The Climax of a Well Spent LifeThe Climax of a Well Spent Life
desire should begin to subside. This is what occurs at this period in a man’s life.
“Change of life” in man and woman.—This occurs some six to ten years later in the male than in the female. The change is more gradual and less marked in the man than in the woman. After the “change of life” in woman, she becomes entirely sterile. If man is well-preserved, sterility in him does not take place with this change and may not until years later. In the female, the “change of life” may embrace a period of one to three or four years, and longer in some cases. In the male, the period is usually longer. In both, it is a crisis. Good or bad health, happiness or misery, a long or short life, success or failure, may be the issues of this crucial period of life. The next ten, twenty or more years of life will be largely determined by the previous life, the care taken at this time and the sexual control in the future. Woman becomes sterile at the close of this period, man does not. Most men have known of one or more old worn-out libertines who make their regular visits to houses of shame. They suppose these men to be as virile as in their youth. Men do not generally understand that these old men, who have lead a dissolute and vicious life, are often mental sex perverts even years after they are sterile and, have become impotent through loss of erectile power.
A degrading form of ignorance.—I have had scores of old men from forty-five to seventy-five, to seek personal interviews with me, whose real motives were to ascertain some way of rejuvenating their flagging sexual powers. I recall one man, a nervous wreck, over sixty, who confessed to me that each night he retired with a pad of ice about his loins for the purpose of restoring partial potency once a week. Another old man who had passed his three-quarter of a century milestone complained of his wife’s indifference and refusals, she being nearly as old as himself. Such ignorance is far less excusable and far more degrading than that of being unable to read, write or spell.
Sexual desire begins to wane.—During the menses and the nine months of gestation, the wife has little or no sexual desire. In fact her inclination is to repel every approach of the husband. During that period, known as the “change of life,” the wife has no sexual desire and naturally tries to ward off every approach of her mate. During this period the menstrual flow is sometimes frequent, almost constant. She is passing through an experience of nervous stress and mental trial. The husband should refrain from all sexual demands during this change. If they are well mated as to age, he is four, six or ten years his wife’s senior. At this age his sexual desires shouldbe weakening. A man of this age, if normal, should experience no difficulty in living a continent life.
Not an unfortunate period.—These should not be considered unfortunate periods in life. Proper restraint at this time will bring compensations to those who understand and heed nature’s laws. If men understood that the waning of sexual desire was natural, they certainly would welcome the change and would not use various methods of stimulating and awakening sexual desire.
Minor indications.—There are several minor signs which when they occur at or near the same time indicate the presence of this change in man. They are as follows: A notable loss of memory, loss of sight, streaks of gray appearing in the hair and beard and an ease of physical and mental fatigue. One or more of these conditions often exist and are due to other causes.
Positive indications.—The most positive indications of the presence of this change in man are: longer intervals between periods of sexual desire; a less intensity of sexual desire; a greater fatigue following sexual congress; frequency of desire to urinate; slowness to begin urinating; and irritation about the neck of the bladder. If one has been pure in thought, chaste in language and clean in life, this period will bepostponed to later years in life and the symptoms will be less marked.
Two advantages.—There are at least two reasons why men should welcome the waning of sexual desire when the change of life occurs. One is that the period of life, when they are capable of transmitting the best possibilities to their children has passed. The other is that they will need to conserve their sex life, with a view to thirty years more of health, happiness, activity, usefulness, a glorious sunset and a triumphant entrance into the next life.
A larger life.—A continent single and a temperate married life will make it easy for the middle-aged man to conserve his energy the balance of his days. While his bodily powers may gradually wane, the real man within will rise to a height, grandeur and majesty never before possible. We have all known and read of a few old men who never arrived at their climax of intellectual and moral greatness until they were sixty and seventy. Gladstone was greater at eighty than he was at fifty.
A sad old age.—The indiscretions of youth and the excess of middle life place many old men where they are physically helpless, great sufferers, make no mental progress and often but little moral progress in old age.
A chance to conserve energy.—It should not be understood that a decline in sexual desire means the cessation of creative energy, a decline in general health, efficiency or happiness. Nature is giving man a chance to conserve his creative energy, to maintain his health, to increase his efficiency and to perfect his happiness.
