  NEW YORK.—STATISTICS. Schedule of Questions.—Age.—Juvenile Depravity.—Premature Old Age.—Gradual Descent.—Average Duration of a Prostitute’s Life.—Nativity.—Proportion of Prostitutes from various States.—New York.—Effects of Immigration.—Foreigners.—Proportion to Population.—Proportion to Emigration.—Dangers of Ports of Departure, Emigrant Ships, and Boarding-houses.—Length of Residence in the United States.—Prostitution a Burden to Tax-payers.—Length of Residence in New York State.—Length of Residence in New York City.—Inducements to emigrate.—Labor and Remuneration in Europe.—Assistance to emigrate; its Amount, and from whom.—Education.—Neglect of Facilities in New York.—Social Condition.—Single Women.—Widows.—Early and Injudicious Marriages.—Husbands.—Children.—Illegitimate Children.—Mortality of Children.—Infanticide.—Influences to which Children are exposed. It is to be hoped the reader has already perused the introduction to this volume, containing a description of the modus operandi adopted to obtain the necessary information from the prostitutes of New York City. The following schedule of questions was prepared for this purpose, and the ensuing pages present in tabular form the answers received thereto. “How old will you be next birth-day? “Were you born in America? and, if so, in what state? “How long have you resided in New York City? “If born abroad, in what country? “How long have you resided in the United States? “How long have you resided in the State of New York? “What induced you to emigrate to the United States? “Did you receive any assistance, and, if so, from whom, and to what amount, to enable you to emigrate to the United States? “Are you single, married, or widowed? “If married, is your husband living with you, or what caused the separation? “If widowed, how long has your husband been dead? “Have you had any children? “How many? — Boys — Girls “Were these children born in wedlock? “Are they living or dead? “If living, are they with you now, or where are they? “For what length of time have you been a prostitute? “Have you had any disease incident to prostitution? If so, what? “What was the cause of your becoming a prostitute? “Is prostitution your only means of support? “If not, what other means have you? “What trade or calling did you follow before you became a prostitute? “How long is it since you abandoned your trade as a means of living? “What were your average weekly earnings at your trade? “What business did your father follow? “If your mother had any business independent of your father, what was it? “Did you assist either your mother or your father in their business? If so, which of them? “Is your father living? or how old were you when he died? “Is your mother living? or how old were you when she died? “Do you drink intoxicating liquors? If so, to what extent? “Did your father drink intoxicating liquors? If so, to what extent? “Did your mother drink intoxicating liquors? If so, to what extent? “Were your parents “Protestants,” “Catholics,” or “non-professors?” “Were you trained to any religion? If so, was it Protestant or Catholic? “Do you profess the same religion now? “How long since you observed any of its requirements?” In addition to this comprehensive series, space was left for any remarks the examiner might wish, to make upon other points. The queries were printed on a large sheet of paper, with sufficient blanks for the answers, and the officer was desired, as soon as he had obtained all the information required, to fold the sheet, and sign his name on a line left for that purpose, with the date the inquiries were made, the locality of the house in which the woman resided, and the police district in which it was comprised. It is a matter of much regret that in the burning of the Island Hospital, Blackwell’s Island, on February 13th, 1858, all the schedules were destroyed. They contained many facts which, from Farther prelude is unnecessary. It only remains to give the answers as received, with such deductions as may arise from them. Question. How old will you be next birth-day?
