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A few weeks ago a neighborhood association in New
York city gave a dance for members of the National
Guard and men drafted to serve in the new army,
Care was taken to invite enough girls to equal the
attendance of men. To the dismay of those who gave the
party, the men of the draft army spent the evening in corners
and along the walls, while the guardsmen received all the
smiles, dances and promises of knitted sweaters. The guardsmen were, of course, clad in their trim suits of khaki, while
the men of the draft army wore only civilian clothes. Such
is the glamour of the uniform.
This glamour today is felt everywhere. It is causing flutters of emotion in thousands of feminine hearts ordinarily
calm and impassive. Doubtless there are strong minds, like
that of Madame Necker, who can gaze all evening at generals
in their spangles without even a quickening of the pulse, but
these seem to be the exceptions. A soldier’s uniform has an
appeal far stronger than that of a policeman’s, elevator boy’s
and that of the pompous official who will not let you see your
mayor until you have taken several oaths and sworn to an affidavit. It suggests fighting, and the defense of one’s home and
country. Each wearer is a possible hero. He is going to see
strange lands and may do brave things. The newspapers
tell glowing stories about him, and the public reveals an attitude of praise and respect that is contagious. What he wants
is acknowledged to be more important than what other men
want, so that kindness to him becomes a sort of patriotism.
Withal, he is a bright, mesmeric figure in the dull texture
of our lives and quickly touches the romantic sentiments and
thoughts of girls.
To counteract the effect of this glamour is one of the
most pressing tasks thrust upon us by the war. To see how
pressing this task is, it is only necessary to visit the cities and
towns near the places where soldiers are assembled in camps
and canronments today. It is to these cities that the soldiers
go for amusement in their hours off duty. When you visit
such a town, walk along the streets and count the couples of
khaki-clad escorts and their companions; enter the movies.
and see how many you find there; stand on a busy corner and
watch the meetings between soldiers and girls who have never
seen each other before; go to the dance halls and ask the pro-
prietors how many men from the encampment patronize their
places and what results from it; visit the localities where secret
meetings can most easily occur, and see what you find there.
But do not stop at this. Take a trolley to the town’s amusement park, if it has one. Skip the well-lighted parts and visit
the outskirts, where darkness or semi-darkness is a shield to
conduct. You will find these regions alive with men in uniform accompanied by girls.
Now go back to the town and ask a taxi-driver how business is. If he is loquacious, he will tell you that it is thriving.
He will tell you of trips to lonely places with girls and soldiers, and how remunerative such trips are. This is one of
the forms of clandestine love-making that has become most
popular since the war. The soldier cannot pay a high taxi
charge, but he does not have to. The driver makes the price
low in the hope of getting one or two rich "fares" in the
course of an evening; a slightly intoxicated man is often
good for a neat sum. The banishment of a11 "houses" from
the camp zones partly accounts for the increase in this traffic.
Now go out to the camp itself. Spend a day in its vicinity.
If it has a stockade, walk or ride around the outside of the
stockade at dusk and in the early evening. You may see
nothing. Much will depend upon the openness ‘of the surrounding territory and the strictness of camp discipline. If
the camp is surrounded by woods, you will be very likely to
see soldiers accompanied by girls approaching or going away
from the camp in large numbers.
These things will give you material for thought. The social
hygiene problem created by this war is not a problem of commercialized prostitution. Segregated districts, disorderly
houses and professional women have been very largely removed from the cities and towns near our training camps. It
is a problem of the individual soldier and the individual girl --
the man cut away from his ordinary amusements and social
life, the girl responding to the unusual and romantic glamour
of the uniform.
It is a widespread as well as a pressing problem. There are
a million and a half men in training or soon to be in training
in the United States. Troops for the new army are being
trained in sixteen different cantonments. As many concentration camps exist for the National Guard. These thirty-two
places are scattered through twenty-three stares; they have
from a few to fifty thousand men superimposed over night
on the community’s recreational and amusement resources.