Marriage of old men.—There is no reason why an old bachelor or widower should not marry provided they marry a woman near their age. But there are many reasons why he should not marry a gay young girl. He marries her for sensual reasons; she marries him for his money. He would not marry her, if she were near his age; she would not marry him, if he were poor. Such marriages not only violate physical law, but the mental and moral as well. As a rule there is but little love in such a union. For want of physical harmony their differences are not harmonized and their personalities do not blend into oneness.
The rights of his first children.—If he has a family of children they are likely to be older than his young wife. It will be quite impossible for her to be a real mother to the children. Family troubles will most likely follow. He must take the part of his wife and mistreat his children or vice versa.
Children of senile men defective.—If he marriesa gay young girl for sensual reasons, he will indulge in the marital relations too frequently. This will lead to great personal injury to himself. Should additional children be born into his home, they would in most every case receive an unfortunate heredity. All authorities are agreed that a very large per cent. of the children born to senile fathers will be precocious of mind, frail of body and a disappointment in after life.
Physical ailments common.—Men who have received a fair heredity, led correct sexual lives, guarded their diet, taken plenty of exercise and sleep, bathed freely, used but little, or no, tea, coffee, tobacco, or liquors, will be free from most all the ailments common to middle life and old age. Gout, vertigo, rheumatism, apoplexy, paralysis and piles are a few of the common physical ailments to be found among men of this age. Any or all these diseases may result from sexual excesses or venereal diseases, still they are often due to other causes. While great sexual moderation, even complete continence, will be helpful in all these diseases, a competent home physician should be consulted.
Paralysis and apoplexy are more likely to come in old age to men who have been excessive than to men who have lived temperate or continent lives. Where one has had syphilis, these diseases are likely to occurat any time in life. If he has not had syphilis, these diseases are not likely to occur until late in life, if at all.
Heart trouble.—Where this exists in middle life the individuals should guard against sudden emotions or over-exercise. Occasionally an old man is found dead in his bed. The explanation given to the public is heart failure or apoplexy. This was the general cause. In many cases, the immediate occasion of the sudden death was the stress and strain of sexual excitement on the heart or the brain. Again, sometimes we read of an old man being found dead in a “scarlet” home. In such cases, we know that while the real cause was apoplexy or heart failure, that the immediate cause was sexual excitement.
Genito-uninary diseases.—Many diseases connected with the urinary and genital organs, due to gonorrhea contracted in youth, may appear in the man of middle life or old age. The disease regarded by the thoughtless youth as a trifle, is now regarded by the old man as serious. Should kidney trouble, gravel in the bladder, inflammation or enlargement of the prostate gland occur, a competent resident physician should be consulted.
Final word.—To the young man this chapter is a faithful flagman; to the man of middle age it demands an arrest of thought, serious reflection and a manlycontinence; to the old worn-out roué, engulfed in the maelstrom of lust, a last “life-line” is thrown; to the well-preserved old man it will inspire a pleasant reminiscence of a pure youth, a temperate manhood, a conservative of energy in middle life, and it will add a deep sense of gratitude to the many joys of a glorious old age.
What is the primary purpose of marriage?—While there are several subordinate reasons for marriage, the one paramount reason is that of having and rearing a family. The only admissible reason for not having children is positive incapacity or mental and physical unfitness.
How many children should there be to a family?—The number should vary according to circumstances. Every child has an incontrovertible right to be well born and to be well cared for after he is born. It is far better to have three to six children, who have good heredity and who are properly cared for and trained, than to have ten or twelve unfortunately born and largely neglected. Where the parents are both strong and healthy and are able to support them, a large family is commendable.
Is it wrong purposely to limit the size of the family?—If no laws are violated and the limitation is made to safeguard the wife’s health and the best interests of the children, there can be no wrong done.
Does nature use any safeguards to the wife’s health and the right of children?—She does. The woman is sterile before puberty, after the change of life, in most cases during the period while nursing a child, and a few days between the menses.
At what periods during the month is a wife most likely to become a mother?—Just before or after the menses.
