REPORT OF THE Little Rock la VICE COMMISSION May 20, 1913 And the Order of Mayor Chas. E. Taylor to Close All Resorts in Little > Rock by August 25 , 1913 Little Rock, Ark., May 20, 1913. To Hon. Charles B. Taylor, Mayor. As Chairman of the Vice Commission I have the honor to Submit herewith its report, which contains such recommendations and suggestions as will, in its opinion, aid you in your efforts to improve the condition of our city in regard to the social evil. Every member of the commission has given the most careful con- sideration to this subject, which is perhaps the most difficult ques- tion today demanding the attention of municipal governments. While there has been much difference of opinion among our members, we have all reached the conclusion that the proper method of handling the social evil is by putting it under the con- trol of a special department which must account directly to the Mayor himself. Neither the public nor the officials of the city should expect to suppress this evil immediately, but a vigorous, determined effort in accordance with ’ the recommendations of this report will do much to lessen and will perhaps in time sup- press as an organization the social evil. No small factor in bringing about this result will be an aroused public sentiment which we hope the publication of . this report will create. The commission believes that you will have the earnest co-operation of our entire citizenship in your efforts to settle correctly this im- portant question. The commission desires to express its appreciation of the work of its Secretary, the Rev. Hay Watson Smith, who pre- pared this report. Yours truly, JNO. E. MARTINEAU, Chairman. 2 Oifc 3 \r\( *X REPORT OF THE LITTLE ROCK VICE COMMISSION. PART I. Members of the Commission. John E. Martineau, Chairman. The Rev. Hay Watson Smith, Secretary. Fred W. Allsopp. Willard D. Ball. S. J. Beauchamp. B. D. Brickhouse. Elmer E. Clarke. The Rev. Benjamin Cox. Geo. W. Emerson. John L. Greene, M. D. O. K. Judd, ]\i. D. Ike Kempner. The Rev. A. H. Poppe. W. M. Rankin. J. B. Robinson. Chas. S. Stifft. The Rev. Thomas V. Tobin. George Thornburgh. Milton Vaughan, M. D. R. N. Watts. The Rev. J. R. Winchester. The Rev. Louis Witt. Members of the Colored Commission. Joseph A. Booker, Chairman. rCCJ Edward H. Carry. R. C. Childress. Geo. W. Hayman, M. D. ° AT A. L. Morris. Introduction. In January, 1912, the Mayor of Little Rock, the Hon. Chas. E. Taylor, gave to the city papers the following communication : “To the Public \ “Municipal governments the world over have one extremely difficult problem to deal with— the so-called ‘Social Evil/ Many cities have ignored the problem except to establish a system of 3 fines and forfeits which are enforced through the police depart- ment of the government. The idea heretofore has been to let the matter drift quietly ; but at heart most men are displeased with this method of procedure. “Since I became mayor of the city I have given the matter considerable study, looking to the better handling or suppression of the evil, and in seeking for information I have written the mayors of a number of American cities, asking as to the methods pursued in each city in handling the social evil problem. The replies vary, but all indicate that little if any serious thought has been devoted to the question. “I have come to the conclusion that a careful investigation by a local commission looking to the establishment of ways and means by which the evil may be curbed, handled or suppressed, would be of great value to our city and to its officials. “With a view to this end I have asked some well-known cit- izens to serve as a vice commission for Little Rock, the idea being to go into the entire matter and all other matters and con- ditions which may tend to bring about the evil, such as wages paid to working girls and women, their hours of labor, the conditions under which they "work, etc. “When the commission has done this I think it would be wise to present the results of their study and investigation to the public. “I have arranged, too, with some well-known negro citizens to serve as a similar commission to study conditions among the negro portion of our population. They will also report the results of their investigation with recommendations. “Other cities, notably Chicago and Minneapolis, have re- cently appointed vice commissions, and the reports of these two commissions will be of much value to our commission in doing its work. “The high standing of the men I propose to appoint as mem- bers of the two commissions is a guarantee that their work will be faithfully done. Men of different minds and training have been selected, that they might approach the subject from every viewpoint. “Medical men testified before the Chicago commission that the average life of the unfortunate women who make possible the continuance of the social evil is from five to seven years. In view of this fact, is not the question important when we realize that other young girls must continually be drawn into this indescrib- able life to take ’the places of those who so quickly die? From what sources shall these victims come? “The problem is a serious one, but 4 as was said by the chair- man of the Chicago commission : ‘The immensity of the “Social 4 Evil” problem is no excuse for us to stand idly by and do nothing in an attempt to solve it. The sin of impurity may not be cured in a day, a year, or perhaps a generation. But that prostitution, as a commercialized business, or anything akin to it, is necessary, can never be conceded. We may enact laws, we may appoint commissions, we may abuse civic administrations for their hand- ling of the problem; but the problem will remain just as long as the public conscience is dead to the issue or is indifferent to its solution/ “I am ready to assert that the public conscience in Little Rock is not indifferent to the solution of the problem, and I believe the time to begin its solution is now at hand. “Following are the names alphabetically arranged, of the men I have appointed to serve as members of the Little Rock Commission : “Judge John E. Martineau will serve as temporary chairman of the commission; the Rev. Hay Watson Smith will serve as tem- porary secretary. “Fred W. Allsopp, Business Manager Arkansas Gazette; “Willard D. Ball, Secretary Y. M. C. A. ; “S. J. Beauchamp, real estate dealer; “B. D. Brickhouse, Past President Machinists’ Union and attorney for the Allied Trades Council; “Elmer E. Clarke, publisher Arkansas Democrat; “The Rev. Benjamin Cox, pastor First Baptist Church. “George W. Emerson, attorney; “Dr. J. L. Greene, Superintendent State Hospital for Ner- vous Diseases; “Dr. O. K. Judd, City Physician ; “Ike Kempner, Manager of Gus Blass Dry Goods Company ; “John E. Martineau, Chancellor First District; “The Rev. A. H. Poppe, pastor German Luthern Church ; “W. M. Rankin, Juvenile Court Officer; “J. B. Robinson, Whitcomb & Robinson Lumber Company; “The Rev. Hay Watson Smith, pastor Second Presbyterian Church ; “Chas. S. Stifft, President of Little Rock Board of Trade ; “The Rev. Thos. V. Tobin, rector St. Andrews Catholic Cathedral ; “Col. George Thornburgh, Editor Masonic Trowel ; “Dr. Milton Vaughan, Past President Pulaski County Medi- cal Association ; “The Rt. Rev. J. R. Winchester, Bishop Arkansas Episcopal Church ; “The Rev. Louis Witt, Rabbi Congregation B’Nai Israel; 5 Colored Commission. “Prof. Jos. A. Booker, President of the Arkansas Baptist College, Chairman; “Edward H. Carry, Principal of the Gibbs High School; “R. C. Childress, Principal Stephens Grammar School ; “Dr. George W. Hayman, physician; “Adkins E. Morris, contractor.” At- the first meeting of the commission, held January 30, in the mayor’s office,’ the temporary organization was made per- manent, and a cotnmittee appointed to arrange a plan of work. This committee recommended that each of the following phases of the social evil be investigated : Existing' Conditions in Eittle Rock. Causes and Sources of Supply of the Social Evil. Medical and Educational Aspect of the Social Evil. The Saloon and the Dance Hall in Connection with the So- cial