According to statistics the average life of a prostitute is four years
after entering the maelstrom of such a career. The life is never such
as to be recommended even by its followers. It is moral as well as
physical death when followed, and is well-nigh impossible to escape
once having bowed to its seeming fascination.
As to the libertine, he "sells himself for what he buys." He may
enjoy pleasure, but not happiness. Happiness comes from within, in
the consciousness of doing right. Pleasures come from without, in the
gratification of self. In addition to the hollowness of the enjoyment
in the lives of prostitute and libertine, is always the danger of
loathsome disease which tortures body and brain, lowering them in
their own minds. It is about the only ill in the category that does
not command sympathy, but it should.
The evils of drunkenness, theft, or prostitution are on the same basis
as far as the "necessity" for their existence. All are more or less
the result of a badly adjusted economic condition of whatever nation.
They can be reduced to a minimum, if not eradicated, by removing the
cause.