LONDON’S NIGHT LIFE.

Shannon News, 15 June 1923, Page 1

LONDON’S NIGHT LIFE.

THE DANCING CLUBS. ’ EAST END A “ CANCER SPOT.” COMPARISON WITH NEW YORK. “I'was shocked and astonished to see public men of high reputation dancing with girls in a London , night club.” Mrs. Mina van Winkle, the Washington ■ police chief, who is now in London, is very much awake even in the small hours, One evening she visited some of London’s night haunts and when she rose the - next morning she gave the-above verdict. . "I went to a certain< night -club,” she said, “at midnight and stayed there until * half-past ; two. I could have stayed till; breakfast time, I un-, derstand, a thing that we could not do in America.

“But I opened my eyes when I learned the identity of some of the male visitors. I would not have known; who they were, but a young Jewess, came up to me and said, ‘ You are from New York ? ’ In conversation she pointed out some middle-aged and elderly men who were dancing with nice-looking though- not necessarily nice girls. “ They were men of. high reputation in; the real sense. Ido not know whether our public men in America are better than yours, or simply more hypocritical, but they certainly would not be seen at the night club I visited. They may, of course, go elsewhere but the point is that they look better after their reputations. “Apart from-that, there was nothing that could excite Any particular comment in the night club. " We were told that we must become members, but we were able to jget membership cards immediately on payment of 15/-. In Piccadilly Circus

“ Piccadilly Circus gave me food for thought. I stood for one and a-half hours there, and was amazed to see so many girls on the streets for no other purpose than to accost men, and who in about a hundred cases that I saw did accost them. That could not happen; in New York. A girl may occasionally be seen on the streets, but you would need to look for her with a fine-tooth comb; In Piccadilly the uniformed police told me that they were quite powerless to do anything They must first hear some conversation before they can make an arrest, and this is, of course, impossible in uniform.

" Obviously, in my short visit I am not in a position.to make. a. comparison between the morals of London and eNewr York, but after a visit to the East End one night I can say that New York has less to be ashamed of in its? slums.

“ The Bowery is bad, and I ought to 'know for I have slept in every woman's. lodging house in .New:- York, but .your East End is worse. It is one of the cancer spots of the-world. There are lots of dirt in the Bowery, but not. the same degree of grinding poverty. The people of the East End are not innately worse than the American poor, but there seems to be more chance of their becoming criminal.” The Police Courts.

Mrs. van Winkle visited some of (he pol ! ce courts in London and the Old Bailey. Her impressions are of interest.

“What struck me,’ she said, “was the dignity of the proceedings at a place like Bow Street. In America, where the police courts are about the worst on earth, our public seats are full, with; the dope fiend, whisky runners, illicit agents, and all kinds of .criminals, who simply com e to spy on the police force. "In,Bow Stret there was far more privacy. A young man and woman; brought up there for their first offence had not a crowd of crooks and negroes gazing at them in the dock, as we have.

“ But I think that in both countries there is room for improvement in the treatment of criminals. “ I am convinced that the secret of dealing: with crime is not fear of the law but in getting hold of the criminal when he commits his first act. Then, if you cannot deal with him, he is a mental case. We are filling up our gaols: with a lot of people who simply come out to repeat the offence over and over again; I have seen one woman appearing for the same offence 63 times

“ Obviously the pr’son is doing no good. The method is not only inefficient, but very expensive."