Evil. Rescue and Reform. Methods and Experiences of Other Cities. The reports of these committees were submitted from time to time to the commission for discussion. When all the reports had been heard, the question was formally debated whether a policy of toleration or of suppression should be recommended by the commission. The discussion of this question lasted through sev- eral sessions, of the commission, all the members giving expres- sion to their views. While there were considerable differences of opinion, it was found that every member of the commission was in favor of the ultimate suppression of the social evil, the only question being that of time and method. On September 3, the following recommendations, which may be regarded as a sum- mary of the commission’s work, were unanimously adopted. The Little Rock Vice Commission recommends : /. A Special Department. (1) That a department or board be created by the city, or appointed by the mayor, whose duty it shall be to rid the city of the social evil, and that such department be made responsible for failures to enforce the ordinances pertaining, thereto. (2) That three police officers, one of whom shall be a wo- man, be appointed and assigned especially to the work of enforc- ing all city ordinances against the social evil, and that it be made the duty of such officers to observe young people on the street, to report them to their parents or guardians in case of improper conduct, and, if necessary, to arrest them. . 6 (3) That the policy of the city administration touching the social evil emanate from the mayor, and that he issue such order as will prevent grafting by any official or other person in obtain- ing money from men and women leading immoral lives. II. Bomdy Houses. (1) That all bawdy houses in Little Rock be closed not later than three months after the publication of this report. (2) That meantime the city ordinance against music and other attractions, and against the sale of beer and other intoxi- cants, in such houses, be enforced. (3) That the inmates and keepers of bawdy houses be given to understand that they cannot be protected by any outside in- fluences, and that money paid for such purpose will not exempt them from the payment of fines. III. Assignation Houses. (1) That every effort be made to discover and close all assignation houses immediately. ''(2) That citizens be urged to report places suspected of being used for assignation purposes, and also assured that their names will not be made known in connection with such report, without their consent. IV. That in all cases where an inmate or keeper of an assigna- tion or bawdy house is fined for violating the ordinances against such, the owner of such property be also fined in the highest amount provided by law. V. Illicit Intercourse Outside of Bazvdy and Assignation Houses. (1) That the city ordinances against illicit intercourse in hotels, boarding houses, parks and other places, and against “street-walking,” be enforced, and, as a preventive measure, that our parks be better lighted. (2) That hotels, boarding houses and rental agencies be asked to co-operate with the city officials in eliminating the social evil from their places. (3) That they be notified also that if assignation or illicit intercourse between men and women is permitted in their places, all parties concerned, including such men and women, and the agents, proprietors and owners of the property where same is per- mitted will be prosecuted. (4) That when arrests are made for violation of the laws 7 against prostitution, no forfeitures be taken ; and that when the parties are found guilty, the police court impose the highest pen- alty provided by law. (5) That the thinking men and women of our city give their loyal support to the mayor and police and police court in the policy herein outlined- — the only policy, the commission be- lieves, that is consistent with the intelligence, the virtue and the health of our community. (6) That the report of the commission be published and* copies placed in the homes of our people. It will be observed that the policy recommended by the com- mission is in almost every detail simply a policy of law enforce- ment. The city ordinances relating to the social evil in all its aspects are so full and explicit, that, beyond urging their enforce- ment, the commission has done little in its recommendations but suggest a method of rendering such enforcement more sure. Yet that suggestion — the appointment of a Morals Department and of special policemen — the commission regards as absolutely essen- tial to any steady improvement in the situation. “For the admin- istration of any system of control of vice,” says Prof. Seligman, Secretary of the Committee of Fifteen, New York, “experience has demonstrated that a special body of police agents is required. If the ordinary police are permitted to arrest suspected prosti- tutes, or to raid houses of prostitution, the responsibility for the care of public morals is dissipated, and unlimited opportunities for blackmail are created. The system which leaves the initiative to the private citizens is inadequate. * ' * * For the discovery of prostitution of minors, for the control of prostitution in public places and upon the street, a limited body of agents selected for exceptional qualities of tact and integrity is absolutely essential.” It will be observed also that the commission had not recom- mended the immediate closing of the bawdy houses. For the fol- lowing reasons, an interval of some weeks or months between the publication of this report and the closing of these places is recom- mended : First: Some consideration, the commission felt, is due the unfortunate women who have been accustomed to count on the indulgence of the city administration. They should be given time to make arrangements for the future. Second: There are not a few persons who are opposed to the suppression of the bawdy house. While the commission does not question the motives, at least in the great majority of cases, of such persons, it is of the opinion that they have given little or no serious thought to the subject of the social evil — its prevalence, its consequences, and the moral compromises that are involved in any toleration of it, whether by the city or by the citizen. The commission hopes that all who are now doubt- ful concerning, or are opposed to, the policy of suppression, will read this report with open mind. The commission has reason to believe, as has been indicated in its preliminary word, that hos- tile criticism will thus he stayed, and that there will be formed and put behind the city administration, in its enforcement of law, a public sentiment both well informed and determined. Conditions in Little Rock. . There are in Tittle Rock nineteen white houses of ill fame, all run by women, and located in a segregated district in the eastern part of the city. The property on which these houses are located is owned for the most part by well-known and prominent citizens, and is rented with the knowledge that houses of prosti- tution are to be conducted in them. For this reason, the rent paid is higher than can be obtained for the same property if used for legitimate business purposes. There are between fifty and seventy-five inmates of these houses of ill fame, ranging in age from 16 to 45 years. The ma- jority are between 18 and 25 years old, possess a good common school education, and came from homes whi£h were pleasant. By far the greater number came from the cities. They assign various reasons for living the life they do ; but the desire for money and the perfidy of some man account for the presence of all, or almost all, of these girls in these places. The price for service is from one to three dollars, and each girl is given what she makes after paying her board to the land- lady (which ranges from $12 to $18 per week). Strange as it may seem, the rates charged for board are higher in the cheapest houses. Many of the girls do not make enough to pay for their board and dress themselves as they are required to dress, and for that reason are in debt to the landlady. The sanitary