PROSTITUTE AND CUSTOMER
(a) THE PROSTITUTE
The professional prostitute, in the sense in which the term is here used,
is the woman or girl who sells herself for money, whether for her own
pecuniary benefit, or under the direction or control of owners of vice
resorts, of madames, procurers, or pimps. There has been much speculation
as to the number of such women in New York City. Various estimates have
been made from time to time, ranging from 25,000 to 100,000. A recent
estimate places the number at 30,000.
At the beginning of this investigation, it was determined to count all
women who were believed to be professional prostitutes seen in connection
with resorts of all kinds in Manhattan, as well as those who used the
streets for solicitation. Although these resorts were visited two or more
times, only one count made on one visit is included in the total. As a
result of this method, adhered to throughout the entire period of the
study, _i. e._, from January 24th, 1912, to November 15th, 1912, the
number of professional prostitutes actually counted was 14,926. Of this
number, 6,759 were found on the streets in different localities in
Manhattan; 8,167 prostitutes were seen and counted in parlor houses,
resorts in tenement apartments, disorderly massage parlors, hotels,
saloons, concert halls, and miscellaneous places.[174] Not all the vice
resorts operating in Manhattan were visited; nor were all the women in
these resorts seen during the visits: a certain number of repetitions
would thus probably be more than offset. On the basis of the foregoing
figures, it is safe to say that a total in round numbers of 15,000 does
not overstate the number of professional prostitutes in Manhattan. This
estimate does not include occasional or clandestine prostitutes; it
includes those only who publicly offer themselves for sale in the open
marts.
An effort was made to ascertain the salient facts in the personal history
of 1,106 prostitutes--mostly street walkers. The approximate accuracy or
truthfulness of the facts stated may be inferred from the extent to which
they are confirmed by Miss Davis's intensive study of the inmates of
Bedford Reformatory.[175] Our investigator was a woman who was regarded as
extraordinarily successful in winning the confidence of the girls, with
whom she associated on easy and familiar terms, and by whom she was
regarded as one of themselves. Of the 1,106 women thus interrogated, 762
gave America as their native land; 347 gave New York State as their
birthplace; 95 were born in Pennsylvania, 63 in New Jersey, 35 in Ohio, 26
in Connecticut. Of the 344 born in foreign countries, 107 came from
Russia, 72 from Germany, 35 from Austria-Hungary, and 32 from England and
Scotland. Their previous occupations include domestic service, trade,
industry, commerce, stenography, school teaching. Those who are arrested
come mainly from the class first named, thus confirming the results
obtained by Miss Mary Conyngton, an investigator for the Department of
Labor at Washington, who declares that out of 3,229 women arrested for
offenses against the law, 2,606, or 80.71 per cent claim to have followed
the ordinary pursuits of women "within and outside the home."[176] But, it
must be added, the majority of those now engaged in prostitution seldom
reach the Night Court or rescue homes. They are too well-dressed, too
clever, and have long since learned the art of escaping the hand of the
law. Of the women at large interrogated, 487 gave their occupational
history; of these, it is not surprising to find that the percentage of
domestic servants is lower than among 168 girls found in rescue homes,
refuges and asylums. Of the 487, there were 117 who stated that they had
been or were employed in department stores; 28 were clerks in smaller
stores; 72 had worked in factories; 25 gave office work; 31 said they had
been or were then stenographers; 9 telephone operators; 72 had been on the
stage, and 16 of these still remained in this occupation during the
theatrical season; 13 declared they had been milliners; 8 were school
teachers; 4 were trained nurses; 5 had sold books on commission; 4 were
artists; 2 artists' models; and 1 was a translator. Seventy-nine of the
487 gave home pursuits as their former occupation; 27 of these said they
had been domestic servants; 8 were nurse girls, 17 were dressmakers, 18
were waitresses and 9 chambermaids. Five hundred and eighteen (over half)
represented themselves as without regular employment, either before or
after they became prostitutes and 101 refused to say what their employment
had been.
The types of employment appear to be much more varied than the types of
girl. With few exceptions, the girls are characterized as weak, vain and
ignorant, fond of pleasure,--not, of course, at the beginning, necessarily
vicious pleasure,--easily led,--now by natural emotion, again by cunning
design. The explanation of her present plight as given by the girl is
almost invariably complicated. No single reason can usually be assigned.
Roughly speaking, four kinds of causes are mentioned:
First. In connection with family life.
Second. In connection with married life.
Third. Personal reasons.
Fourth. Economic reasons.
The great difficulties in their family life seem to have been neglect and
abuse by parents, sternness and lack of understanding, immorality of
different members of the family, and poverty in the home. In connection
with marriage, it was usually alleged that the husband persuaded the wife
to go into the business: he was practically a pimp. Sometimes, cruelty or
criminality on his part is assigned,--again, incompatibility, failure to
provide, or desertion where the wife stated that she had no other
recourse, never having learned to support herself. Of personal reasons,
there are usually several, no one of which can be regarded as paramount.