In addition, there are fourteen reserve officers’ training camps,
twelve aero training stations, and sixty-five naval stations
and marine barracks. All these are exclusive of the 183 posts
and stations of the regular army and of the camps where new
increments will be formed for the regular army. Almost
every part of every state has, on a larger or smaller scale, its
task of protecting girls from the excitement and thoughtless
ness produced by the emotions of war playing upon the emotions of sex.2
Rumors exaggerate the evil. Some of these have been run
down and found to have a very small basis in fact. Early
in the war a story was spread that fifty girls were pregnant
in the vicinity of an eastern aviation camp. The tale was
paced to a woman who denied ever having made such a statenient, and no evidence of its truth could be found. Similar
stories of other camps have gained wide circulation. Some
of these grew by repetition until they became ludicrous; soldiers were declared to have become fathers in large numbers
in spite of the fact that they had been away from home for
only a few months.
Every interruption to normal life in a community 15 the
occasion for false rumor. Each earthquake or flood is magnified in the early reports until the death toll is many times
greater than the actual number killed. Of course, the danger
is real enough to justify elaborate precautions, but the psychology of irresponsible gossip has made it greater than the
facts yet warrant.
The task is essentially two-fold. It centers around Its two
main characters -- the soldier and the girl. The one must be
supplied with normal, interesting and wholesome amusement
and relationships inside and outside the camp, the other must
be protected against the unusual stimulus to her emotions.
arid must be given vivid interests that will occupy her time
and at the same time be an expression of her patriotic spirit.
Nearly everyone knows something of what is being done
for the men in camp by the War Department’s Commission
on Training Camp Activities, of which Raymond B. Fosdick
is chairman. Joseph Lee described important features of
this work in the SURVEY for October 6. Less has been pub-
limited about the Committee on Protective Work for Girls
of which Maude E. Miner, secretary of the New York
Probation and Protective Association, is chairman and which
consists of Martha P. Falconer, of Philadelphia; Mrs. John
D. Rockefeller, Jr., of New York; Mrs. James Cushman,
chairman of the War Work Council of the Y.W.C.A., New
York, and Mrs. William Dummer, of Chicago.
This committee, the office of which is at 130 East 22
sheet, New York city, aims to secure increased facilities for
the protection and care of girls in cities and towns near which
anips are located. Its representatives have already visited
many of these places and are visiting others. They are investigating local conditions and holding conferences with
local agencies that can be of service, with local judges, chiefs
of police, sheriffs, probation officers and the military police
at the camps. The committee is trying to- educate commuinities to the need of protecting their girls, and to assist them in
organizing effective methods for doing so. It aims to work
through existing agencies; instead of assuming responsibility
itself for the things that ought to be done, it hopes to stimulate local groups to do these things. Only in this way can
there be any permanent gain to the consciousness of a community that its social and civic life needs constant scrutiny
in the interests of its young men and women.
Policewomen as Prevention Officers
One of the greatest needs of the city or town frequented
by soldiers in their leisure hours is one or more sympathetic,
experienced women with police powers to patrol the streets,
discover conditions that need correcting, supervise amusement
places aid in locating runaway girls, follow and warn young
girls who are in danger. assist in the enforcement of law and
befriend girls whose home life does not give them guidance
and protection of the right sort.
Every camp community ought to have a girls’ protective
bureau for this purpose. There should be a director in charge
of the bureau with two or more women protective officers
under her. The bureau should be under the regular police
department or under a volunteer committee. All the towns
in the vicinity of a camp may well join to create a single
bureau, and the number of protective officers will depend upon
the number and size of the cities and the size of the camp. In
addition to the paid protective officers, there should be volunteer patrols to supplement their work.
Scouting in Advance of Trouble
The kind of scouting activity which these officers should
do is well illustrated by the following incidents taken from
the report of a protective officer in an eastern city:
They all bad a stunned look when I called the girls aside, and the
boys insisted that I "had nothing on them," but stepped outside. The
girls’ faces were scarlet, and they willingly and quickly gave me
names and addresses which I knew were fictitious. They said the
soldier was a cousin, and they had come to tell him goodby.