conditions surrounding these houses are about as good as could be expected under the circumstances. Some of the houses are furnished expensively, some poorly, depending upon the class of men to whom they cater. In the high-priced places the girls are well dressed and keep their persons clean, while in the cheap places they give but little attention to their per- sons and dress. In all these houses there are dance halls for the inmates and patrons, where music, dancing, and beer drinking are carried on. Many of these are elaborately furnished, and their walls are decorated with lewd pictures which are intended to arouse the passions of men. Beer is sold in all these houses at one dollar a bottle, and, while we do not know the amount sold, it is the principal source of income. The cheapest and lowest of these houses — that of 9 Stella Black, at 301 j/2 East Markham — is located over a saloon. It sells beer to the girls and permits them to solicit men from the back stairs. With -this exception, the saloons have no direct con- nection with the bawdy houses and, so far as we can ascertain, no saloon maintains a wine room where women are allowed to drink. The restaurants are the only places where women can drink intoxicants. There is no system of medical inspection in force here, and for that reason it is impossible to ascertain to what extent the inmates are infected with venereal diseases. The keepers claim that no inmate is permitted to render service when diseased. The worth of such claims will be considered later in this report. We are unable to get any reliable information as to the use of cocaine and other drugs of a similar nature. At the present time, these houses are permitted to run within the district bounded on the north by the river, ; on the east by Rock, on the south by Third and on the west by Main. The keeper is required to pay the city a fine of $25 a month, and each inmate is made to pay a fine of $5 monthly. When this is paid, these people are not molested in their business so far as the police are concerned, unless other violations of the law occur in con- nection with these houses. Aside from the running of their bus- iness and selling beer, very few violations of the law take place in these resorts. The mayor and chief of police have adopted the policy of not allowing beer to be sold, but notwithstanding this, it is sold in almost all of these places. The police say they prosecute all cases where evidence to convict can be obtained, but insist that it is very difficult to obtain evidence' justifying a conviction. In many cases the keeper does not deny selling beer, when brought into police court. We find that this class of keep- ers is fined about once each month in police court, the fine being $50. This policy is pursued with the better class of houses. The police judge makes some of these State cases, and taxes the costs, amounting to $17. Prior to the present city administration, each keeper of a bawdy house was fined $25 for running the house and $25 monthly for selling beer. No further tax or fine was imposed, so far as the city was concerned. Now the beer fine is dropped, except as indicated herein, but each inmate is fined $5 monthly, which brings to the city about the same revefme from this source as before. - The keepers of these houses are also prosecuted in the jus- tice of the peace court on information filed by the prosecuting attorney charging them with selling intoxicating liquors without licenses, and are fined quarterly $50 and costs, amounting in all to $67. No resistance is ordinarily made to this charge, and it is treated by them as a license for running their business and for 10 selling beer. Under prosecuting attorneys prior to the present one, these women were fined $25 quarterly or oftener for run- ning a bawdy house. The present prosecuting attorney an- nounced in his campaign that no fine would be imposed upon these women for running bawdy houses; and instead of being fined for keeping bawdy houses, they are now fined for selling intoxicating liquors illegally. No further notice of these viola- tions of the law is taken by the county officials. Since the present policy of not allowing intoxicating liquor to be sold in these resorts has been adopted by the city, a certain lawyer has made many of these women believe that he is in a position to afford them protection on account of the violations of this regulation, and by this means has induced many of them to pay him $35.00 monthly as a fee. Out of this he agrees to pay their fines for the illegal sale of beer, both to the city and county. This is clearly a species of graft. At present no recognized houses of assignation are per- mitted to run in Little Rock. The police have orders to raid all places reported to be carrying on such a business. Many of the old houses of assignation have been closed. We believe, how- ever, that there are many places where assignations between men and women take place for immoral purposes. They are scattered in the residence and business districts, and are run very quietly. It is extremely difficult to get evidence against them. Rooming houses for men in the down town districts are often used for these purposes. The public parks of the city are used by many of the younger boys and girls in this way. Like- wise, many of the hotels and rooming houses either cater to this class of trade or permit men and women to use their rooms for assignation purposes when they register as man and wife. While it is impossible to estimate with any degree of ac- curacy the amount of prostitution that is practiced- in Little Rock, outside the twenty recognized bawdy houses, there is no doubt, as a well known writer says, that the growth of the social evil is at present in the direction of clandestine prostitution. All au- thorities on prostitution are agreed that clandestine prostitutes far outnumber the registered prostitutes, some estimating that they are from ten to fifteen times as numerous. After weigh- ing all the available evidence, Prof. Seligman says : ‘‘Without laying too great weight upon congectural estimates, although the authors cited are entitled to the highest respect, one may con- sider it a very conservative opinion that in none of the great cities of Europe do the registered prostitutes make up more than from ten to twenty-five per cent of the total number of those who gain their living by prostitution.” (“The Social Evil,” p. 84.) If this proportion holds for Little Rock, then there are from 11 250 to 600 immoral women in our city, outside the twenty bawdy houses. From all the evidence at our command, we feel that 600 is a conservative estimate of the number of white women and girls in our city who are engaged in occasional or professional prostitution. It may be added that the morbidity of clandestine prosti- tutes, contrary to the common view, is very high. Of 47,000 clandestine prostitutes examined in Paris, from 1872 to 1888, more than 14,000 were found to be diseased. For a discussion of the relative morbidity of the clandestine and the registered prostitute, the reader is referred to Prof. Seligman’s “The Social Evil,” pp. 84-88. Young girls and women may be found on our streets who solicit men. They are often not over sixteen years of age. Noth- ing is now being done to check this practice. In some cases, the inmates of houses of ill fame solicit men from their doors and on the streets in the segregated district. We have had before us city and county officials whose duty it is to enforce the law with reference to houses of prostitution, and they all express a willingness to pursue any course which will lessen the evils coming from these immoral practices. PART II. THE CITY ADMINISTRATION AND THE SOCIAL EVIL. From the standpoint of municipal government there are three well known methods of dealing with the social evil — regie- mentation, toleration, and suppression. Regimentation. Reglementation means the legalizing of prostitution, and it implies the issuing of licenses to prostitutes, and the enforcement of medical and police supervision. Prostitution is thus regulated like any other business that