
these examinations, notwithstanding the objections of many male
physicians. In Berlin, as in Paris, the enrolled prostitutes only
constitute a small fraction of the entire number, that authorities on
this subject have estimated to be at least 50,000. In the single year
1890 there were 2,022 waitresses in the cafés of Berlin, who, with
very few exceptions were given to prostitution. The yearly increase
in the number of harlots inhibited by the police also shows that
prostitution in Berlin is growing. The numbers of those inhibited
were: In 1881, 10,878; in 1890, 16,605; in 1896, 26,703: in 1897,
22,915. In the year 1907 17,018 harlots were brought to trial before
the magistrates, which was about 57 for each day the court was in
session.
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