_Mr. Justice Darling's View_
_Mr. Justice Darling, in a case at the Old Bailey yesterday,
said the harm the war had done to the morals of the people of
this country was far beyond the material damage._
_In nothing had it done more harm than in the relaxation on
the part of the women of this country. This had now reached a
point that it could be seen in a walk along the street. Women
differed by the width of Heaven from what their mothers were._
This is quite the hardest thing that has been said about women, the
hardest comparison that could be made; but unhappily it cannot he
denied. And a second paragraph, taken from the _Daily Telegraph_,
carries us a stage further, from cause to effect. The looseness of
morals has increased alarmingly the spread of venereal diseases.
"_Giving evidence before the National Birth Rate Commission in
London, Dr. E. B. Turner, after advocating early marriage and
urging the necessity for a higher moral standard, without
which venereal diseases would never be kept down, made this
statement:_
"_These diseases were now being spread not only by
professional prostitutes. People had gone wrong through the
wave of sentimental patriotism which had swept over the
country. Out of 112 soldiers taken to the Rochester Road
Institution, only fourteen had contracted disease from
professionals. The others had contracted it from flappers._"
The condition of the streets is such that it is not safe to let any
young man or boy walk about, not so much because of prostitutes, men may
learn to avoid them, but because of dressed-up, flighty girls, who have
earned big wages during the past four years, and now are feeling the
want of money to spend upon dress and pleasure. Almost for the first
time girls have had money, and it has enabled them to do what they want;
they have learned more than their mothers know and, therefore, they
despise their mothers' ideas of what is fitting and natural. Modern
girls are out to get all they can, and by any means. It is, I know, easy
to exaggerate the situation. I have, however, taken pains to gain all
possible information on the subject. I find it the opinion of those who
are best qualified to know that the most alarming feature of the problem
now is the greatly increased danger of spreading the diseases, caused by
the shifting of infection from the professional prostitute to young
girls out for larks and presents. I was told by one worker in the Police
Court Mission, for instance, of a club for girls, aged from fourteen to
twenty-six years, among whom _there was probably not a single pure
girl_. A woman rescue worker said that "South London was swamped by
these larking girls," so many cases come up that "no one knows what to
do with them." In the Police courts, while the number of women charged
had lessened considerably, the number of girls charged has increased
three-fold. Many of these girls are very young; some of them hardly more
than children. In almost all cases the charge made is the
same--disorderly conduct with soldiers. Of the number of girls convicted
and sent to prison or to rescue homes, _at least three parts are found
to be infected_, the greater number with gonorrhoea, but some with
syphilis.
Now, it is no part of my purpose to blame women. The great majority of
these girls are ill-trained, and have been worked beyond care for
decency. The question is, what it is best to do. The answer is not easy.
For while everyone is agreed about the need for action, disagreement as
to what form the action shall take hinders the adoption of any wider
course of prevention. Here again there is no unity of purpose, no
humility to accept what is right.