THE NATIONS AND THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC.
By James Bronson Reynolds, New York.
Note:--Few Americans are better informed than Mr. Reynolds on the
subject of commerce in white women and girls, and in Chinese and
Japanese women and girls. He has investigated this awful traffic on the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, in Panama, in China
and Japan. He is a member of the National Vigilance Committee, which
co-operates with similar organizations in other nations for the
extermination of this shameful traffic. In other important
investigations he has been a special commissioner of President
Roosevelt.
This chapter is an address delivered by Mr. Reynolds, who came from New
York for the purpose, before the conference for the suppression of the
White Slave Traffic held by the Illinois Vigilance Association in
Chicago, February 8, 1909.
THE INTERNATIONAL TREATY.
On May 18, 1904, a treaty was signed between the leading countries of
Europe, for the repression of the white slave traffic. This treaty was
presented to our government and after careful consideration its
ratification was advised by the senate and proclaimed by the President,
June 15, 1908. If I am correctly informed, this is the first treaty
relating to social morality consummated between the leading civilized
governments of the world. This action is of the highest significance and
importance. The provisions of this treaty should be generally known by
our people, which is not the case today, and we should carefully
consider our obligations as citizens to its proper fulfillment. It
should be hailed as a step of progress in this twentieth century, which
seems destined to record great improvements in social well-being and in
the removal of inequalities of condition. The most important provisions
of the treaty which I will summarize are contained in the first three
articles:
Article 1. Each of the contracting governments agrees to establish or
designate an authority who will be directed to centralize information
concerning the procuration of women and girls, for the purpose of their
debauchery in a foreign country: That authority shall be empowered to
correspond directly with the similar service established in each of the
other contracting states.
Article 2. Each of the governments agrees to exercise supervision of
railway stations, ports of embarkation and of women and girls in
transit, in order to procure all possible information leading to the
discovery of a criminal traffic. The arrival of persons involved in
such traffic, as procurers or victims, shall be communicated to
diplomatic or consular agents.
Article 3. The governments agree to inform the authorities of the
country of origin of the discovery of such unfortunates and to retain,
pending advices, such victims in institutions of public or private
charity. Such parties will be returned after proper identification to
the country of origin.
The execution of the provisions of the treaty in European countries has
been entrusted to the national police service. In this country, where
the police are not a department of the national government, the Bureau
of Immigration, which seemed best equipped for the service pledged, has
been instructed to carry out, so far as possible, the provisions of the
treaty.
THE EXTENT AND POWER OF THE EVIL FORCES.
Even this exceptionally well informed audience may not be fully aware of
the extent and power of the evil forces which Europe and America have
through this treaty combined to oppose. That the treaty was originally
drafted without the assistance of our own government, indicates that
Europe first realized the necessity of governmental action. The adhesion
of our own government to the treaty proves its subsequent recognition of
the seriousness of the evil. Briefly stated, the status of the white
slave traffic is this: It is a traffic with local, interstate, national
and international ramifications. It has the complete outfit of a large
business; large capital, representatives in various countries, well paid
agents, and able, high salaried lawyers. Its victims are numbered yearly
by the thousands. They include not only the peasant girls of European
villages, but also the farmers' daughters of our own country. Some are
uneducated and wholly ignorant; others have enjoyed good education.
While most of them come from the homes of poverty, occasionally a child
of well-to-do parentage is numbered among the victims. The alert agents
of the traffic move from place to place, alluring peasant girls and
farmers' daughters from their homes, entrapping innocent victims at
railway stations and public resorts. Not a few girls who go to the
cities to seek their fortunes and fail are caught by these harpies. And
remember, I am alluding now not to those who go astray because of
incidental misfortunes of circumstance, condition, or blind trust in
some unworthy lover, but only to those who are entrapped by the agents
of the organized white slave traffic system.
The above statements have been abundantly established by the
investigations of the National Vigilance Committee within the past two
years and have been confirmed by other competent authorities. These
conditions have been due not to the wish or the intention of our people,
but to our blindness or our ignorance. We forget that eternal vigilance
is the price of liberty, as one declaiming of political freedom has
said. The same price must be paid for every other civic excellence or
right. The liberty of woman, quite as much as the liberty of man, should
be protected, and woman's moral freedom, quite as much as man's
political freedom, demands for its protection unceasing vigilance.
Without going further into general conditions, I wish to present a
statement regarding America's relations to the white slave traffic in
China and Japan and to the yellow slave traffic in the Pacific Coast
states of our own country. My information regarding China and Japan is
based primarily on my own personal observations and inquiries in those
countries. My information regarding conditions in California is based
upon the report of a special agent of the National Vigilance Committee
and upon the reports of missionaries and other workers among the Chinese
and Japanese women on our Western coast.