What would be a natural method of regulating the size of the family?—Have sexual relations for procreation only, or for a few days only, about midway between monthly periods.
Is the last always safe?—No. Impregnation with this precaution might occur, but it would be rare. If a woman’s menses are irregular, or if she ovulates at one time and menstruates at another, she would be likely to become pregnant at any time. This last case is very rare among women.
Are there other methods used?—Yes, but none of them can be recommended. They are unnatural. They violate nature. Those who use them suffer sooner or later. One of the most common is that of withdrawal. This has all the bad effects of the secret sin on both husband and wife. Injections and the use of artificial contrivances, while in some cases appearing to violate the laws of health but slightly, lead to excess and thereby become morally and physicallywrong. In this way tumors, ulcers and other physical ailments and poor health may be produced.
What are some of the evil effects of over child bearing?—Among feeble wives, much of womb diseases can be traced to this. Puny, sickly and short-lived children are other results. Then there are some women who suffer greatly during pregnancy and each time their lives are endangered.
What is “race suicide”?—There are three kinds of race suicide, all of which are very prevalent among American born people, (1) The various methods of preventing conception. This is perhaps the most common. (2) Willful abortion, or prenatal murder. It is estimated that 250,000 cases come to medical attention annually. If this is true, perhaps 100,000 succeed in destroying prenatal life without medical attention. This would mean 1,000 prenatal murders daily in the United States. If these figures are true, then it is reasonable to suppose that 100,000 attempts are made that fail. Many of these unwelcome children inherit a tendency toward homicide or suicide. This is evidently one of the main causes of the appalling increase of crime. As a rule, men who have not learned self-control are more responsible for this crime than are their wives. This is a national sin, found in all grades of society. This sin cannot be checked until people learn self-control and all youthsare safeguarded in their sexual development by being given a correct knowledge of sex. (3) The third form of “race suicide” is the ever-increasing production of degenerates. The chief causes of this form of “race suicide” are strong drink and lust.
How frequently should husband and wife have sexual relations?—There are three theories held by people. (1) For procreation only. Where both mutually agree and have perfect self-control, no harm can come from this plan. There is no more necessity for sex gratification in the married life than in the single. Those who have this self-control will be able to avoid all dangers, sins, and diseases incident to a lack of control.
There are some difficulties connected with this theory. This self-control is not possessed by the mass of mankind. Where one companion tries to force this view the other may be driven to marital infidelity, or family discord which may lead to the divorce court.
(2) Some consider marital congress to be an act of love. Where this is confined to once, twice or thrice a month and to a few days midway between the menses, except when a child is desired, no wrong will be done; the sacred fire of love will be kept aglow in their hearts, health will reign in their lives, the initial of each child can be intelligently planned for, hisprenatal rights be respected, his nativity be warmly welcomed and he be given the best possible environment.
(3) The other theory is that of physical necessity, especially for man. Among the unmarried this theory leads to prostitution or the secret sin. Among the married it means legal prostitution, leads to marital excess, poor health of parents, loss of vitality, puny, scrawny, short-lived children and to “race suicide.”
Should coition take place during pregnancy?—Among the lower animals sexual indulgence never occurs during pregnancy. We are told that the savage races observe this law. Doctors differ on this subject. All agree that it should seldom occur. There is a growing conviction among some of the most eminent physicians that man should observe the law that nature demands of the lower animals and that savage man respects.
What injurious effects may follow sexual intercourse during pregnancy?—It robs the mother and child of the vitality that both of them need. Sometimes it causes miscarriage. If the initial of a child’s life takes place as a result of uncontrolled sexual desire and its prenatal rights are not respected, it will inherit sensual tendencies. The fact that it is recorded in the Gospels, with great clearness and emphasis, that “Joseph knew not Mary until after Jesuswas born,” has a redemptive significance for the human family of which but few theologians have ever caught a glimpse.
What is the difference between impotence and sterility in man?—The first is an inability to perform the act of coition. A sterile man may be able to perform the act of coition, but his semen contains no sperm cells, or at least, no healthy sperm cells. The first could become a father, if he could perform the act of coition; the second can perform the act, but cannot become a father.
