ESTABLISHED 1866. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1912. THE-CORRECTIVE "CAT."

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 263, 6 November 1912, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1912. THE-CORRECTIVE "CAT."

FloggingJ^s a means; by which to puniish crimihals' is not. much in favor nowadays with the, British p-üblic; but there are certain crinles for which no' punisihmeiitcan possibly be too severe. When, .sometthirty years or more.ago, London suffered from a J>lague of "garrotters,'.' crirflinals who approached their victims-firom behind and half throttled them sts a. (preliminary' to robbing them :af,; s.upn valuables! as were in the;ir possession, it was found for some time that imprisonment, even with hard labor, proved no deterrent. More drastic steps had to be taken, and;;"the 'feat" was brought into requisition. '....<, The result was that cases of "garrotting?5 fell off at once by over 80 per cent., and by the time the special punishment of fioggiiig had been in force a few months there.was almost a complete cessation of this particular class of crime. It has now* been decided to. allot the punishment of flogging, of late years confined to persons found guilty of rape or of aggravated assaults generally upon women, to what, is a comparatively new but none the less more shocking form of crimes -> We allude to the procuring of young girls for immoral purposes, a .sp^pesj. of villainy now popularly known in Europe and America as ''the Wliite Slave Traffic." The proportions ■to which this vile commerce in human bodies has attained during recent years (. has long been a public scandal not only on the European continent but 'in Great Britain, the United States, and -certain South American countries. It has been established beyond all possible doubt that '•'• hundreds of young and innocent girls have been led by various cunning and devilish stratagems and devices into a life of immorality. Peasant girls from various parts of Austria^ and Hungary have been "exported"'in^ hundreds to South American ports,, being led to believe that they were, going into honest and well-paid employment ,\ only to find, when it wasLtob late, \ that they had become imnatfesriof houses of ill-fame in Buenos'Ayfes, R;o de Janeiro, Monte Video,^ and bthfer cities; English girls taking .situations in France and Belgium have foxind themselves inmates of brothels.., French, Belgian, and Sw;iss girls -have, been inveigled to Lon,don, by, similar f means, and have been deliberately drugged,: . seduced, and forced;..to adopt .an immoral life, the prooeedsvpf/which h&ve gone mainly to thosejgnoble and disgusting persons knowiivor^i'the, Continent,as "souteneurs," or, in. plain" English, as "bullies.'' ;,'■

The Sooiety ttie Prevention of Vice and a" subsidiary organisation, formed to cope specially with this vile business, have worked hard during the last few ■ J years j; not only to protect girls' from being inveigled or forced into a vicious life, but to awaken the conscience of the nation on the subject. Much good work has been done. The railway stations in London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, and other capitals are now regularly visited by agents of the two societies, who keep a Strict watch for girls who may be accompanied by persons of doubtful reputation, and by this means many innocent girls have been saved on what, was the very threshold of a life of vice. Notwithstanding,; however, the efforts of these good people, the "procuring" of young girls has gone on. In London alone there are, it has been alleged, over 5000 "souteneurs," ninety per cent, of whom are foreigners-^-mainly Germans! Well dressed, living luxuriously, these scoundrels who specially frequent: the West End of London are for the most part well known to the police, but,..; pw^ng to the -inadequacy of the British law, have hitherto been able, to snap their ■ fingers at the authorities, and to carry on their vile trade with an'impudent impunity. This year, however, has witnessed the ; introduction in the House of Commons of a Bill specially devised for i the -suppression of the "White Slave j Traffic," and aimed . particularly at i the loathsome part played in the tragedy of London's organised Vice by the, class of scoundrels to whom we have alluded. ■ Hitherto the efforts of the police have been thwarted by the I fact that they could proceed against I the "procurers" and "souteneurs" 1 only by.moans.of warrants. The de- ! lay occasioned by the obtaining and) serving of these warrants has played; into'the hands of the criminals, who \ have _ been enabled to escape to the j Continent, not infrequently taking \ with them their uuhaprw victims. But \ this state of affairs ( will cease after > the passing of the measure now before j the British Parliament, for the offence j of "procuring" siris for immoral pur- ' poses .or living on their earnings, , formerly merely a misdemeanour, is < now to bo classed as a felony, and, j

the most important point of all,' power is given to the police summarily to arrest "procurers" caught in the act. Objection was taken to this provision in certain quarters on the ground that too great a power was being placed in the hands of the ' police; but it was pointed out in reply, that the police already possess this power where pickpockets, burglars, and other criminals who prey upon property are concerned, and that it was surely only right that similar powers should be given when the much more serious crime of luring a poor girl into vice, and thus ruining her body and soul alike, was in question. The Bill strikes a hard blow at the "souteneur" and "bully" class, in that the burden is now thrown upon these scoundrels of proving that they are not living upon the immoral earnings of the women they drive upon the street. Apparently there has been a feeling in the House of Commons that no punishment could be too severe for such soulless ruffians as! those at which the measure specially aims. Hence the introduction and passing of an. amendment, authorising the flogging.of male "procurers" for a first offence. If this provision remains in the measure when it reaches the Statute Book, the probability is that London and other great British cities—for the evil is not confined to the metropolis—will be speedily cleared of the conscienless wretches— mainly, as we have said, aliens—who have so long^ denied the country by their presence. No one who lias read the reports of the International Conference (held at Geneva in 1910) for the Suppression of the Wliite Slave Traffic, or recently I published works by Miss McKirdy, Miss JaneAddams, and Mr and Mrs Kauffmann—writers who have devoted much time and care to investigating the extent of this awful trade_ in human flesh—will deem the punishment of flogging one whit tob severe. It has long been a standing disgrace to London, and to New York—for in America the evil is even more widespread and deeper-rooted than in England—that the "White Slav© Traffic" .should have been carried on in these two great cities so openly and so impudently. The passing !of the Criminal Law Amendment , Bill now before the British Legislature will ho ■ doubt do much to arouse the public conscience across the Atlantic, and it is satisfactory to know. that both in %France arid in Belgium similar legislation is to be introduced. As for the "cat", provision, that, to our mind, ° isL specially admirable. No. punishment can be too "brutal" for men so lost- to human , shame and sense, of decency as deliberately to lure poor girls and women into infamy and then live on the proceeds of their vice. - ■■■■■