The facts exhibited by this table are sufficiently palpable to render remarks almost unnecessary, but the existence of juvenile degradation is so clearly proven as to call for a few observations. Between the ages of fifteen and twenty years are found about three eighths of the whole number embraced in this return. Between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five years nearly three eighths more of the whole number are included, giving in the first ten years of the table three quarters of the aggregate prostitution, while the next period of five years, or from twenty-six to thirty, contains one eighth more. It is thus upon record that seven out of every eight women who came under this investigation had not yet reached thirty years of age. Beyond this Comparing this with the ages of residents in New York as given in the Census Reports, it will appear that prostitutes under twenty years of age are in excess about twenty-five per cent.; as this inquiry shows that for every four abandoned women between the ages of twenty and thirty there are three between fifteen and twenty, but the official classification proves that for every four women in the state between twenty and thirty years old, there are only two between fifteen and twenty. While juvenile degradation is an inseparable adjunct of prostitution, premature old age is its invariable result. Take, for example, the career of a female who enters a house of prostitution at sixteen years of age. Her step is elastic, her eye bright, she is the “observed of all observers.” The habituÉs of the place flock around her, gloat over her ruin while they praise her beauty, and try to drag her down to their own level of depravity while flattering her vanity. As the last spark of inherent virtue flickers and dies in her bosom, and she becomes sensible that she is indeed lost, that her anticipated happiness proves but splendid misery, she also becomes conscious that the door of reformation is practically closed against her. But this life of gay depravity can not last; her mind becomes tainted with the moral miasma in which she lives; her physical powers wane under the trials imposed upon them, and her career in a fashionable house of prostitution comes to an end; she must descend in the ladder of vice. Follow her from one step to another in her downward career. To-day you may find her in our aristocratic promenades; to-morrow she will be forced to walk in more secluded streets. To-night you may see her glittering at one of the fashionable theatres; to-morrow she will be found in some one of the infamous resorts which abound in the lower part of the city. To-day she may associate with the wealthy of the land; to-morrow none will be too low for her company. To-day she has servants to do her bidding; to-morrow she may be buried in a pauper’s coffin and a nameless grave. This is no fancy sketch, but an outline of the course of many women now living as prostitutes of the lowest class in the city of New York. Any one conversant with the subject knows that there is a well understood gradation in this life, and as soon as a woman ceases to be attractive in the higher walks, as soon as her youth and beauty fade, she must either descend in the scale or starve. Nor Here is seen, at a glance, a reason for the large number of juvenile prostitutes. Youth is a marketable commodity, and when its charms are lost, they must be replaced. The following cases, from life, will substantiate this view. For obvious reasons, the names are suppressed. C. B. is a native of New York, and now resides in the Eighth Police District of the city. She is twenty years old, and became a prostitute at the age of sixteen, through the harshness and unkind treatment of a stepmother, her own mother having died when she was an infant. Take another case from the same neighborhood. L. B. was born in Vermont; her father died while she was a child. At the age of fifteen she was enticed to the city, and became an inmate of a house of prostitution. She is described as an intelligent, well-educated girl, of temperate habits. One more instance from the same locality. F. W. is a native of New York City; is the child of honest, hard-working parents; has received a medium education; at seventeen years old was seduced under a promise of marriage, and deserted. She then embraced a life of prostitution, influenced mainly by shame, and the idea that she had no other means of subsistence. These women are residing in that part of the city which contains the majority of the first-class houses of prostitution; they have not yet descended in the scale. The ensuing selection, taken from the Fourth Police District, the antipodes of the former locality, will forcibly exhibit the operation of this gradual deterioration. E. S. was seduced in Rochester, N. Y., at the age of sixteen. She accompanied her seducer to this city, and for a season lived here in luxury. She was finally deserted, and now drags out a wretched existence in Water Street. E. C., residing in the same neighborhood, is now nineteen years of age. She was married when but a child, and, five years since, or when she was only fourteen years old, was driven on the town through the brutal conduct of her husband. Passing through the various gradations of the scale, she has now become a confirmed drunkard; has endured much physical suffering; and, lost to all sense of shame, will doubtless continue in her wretched career till death puts an end to her misery. It is not necessary to pursue this subject farther, as sufficient facts have been adduced to support the assertion that youth is the grand desideratum in the inmates of houses of ill fame. Young women have been traced from the proudest resorts to the lowest haunts, and have been shown as suffering pain and sickness in a public institution, or dying there in torture. But no attempt has been made to calculate the misery produced in the respective families they had abandoned. The excruciating parental agony caused by the departure of a daughter from the paths of virtue seems more a matter for private contemplation by each reader than for any delineation here. We have witnessed the meetings of parents with their lost children; have stood beside the bed where a frail, suffering woman was yielding her last breath, and have shuddered at the awful mental agony overpowering her physical suffering. No doubt can exist that, were it possible to introduce the reader of these pages to such scenes, or even could they be adequately described in all their accumulated horrors, the cordial co-operation of all the friends of virtue and humanity would be secured in furtherance of any plan which would check this mighty torrent of vice and woe. From the fact that youth is the grand desideratum, it is evident that a constant succession of young people will be driven into this arena, either by force or treachery. The average duration of life among these women does not exceed four years from the beginning of their career! There are, as in all cases, exceptions to this rule, Question. Were you born in America? If so, in what state?