needs to have restrictions thrown around it. When prostitutes are restricted within specified limits confined, that is, to some particular part of the city — this is known as segregation ; but reglementation may, and does, exist without segregation. While reglementation has been in operation in European cities, for a century or more, the commission has not thought it worth while to consider it as a possible method of handling the social evil in Little Rock. It reasons for passing it by are: (1) The moral sense of the community would not tolerate the repeal of existing laws against prostitution, nor the legalizing 12 of a commerce that is inherently immoral. It has been tried once or twice in America, notably in St. Louis and New York, and has gone down in defeat before an aroused public sentiment. “Thus,” says Prof. Seligman, writing of the defeat of the Page Bill, 1910-1911, in New York, “came to an end, probably for many years, the effort to introduce by law into any American city the European system of reglementation.” (“The Social Evil,” P- 235.) (2) Reglementation, while having much in theory to com- mend it, has in actual practice proved a failure as a method of either controlling or reducing the social evil. “Throughout Europe,” says the Minneapolis Vice Commis- sion, “wherever the system of licensing prevails, the unregistered prostitutes outnumber the registered ones ten to one. Your com- mission cannot recommend the importation of a system dis- credited upon the ground where it arose.” Similarly the Chicago commission : “Some who have a superficial knowledge of the ‘Continental System’ of segregation and regulation based on a cursory reading or surface investigation, might bring it forward as a method of relief. One has but to read scientific works on the subject, to study the reports of international conferences held in Europe, and to hear the findings of careful investigators to see the un- reliability and futility of such a system, and to learn of its failures as a permanent institution wherever it has been under- taken in this country of abroad. The commission is convinced that the so-called system has proved itself degenerating and in- effective.” (Chicago Report, p. 26.) And again, page 254 : “For nearly one hundred years Euro- pean cities have been trying to reduce the volume of venereal disease by medical and sanitary efforts. Disease, however, has persisted, unchecked, statistics often showing an increase in spite of all the sanitary efforts available.” Toleration. As has been shown above, toleration has been the policy of the city administration hitherto. ' For the following reasons the commission believes that that policy should come to an end : (1) It puts the public in a position of winking at habitual violation of the law. That the people of Little Rock may know how clear and explicit are the city ordinances against prostitution in all its forms, and against those who let their property for immoral use, the following digest is given : Section 856 prohibits keeping a bawdy house, house of ill- fame or assignation, and prohibits any person owning or con- 13 trolling any house or tenement to lease for such purposes. Pen- alty not less than twenty-five dollars, double that amount for each repetition of the offense, and upon a trial of any such case both the city an d. the defendant may introduce testimony as to the general reputation of the party or the house in question. Section 861 prohibits any prostitute, bawd, courtesan or lewd woman from plying or seeking to ply her vocation by word, sign or action on the streets, alleys or in public places, or at the door or window of any house. Penalty, two to twenty-five dollars. Section 862 prohibits any prostitute, bawd, lewd woman, or female inmate of a bawdy house, house of prostitution, house of assignation, brothel or house of bad repute from wandering about the streets in the night time or frequenting dram shops or beer saloons. Penalty, two to twenty-five dollars. Section 863 prohibits prostitutes from living in any house or occupying any room with any other female. Penalty, same as preceding section. Section 864 provides that upon trial before the police court of any person charged with violating any of the ‘foregoing laws, it shall be unlawful for the city or defendant to introduce testi- mony as to the general character and reputation of the defend- ant touching matters set forth in the preceding section. Section 865 prohibits any bawd, prostitute or lewd woman from occupying or using any room or tenement in the city of Little Rock for the purpose of prostitution or assignation, and prohibits any person owning or controlling any room or tene- ment from permitting such a woman to occupy said room or tenement, and prohibits any male person from frequenting or visiting room or tenement so kept, used or occupied for the pur- pose for illicit intercourse. Section 866 prohibits any female from habitually submitting herself for the purpose of prostitution or from being in the habit of receiving or making visits therefor ; and in such events, both she and her male paramour or visitor shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 867 provides that every person found gir’lty of a misdemeanor under any of the provisions of the foregoing ordinances shall be subject to a fine of not less than five nor more than twenfy-five dollars. It further provides that every day that such violation is committed or continued shall be deemed a separate ofifense ; and that any person convicted in the police court for the violation of these laws may be committed to prison until such fine and costs are paid, or he or she be discharged by due course of law. Section 1465 makes it the duty of the chief of police to re- port to the Police Committee all cases of houses of ill fame, bawdy houses, or such as are occupied or used by lewd women 14 for the purpose of prostitution which are in his opinion used as such, or which are reported to him by responsible persons to be used as such. Section 1466 makes it the duty of the Police Committee if, after • investigation, they find that such houses or tenements are occupied or used for the purposes mentioned in the preceding section, to declare the same a nuisance, and it shall then be the duty of the chief of police to abate the same in the manner prescribed by the city ordinances for other nuisances. In addition to the above, the commission recommends : (1) That the City Council of Little Rock pass an ordinace substantially as follows : Any person charged with a violation of any city ordinance enacted for the purpose of preventing prostitution who shall enter his appearance under a false or fictitious name, or who shall fail or refuse to enter his true name, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject to a fine of not more than dollars, and not less th£n ...dollars. (2) That the legislature of Arkansas pass laws against pros- titution in substantial accord with the city ordinances of Little Rock, and that, at enact a white slave law similar to that re- cently enacted by the Congress of the United States. It thus appears that all prostitutes and their patrons, to- gether with those who let or use their property for such pur- poses, habitually violate the law. If the. people of Little Rock believe that the social evil is an indispensible institution, then they should legalize it. They cannot, without something like hypocrisy, sanction both the law and its non-enforcement. (2) A policy of toleration means that the mayor and the police, and all officers whose duty it is to enforce the law, habitually violate their oath of office. The effect of such neglect of duty, especially upon the morale of the police force, cannot but be bad. (3) Under the present system the city presents the spectacle of deriving revenue from an institution, not only immoral and shameful, but productive of the most frightful consequences to both body and mind, and to the innocent as well as to the guilty. Such a position does not comport with the dignity and moral sense of a city such as ours. Suppression. There is# an ingrained prejudice on the part