What are the causes of impotency?—The inability to consummate marriage is very rare. Venereal disease is the chief cause of impotency. Malformation of parts from birth or accident, self-abuse, obesity and the use of opium are other causes. In many cases impotency can be cured. Where a man knows himself to be impotent he should not marry. Wives have a contempt and a most perfect aversion for impotent husbands.
What are the causes of sterility in man?—Sterility is much more common than impotency. Venereal disease is the most common cause. Excessive secret sin may temporarily deprive the semen of its fecundating power. Some malformation of parts is sometimes responsible.
Is the wife ever incapable of coition?—Veryrarely. Excessive sensitiveness of the parts is the most common cause. In such cases, which are very rare, the sexual act would be so painful as to be wholly unbearable. Such cases require medical treatment. The sooner it is begun, the better. A very rigid hymen, or the vagina being partly absent from birth, or grown together from an accident, may make coition impossible. In the first and last case a surgical operation can remove the difficulty. Eighty per cent. of sterile wives, are due to gonorrheal infection received from their husbands who thought themselves cured.
Should husband and wife sleep together or in separate beds?—In many cases, owing to lack of self-control, it would be better for them to sleep in separate beds. If there is no other reason why they should sleep apart, and they have self-control, it would be better to sleep in the same bed.
Are women as passionate as men?—Centuries, of the double standard of morals, have established by heredity, more of passion in man than exists in the average woman. Among the lower animals, except where they have been forced into polygamy by man, the male controls himself fully as easily as does the female. Many women do not feel any sexual excitement whatever, others only to a limited degree. This is doubly true of women duringpregnancy, and lactation. Most normal women seek sexual gratification to please their husbands or out of a desire for motherhood. There are some women who have inherited or acquired strong sensual natures.
Should coition take place during the menses?—Absolutely no. For sanitary and hygienic reasons, if no other.
What is the “climacteric” period, or the “change of life” in a woman?—This occurs between forty and forty-nine years of age. It usually covers a period of from two to five years. The menstrual flow often occurs every few days. This is often a critical period in a woman’s life. When this is completed they are sterile, or incapable of reproduction.
Should sexual relations take place during the “change of life”?—For sanitary reasons, it should not. For the hygienic reason, that it would most likely cause flooding, it should not.
Is there a corresponding period in a man’s life?—Yes. It usually occurs some five or ten years later and is more gradual. If he is well preserved he does not become impotent or sterile. The sexual appetite begins to abate and they no longer experience perfect erection. There are also physical changes taking place that make this period a crisis in his life. Certain brain affections, sometimes resulting in unexpected death, is due to sexual indulgence at this time. Many men donot know, that if they are to have a beautiful sunset, they must conserve their sexual life.
Is there any way to determine the sex of a child?—This is evidently governed by some definite law, which has not been discovered. Many theories have been advanced, but none are generally accepted.
What is the best season of the year for conception to take place?—In the spring. A larger per cent. of the children are healthy and long-lived than when the initial of their lives occur at other times.
What is the difference between an abortion and a miscarriage?—- The first is where the expulsion of the fetus is willfully produced; the other where it is purely an accident.
Is abortion ever justifiable?—Only when it is done to save the life of the mother.
What are some of the causes of miscarriage?—Intercourse during pregnancy and nursing a child after conception are the chief causes. The child should be weaned as soon as a mother suspects pregnancy. Venereal diseases, straining at stool, over-exertion, physical accidents and ill health may sometimes cause miscarriage.
When does life begin in a child?—At conception. It is as much a crime to destroy the life of a fetus one day old as it is after its movements are felt.
Is it possible to lessen the inconvenience of pregnancyand the pain of child-birth?—Yes. Avoid all tight lacing; eat chiefly a diet of cereals, fruit and vegetables; take light, regular open-air exercise, of which walking is best, and have little or no intercourse during the time. Tight lacing has been the chief cause of the inconvenience and pain experienced by civilized woman.