Sometimes a girl's lover puts her into the life or deserts her after
seduction, leaving her without hope for the future: "I was ruined anyway,"
she would say, "and I did not care what became of me." Again, "I loved the
excitement and a good time, easy money and good clothes." Another one
remarks, "I was born bad and actually enjoy the life." "I was tired of
drudgery as a servant," said another, "I'd rather do this than be kicked
around like a dog in a kitchen by some woman who calls herself a lady."
Few girls ever admit that they have been forced into the life as "white
slaves." Some were lonely and wanted company, some were demoralized by the
environment of the stage; others fell into bad company, and did not have
the moral courage or the opportunity to desist. Generally speaking, of
girls and women who are either ignorant, lonely, giddy, sub-normal,
loveless, childless, rebellious, weak of will, discouraged of heart,
unhappy or poverty-stricken, the prostitutes are those who at critical
periods have given way to such an extent that they drift or plunge into
immoral lives, professional or otherwise.
The same sort of explanation is given regardless of former occupation: "I
was glad to get away from drudgery," says a former servant, "father drank
and I was put out to work too young"; "my folks were poor, father died
from drink, mother is a heavy drinker," says a factory girl; "I had never
had anything for myself, father drank heavily," says a saleswoman. Or,
again,--a factory worker, "there is more money and pleasure in being a
sport." A shop-girl, "I wanted nice clothes and a good time"; a
stenographer, "I wanted good times, money and clothes." Seduction, too, is
alleged at all levels,--base men taking advantage of natural craving for
interest and affection. "I was 17 when I went with my sweetheart," said a
shop-girl; "I never intended to make it a business, I was in love with the
first fellow," declared a former stenographer. The point should also be
emphasized that victims of this kind do not succumb merely to man's
impulse; often they are conquered by deliberate design. Undoubtedly
responsible for part of the supply is, therefore, the thoughtless,
intelligent, independent man, who seeks out a vain, unhappy, emotional
girl as his victim. I refer to the employer who takes advantage of his
stenographer or telephone girl, taking her to luncheons in private
dining-rooms in expensive restaurants in the business districts. In
department stores, certain floor-walkers, salesmen, buyers, managers,
foremen, and even proprietors are constantly placing temptations before
the weak and yielding girls who come under their direction.[177]
How far direct economic pressure is responsible for prostitution, it is
difficult to state. A calculation of the wages previously received reveals
great discrepancies. Seventeen former domestics averaged $5.55 a week,
plus board and lodging; 18 factory workers received from $3 to $7.50, 20
received from $8 to $14 a week; 110 shop-girls averaged $8.24 a week. The
above salaries range, however, from $3 to $15 weekly, the majority
receiving $6, $7, and $8. Eleven receive $10; eleven, $12 apiece; and
three, $15 each. Twenty former stenographers earned on the average $11.25
a week; of the eight women who claimed to have been school-teachers, one
had earned $80 a month, and one $90. One hundred and thirty-nine girls (12
per cent) declared that they went into the life for economic reasons.
Thirty-three put it this way, "I could not support myself"; fifty-five
declared that they could not support themselves and their babies,
sometimes their parents; forty-five said they were out of work and could
not get it; nine were in ill health or had some defect keeping them out of
work. Many more cited in explanation of their conduct the deprivations to
which they would otherwise have to submit. Their alleged earnings as
prostitutes, even if exaggerated, suggest a startling contrast: former
servants claim that their receipts from soliciting vary from $26 to $68
per week; thirty former factory workers claim average weekly returns of
$24; 40 more profess an average of $76 a week; a group of stenographers
(17) average $55 per week.
The critical period when the first sexual offense of these women was
committed appears to belong between the 14th and 21st years of life; the
average of 1,106 such girls is 17 years. Twenty-five servants first erred
between the 9th and 26th years; their average age was 16; 40 factory
workers, first erring between 14 and 22, averaged a little over 17; 110
salesgirls give the same result. Occasionally they declare that they never
knew the time when they were virtuous. "When I was a kid of 6, I used to
kiss sailors and other men for candy and do other things," said one.
Naturally the age is highest in case of the former teachers, of whom one
reports her first offense at 21, another at 20; one or two report their
fall in their 18th year. The average time which elapsed before the girls
finally drifted into professional prostitution was two years, _i. e._,
when they were 19 years of age. The life of the professional prostitute
has been estimated at five years, on the ground that she dies, withdraws,
or is incapacitated after she has been in the business on the average for
that length of time. But a study of more than a thousand prostitutes, all
now actively engaged in the business in New York City, does not sustain
this view. The majority of these girls, though entering the life before
18, are at 24 still active and aggressive in seeking trade. There is a
sudden drop, however, at 25, fluctuating more or less until the age of 30
is reached. Of the 1,097 professional women whose histories were carefully
compiled on this point, 15 were exceedingly active at 32, 13 at 34, 11 at
40, 3 at 44, and 3 at 50. The average age of the 1,097 who are at present
inmates of vice resorts, solicitors in saloons, and on the streets, is 25
years.
It is curious to note that prostitution is definitely stratified. Women
divide themselves into three distinct classes and recognize the
subdivisions. To the upper class belong the inmates of $5 and $10 houses.