On cross questioning, they became so confused that they denied half
they had told me. At this juncture, one of the soldiers came in and
begged me to please let it drop, that it wouldn’t happen again. I
told him the girls had been lying to me and I was going home with
them to get the truth, unless they told me. He advised them to tell
me; said he was not related to them, had only known them three
days ("pick-ups), but he didn’t want any trouble. The girl who
had done all the talking then gave me another name, which I knew
was also not true. I said, "I will go home with you girls and get
the truth. I won’t believe you unless these boys step outside, and
then verify it." They broke down then, and told me as follows:
The leader, Helen White -- 17 years old last June -- has been an
orphan for nine years, and lives with an aunt and an older sister,
at --- East --------- street. The aunt does work by the day -- washing,
etc. Helen works at --------- store, and they were on their way
home from work. The other girl, Esther McGuinness, --- East
street, is 17, works at ---------'s in the underwear department, and
attends the Catholic church on street. Helen is a Protestant,
and does not attend church. Both girls begged that they should not
be reported at home. The soldiers also pleaded. When I appealed
to their chivalry, they said, "We will try -- but we are only human."
I sent the girls home. They need to be interested in something.
At ten minutes of eleven I saw a small girl walk in front of the
armory. She spoke to the guard and then went on. The guard
looked at the other soldiers there, said something, then walked
rapidly toward the girl, whistled, and she stopped. He walked up
and spoke. She turned, walked back to steps at end of armory and
sat down in the shadow. I called her and started home with her.
She lied at first, but finally said she was Mabel Clark, 15 years old
last April, though she registered as 16. She lives at 561 ----------
street with her mother, a widow, and her brother, a truck driver.
Mabel works at the --------- Glass Company, and is not up to standard
in mentality. At first, she insisted she had never been there before,
then said it was the third time, and finally, that she had told her
mother sht was out for a walk and that she knew she had sat there
twice before. She says she was confirmed in ---------- Episcopal
Church last Sunday. I sent her home and told her not to go to the
armory again. This child needs attention.
Protective officers will be surprised to learn how often they
can establish sympathetic relations with the soldier, sailor, or
civilian, who has been responsible for the trouble or temptation confronting girls. Often before she has ceased talking
to him, he becomes ashamed of the part he has played. "If
there were more women like you doing this sort of thing,"
said a sailor to one protective officer, "it would be better for
the girls, and better for us sailors, too." "If the mayor is
doing this," another remarked enthusiastically, upon being
told that the officer was working for the mayor’s committee
of women in an eastern city, "I’m going to vote for him."
How to Get Clean Amusement
The protective officer can be of great assistance in keeping
the commercial amusements of a town clean and wholesome,
though this task ought not to be left entirely to her. The
path of the soldier on his furlough leads straight to amusement resorts. He seeks out the dance-hall, the cabaret, the
burlesque show tind all the other forms of profitable entertainment waiting to welcome him. The proprietor; or such
places are out for business. They are perfectly willing to run
clean places if they can make as much money that way. To
them the soldier is an opportunity for profit, and they will do
all they can to make their places attractive to him. Moral
results must contend with business advantage in their philosophy. If obscene burlesque shows, suggestive cabarets and
loose dances pay better, that is what will be provided unless
the community takes a hand and prevents.
The job of securing wholesome amusement in a town is not
a new one. It is intensified today by the concentration of a
great many young men in one neighborhood. One way of
improving existing places is by law enforcement; another by
the effect of public opinion. If good laws are not now in
effect they ought to be passed. The community should see
to it that each of its public amusement places is required to
obtain a license, and that an officer is stationed at the door
to keep order. The mayor should be the licensing authority,
and the license should be revoked when the place is not
properly run.
In Cleveland, whose dance halls are models for the country
to copy, young police recruits are stationed at the doors of the
halls; the record of order which they succeed in making determines in part whether they are given commissions. Liquor,
of course, should be eliminated from the dancing room. This
is a difficult undertaking, for the sale of liquor is the dance-
hall’s greatest asset. Here again Cleveland has set a good
example which some other cities have followed; although she
has not been able to prohibit altogether, she has forced the bar
to be moved to another floor of the building in which the hall
is located. The regulation proscribing the selling of liquor to
a man in uniform is, of course, of great assistance in this
matter.
A coarse burlesque show may have a tremendous effect upon
the standards of a young recruit, especially one fresh from the
country. The women in the show seem to him full of flash and
snap. He wants the girl that he goes out with to be as
snappy. If the men attend such a show one night and then
are thrown with strange girls the next day there is likely to
be trouble. The girls are anxious to please the men and
shape their conduct accordingly.