of many people against all attempts to suppress by force what is rooted in natural instinct and inclination. In view of this prejudice, the commis- sion wishes to make very clear what it means by suppression. Suppression may be of two kinds : of an immoral thought by 15 will power, and of a criminal act or an illegal institution by police power. It is the confusion of these that gives rise to prejudice and to a great deal of ignorant criticism. The suppression of immoral thoughts, the control of impure desires, is a personal and individual matter with which civil government has nothing to do — at least, nothing directly. Such control or suppression is brought about by education and reli- gion, not by government. The kind of suppression that lies within the domain of. civil government is that of illegal acts and institutions. To illustrate : Civil government is directed, not against vindictiveness as an immoral impulse, but against assault as a criminal act ; not against malicious thought, but against slander and libel ; not against coveftousness, but against theft ; not against the gaming instinct, but against gambling and the 'lottery. In general, civil government regards crime, not sin. In the light of this distinction, which is elementary, it will at once appear how pointless is the common remark, “You can- not make men good by legislation.” This remark is too often quoted, and with such an air of wisdom and finality, that two things should be kept constantly in mind with, regard to it : First, it is not the purpose of criminal legislation to make men good. The only way to make men good is to transform their motives ; but government has to do with acts, not motives. Arrest and imprisonment sometimes operate to transform a man’s character, but that is incidental. The primary purpose of the government in arrest and punishment is to protect society against criminals, not to transform the criminals themselves. Secondly, the remark proves too much. Its implication is : Since you can’t make men good by legislation, don’t legislate; since you can’t suppress wholly, don’t try to suppress at all. Carried to its logical conclusion, such reasoning would lead to the abroga- tion of all laws against assault, theft, gambling and libel, and to the cessation of all attempts to suppress the things themselves ; for not one of them has ever been wholly suppressed. Yet, no intelligent man doubts that the laws against these crimes, and the fear of punishment of violation thereof, act as powerful restraint upon men’s passions and cupidity. If these crimes have not been wholly suppressed, they have at least been greatly re- duced. Without laws against them, and power to enforce such laws, community life is inconceivable. Now the commission be- lieves that the attitude of the city administration towards prosti- tution as a criminal act should differ in no respect from its at- titude toward assault and theft and gambling. It is not asked to suppress a sexual impulse, but an indecent and criminal act. It believes, further, that th£ enforcement of all ordinances against both men and . women engaged in this illicit commerce, and against those who let or use their property for such purpose, will 16 act as a powerful restraint upon the passions of men, and serve as a much needed protection to young girls. The commission realizes, however, that the enforcement of the laws against prostitution is only one, and perhaps not the most effective, of the several means of reducing the social evil. A policy of suppression, using the word in a broad sense, should include not only law enforcement, but the enlightenment of parents and educators, the instruction of the children, the im- provement of conditions that act as causes of supply, and the enactment of such laws, state and municipal, as will further the cause of public purity. The aid of all of these has been invoked at one place or another in the commission’s report. With this explanation of what the commission understands by suppression, both in a narrower and a broader sense, it sub- mits the following reasons why such a policy should receive the support of all thoughtful men and women : (1) The reasons given against toleration are, of course, arguments for suppression. Suppression means enforcement of law, fidelity to oath of office, and a removal from the city’s good name of the stigma of receiving revenue from a traffic at once immoral, illegal and productive of widespread disease. (2) The effect of illicit sexual intercourse upon the moral character of men and women is always bad, and often disastrous. The whole moral tone is lowered. A double life is an easy road to moral duplicity. In case venereal disease is contracted, it is the testimony of physicians that men and women are systemati- cally untruthful *as to the source of the contagion. There is likewise forced upon physicians and hospital at- tendants an habitual concealment and indirection. “If the ve- nereal patient,” says Dr. Morrow, “is admitted to a hospital his disease is baptized under a different name. The nomenclature adopted by our hospital is calculated to conceal the extent of venereal morbidity. The systematic manifestations and sequelae of these diseases under which they are entered on the records of the hospital lend themselves to this policy of concealment. Venereal diseases masquerade under various aliases. * * * This policy of concealment follows the patient with venereal disease to the grave.” (“Social Disease and Marriage,” pp. 349 . 350 - ) (3) The third argument for the suppression of prostitution is the consequences of it in the diseases which it entails. Venereal Disease. (a) The nature of venereal disease. Gonorrhea is often regarded by young men as a trivial af- fection, “of no more consequence than a bad cold.” In the out- 17 set it is purely a local affection ; yet the organism, or germ, responsible for the disease, clings to the affective tissues in both acute and chronic conditions and persists with virulent infectious properties long after the disease is apparently cured. During either the acute or chronic course of this disease, which in the beginning is purely local, the germs may invade the general blood stream and set up an immediately fatal inflammatory ailment of the heart or central nervous system. Its activities not infrequently invade the larger joints, pro- ducing one of the most painful types of illness to which the human economy is subjected, and this type of joint inflammation is generally followed by permanent injury to structures, leaving the afflicted one a cripple for the remainder of life. The acci- dental transference of pus from the original site of the in- fection to the eye will set up an inflammation that usually de- stroys the vision within three or four days. One of the most baneful effects is the latency of the disease and its well known persistence, as an infective process, long after an apparent cure has been accomplished. It is this quality which renders it so dangerous to the innocent wife of the pre- viously affected and supposedly cured young husband. Gonor- rhea, thus transmitted, is responsible for 70 per cent of all the operations for inflammatory diseases peculiar to women ; and the infection of the eyes of the new born child, due to the presence of the disease in a latent condition in the mother, is responsible for more than 30 per cent of existing blindness on earth today. Dr. Neisser, who discovered the organism, or germ, of this disease, asserts that it is responsible for more than 40 per cent of all involuntary childless marriages today. Syphilis is a malignant infection of the general blood stream, by an organism whose tendency of life is so great as to render its destruction by drugs or any other known means, one of the most difficult problems presented to the medical profession throughout all time. Cure, when accomplished at all, is only attained after months or years of the most painstaking and con- stant administration of drugs of a poisonous nature. In times past, few men have had the hardihood and persistence to follow a course of treatment to final cure, and this has