THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC.

White Ribbon, Volume 19, Issue 220, 18 October 1913, Page 1

THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC.

The Whitt* Slave Traffic —that dark shadow that hangs over ail the older countries of the civilised world—that huge octopu> whose tentacles reach wherever in the ciowded town of the Old World is a fair young girl without influential friends to protect her. “It is enough to rai"e hell,” said W • T. Stead :8 years ago, when told of the sacrifice of very \oung girl> to this trade. “It does not even raise the neighbours,” was the reply of his informant. And still that is true; it does not even rouse the women with whom lies the remedy, though last July the chairman of the International Congress in London ".lid that conditions were never worse than at present. Kverv year in Kngland alone thousands of girls disappear, never again to be known to those who have loved and cared tor them doomed to a life of degradation and shame, and to a slow lingering death. There was a time when it required a brave man or woman to speak on this subject, and even yet there are people who do not think it e 4 quite modest” to "peak abou* such things; it exists, but it is better not to speak about it. Hut the thinking people are realising more that it is an evil that must be grappled with and crushed, or our * ivilisation must sink under the load, and for years pa"t men and women have met together in congresses and conventions to discuss wa\ " am! means .of suppressing the traffic. We are told sometimes that the curse of alcoholism is the greatest evil in the world, but before our

leaders finish this article they may wonder if this is so. First, what the trade is not. It is not prostitution. A woman may be a prostitute and have no connection with the Trade. Nor is the Trade responsible for assaults on children, of which one society alone in Kngland dealt with 807 case" 111 a year, from a baby of six months upwards. 111 the Court the mother of this child hole up the little bandaged form, and said, “Ruined for life, my Lord.” The man, an ex-policeman, was sentenced to 1 2 month"’ imprisonment, which, by remissions, was reduced to three months. Nor is it responsible for the little children in the* Lock Hospital, little children doomed to a slow lingering death for the sins of others. All these, though closely allied, arc not the Trade. The Trade consi'ts in capturing by various methods young girls, and invcighlmg them into houses of illfame, and either keeping them there or sending them abroad to foreign countries, where they do not know the language. London is said to be the chief clearing port of this Trade. The Trade i", who arc* both men and women, are regular merchants, whose business it i" to sell their wares in the highc't market. I hey are known to one another, and have a most complete and effective organisation, and though in competition always protect one another, and unite to track down any victim who may escape. Their wares are girls young and attractive in face or figure, or charm of manner. The demand is great, for the averag life is from two to seven

years; and before that they are ca'i aside by their owners as unprofitable, and left, broken in health and spirit, to sink lower and lower. Of the Traders, there are three classes. 1- irst, the procurer, the man or woman who captures the girl. Second, the importer or exporter, the person who conveys her to her destination. Thirdly, the person who lives on the immoral earning of one or more women. All of these are inspired by financial gain, and the profits are enormous. It is stated on good authority that in iqoq one syndi- < ate alone made a profit of ,£40,000. The victim once caught is condemned to perpetual servitude, beside which the 1 suffering endured by African slaves, prior to their liberation, is a> nothing. She has to do she is told, receive any and every visitor, "übmit to any indignity, is not allowed out alone, and has to hand over her earnings to her ownei. I'he price of an Knglish girl varies from jCi o to joe), according to her attractiveness and the market to which "he is sent. The methods by which girls arc entrapped are of all kinds. Attractive advertisements of every conceivable kind of employment- governesses, companions, secretaries, singers, dancers, stenographers, masseurs, even circus riders; any and every occupation a girl may follow. Or it may be a chance acquaintance on a tram or train; a man drtased even as a clergyman, or a woman as <1 nurse. It is not safe for a girl to tiust any stranger. They are on every steamer, at every railway station, watching and tracking their