The number of prostitutes in New York who were born within the limits of the United States slightly exceeds three eighths of the aggregate from whom replies to these queries were obtained. They are natives of twenty-one states and one district, and may be subdivided in geographical order as follows: 1. The Eastern District, containing Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, contributes one hundred and seventy-two women to the prostitutes of New York City. 2. The Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, contribute five hundred and sixty-six women. 4. The Western States, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, contribute also twelve women. On what hypothesis can these proportions be explained? Maine, on the extreme northeast, with a rocky, surge-beaten coast fronting on the wild Atlantic, with a harsh, cold climate, sends twenty-four women from her population of 580,000, while Virginia, with 1,421,000 inhabitants, contributes but nine! This difference in favor of the southern state can not be explained on the ground of distance, for the boundaries of each state are nearly equidistant from New York; nor can it be sustained by the idea that Maine has more sea-coast, as the maritime coast of the southern state is at least equal to that of the northern one, and the ordinary tendencies to immorality in sea-port towns would be equally felt in each. The case is still farther involved by the fact that in all southern cities the majority of prostitutes are from the north; and it is a well-known circumstance, that at certain periods large numbers of courtesans from New York, Boston, and other cities emigrate southward. Were the generally received opinion of the effects of a warm climate upon female organization to be adopted in this connection, not only would there be no necessity for this exodus, but the number of prostitutes received from Virginia should largely exceed those from Maine. This fact is sufficient to confirm the idea already expressed, that fraud or force is used to entrap these females. The natives of a bleak northern state are far more likely to be deceived by the artful misrepresentations of emissaries from New York than the denizens of the southern portion of our Union. The former lead a life of comparative hardship, the latter one of comparative ease. In Maine, over six thousand women, or one in every forty-six of the female population, are immured for six days in every week in a crowded factory; in Virginia, over three thousand women, or one in every one hundred and thirty-four of the female population, are similarly employed.[380] This mode of life will form a matter for subsequent consideration, so far as its tendencies to immorality are concerned. Again: Place in contrast Rhode Island with eighteen women living by prostitution in New York, and a population of only 140,000, and Maryland with fifteen prostitutes in New York, and a population of 418,000, and a more palpable difference in favor Calculating on the basis of the respective populations, Vermont and New Hampshire have nearly the same proportion as Maine; Massachusetts exceeds the average; and Connecticut (par excellence, “the land of steady habits”) has a still larger excess. New Jersey has the largest proportion of any state in the union, and Pennsylvania shows about the average of Maine. The Southern and Western States have but few representatives. New York, the home state, will be noticed in due course. The preceding facts will supply materials for reflection, in conjunction with the question, “On what hypothesis can these proportions be explained?” The self-evident answer to this query would seem to be that the excess from the Eastern and Middle States arises from the employment of a much larger proportion of females in manufacturing and sedentary occupations. A young woman of ardent temperament can not but feel the hardship of this position in life as compared with her more favored sisters in other states, and when such an idea has once obtained possession of her mind, it forms a subject for constant thought. Thus, when already predisposed in favor of any change, she falls into the hands of the tempter a pliant victim. Beyond the hardship attendant on her daily labor, the associations which are formed in factories or workshops where both sexes are employed very frequently result disastrously for the female. Notwithstanding all the care which may be taken on the part of employers—and it is a subject for national pride that American manufacturers are doing far more to elevate the moral character of their employÉs than the same class of men in other lands—it is morally impossible that these intimacies can be entirely suppressed, nor can their ruinous effects be prevented. Study the moral