I shall consider my subject in two divisions: First, white slave traffic
in Asia; second, yellow slave traffic in AMERICA. I trust I do not seem
to be stretching the application of the subject of my address in the
title of the second division. It is the traffic in the bodies and souls
of women, and I care not whether they are white, yellow or black.
(Applause.) Our responsibility is independent of the color of the
victims.
THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC IN ASIA: OUR SHAME IN THE ORIENT.
The record of white slave traffic in the Orient presents one of the
darkest pages in our history. In many Oriental cities, notably in Hong
Kong, Shanghai and Yokohama, there exists a quarter made up of houses of
ill-repute. The most showy and stylishly dressed of their occupants are
Americans. Some of them are often conspicuous in expensive equipages on
the leading thoroughfares. It is so well known a fact in the Orient that
these women are Americans that I was told in three cities that the term
"American girl" was synonymous of a prostitute. Such a condition would
be deplorable in itself, but in addition it must be understood that just
as we Americans derive our chief impression of the Chinese nation from
the Chinese quarters in Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, so
the Chinese in their home form their impression of Americans from the
American communities in the Orient, in which the daughters of shame are
most in evidence.
Until recently Shanghai held first place among Oriental cities of such
shameful repute. That this status has been somewhat modified is due
chiefly to the courage and persistence of Judge Wilfley, American
Circuit Court Judge at Shanghai. He was severely criticised, I believe,
before a Congressional investigating committee last winter, for lack of
tact, and for using rough-shod methods. A careful investigation by Mr.
Root, the Secretary of State, resulted, however, in Judge Wilfley's
complete vindication and in the highest praise for the service he had
rendered in cleansing out the Augean stables of American vice in
Shanghai. But in spite of his admirable efforts, the reform has not been
permanent, and will only become so when we manifest that our moral
house-cleaning is a permanent duty to be kept up at all times.
Of course there are clean and happy American homes in these cities, just
as there are happy Chinese homes in our Chinese quarters, though few of
us are aware of the latter fact, as neither our reporters nor our
slumming parties discover them. But the American dens of vice in the
coast cities are the most conspicuous exponents of Americanism in China
and Japan, as the Chinese opium and gambling dens in our American cities
are supposed to be typical of life in China. We hasten to assert that in
our case the imputation is deplorably incorrect. We might with equal
truth recognize the injustice of judging the average Chinaman by
impressions formed in a Chinatown slumming party.
The Chinese colonies of this country and the European and American
colonies in the Orient exhibit the worst side of their respective
national character. Thus through the depravity of a fragment of our
people the nation is misjudged and is believed to make for
unrighteousness. This has been the direct result of our indifference to
our reputation in the Orient. It is well to remind you that under the
exterritoriality clause of our treaty with China, all Americans in China
are under the protection and control of our consular representatives.
The Chinese in this country have no such protection from their home
government. The Chinese nation is, therefore, entitled to hold us
responsible for the conduct of Americans in China, as we cannot hold the
Chinese government responsible for the conduct of its people in our
country.
When I was in Japan, at the request of the American government, I
approached certain Japanese officials to learn if something could not be
done to stop the sending of Japanese girls to this country for immoral
purposes. I was courteously received, and after some discussion was
assured that the Japanese government would gladly co-operate to suppress
this traffic and would welcome any suggestions to that end. A high
official said to me, "We desire to have the Japanese enjoy a good
reputation in your country, and therefore we are most anxious that only
those Japanese should go to your country who will contribute to the good
reputation of our country." But on leaving this official he said with
some hesitation, "Do you think it would be possible on your return to
America to suggest to your officials that they might do something to
prevent the sending of American girls to our cities?" Let those who
hastily declare the Japanese to be wholly depraved because of the
Yoshiwara in their cities, understand that we have been and still are
responsible for an American Yoshiwara in more than one Japanese and
Chinese city.
Should not this mortifying suggestion of a Japanese official to a
Christian nation, the burning disgrace to our country, and the dictates
of patriotism, of decency and of humanity, arouse us and through us our
government? If we realize the necessity of action, then there are three
things which we can and should do.
1. Provision should be made by law so that the protection of American
citizenship, impudently flaunted in the Orient by the American
prostitutes and other outlaws, should be withdrawn. American citizenship
should not be a cloak for the protection and promotion of vice. I
realize the danger of the possible abuse of such proscription. Proper
safeguards must be maintained so that an arrogant or unprincipled consul
may not abuse his power; but with proper checks, protection sought in
the name of American citizenship should bring good character as its
credential.
2. Direct communication should be established between our government and
the governments of Japan and China, assuring these governments that we
deplore the presence in their territory of such unworthy representatives
of our country, and that we will gladly co-operate in driving them from
their unholy traffic.
