1. MAN RESPONSIBLE.--Every great social reform must begin with the
male sex. They must either lead, or give it its support. Prostitution
is a sin wholly of their own making. All the misery, all the lust, as
well as all the blighting consequences, are chargeable wholly to
the uncontrolled sexual passion of the male. To reform sinful women,
_reform the men_. Teach them that the physiological truth means
permanent moral, physical and mental benefit, while seductive
indulgence blights and ruins.
2. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.--A man or woman cannot long live an impure
life without sooner or later contracting disease which brings to
every sufferer not only moral degradation, but often serious and vital
injuries and many times death itself becomes the only relief.
3. SHOULD IT BE REGULATED BY LAW?--Dr. G.J. Ziegler, of Philadelphia,
in several medical articles says that the act of sexual connection
should be made in itself the solemnization of marriage, and that when
any such single act can be proven against an unmarried man, by an
unmarried woman, the latter be at once invested with all the legal
privileges of a wife. By bestowing this power on women very few men
would risk the dangers of the society of a dissolute and scheming
woman who might exercise the right to force him to a marriage and ruin
his reputation and life. The strongest objection of this would be
that it would increase the temptation to destroy the purity of married
women, for they could be approached without danger of being forced
into another marriage. But this objection could easily be harmonized
with a good system of well regulated laws. Many means have been tried
to mitigate the social evils, but with little encouragement. In the
city of Paris a system of registration has been inaugurated and
houses of prostitution are under the supervision of the police, yet
prostitution has not been in any degree diminished. Similar methods
have been tried in other European towns, but without satisfactory
results.
4. MORAL INFLUENCE.--Let it be an imperative to every clergyman, to
every educator, to every statesman and to every philanthropist, to
every father and to every mother, to impart that moral influence which
may guide and direct the youth of the land into the natural channels
of morality, chastity and health. Then, and not till then, shall
we see righteous laws and rightly enforced for the mitigation and
extermination of the modern house of prostitution.
[Illustration: A TURKISH CIGARETTE GIRL.]
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