In order to make head against the horrible evils which accompany men’s profligacy and women’s prostitution, and to prevent the moral and physical disasters which result from young men’s and young women’s ignorance about the natural processes of reproduction in the human species and about the laws of health in those processes, it is indispensable that systematic instruction should be given to all young children and young people in the processes of reproduction and growth in plants and animals, in the general rules of hygiene, in the natural, wholesome processes of reproduction in the human species, and at last in the diseases and social disorders which follow violations of nature’s laws concerning the relations of the sexes. The bitter experience of the Christian world in regardto the venereal diseases and their consequences demonstrated this proposition.
Policy of silence a failure.—Wherever anyone undertakes to discuss this subject in public, he is met by two adverse opinions which are firmly held by multitudes of well-meaning people. The first is the opinion that these are unclean subjects, about which the less said the better. This is the policy of silence concerning all sexual relations and processes, natural or unnatural, rightful or sinful, which has prevailed for centuries in both barbarous and civilized countries. There is but one thing to be said about this policy of silence, namely, that it has failed, everywhere and always. It has not prevented the spread and increase of sexual wrong-doing and of the horrible resultant diseases, degradations, and destructions. For the prevention and eradication of any great social or governmental wrong, publicity, discussion, and the awakening of a righteous public sentiment in the great mass of the people concerned have always been, and always must be, necessary.
Parents as instructors.—The second adverse opinion is that the necessary instruction on these subjects should be given to children and young persons by their parents and by them alone. This opinion is sound to this extent, that in cultivated and refined families, in which the parents possess sufficient knowledgeof the whole subject, the needed instruction will best come to the children through the mother and the father, beginning at a tender age. All children ask questions on this subject. Their curiosity is roused early, and is usually very pointedly expressed. The asking of questions should invariably be the mother’s precious opportunity to describe to the child, with delicacy and reserve, but truthfully, the mother’s part in the production of the human infant. By so doing, the mother will establish a new bond between herself and child, and will acquire a strong claim on its abiding affection. Every father competent for the task should see that his boys understand the natural and wholesome process of reproduction, and the great physical dangers which accompany violations of the moral law in this respect. He should see that they know that continence is absolutely healthy, and, indeed, is indispensable to the highest attainment in bodily strength and endurance. He should make sure that his boys understand what honor requires of a man in his relation to women, and that chastity is just as admirable and feasible in a man as in a woman, and just as necessary for the protection of family life and the eradication of the very worst evils which now degrade and poison civilized society. It is quite true that all this instruction will come best, whenever possible, from loving fathers and mothers to their own offspring; because it willthen be given intimately, privately, and with tenderness and purity.
Inasmuch, however, as the great majority of parents do not now possess the necessary knowledge, or the faculty of expression necessary for imparting it, and there are many families that have lost father, mother, or both, society must for the present rely in the main on the schools to give this instruction, which is, indeed, indispensable for the salvation of civilization.
School can teach nature’s sex laws.—It is, however, a very serious problem, how to give the needed instruction in sex hygiene in all the schools, public, private, and endowed. No one is competent to-day to lay down a fixed and final program. The programs for this subject must be experimental or tentative for many years to come. All that can be done at present is to indicate the general lines of the promising experiments on this difficult subject. Innumerable experimenters must in time work out the details with insight, patience, and skill. The general lines may, however, be laid down with a reasonable degree of confidence. They are as follows:
1. It is through the ample and prolonged teaching of natural history that the necessary knowledge is to be conveyed to the children, beginning at tender years with the teaching of botany, and going on to the elementsof zoölogy, both subjects being taught in the most concrete manner possible with incessant illustrations indoors and out-of-doors, not during the whole school year, but at those seasons when adequate illustrations and demonstrations are most feasible and convenient. This instruction should be associated in all schools with the teaching of pure and applied geography, and in rural schools with the teaching of agriculture.