3. A formal treaty agreement should be instituted with China and Japan
under which the high contracting parties should agree to use their
respective police powers to detect and punish those who seek to send
girls or women from one country to the other for immoral purposes.
THE YELLOW SLAVE TRAFFIC IN AMERICA--MORE SHAMEFUL STILL.
Second. Yellow slave traffic in America.
Deplorable and disgraceful as is the white slave traffic in the Orient,
the yellow slave traffic in our own country is infinitely more
disgraceful. We call ourselves a Christian nation. The Chinese and
Japanese are classed as heathen, but I am compelled to believe that the
heathen slaves imprisoned in the pens of California are in a much worse
plight under Christian rule than are their unfortunate sisters in
Chinese and Japanese cities under heathen rule.
I am informed that five years ago very few Oriental women were imported
for immoral purposes. A small number of Chinese women were kept in
certain houses for the accommodation of Chinese men. Today there is an
organized system of commerce in human flesh between China and Japan and
this country, and an organized system of slavery in certain of our coast
states. After the payment of money for this human property, title is
passed just as for real estate, and the alleged property rights are
respected by our officials. Is this Christian? Is it decent? Is it
American? Is it anything but a vile shame and disgrace, a disgrace to be
abolished by the determined action of every lover of decency in our
land? [Cries of No! No!]
I am not making these statements on the basis of newspaper stories or
travelers' gossip. Let me quote from a report of our investigator.
Speaking of one city in California, he says, "The crib system, which
means the keeping of many girls in small rooms in large buildings,
sometimes under lock and key, sometimes at liberty to come and go, is
adopted to a limited degree among Japanese girls. Across the river these
girls are kept in the Chinese quarter. They are owned by wealthy
Japanese and Chinese men. The property thus used for saloon, gambling
and for a slave market for girls is said to belong to an estate
controlled by a high official of the state."
Of another city our investigator says: "In conversation with a very
intelligent Chinese woman, the direct question was asked, 'Are the
Chinese and Japanese women actual prisoners owned and controlled by
their keepers?' She said that such was practically the case, and that
none of these girls were allowed to leave their rooms without being
escorted by older people, whose presence with them would insure their
return.
"It is remarkable that the authorities of Oakland seem to regard this
crib slavery of young girls as part of the legitimate business of the
city."
Of a third city he says: "There is a district in ----, covering five
blocks--a crib district--where the floating population gathers by the
hundreds. The girls here number from 100 to 600.
"One other similar section of ---- is owned by some very prominent and
wealthy citizens, who pay taxes on the property. Their names are known.
In the suburbs is a field containing the nameless graves of 451 unknown
girls."
Many cases are on record of the attempts of missionary workers, some
successful and some unsuccessful, to snatch these victims from their
owners. One missionary told of an instance where she had been informed
that one of five girls confined in a certain room in a house of
ill-repute desired to escape. With the help of an honest policeman and
two assistants the missionary forced her way into the room. When she
found the five girls she was at a loss to determine what to do, because
she could not recognize which one wished to escape. She had been
informed that the girl she sought would be afraid to indicate her wish.
After hesitation the missionary selected one girl and told the detective
to seize her. The girl screamed, kicked, scratched and fought her
rescuers with the greatest energy, but was carried into the street and
into the mission house. As soon as she was inside the house she fell at
the feet of the teacher and said, "Teacher, you know I didn't mean what
I said. I did not dare to show any desire to go for fear I might be
taken back." It happened that the missionary got the girl whom she
sought and who desired her liberty. Other attempts at rescue have been
less successful. On one occasion a rescue party sought a Chinese girl,
whom it was agreed should hold to her mouth a white handkerchief as a
signal that she was the one to be taken. When the rescue party entered
the place, they saw the girl with the handkerchief to her face, at the
soliciting window. Unfortunately, in the excitement of the moment the
girl lost her presence of mind, and, waving her handkerchief, cried out,
"O teacher!" But a locked door still separated her from her rescuers,
and her keepers, suspecting the truth, dragged her back, and she was
lost in the house before the door could be forced. Other girls who
escaped from the den afterwards told her fate. Her enraged owner kicked
her to death in one of the rooms of her slave prison where there was
none to defend her. No one was ever punished for this crime.
Horrible as these incidents were, they are but the regular
accompaniments of slavery. They have been paralleled in all ages and in
all countries where slavery has existed. The shame of it is that in
America in the twentieth century such slavery should still be tolerated.
Ought we not to give active support to our government in its fulfillment
of its treaty agreement with the nations of Europe? And should not our
example in the Orient and our conduct in our own country be more worthy
of our national moral standards? If so, then such an association as this
has a more than local service to render. Placed in this important
center, it must reach out both to the East and to the West, awaken
interest, give warning, and help to provide a chain of national
protective agencies to combat and destroy the closely linked chain of
purveyors of vice.