Volunteer supervision can be made an effective way of
influencing proprietors, especially in communities where law
enforcement habitually lags. A proprietor instinctively
straightens up when he knows that he is being watched. The
best procedure is to organize a committee of respected citizens whose members will visit places of amusement every
night. Let them give the managers to understand that they
will use their influence to boycott undesirable places. They
can do this by spreading word among mothers in churches
and clubs and among girls in young people’s societies. Often
they can express their approval or disapproval through the
local newspapers, and this is a powerful weapon. They ought
to encourage the good managers, and get business for them,
not merely take the negative attitude of censuring the bad.
A smart manager welcomes this sort of help because he can
use it in his advertising.
The girl herself can be appealed to also. She it is who often
sets the tone of the amusement resort, especially the dance-
hall. An appeal to her vanity will sometimes persuade her
that decent dressing and dancing make her more attractive
to her partner. Exhibitions of good dancing are effective
ways of setting the standards for dance halls. Young girls
of fifteen to eighteen years of age should be kept out of public
dance halls. They should be guided to some other form of
amusement. Prevention is often a matter of not giving the
opportunity.
The moving picture may be almost as demoralizing as the
coarse burlesque show. This is not likely to be true in cities
where only pictures passed by the National Board of Review
of Motion Pictures are shown, but a good many cities get
other pictures. The Affiliated Committees for Better Films,
with headquarters at 70 Fifth avenue, New York city, will
cooperate with communities in securing better pictures. In
Beloit, Wis., a city ordinance gives the mayor power to have
any picture exhibited to him before it is publicly shown, and
he may prohibit it if he sees fit. A committee of women have
secured from him the privilege of viewing any advertised
film that they are suspicious of, and recommending whether
it shall be suppressed. Wilkes Barre, Pa., depends very largely
on appeals to the managers of the motion picture theaters.
A committee of women make it a practice to drop in at the
theaters two or three times a week, and let the managers
know that they are ready to help them get business if only good
pictures are shown.
Girls Organized to Help Girls
In nearly every community it is possible to organize girls
into groups with the two-fold purpose of keeping their minds
and time occupied and of enabling them to be of service to
others. The Y.W.C.A. is organizing patriotic leagues in
many cities near camps, and these leagues give dances, hold
club meetings, enroll girls in Red Cross classes and home
economics clubs, and aim in many ways to appeal to the
normal wholesome desires of young girls. There is no limitation of race or creed upon the girls who may join. In some
communities this work is being done by other organizations;
in Massachusetts the Women’s Patriotic League Committee
is doing it.
In organizing such groups too much cannot be done to get
girls to help girls. A young girl was found selling pinks on
a street corner in an eastern city. She was fifteen years old
and very attractive. A worker of the Patriotic League Committee asked her why she was selling pinks, and she said she
belonged to a "rosebud club" that was trying to help an institution for the blind. The institution declared it had never
heard of the rosebud club. Nevertheless, the girl and two
friends had actually given themselves that name and were
eager to be of service in some way. They were making a
great deal of money, having taken in over $100 on July 4.
The worker gained the confidence of the girl and discovered
that she and her companions had been accosted many times
men, some of them soldiers, who had offered the girls
if they would go with them. The girls were distressed over
this and wanted to know if there wasn’t some way in which
they could help to prevent such occurrences. The worker
suggested that they and their friends form a club. So fifteen
of them formed a protective league, which has since grown
and now investigates conditions in the city and reports on those
that are a source of danger to other girls.
Another girl, in the same city, went for a stroll one evening
in a public park. A policeman, thinking she was there for
an immoral purpose, took her name and address and then
insisted upon taking her home. Her parents believed that
she had done wrong and punished her by shutting her up
in a room by herself. The girl had gone out only for amusement. Her experience, however, gave her something to think
about, and when a worker suggested that she form a club
among her friends as a protection to girls, she readily accepted
the idea and is now the leader of a group of girls in that town
who have already done a great deal to improve conditions.
In enforcing the law the protective officer can again be of
assistance, though hers is only part of the responsibility. A
community should see to it, first, that its laws for the protection of girls are adequate. Those respecting the licensing and
control of amusement places are important. There should
be an ordinance providing for the lighting of parks and streets,
and for sufficient police protection in outlying districts. The
method of dealing with girls and women in the courts should
be improved, if necessary; probation officers should be attached
to the court and a matron placed in charge of girls at the jail.