2. Throughout this long course of natural history instruction demonstrations of the various modes of transmitting life should frequently occur, the transmission of life being the highest and ultimate bodily function of every plant and every animal, including man. There is a great body of fresh knowledge on this subject waiting to be given to children and youth, all of it capable of demonstration through the senses, aided or unaided, and all supplying admirable training for eye and hand. Thus, all the various processes of reproducing plant-life by the division of a cell, by the creation of new independent cells, by the shooting or rooting of some part of a plant to create an independent plant, as by bulbs, tubers, or even parts of a stalk or leaf, by the union of two cells, or the fertilization of one cell by another cell,—all these processes can be made intensely interesting to a child; and such instruction can be spread through several years at appropriateseasons without ever leaving the vegetable kingdom. In flowering plants the fertilization of the embryo-sac by pollen may be illustrated in operations which the children themselves can perform. The carrying of pollen from one flower to another by insects or by the wind emphasizes the general fact that plants are fixed while animals have motion. The bi-sexual structure of plants is in itself a fascinating subject of study for children and youths; and through it all runs the thought that Nature provides elaborately and beautifully for the precious transmission of life. In later years of the school course the diverse methods of reproduction in animals will afford a long course of instruction, involving the structure and function of many different sorts of animals, and of many different kinds of reproductive organs. The innumerable devices for effecting fecundation and for feeding the embryo, and the various arrangements for feeding the young and bringing up families, afford an endless variety of interesting subjects for observation and discussion. The nesting habits of birds and their care of offspring are highly instructive and easy to exhibit. Here again the main object of study should be infinite variety and elaboration of nature’s processes for the transmission of life. These subjects, if properly taught with collecting box, scalpel, microscope, and paper and pencil, are just as pure and innocent forchildren under thirteen as chemistry and physics are. There is nothing sensual or unclean about them, nothing which does not tell of order, purpose, inventiveness, adaptation, coöperation, and achievement. Through much of the botanical instruction and more of the zoölogical runs the thought that the transmission of life requires two individuals of different quality. Children should be made thoroughly acquainted with this principle before any sexual emotions begin to stir in them.
3.Avoid venereal diseases by frankness.—If strong foundations have been laid through these botanical and zoölogical studies before the age of puberty, it will not be difficult to take up in secondary schools the study of the normal functions of the human body in health, of the perturbations caused by some of the common diseases, of the sources or causes of disease, including the recognized contagions and the modes of infection, of the means of resisting disease and producing immunity, and finally of the functions of government in regard to preventive medicine and the means of promoting the public health.
Among the contagions which ought to be described and illustrated should be included the contagions of syphilis and gonorrhea, from which proceed some of the most horrible evils which afflict modern society, evils not fully known except to physicians, and bymany ordinary people, particularly women, quite unsuspected. All young men and women should be well informed on these subjects before they leave their secondary schools; but from the time of entrance to secondary schools all such instruction should be given separately to girls by women and to boys by men.
Since the great majority of American children never enter the secondary schools, the general rules concerning cleanliness, diet, fresh air, and the elementary facts on sex hygiene should be stated concisely and frankly to all children just before they reach the age-limit of compulsory education.
4.Emphasize bodily and mental purity.—All schools should teach explicitly in due season those elements of good manners and customs which have to do with health and the preservations of bodily and mental purity. They should teach habitual cleanliness of the body and particularly of the hands and face, point out the importance of this cleanliness as regards clothes, furniture and utensils, and the reasons for keeping the dwelling free from dust, dirt, insects and vermin. They should show the reasons for avoiding contact with, or close approach to, persons who are unclean or who are suffering from colds, sores, coughs, fevers, or any other illness. They should point out the dangers of losing self-control through the use, even the rare use, of alcohol or of drugs which takestrong effect on the nervous system. They should discountenance rough or boisterous play between boys and girls or young men and young women, and teach each sex to avoid, in general, bodily contact with persons of the opposite sex. Delicacy and reserve are parts of good manners; but they are also highly protective qualities. On the other hand, a coarse familiarity between the sexes is not only bad manners, but a real provocation to wrong-doing, particularly when it is accompanied by an ignorance which leaves young people without protection against the love of excitement and reckless adventure. All these are elements of good manners and right habits which should be universally taught in the schools of a democracy to promote morality as well as courtesy. Some of them, but rarely all, are taught in many good homes, but for the great mass of the people the public schools inculcate them by direct teaching, and by the indirect influence of good example. To a high degree, good manners spring from and express morals. Such instruction would naturally be associated with the teaching of natural history and general hygiene.