resulted in the transmission of the ailment to the innocent in many instances. (b) The source of venereal disease. The original source of venereal disease is prostitution. Dr. Ludwig Weiss, of New York, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, January 24, 1903, says : “Prostitution must be regarded as the fountain head from which venereal diseases originate. It forms the main source from, through, and by which courses in an unbroken, vitiated 18 stream, the poison which inoculates the living and contaminates the yet unborn. In comparison to this, all other modes of propa- gation are nil. In order to stamp out venereal diseases abso- lutely, prostitution must be annihilated first. No prostitution, no venereal disease. To prevent these diseases measures must be instituted against prostitution. Any prophylaxis instituted against their spread must necessarily begin with measures di- rected towards either the suppression or repression of prostitu- tion.” And Dr. William P. Belfield, of Rush Medical College, says : “Every prostitute, public or private, acquires- venereal dis- eases sooner or later, hence, all of them are diseased some of the time, and some of them all of the time. The man who patronizes them risks his health at every exposure.” (c) The detection of venereal diseases. The keepers of the houses of ill fame all assert that they do not allow the inmates to render service when diseased. The value of such a claim may be judged by the following quotation from Dr. Prince A. Morrow, of New York, who is known both in America and in Europe as an authority in venereal disease. Speaking of the Page Bill, he says : “The law, in requiring a prompt report from the examin- ing physician as to whether or not a prostiture is diseased, de- mands what medical science and skill are utterly unable to fur- nish. While it may be comparatively easy to recognize the pres- ence of acute gonorrhea, these women, for obvious reasons, sel- dom practice their vocation with the disease in this stage ; the vast majority of infractions originate from chronic or latent gonorrhea. When the disease is localized, in the deeper organs, the clinical evidence and bacteriological proof , of its existence are exceedingly difficult or impossible to establish, and yet the dis- ease may be actively contagious. The testimony of all special- ists is concurrent upon this point, that in these cases it is im- possible ’to determine with certainty the presence or absence of contagious elements. Nothing is easier than the diagnosis of syphilis in the active stage or secondary eruption ; but syphilis is not a diseases of continuous symptoms. In the intervals be- tween the outbreaks when the disease is in the contagious stage, there may be absolutely no evidence of its existence, yet there may be an explosion of contagious elements a few days there- after. * * * “As regards hospital treatment and cure, it may be said that in the life of our present positive knowledge of the prolonged contagious activity of syphilis for years and the chronic gonor- rhea which may persist indefinitely, the assignment of a time for the cure of these diseases is unwarranted. The contagious laws 19 of these diseases do not lend themselves to legislative enactments. The treatment of chronic gonorrhea in women is the most diffi- cult and prolonged in medical therapeutics. Many cases cannot be cured without the removal of the deeper organs in which the germs find lodgment. If a woman is cured she may be reinfected an hour after she leaves the hospital. Syphilis cannot be cured in a year, two or even three years, and in many cases the disease is contagious during a much longer period. These cases may be whitewashed, that is, cleared of existing manifestations, but they are not cured.” (d) Extent of venereal diseases. The physicians of Little Rock are of the opinion that from 60 to 80 per cent of the male population have, at one time or an other had gonorrhea or syphilis. The Chicago commission, five members of which \vere physicians, says : “The existence of venereal diseases among people is much underestimated. There are creditable statistics to show that one-half of the population of civilized countries have had or have gonorrhea, and that from one-fifth to one-tenth have had syphilis.” “Gonorrhea,” says the Indiana State Board of Health, “is said to be the most widespread disease among adult male mem- bers of the human family, and in the light of increased knowl- edge, is held to be doing more harm to the race than syphilis.” The Minneapolis commission, three of whom were physi- cians, says: “The prevalence of syphilis is estimated at from five to eighteen per cent of population, some countries having a worse record than others. Medical writers assert that from ten to fifteen per cent of the male population of Europe have syphilis. Gonorrhea is more widely diffused.” (Report, p. 45.) (e) Effects of venereal diseases. The following paragraphs are taken from the Chicago re- port : “Prostitution is pregnant with diseases, a disease infecting not only the guilty, but contaminating the innocent wife and child in the home with sickening certainty almost inconceivable; a disease to be feared with as great horrors as a leprous plague ; a disease scattering misery broadcast, and leaving in its wake sterility, insanity, paralysis, the blinded eyes of little babes, the twisted limbs of deformed children, degredation, physical rot and mental decay.” (Report, p. 25.) “Not infrequently gonorrhea produces many dangers, con- stitutional results and exerts a very decided influence in the * 20 production of many female disorders. It underlies many cases of what are called rheumatism and joint disorder. It is an ex- ceedingly common cause of blindness in the new born. Accord- ing to German statistics, 30,000 cases of blindness in that coun- try are due to gonorrhea. According to recent statistics much of the sterility in the male is due to gonorrhea. About 40 per cent of the cases in women result from gonorrhea as a de- termining cause.” (Report, p. 293.) In summarizing the medical aspects of the social evil, the Chicago Report says, page 305: “The ravages of venereal diseases are past comprehension. Among the results mentioned are : “(a) Criminals. “(b) Blindness. “(c) Sterility. “(d) Abortion. “(e) Abdominal operations. “(f) Uterine and ovarian disease. “(g) Death at an early age.” In a health circular issued by the Indiana State Board of Health, it is stated that “a majority (some hospital authorities assert 70 per cent, others 85 per cent) of abdominal and pelvic surgical operations on women are the result of gonorrheal in- fection, in many cases ignorantly transmitted by the husband Of the effects of syphilis, the circular says “This is the disease responsible for an asserted 90 per cent of locomoter attaxia, a large per cent of insanity, for a greater number of still-born children, and for a heavy percentage of premature deaths of children ; for apoplexy, paralysis and sud- den death long after the disease is supposed to have been elimi- nated. Insurance actuaries hold that on an average syphilis shortens life one-third.” In the two schools for the blind in Little Rock there are 120 children, 40 of whom are blind through the sins of their fathers. PART III. The commission has investigated the economic condition of working girls and women in Little Rock, and submits the fol- lowing report There are 2,490 white girls and women employed in our city, from the ages of 14 to 72. The stores pay from $3.50 per week to $125.00 per month, and are open nine hours a day. 21 Women' and girls employed in offices are paid from $15.60 to $100.00 per month, and as a rule there is opportunity for ad- vancement. The telephone company has in its employ about 175 women and girls. In the operating department they pay from $20.00 to $65.00 a month. They work nine hours a day, with a twelve- minute release twice daily, and have comfortable rest rooms. Lunch is served by the company in the building at the cost of serving, and the moral surroundings are good. The five-cent and ten-cent stores employ about 50 girls at an