It is also extremely important to have a house of detention
separate from the jail for the connnement of girls below sixteen or eighteen years of age. The age of consent,
which is ten years in some states, should be raised to eighteen,
and laws regarding abduction and criminal assault made
adequate.
When girls are found violating the law they should be
taken into custody by either a protective or a police officer.
Effort should be made to win the confidence of the girl, and
if a man has committed criminal assault, or any other crime
against her she should be induced, if possible, to tell the truth
about him. The man should be forthwith reported to the
proper authorities. Whether these will be the civil authorities or the military authorities at the camp will depend upon
local conditions, and upon which is more likely to take ef-
fective action ; there is no law taking offenses of this sort
by soldiers Out of the hands of the civil authorities.
Some Points of Law to Remember
Protective officers should not be content, however, merely
to report the man. They should follow the case up and see
that justice is administered. For this reason all who are
concerned in shielding girls from the dangers incident to the
proximity of training camps should early establish cordial
relations with the law-enforcing authorities. Cooperation
with them is essential to an aggressive policy oi protection.
It is also wise to get in touch with the central authorities,
the attorney-general of the state, the United States district attorneys, and the Department of Justice at Washington. A
good effect is often produced on officials who know that they
are being watched. A panic has sometimes been created in
the office of a local official by the mere knowledge that a letter from Washington has been received by some one who is
watching him.
There are certain things about the machinery of justice.
the laws and the elementary rules of evidence that ought to
be known by those who expect to have a part in law enforcement. A talk with a competent lawyer is the best way to
learn these. A few general principles and facts, however,
may be set down.
One of these is the meaning of the white slave traffic law, called
the Mann act. This is a federal law, and prosecution under it is,
of course, in the hands of United States district attorneys. The law
provides that whoever transports in interstate commerce a woman or
girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral
purpose, is guilty of a felony. Transportation within the meaning
of this statute may he by railway, hy steamship or hy any other con-
veyance. The United States Supreme Court has held (Caminetti
vs. The People, 242 C. 5. 470-jan. 15, 1917) that there need he no
commercial element involved in the immoral purpose for which the
girl was transported. Not all prosecuting officials accept this decision
in practice, hut anyone who wants to bring a prosecution under this
act in such a case has the distinguished authority of the United
States Supreme Court hack of him.
Another legal fact of importance is that a man may be guilty of
rape in the second degree without using force to accomplish his end.
This offense is called "carnal knowledge" in some states. The pro-
vision concerning it is the most liberal of all provisions to protect
young girls it protects them even against themselves. The girl may
invite the ace, she may even falsely tell her male companion that she
is over eighteen (the age varies in different states) and may substantiate her statement with a false birth certificate; all this makes
no difference. The man acts at his peril, and if the girl turns out to
be actualrv under eighteen he is guilty of rape within the meaning of
the law. Rape in the first degree is, of course, an act against the
woman a will or an act where the woman, by reason of mental or
physical weakness, cannot offer resistance, or where she is under the
influence of a drug.
Seduction is prevailing upon a woman to commit sexual intercourse
under promise of marriage. Prosecuting officials put up the red flag
of caution when this law is invoked, because there are so many
elements that have to be proved and because under it so many
women bring false charges seeking revenge. There must be a definite
and unconditional promise of marriage, the woman must he un-
married and of previous chaste character, and she must have relied
upon the promise at the time of the seduction. If the promise is
made after the act it has no value.
Abduction is committed by anyone who "takes, harbors or uses a
female under eighteen years of age for the purpose of prostitution,
or, not being her husband, for the purpose of sexual intercourse, or,
without the consent of her parents, for the purpose of marriage."
This crime can often be detected and punished before the girl has
actually been injured and protective officers may well be on the
lookout for it.
A law that has been used in many states in recent years is the
abatement and injunction act. This declares that any place in which
prostitution is conducted is a nuisance and that the district attorney
of a county or any taxpayer in the neighborhood may bring an action
perpetually to eninin such nuisance. It has been made a very
effective weapon in some states and could be made a still more
effective one.
There are certain rules of evidence that have almost the force of
law. One of these relates to corroboration and amounts to this: that
no conviction in sexual crimes can be had upon the testimony of a
woman unless this is supported by other evidence. In New York
this is a legal requirement; it is a practical necessity everywhere
when you appear before a magistrate or jury to ask for a conviction.