vk imi till tht' favourable opportunity limit''. One instance: A mother and her two daughters, girls in their teens, travelling; at Naples the mother went to look after their luggage, the girl" following a few steps behind. She turned to speak to them, but they were gone, and "he never saw them again. Ip all probability the man or woman ho was responsible for this case had been travelling with them for some time, just waiting their opportunity. Another method: Bogus telegrams to girls away from home; some relative ill. They are met and carried off. Sometimes they are taken from one place to another as lunatics, and >o people keep clear of them; or they may be drugged and be taken as invalids. Ouite recently a grave scandal was disclosed in Toulouse in connection with the Labour Kxchange there, a semi-official institution subsidised by the municipality. As a resi/U of a complaint front a girl, it has been found that some three hundred women who had sought employment through the Kxchange had been handed over to \\ hite Slave Traders. The manager has been arrested. Massage institutions are frequent traps. A girl answers an advertisement ; calls by appointment ; she may even see others in nurses uniform, for nothing is omitted to hoodwink the authorities. She is engaged, may even be taught massage. When "he is “qualified” she i" locked in a room with her “patient,” and force may even be used. She goes indignant to the “lady” in charge. Madame knows nothing. She was not there, and walls tell no tales. She tan leave, but no effort will In' spared to blacken her character. She was discharged for grossly immoral conduct. The man may even say she solicited. Of course they have no vacancy for a girl with any influence. Another instance. A young girl was bookkeeper in a large London hotel, which was thronged with Americans over for the Coronation. One gentleman, who stated he was a manufacturer from Chicago, got into conversation with her in regard to her pay and prospects, and finished up by offering a post a- his secretary at /40 a year, all found. The salary was not out of the common, and she naturally thought it was all right, and

with the prospect of travel accepted with delight. One of her friends who had read “The White Slave Traffic” urged caution, and advised her to consult Scotland Yard. She did so, and was just in time. Next day the American, his wife, and new secretary were to sail for Flushing. The police discovered he wa> a notorious procurer, and he had tickets for a South American port. I hose are a few of hundreds of instances that might l>e given, but they serve to give sonic insight into the various methods adopted by the Trade. This article would not be complete without some reference to the causes of this and kindred evils. Amongst the factors that make this Trade possible are women’s economic dependence on man, low wages of both men and women. Three million women in Kngland are unable to earn more than from 4s to ;s per week. These women live all their life on the verge of starvation. Is it any wonder that in desperation some of them take to the streets? The marvel i> that so many resist, and in spite of all temptation live clean, honest lives. Of course one of the largest fac tors is the uncontrolled passion of r*an, but we would not lay the blame for that at hi" door alone, te r woman must take her share, for has "he not "ft a lower standard for man than lie has set for her? And also with her h.i" lain the training of man in hi" c hildhood and youth, when the foundation of all truth and purity is laid. And with her now lies the remedy, when women think it i" worth while to give serious consideration to thi" "übjcct; when they are willing to unite and work for the suppression of this evil, then its doom is signed. Years ago, when many of us were children, and many more not yet born, men laid down their lives to rescue those* not of their race or colour from slavery and from what were then nameli*"- wrongs, but now those wrongs can he* nameless no longer, for the si.aves who bear them are of our own blood, our own kith and kin.

Can women ever again fold their hands in ease until they have at least done something in this fight?

Behind all other causes that contribute to the exigence of this evil we would place our low ideal of marriage. while* we consider that what is wrong before marriage i" right after

that a legal or re ligion" ceremony c an make what would otherwise be* wrong right, while our standard for the married i" lower than f»»i the unmarried, so long will this evil and all others that follow in its train continue. We know that “all men cannot receive this doctrine,” but “he that is able to receive it Jet him receive it.” We are glad to know hat in our Dominion there are men and women who have accepted thi" as their standard, for they by so living and so teaching

are creating a purer atmosphere, in which evil cannot live. In another article* we will deal with the efforts that have and are being made to suppress thi" traffic, and also with conditions in our Dominion.