The middle class is formed by girls in one dollar and fifty cent
establishments. The street girls are, generally speaking, at the bottom.
As in the upper, so in the underworld, social status changes with
prosperity or adversity, though the tendency--by reason of the progressive
demoralization of the life--is definitely downwards. Under the influence
of age, dissipation and disease, physical deterioration rapidly sets in.
Those who are at the top fall into the lower classes, except in the cases
in which they become madames, managers or mistresses, or abandon the life.
Those in the middle class usually end on the streets.
(b) THE CUSTOMER
The necessary counterpart to the prostitute is her customer: she is the
concrete answer to his demand. There are prostitutes at different economic
levels, because their customers are derived from all social classes. The
careless, unkempt woman at the bottom is adjusted to the requirements of
the least exacting; a somewhat better type meets the demands of men of
moderate means; the showy woman at the top corresponds to the
fastidiousness of the spendthrift.
The customers found in the fifty-cent vice resorts already described are
usually longshoremen, truck drivers, street cleaners, coal heavers,
soldiers and sailors, recently landed immigrants of low moral standards,
and laborers of all kinds. Their treatment of the women is not
infrequently brutal,--usually perhaps in consequence of intoxication. To
one- and two-dollar houses resort men and boys who earn ten, twenty,
twenty-five or more dollars per week. They are proprietors of small
business enterprises, clerks, bookkeepers, bartenders, barbers, tailors,
waiters, soldiers, sailors, messengers in banks, members of social and
political clubs or of benefit organizations. Saturday and Sunday are the
popular nights with men of this type. The owners and madames provide extra
"goods" to "take care of the trade" on such occasions. This fact was
brought out many times during the investigation as the workers went from
one house to the other counting the inmates. A house that early in the
week contained only ten or twelve inmates would on Saturday and Sunday
have its numbers increased to fifteen and twenty-five. This was especially
true in resorts like those on Sixth Avenue.[178]
I have in mind one prominent organization[179] whose members are regular
customers in houses of this grade. Many of the rank and file are
themselves owners and pimps, who joined the club in order to advertise
their houses and women to their associates. Another organization[180] of
similar character has a membership of about 500 young men whose ages range
from twenty-one to thirty. They are fond of attending boxing contests,
wrestling bouts, athletic meets and public dances. After such exhibitions
or "affairs" they go in groups of five or ten to the houses, spending long
hours in promiscuous orgies. Owners make a specialty of catering to clubs
of this character. When they give public balls, "rackets," "chowder
parties," or other outings, the madames, buying tickets liberally, attend
with their best looking inmates or with runners to drum up trade. After
the ball or outing is over, groups of men and boys follow them back to
their quarters.
The proprietors of the highest priced houses are very cautious in the
conduct of their business. There is no promiscuous intermingling of
customers in a common receiving parlor where the men huddle on a bench
awaiting their turn, or sit in chairs gaping at each other unashamed.
Separate parlors are used for display; privacy is carefully guarded. In
order to make doubly sure that their visits will not be known, prominent
customers occasionally hire an entire establishment. An instance is cited
in which a well-to-do patron remained three days in such a resort. At
times, however, men are utterly reckless: they have been known to leave
their business cards behind them, or their signatures in books or on
presents given to the inmates or the madame. One such individual is the
New York agent for a famous automobile concern; another is the manager of
a company which manufactures a well-known typewriter; another travels
about from city to city selling hats; while still a fourth is connected
with a celebrated watch company.
A numerous but pathetic group is that made up of young clerks who, living
alone in unattractive quarters, find in professional prostitutes
companions in the company of whom a night's revel offsets the dullness of
their lives at other times. There are thousands of these men in New York.
No home ties restrain them; no home associations fill their time or
thought. Their rooms are fit only to sleep in; close friends they have few
or none. You can watch them on the streets any evening. Hour after hour
they gaze at the passing throng; at length they fling themselves into the
current,--no longer silent and alone.
No small part of the business is the so-called "out of town" trade. It
has been conservatively estimated that over 250,000 visitors enter this
city every day in the year for business or for pleasure. This great host
visit the theaters, parks, seashore resorts, museums; they trade in stores
and shops, and some of them, before they return to their homes, become
customers in vice resorts. They, too, include all social classes: soldiers
and sailors, traveling men and buyers, men in attendance on business,
political or fraternal gatherings and conventions, and mere pleasure
seekers.
It is impossible to estimate the number of men and boys who become
customers in vice resorts in Manhattan during the course of one year. On
the basis of data actually on file, it may be assumed that inmates of
resorts and women on the street trade with between ten and fifteen men per
day. This statement is corroborated by data secured by the Vice Commission
in Chicago, where the average was found to be 15 per day for 18 inmates in
one house covering a period of 22 months,[181] as well as by data obtained
in Syracuse, New York, where the average number of customers entertained
by one inmate during a period of 6 months was 12.[182] Taking the lower
figures as the basis of calculation, if the 15,000 professional
prostitutes of Manhattan entertain ten guests apiece, the customers total
at least 150,000 persons every day.