There must be something besides the testimony of the girl to set
against the denial of the man. This need not always be another
witness; anything that will commend itself to a reasonable person as
substantial corroborating testimony is usually sufficient. If the man
and woman are found in a rooming house, for example, and the
landlady testifies that they came as man and wife, that is usually
enough. Another kind of corroboration is an admission from the
accused person of the fact in issue. This need not be a conscious
admission of guilt, hut may be a fragmentary statement thrown into
a conversation about another matter, a sentence in a letter, or a
remark to a third person.
In obtaining confessions of guile it ia important to remember that
the confession must not he secured by putting the accused in fear or
by means of threats. In such ease it will not be received in evidence.
A confession obtained ha an agreement with the prosecuting officer
that the individual will not he prosecuted cannot he used against
him. Confessions are often easier to obtain than one imagines.
They need not be obtained in any formal way, may be either oral
or written and max be made to any intelligent person.
A rule of very practical importance for persons in investigative
work is that which permits one to "refresh" his memory on the
witness stand. If you take the stand some monrhs after a thing
happened and your memory of detais is not clear, the court will
allow you to refer to your memoranda or notes jotted down at the
time and to use these in giving your testimony. It is important,
therefore, to make your notes with care. They should be dated and
there should be some indication how long after your actual observation you wrote them.
Nearly everyone understands that hearsay evidence is not admissible. You cannot go on the stand and say that you heard John
Smith say that he saw the defendant act so and so. Perhaps John
Smith would not make such a statement if he were on the witness
stand and under oath. Hearsay evidence lacks responsibility.
A practical suggestion of value to investigators is the disadvantage of acting too quickly. Many cases are lost through over-haste.
This must not be interpreted to mean that one should wait until a
crime has been committed and a girl ruined before interfering it is
better so lose the chance of prosecuting than to do that. But when
the object is the actual detection of a person in the act of violating
the law for the purpose of prosecution and punishment you will have
en prolong your observation until the overt acts come within the
provisions of the law. Another point in procedure is the value of
prompt and persistent questioning of the accused. This is a legitimate form of the third degree. Confessions are frequently obtained
in the last few minutes of a long, hard interview. You are perfectly
justified in staying on the job until your persistence and moral
strength overcome the persistence and moral strength of the person
suspected of crime.
Many cities and counties fail to comply with a law in
many states requiring that children under sixteen or eighteen
years of age be held apart from the jail. If the county or city
does not make provision for this during the war emergency.
some volunteer committee or agency ought to do it. The
assoctations and environment of the typical jail are bad for
young girls. A house of detention should be established for
them, and this should receive both city and county charges.
To rent, equip and support such a house for the first year
usually costs about $5,000. Whenever it is possible to utilize
some existing home as a house of detention, this should be
done without establishing a new institution. In addition to
such a house it is advisable to have also one or rpore emergency
rooms reserved in a boarding house or private home, for girls
who have not committed crime and merely need temporary
shelter and care.
An illustration of the need for such rooms is afforded by
the experience of tevo girls, sixteen and nineteen years old,
who were arrested in an eastern camp city in July. These
girls had run away from a small town in Vermont and had
come to the camp city in search of work. They said they
had lost their pocketbooks, though they had probably spent
their money, and slept two nights on the banks of Lake Champlain. A policeman arrested them on the charge of vagrancy,
and they spent four nights in jail. What this meant to the
future and outlook of these girls can only be imagined. They
were guiltless of any crime and should have been provided
for in some friendly and sympathetic way. When a visiting
worker found them, she discovered that no one except the
police authorities knew they were in jail. She arranged for
them to be taken to a club for young women which agreed
to keep them until word was received from their homes, or
until their mothers came for them.
Organizations That Will Help
Certain aspects of law enforcement are being handled by
the Commission on Training Camp Activities. This commission is undertaking the suppression of vice and the sale of
alcohol to soldiers, in accordance with sections 12 and 13 of
the military draft law. It has a representative in the vicinity of every national army and national guard camp who
ts expected to carry on continuous investigations. The work
of these representatives is checked by supervisors for given
districts who also control the work in the smaller specialized
camps. The machinery for gathering information includes
also the field men of the Department of Justice, the intelligence
department of the army, the local provost guards, and the
staffs of such organizations as the National American Social
Hygiene Association, the Committee of Fourteen of New
York, the Committee of Fifteen of Chicago, the Watch and
Ward Society of New England, and the Bureau of Social
Hygiene of New York.