Finally, all young people should have been taught in home, school and Sunday school, before they are liable to fall into sexual sins, that chastity in men is just as necessary as chastity in women for the security, honor and happiness of family life, that continenceis absolutely healthy for both sexes, that men’s profligacy is the cause or source of women’s prostitution with all its awful consequences to the guilty parties and to the innocent human beings who are infected by the guilty, and that the most precious joys and most durable satisfactions of life are put at fearful risk by sexual immorality. Does anyone protest that this educational process will abolish innocence in young manhood and womanhood, and make matter of common talk the tenderest and most intimate concerns in human life, let him consider that virtue, not innocence, is manifestly God’s object and end for humanity, and that the only alternative for education in sex hygiene is the prolongation of the present awful wrongs and woes in the very vitals of civilization.—Journal of Education.Read before the American School Hygiene Association, New York City.
The white slave traffic!—What is it? Whom and what does it involve? Is it possible to suppress it, and if so, how?
These are questions which are being asked by thousands of people in all parts of the country, and it is my purpose to attempt, to some extent, at least, to answer them.
It is a fact that there are now scattered throughout practically every section of the United States a vast number of men and women whose sole occupation consists in enticing, tricking, or coercing young women and girls into immoral lives, and then either living directly off of their illicit earnings or transferring them, for a consideration to others for a similar purpose. In other words, these creatures make merchandise of womanhood and do a big, thriving business. Moreover, they are no respecters of persons. Their
HON. STANLEY W. FINCH.—Special Commissioner for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, United States Department of Justice.HON. STANLEY W. FINCH.—Special Commissioner for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, United States Department of Justice.
one idea is to procure such persons to earn money for them, in order that they, themselves, may live in idleness and luxury; and while they prefer very young girls, they frequently select, as their victims, young women who are wives and mothers. Moreover, theirmethods have been so far developed and perfected that they seem to be able to ensnare almost any woman or girl whom they select for the purpose. This is indeed an extraordinary statement, and one almost passing belief, but that it is absolutely true no one can honestly doubt who reviews any considerable portion of the mass of evidence which is already in the possession of the Attorney General’s Bureau of Investigation. The idea which apparently prevails among many persons is that the victims of these fiends are simply girls who are naturally vicious. This is very far from the real truth. It is no doubt true that there are, among those unfortunates, some women, who, like all of their male patrons, are actuated solely by wantonness. However, by far the majority of them consist of young women and girls who have either been led to such lives by deception and trickery, or who have been driven by force and fraud.
Devices used.—The devices to which these human fiends resort in procuring and dealing with their victims are many and varied, and are such as are calculated to reach young women and girls in almost all of the different walks of life, but particularly those who, either from choice or by reason of economic conditions, go out into the business world and attempt to earn money for a livelihood, or for the many enticing luxuries of our modern civilization.
The cleverly worded advertisement for help.—This is perhaps one of the most insidious and effective instruments which is or can be used. By this means these traffickers are able to reach into every home and business establishment in the country and to ensnare even the most cautious and innocent, and those who are most carefully guarded and protected by their parents, husbands and other relatives and friends. Hence, it is true that no man’s daughter, sister, or wife—if she be young and attractive—is safe from the artifices and devices of these traffickers. Of course, since these human beasts of prey are primarily seeking what they consider “easy money,” their natural tendency is to operate along the lines of least resistance. They are generally shrewd, careful observers of human nature, and they are quick to perceive and to single out girls, who—while as yet honorable and virtuous—are inclined to be somewhat careless, and those who, through lack of, or distaste for, parental restraint, undertake to select their own companions, amusements and occupations. Among such young women and girls the white slaver finds a limitless and fertile field for his awful trade.
Picture shows and dance halls.—In this connection the theater, the moving picture show, the café, the skating rink, and the dance hall—while in themselves often useful and beneficial for education, entertainment,and exercise—become instruments which enable these conscienceless fiends to accomplish the downfall and eternal ruin of even the most innocent and virtuous of our young women and girls.
