LAWS FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC.
By Harry A. Parkin, Assistant United States District
Attorney, Chicago.
The war for exterminating the white slave traffic has progressed so
rapidly and has attained such enormous proportions, that it is not now
confined to one state or country, but people from every state in the
United States, in Canada, England, and other foreign countries, have
taken up the slogan and are vitally interested in assisting to curb the
monstrous traffic. Laws have been enacted in several of the states
during the past sessions of their respective legislatures. In other
states new laws are contemplated. Reports are received by the Committee
on Legislation daily which are indeed encouraging and show the need of
centralizing the effort and assisting citizens of the different states
who so frequently are at a loss to know exactly what to do when a white
slave case comes within their observation.
To meet this need and to further the effort to secure proper
legislation, the Committee has decided to publish the following digest
of the laws of every state in the Union, so far as practicable, for
distribution to those who are interested in this warfare.
In this connection the Committee desires to acknowledge its very deep
sense of gratitude and appreciation to the governors of the respective
states, their assistants and attorney generals, for the data furnished
by them contained within these pages. It is indeed an encouraging sign
when men in high public office stop for a time from the stress of their
official duties to assist in a world-wide undertaking of this kind.
The reader will find in these pages all of the laws of each state in the
United States, so far as obtainable, which affect in any way, and which
may be used to throttle the white slave traffic. There will also be
found simple directions to be followed by the citizen who becomes
acquainted with a white slave case and who desires to have it properly
prosecuted. The digest has been made as simple as possible, and
technical legal terms and phrases have been avoided where possible in
order that every one, be he lawyer or layman, may be able to read and
act understandingly.
The Committee.
UNITED STATES.
The section of the United States statutes which is the basis of the
Federal prosecutions is known as Section Three of the Act of February
20, 1907. It may be found in United States Compiled Statutes, Supplement
1907, page 392.
THE EFFECT OF THE SUPREME COURT DECISION.
The Congress of the United States, on February 20, 1907, passed what is
known as the Immigration Act. This Act covers twenty-three printed pages
affecting the immigration of all classes of peoples to the United
States. Among other provisions, Section 3 of this Act attempted to
prohibit the importation of alien women and girls for immoral purposes.
This section was made sufficiently broad to prohibit not only the
importation, but the keeping, even with the consent of the alien, of any
foreign woman or girl for immoral purposes. The Act is as follows:
Sec. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien woman
or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral
purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly,
import, or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien woman or
girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose,
or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien woman or girl for any
such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or whoever shall
keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor in any house or other place,
for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, any
alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall have entered the
United States, shall, in every such case, be deemed guilty of a felony,
and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and pay
a fine of not more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or
girl who shall be found an inmate of a house of prostitution or
practicing prostitution, at any time within three years after she shall
have entered the United States, shall be deemed to be unlawfully within
the United States and shall be deported as provided by sections twenty
and twenty-one of this Act.
It is this section of the Act under which the prosecutions in the
Northern District of Illinois were instituted by United States District
Attorney Sims in June of nineteen hundred and eight, and which resulted
in the imprisonment of so many procurers and keepers of houses of
ill-fame. Among the cases which were tried before a jury and which
resulted in a conviction of the keepers, was a case entitled United
States v. Keller and Ullman. These defendants were charged with having
harbored Irene Bodi, a native of Austria, within three years after she
had entered the United States, and found guilty by the jury and
sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth for
one and one-half years each. They thereupon prosecuted an appeal to the
Supreme Court of the United States, alleging among other things that the
law under which they were convicted was unconstitutional, in that the
clause "keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor," attempted to
embrace powers not given by the constitution to Congress, but reserved
to the respective states and to be within their police powers. This
contention was upheld by the Supreme Court. The result is that so much
of Section 3 of the Act of February 20, 1907, as attempted to prosecute
a keeper who simply harbored or permitted to be within his house of
prostitution an alien woman or girl within three years after her arrival
in this country was wiped out of the statute, and the section of the Act
must now be read as follows:
Sec. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien woman
or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral
purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly,
import, or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien woman or
girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose,
or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien woman or girl for any
such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, shall, in every
such case, be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof be
imprisoned not more than five years and pay a fine of not more than five
thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl who shall be found an
inmate of a house of prostitution or practicing prostitution, at any
time within three years after she shall have entered the United States,
shall be deemed to be unlawfully within the United States and shall be
deported as provided by sections twenty and twenty-one of this Act.