The commission declares in a report just issued that "red
light districts" have been closed in the following cities:
Deming, N. M.; El Paso, Waco, San Antonio, Fort Worth
and Houston, Texas; Hattiesburg, Miss.; Spartanburg, S. C.;
Norfolk and Petersburg, Va.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Alexandria,
La.; Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, Columbia and Greenville,
S. C.; Douglas, Aria.; Louisville, Ky.; and Montgomery,
Ala. New Orleans passed an ordinance which was expected
to wipe out its district November 15. A number of cities
in which no districts were formally tolerated have, at the instance of the commission, abolished their open houses of
prostitution.
In addition, the laws against vice have been strengthened in
many cities at the suggestion of the commission’s representatives, and the machinery for the enforcement of those laws has
been geared up to a higher notch of efficiency. In California
and Arkansas, State Military Welfare Commissions have
been appointed by the governors, and executive secretaries have
been appointed to carry on the work of vice repression.
Five Points for a Community Program
The program for each community may be recapitulated
thus:
In addition to aiding in working out this program, the Committee on Protection of Girls is planning to carry on a wide
educational propaganda by means of printed leaflets, lectures
to mothers, conferences with camp officials, collection of
data regarding character and extent of delinquency among
girls in camp cities, and lectures to men whose cooperation
ts sought. The committee is training women to be protective officers and has sent a number of experienced workers
to camp cities to fill positions; it expects to send more. Its
atm is not alone to fill an emergency need, but to promote
the intelligent handling of girls by every agency coming into
contact with them, in the hope that this policy may be incorporated into the thinking and permanent practice of every
community.
2 A list of the army and national guard tampa will be furnished on request by the War Department and a map of the United States showing their location has been published by the Union Pacific Railroad Company.
I noticed two young girls with a civilian and two sailors near an
armory aitting on a step under the fire-cocape at ---------- theater,
which is closed for the summer. A vacant house is next to the
theater. The girls were acting in a manner to draw the attention
of passersby. I watched them for some time. Then the civilian left
and went up the stairway into the vacant house. He was soon fol-
lowed by one of the soldiers, who in turn was followed by one of
the girls. Then both the other girl and the second soldier went op
the stairway. They soon disappeared, and I followed. I found the
girls standing close against the wall, clasped tightly in the boys’ arms
in the darkness.
The protective officer does not try to make a record of
arrests. She is interested in preventing crime and helping
girls and, of course, has no ground for an arrest unless law
has been violated. Her personal work with girls should be
somewhat of the nature of constructive case work. She
should learn what she can of the girl’s habits, tastes, work
and home life. She should interview the parents and assure
their interest in their child’s welfare. Close cooperation with
a juvenile protective association or other organization dealing
with girls should be established. Many girls may be referred
to patriotic leagues and other girls’ clubs.
In most cities it is recommended also that a sub-committee on
protection of girls he appointed by the local committee on camp
activities; in some cities it will be found advisable for a committee
or board to be appointed by the mayor to help in creating the protective bureau, in establishing a house of detention and in securing
the appointment of a probation officer. This committee could seek
also to carry on the above program and to secure additional
facilities.
1 The lectures were given by the following specialists in the various subjects
discussed: Maude E. Miser; Mrs. Henry Moscowitz, chairmnan of the Committee on Aliens of the Mayor’s Committee of Women on National Defense, New
York city; Stella A. Miner, chairman of the Committee on Protection of
Girls of the Mayor’s Committee of Women, New York city; Arthur W.
Towne, Superintendent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children, Brooklyn; Orin G. Baker, secretary of the Travelers’ Aid Society,
New York city; Mrs. James Cushman, chairman, War Work Council of the
Y.W.C.A.; Mabelle Blake, secretary Boston Society for the Care of Girls;
Rowland Haynes, field secretary of the Playground and Recreation Association of America; Frederick H. Whitin, secretary of the Committee of Fourteen, New York city; James Smith, assistant district attorney, New York
city; Wlliam Dean Embree, attorney, New York city; Dr. Anne T. Bingham,
physician and mental examiner of the New York Probation and Protective
Association, and Katharine B. Davis, chairman of the Parole Commission.
New York city.