average wage of $4.50 a week. They work nine hours a day, have a rest room and the moral conditions are good. There are a number of girls working in candy factories whose average wage is about $5.00 a week. They work ten hours a day, and no special care is given to their comfort. There are three mattress factories in Little Rock, employing from 15 to 20 women, whose wages range from $7.00 to $10.00 a week. The sanitary conditions are good, toilet and dressing rooms being provided. The average for domestic work throughout the city is about $3.50 per week and board. The working conditions of girls and women in the four steam laundries operating in the city are below the average. There are about 150 white girls and women employed in the laundries and they are paid from $4.00 to $8.00 per week, work- ing ten hours a day. In some of the laundries white women and girls and negro women work together, using the same dressing room, toilet and drinking cups. The sanitary conditions are not good; the heat is intense. We are reliably informed that there are laundries in other cities that look after the comfort of their employes. They provide shields wherever possible, to protect the operators of machine from unnecessary heat, and use electric fans in addition. We find that a great many of the underpaid women and girls are compelled to buy their clothes upon installment plans. They pay large prices for them, and are threatened with garnishments when they fail to make their weekly payments. Following are a few specific cases out of many which we have investigated : Young girl receives $4.00 a week; pays $2.00 a week for board and washing, 60c for car fate, 90c for lunch (15c a day), leaving a balance of 50c a week or $26.00 a year for clothing and all other expenses. Young girl in one of the laundries receives 75c a day, work- ing ten hours. She became overheated in the month of July, and had not been able to resume work up to the first of August. 22 Girl receives $4.00 a week; lives at home with mother who is a widow in poor health; pays 60c car fare, buys lunch every day, and pays $8.00 a month for rent. This leaves less than $7.50 a month for food, clothing, fuel and other expenses. Girl, age 15, receives $4.50 per week, works ten hours a day ; mother died recently and was buried by the United Charities. She has a brother and a sister younger than she who are de- pendent on her for support. They live in two rooms and chil- dren stay alone while she works. Widow receives $5.50 a week, works ten hours a day, helps to support sister and two little nephews. Girl, age 16, receives $4.50 a week, walks a long distance to work, works ten hours a day, lives with mother, little brother and sister ; mother takes in washing. Woman, age 25, has worked at same place four years, re- ceives $5.00 a week, working ten hours a day ; supports aged mother. Widow, boarding at Working Woman’s Home ; is paid by the piece, average wage $6.00 a week; pays $2.00 a week board for herself and $2.50 a week board for her three children, 25c for washing, 60c for car fare; works ten hours a day. This leaves $33.80 a year with which to provide clothing, medicine, recreation, etc., for herself and children. Married woman, receives $4.00 a week, works ten hours a day ; has sick husband and one little girl. Married woman, receives $6.00 a week, works ten hours a day ; husband at Booneville with tuberculosis ; pays one dollar for room, does her own cooking and washing; has one child. These are but few out of many cases. It is clear that there are scores of women and children in our city, working ten hours a day, and some of them working on Sunday, who are not paid a living wage. In order to obtain the bare necessities of life, they are compelled to have money or help of some kind from other sources than their own labor. This constant stress of poverty is a constant source of temptation, and we need not be surprised that occasionally it prove.s too severe. “One chief reason,” says the Chicago Report, “why girls enter the life of prostitution is evidently an economic one. They cannot live on the wages paid them. And it should be remembered that it is not a question of the necessaries of life only. In all normal natures there is a craving, both natural and legitimate, for sortie kind of pleasure, some form of relaxation or excitement. Yet, it is obviously no exaggeration to say that for a girl who must clothe herself on $26.00 a year, a ribbon, a street car ride, a visit to the picture show, is of the nature of a luxury.” We believe it to be the duty of every employer to pay his 23 employees a living wage, regardless of what any other employer pays for the same class of work, and regardless of the number of persons that may be seeking employment. The people of Little Rock seem to have given little or no thought to the wages and working conditions of women and girls who are engaged in industry, and this indifference is responsible for the poverty and suffering of many, and the ruin of some. There is no necessity for such conditions, and the people of Little Rock who wish to aid in lessening the social evil should give their moral support and sympathy to these working women and girls. In view of the casual relation between economic status and the social evil, and of the depressing conditions amid which many of our women and girls are working, the commission recom- mends : First, th^t the Board of Health be requested to make special investigation of the sanitary conditions in the laundries and other industries employing women and girls ; and Second, that a disinterested and representative board be appointed to consider the whole question of the ages and work- ing hours of women and girls in our city, and, if expedient, to formulate and recommend such law as will secure greater social and economic justice. PART IV. REPORT OF THE LITTLE ROCK COLORED VICE COMMISSION. Hon. Chas B. Taylor, Mayor, City. Dkar Sir : — Some months ago, you appointed five colored men to act as the branch of your regular City Vice Commission, whose duty it should be to carefully investigate and thoroughly study the social conditions of the negro race in our beloved city of Little Rock. We have been a long time summing up our findings. On the fifth of May, 1912, we submitted a partial report to you, but learned since then that the report never came for once under your observation. We are combining it with subsequent study and findings, and are herein handing you the same as our complete analysis of the situation. On several occasions it has been necessary to seek informa- tion from the police department, and we are pleased to inform you that this information has been cheerfully given by that de- partment whenever we asked it. 24 Houses oe Prostitution. In our investigation we have been unable to find any licensed or police regulated houses of prostitution. This does not argue, however, that our people are free from vice. There are many boarding and rooming houses to which suspicion poiuts strongly as places where a great deal of vice is practiced. Certainly there are many noble, honorable and clean exceptions which we beg you to keep always in mind in undertaking to follow them up more closely than we have, but with the information we have at hand, the rooming house under suspicion seems to be the rule rather than the exception. In respect to these, therefore, we would recommend that all public rooming houses be regulated by license or permits, so that their conduct and business may always be open to police inspection. Pool Rooms. The game of .pool is regarded by very many people as legiti- mate sport, but to us it is a serious question as to the amount of crime it breeds. In addition to the regular gambling tendency which the playing of pool gives, the pool room itself is the very center of idleness, vice, and sometimes crime. In the pool room a great many men and boys come together during the day, and especially in the evenings. A few at a time pay for an opportunity to play the game, while large crowds lounge about, tell smooty jokes, and sometimes* quarrel. These places are used also as half-way houses to the