It will thus be seen, by comparing the Act as originally signed by the
President and the Act as it now reads, after the decision of the Supreme
Court, that it is necessary in every case to show that the person who
holds the alien had directly or indirectly imported the same alien into
the United States for immoral purposes. In other words, the federal
authorities are now restricted to cases where they are able to prove
that the defendant imported the girl prior to the time she was found in
his house of prostitution. This will very materially lessen the number
of federal prosecutions, as it is extremely difficult in the vast
majority of cases to show that the person in whose house the alien was
found was in every instance responsible for her importation. It is to be
hoped that Congress during its coming session shall see fit to enact
remedial legislation which shall correct that clause of the Act declared
unconstitutional, or if this shall be found impossible, to at least
broaden the present scope of Section 3 of the Immigration Act so that it
can be made more comprehensive and far-reaching.
[Illustration: WHERE YOUNG MEN BUY INSANITY CHEAP
A whole row of low dives and vice resorts. It is here that the white
slaves are taken; it is here where the sinful pleasures of the young men
wreck their bodies and steal their manhood.]
[Illustration: OLD GLORY AND OLDER GLORY--"THESE DIVES MUST GO"
The author, Rev. Ernest A. Bell, holding a meeting in the vice
district--at the open door of a notorious resort]
Another result of the action of the Supreme Court is to emphasize the
great need for legislation by the respective states looking to laws
which shall minimize the placing of girls in houses of prostitution
within the several states, and which shall prevent the migration from
one state to another of women for immoral purposes. Many of the states
have already responded. The State of North Dakota has enacted a law
to hit White Slavery. South Dakota has done the same. Illinois has
already passed two excellent bills drawn on the lines suggested in the
March issue of the Woman's World. The State of Iowa has also enacted a
law aimed at White Slavery.
Procedure.
Prosecution for violation of the Federal laws rests with the United
States district attorney in the respective districts. The matter should
be brought to his attention and the evidence submitted for his
examination. The usual procedure is to then present the matter to the
Federal grand jury, if one be sitting, or to arrest the defendant and
prosecute him before a United States commissioner.
ALABAMA.
In Alabama any person who takes a female from her father, mother,
guardian or other person having the legal charge of her without his or
her consent, for the purpose of prostitution or concubinage, shall be
imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than ten nor more than twenty
years.
Alabama Code, 1852, Sec. 3095; 1871, Ch. 56, Sec. 3.
Any person who takes any female unlawfully, against her will, with the
intent to compel her, by menace, duress or force to marry him or any
other person, or be defiled, shall on conviction be imprisoned in the
penitentiary not less than ten nor more than twenty-one years.
Alabama Code, 1852, Sec. 3094; 1871, Ch. 56, Sec. 3.
The above section is aimed at one who takes a female with the intent to
compel her to suffer the crimes enumerated. There is a further section
aimed at the person who actually accomplishes the result intended and
covered by the previous section. The latter section is as follows:
Any person who takes any female and by menace, duress or force compels
her to marry him or any other person or be defiled, shall be imprisoned
in the penitentiary not less than ten nor more than twenty-one years.
Alabama Code, 1871, Ch. 56, Sec. 3.
It is no defense to a charge of abduction that the elopement was with
the consent of the female and at her request, and the burden of proof as
to the chastity of the woman abducted, in an indictment, is upon the
defendant.
Any parent or guardian or person having charge or custody of a female
such as is mentioned by the preceding paragraphs, who permits or
encourages or abets in the commission of the crimes above set forth can
be punished the same as the person who actually seduces the girl.
Alabama Code, 1893, Ch. 129, Sec. 1.
Procedure.
Report any violation to the prosecuting officer of the county in which
the crime was committed.
ALASKA.
That if any person, under promise of marriage, shall seduce and have
illicit connection with any unmarried female of previous chaste
character, such person, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than five
years; or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than three months
nor more than one year, or by fine not less than five hundred dollars
nor more than one thousand dollars. A subsequent marriage of the
parties, or offer to marry in good faith, is a defense to a violation of
this section.