WHITE SLAVERY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 56, 7 March 1914, Page 9

WHITE SLAVERY

ADDRESS AT W.C.T.U. CONGRESS HOW' TO CREATE PUBLIC ' OPINION. (»T TCLKSRtPn.— PRESS .ASSOCIATION.) GISBORNE, 6th March.

The outstanding feature of the session of the W.C.T.U. was an address by Mrs. Field, of -Nelson, on the "White Slave Traffic." "I wonder," said Mrs. Field, "does the- history of the world hold anything worse, in all we read of its savagery and cannibalism, its brutalities, and inhumanities? Can anything equal the white slave traffic of this twentieth century? After two thousand years of Christianity in the most Christian country of the world thousands and thousands of young girls ' are stolen and bought and sold into the most awful slavery. Young and often refined girls are entrapped and held in ' bondage. Think what it must mean to suffer such nameless indignities, and we, Christian women, have never loot a night's sloop as we thought of them. We read and hear of it, ' and we sometimes fear that it may happ«n to these who know and love, but, of the others — tho«o that we do not know— how 'much do we care? If we v women of the Dominion truly cared these thing& need not be. They exist because of our indifference. How many, of ue have raised our voice against even what #is termed a 'double standard of morality' for'mon a.nd women? "Every year, in every large city of the civilised world, thousands of girla ' are forced nnwUingly into this life — a' life sp awful that, . in some cases, they only live a year*, in, others, two years or more, but seldom as much as seven years.- And yet; tl» ,priee,,,6f an.' English', j>irT is ,:fr'om £30 to £200. 'Do'- you wonder h'ow\"lt pays?" The speaker here read statistics bearing on the subject, and then went on to^ forcefully describe the horrible conditions alleged to be present in Paris, New York, in the French colonies, in South America, and the Continent. Mrs. Field proceeded,: "The* question its how to create the necessary public opinion. I think the first step is to make known as widely as possible the character and extent of the traffic. Unless the men and wohien of our Dominion know of the existence of this traffic' very little can b& done. They must first be made to realise that it is a fact th.-tt girls and young -women are being entrapped, 'and forced into this trade, and j that the men and woman who do this are not doing it for their own gratification, but to make money out of it. Enough women will not take up this life' from free will, and so they are procured by guile. The speaker then described some of the methods by which these agencies work in other countries. "This," continues Mrs. Field, "i* a plain statement. This thing is no nightmare, but an awful hideous rtality. A suggestion will come before us in the form of a. lesolution from the Nelson Union, asking us to consider the advisability^ of appointing a superintendent for this subject to gather information, and also to suggest pieventivc measures. Whatever is decided on, I hope no woman will go from this convention feeling that- this is a, thing that'does not concern her. It concerns us all, and we have it on fairly good authority that, already, this "traffic has reached oui" shores, and over, twenty girls have disappeared recently. I wrpte for information. May I here gi,ve you an extract from the letter •which I received. The writer says : GIRLS STOLEN IN NEW ZEALAND "'Yes, girls are being stolen fjom New Zealand in connection with this infamous traffic. '> One of their agents, purporting to be with a company, married a. girl recently in' -— -,- and that' is the last that has. been seen or heard of her. seams to be the hot place. A man and his wife in that district are on the track of girls. One girl working for a lady whom I met in ■ narrowly escaped their, clutches. They were in correspondence with her, oifering her better york, better wages, etc., and the girl was ready to accept, but the lady (her mistress) saw one of the letters and suspected evil. She immediately sent the girl back to her parents, and when the man and his wife called to see "their little friend " her daughter, who was at home, to put them off tho scene said that tho girl had gone to work for another family in the town, but she had forgotten the address. If they would call the next morning, when her mother was in, perhaps she might be able to get it. Her mother is a very firm woman, and she wanted to meet them, but they never returned. The girl is still safely at home, but as her home is near there is no telling , how long she may lcmain ao There have been cases in Auckland that leave scarcely a shadow of 'doubt, but it is extremely difficult to trace the "cadets." and so one can do but little publicly.' "The writer of this letter is doing What she can to warn parents and girls, but is not able to give ass much time to it as she would wish. I believe we are the largest and most influential woman's organisation in the Dominion, as we are in the world." What are we going to do as an organisation and what as mdi viduals? T do hope you will each do something, not from selfish motives, not to tave those you love, not to add & star to your crown, but that you may have the inestimable privilege of having helped to raise, a brother a little higher, of having helped to save a sister from falling." '