saloons, where beer is carried by minors and distributed freely. The pool rooms are visited occasionally by women, who are instrumental in carrying beer to the pool rooms. In this regard we would recommend that all boys under eighteen (18) years of age be prohibited by law and by police force from frequenting these places. It should also be a matter of police attention for women and children to be seen carrying beer and other alcoholic beverages from saloons to pool rooms, or to any other places for any purpose whatever. Social, Engagements. Women, children and youth of all races need much recrea- tion at proper times, and especially do children need the proper direction of their energies. We believe that, more and more, our churches and schools must be made social centers. Out door sports and athletics must be provided for all young people. As it is now nothing of the sort is provided for the children of our race in this city, except as the churches and Sunday Schools give a picnic once a year, far beyond the limits of the city, where the great majority of our children cannot go. We have a number of public schools, one public high school and two col- 25 leges in Little Rock, for negro children and youth. There are also thousands of negro homes in which there are no front yards and very scarce back yards. All the children and youth of these schools, colleges and homes are deprived of anything like regular and frequent outing within the city limits, or anything like playgrounds and parks whither they might resort untram- meled, in safety and with some considerable degree of elevation. The social lid is held down too tightly upon them, and they are failing to give to the city the sort of men and women that a progressive, clean and modejn city deserves. In respect to this phase of the question we would recommend for your considera- tion the opening of a park strictly for colored people; that the city furnish the grounds and the colored people the enclosure and the equipment, or vice versa; that this park be and forever re- main under the management of the city through a colored com- mission or a special policeman appointed by the city for that purpose. The; Economical Situation. As a matter of course, there are far more women, girls and children of the colored race who have to leave their homes early in the morning and get back late at night, than women, girls and children of any other race. We believe it is an honor for them to be regularly employed. But the city and community owe them such protection as will make them love their jobs and make them morally independent of all individuals and conditions tend- ing to lead them astray. They go into thousands of homes, restaurants, hotels, laundries, etc., owned and cared for by the white race. The more strongly safeguarded these servants are, the higher will be their tone of character and the less vitiated will be the atmosphere where these people work. Their protec- tion, therefore, and their moral culture ought to be of mutual concern. Legal sentinels ought to be stationed at, or ordered to frequent strategic and exposed points- about the city to protect the poor and weak. In numerous cases we have found that ad- vantage had been taken of colored girls between the hours of six and nine o’clock in the evening, on their way from work to their homes, and early in the morning on their way from home to their work. It sometimes happens that collectors from time payment houses literally ransack negro neighborhoods, taking 26 advantage in various ways of the helpless condition of negro women. The city is not responsible for this economic condition ; but when such cases come up, it should be mindful to give these poor creatures, in every way, the benefit of the doubt. The very fact that the city’s eye is turned toward the situation with the view of extending protection wherever it was consistent with law and moral right, would be a guarantee that the situation would gradually and greatly improve. We would also add that wherever the quantity and quality of service will justify, these servants should have a slight raise in their wages from time to time, so as to make them economically independent of all temp- tations offered them as an easier way to make a living. Industrial Engagements. It is often and properly said that “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” There is no less truth in it when we come to the civic and social condition of a city than when we consider the civic and social condition of a family. There are hundreds and thousands of negro children in Little Rock from the ages of ten to twenty who are neither in school nor have they any regular industrial engagement. The city does not own them and therefore cannot compel them by police force either to go to school or go to work. But something can be done. There are. hundreds of acres of vacant lots in the city belonging to different people. These vacant grounds could be fenced in for a small sum, comparatively speaking, and cultivated at a large profit. It seems to us that the owners would be glad to give the use of these grounds for a term of years just for the fenc- ing and other improvements. Or, if not that, they ought to be willing to make their charges -merely nominal and let out their vacant property on this condition and for this purpose for not less than two years and as much as five years at a time. Some sort of civic organization could be launched, and boys could be induced to join them ; the director of the movement under city authorities and community co-operation could direct the boys in various ways, to use these grounds, viz., by poultry clubs, garden clubs, corn clubs, and trucking clubs. Very great many boys could be induced to make their own living in this way and at the same time saved from mischief and from temptation. While we thank you for the honor you have conferred upon 27 us, and believe that this report terminates our service, we never- theless feel that some such organization or individual service should be perpetuated as a connecting link between the city and its colored constituency. It must be remembered that for the good of the city and the colored people too, there is no such thing as a general charity organization, colored policeman, re- form school, station matrons, or house of refuge. The city of Little Rock could not do a better thing than to look for the pro- vision of such things, one or more, and thus draw the colored people closer to the heart of the city government and into closer co-operation in making our city all it should be.. Respectfully submitted, little rock colored vice commission, Jas. A. Booker, Chairman . G. W. Hayman. E. H. Carry. Addison Morris. R. C. Childress. After the report of the commission was rendered, Mayor Chas. E. Taylor gave it due publicity in the newspapers and as- sured the commission that he would use every effort to carry out the recommendations thus made to him. On June 6, 1913, he addressed the following letter to the chief of police, which, to- gether with the reply of the chief, illustrates the attitude of the administration toward the evils complained of : Mr. Fred M. Cogswell, Chief of Police. Dear Sir — Kindly have one of the sergeants officially notify the proprietress of every house in the restricted district that, following the recommendations of the Vice Commission, her place must be closed not later than August 25. Also have your sergeants notify the owner of the property, or the owner’s agent, that after August 25 they will be proceeded against under the law should a resort be conducted on the premises. Please have this done in the right shape, having the city attorney draw up proper forms and notices. When you serve 28 these papers, which should be done tomorrow, please advise this office. Confirming verbal instructions given last week, do not ac- cept any -more forfeits from these women. The time, August 25, is given in order that they may close up and vacate their premises upon reasonable notice. However, please understand that police regulations in the re- stricted districts are not to be waived in any way. Yours truly, Cha