Only a few months ago a young country girl, twenty years of age, while attending a moving picture show in this very city, met a woman whom she thought to be a friend, and who offered to secure domestic employment for her in a distant Southern city. The young girl, herself innocent of any wrong, and unsuspicious, accepted the offer and, using the railroad ticket furnished her by her false friend, went to the address given, and not until she was imprisoned in that house and forcibly overpowered and ravished in the infamous effort to reduce her to that most awful slavery did this pure, brave-hearted girl realize that this woman here in Louisville was but the tool of a set of fiends to whom adequate punishment can never be administered by any of the processes of modern law. Through a fortunate chain of circumstances this young girl escaped the dreadful pit which is devouring thousands of other girls all over our land, but the awful business remains, a crying disgrace to our great country.
Among the many other cases shown by our records is one involving a girl seventeen years of age, of good character, who lived in one of the smaller cities on
JOHN B. HAMMOND.—Who aided in Drafting and Passing the Famous Injunction Law of Iowa, which has driven the Public Houses of Shame from his State.JOHN B. HAMMOND.—Who aided in Drafting and Passing the Famous Injunction Law of Iowa, which has driven the Public Houses of Shame from his State.
Lake Michigan. This girl, while employed as a telephone operator, attended a dance, where she met a young man of good appearance and apparently of good character. This young man was, however, a procurer for a house of ill repute in one of our large cities and while accompanying this young girl along the country road to her home, he forcibly ravished and subsequently placed her in a house of ill fame. This young man is now serving a term of five years in the penitentiary and the girl was rescued from the life of shame and returned to her parents.
In another instance, a girl of sixteen, while spending the afternoon at a seaside resort of one of our largest cities, was approached by two white slave procurers, who exhibited bogus police badges and pretended to place her under arrest as a truant. Supposing that they were acting under proper authority she made no outcry, but accompanied them to a street car going in the direction of her home. The facts as to the manner in which this girl was subsequently intimidated by these fiends, and, under threats of death, compelled to go with them to a room, where she was ravished and subsequently placed on board a coastwise vessel and taken to a house of ill fame in another city and State, and there confined and compelled to receive foreigners and turn the earnings over to the master to whom she was sold by her captors, are almostunbelievable. However, these facts were clearly established in court during a trial, as a result of which the defendants are now serving terms in the penitentiary.
Another case which was recently prosecuted by our Bureau of Investigation involves a young girl who answered an advertisement which appeared in a leading paper in one of our largest Southern cities. Under a contract made pursuant to this advertisement this girl proceeded to a city in another Southern State for the purpose of complying with the terms of her contract of employment. She found, however, upon entering her place of employment, that, instead of being a respectable house, it was a house of ill fame. Upon attempting to leave the place she was forcibly detained and every effort was made to induce her to practice prostitution. However, she refused to do so, and, finally, with the aid of one of the patrons of the place, she secured assistance and was thereby enabled to leave. The defendant in this case was promptly convicted and is now confined in the penitentiary.
Promises of marriage.—In very many cases procurers endeavor, through promise of marriage or by actually going through the form of marriage, to obtain control of young women and girls, and finally force them into immoral lives. A case of this kindrecently arose in one of the larger cities of the Middle West. In that case a girl seventeen years of age, and of good character, became acquainted, in an apparently unobjectionable manner, with a man who, like many of his kind, appeared, on the surface, to be of good character. After a brief courtship they were duly married and left on a wedding trip to a neighboring city, where the husband—claiming that he had lost his money and was unable to secure a position—attempted to persuade the young wife to engage in prostitution. She refused and was cruelly beaten by him. Apparently, however, even then she did not appreciate the nature of the creature to which she was married, and she went with him to one of our largest Eastern cities. There again he attempted to force her to engage in immoral practices, and upon her refusal she was beaten by him, food was withheld for days, and, finally, when she had reached the point of exhaustion and was thoroughly intimidated, she was forced by her husband to receive the foreigners whom he brought to her. By this means the girl was degraded to the point where her master was able to force her to solicit on the streets and finally she was transferred by her procurer, through a white slave agency in New York City, to a house of ill repute in the city of Washington, where she was when the facts as to the matter were developed by our Bureau. As