statistics of any of the manufacturing towns in Great Britain or on the Continent of Europe, and the same results are presented, but in a more alarming degree, because there the supervision is not only weak in itself, but is frequently intrusted to improper persons, whose interest is often in direct opposition to their duty. A few words in respect to the State of New York. The number of prostitutes in proportion to the population far exceeds the ratio from any other state except New Jersey. Beyond the effect of manufactures, which operate here to a corresponding extent as in other states, the immense maritime business of New York City, The constant flood of immigration leaves a mass of debris behind it, consisting, in the first place, of men idle and vicious in their own lands, who transfer their vices to the country of their adoption, and for a time after arrival here devote what means they possess to the pursuit of debauchery, and materially help to swell the torrent of immorality. Another class of immigrants are women, many of whom are sent here by charitable (?) associations or public bodies in foreign lands, as the most economical way to get rid of them. Many of these females become mothers almost as soon as they land on these shores; in fact, the probability of such an event sometimes hastens their departure. They exist here in the most squalid misery in some tenement house or hovel. Their children receive none of the advantages of education; for, as soon as they can beg, they are compelled to aid in the struggle for bread, and the most frequent result is that the boys are arrested for some petty theft, and the girls become prostitutes, thus contributing to meet the demand caused by the classes already mentioned. But, in addition to these foreign children born by accident in our state, the proportion of prostitutes from New York is increased by the facility offered for transit from the interior to the city. Doubtless there are many courtesans from the eastern and southern districts who find their way to some of the large cities in their own part of the country, and so, on the same principle, when a woman in this state has fallen into vicious habits her natural resort is to this metropolis. In addition to the more extended market it offers for her charms, its advantages as a great central rendezvous for the nation must not be overlooked. Here a prostitute can live until her attractions wane, and hence she can easily reach any southern or other point where abandoned women are in demand. Despite of the large number of prostitutes ascertained to have been born within the bounds of New York State, it can not be conceded It is a matter for the most serious consideration, to be followed by sound and judicious action, either legislative or personal, that so large a number of American girls fall victims to this fell destroyer in a land where a good education is within the reach of every one; where industry, if properly applied in the right channels, will afford a comfortable maintenance for all; where the natural resources are sufficient to support nearly half the inhabitants of the world. Question. Were you born abroad? If so, in what country?
It has been frequently remarked, and as generally believed, in the absence of any satisfactory information on the subject, that a very large majority of the prostitutes in New York are of foreign birth; but the facts already developed, with the few remarks which will be made upon the above table of nativities, go far toward falsifying that opinion. The enumeration shows that five eighths only were born abroad, the dominions of Great Britain furnishing the largest proportion. The ratio in which the several parts of that kingdom supply the New World with courtesans may be stated in round numbers as follows: Ireland contributes one prostitute to every four thousand of her population; British North America, one prostitute to every seven thousand of population; Scotland, one prostitute to every sixteen thousand of population; England and Wales, one prostitute to every fifty thousand of population. Of course, this will be understood as referring to all prostitutes now living in this city, assuming the average nativities of all to be fairly represented in the replies obtained from a portion. But these numbers, being based upon the population of the several countries, give but a very imperfect idea of the extent of vice among that portion of their people who have settled in America, and a more satisfactory comparison can be drawn from the records This demoralization may be accounted for in several ways. There is frequently a protracted interval between the time when families arrive at the intended port of departure and the day on which they sail; and during this space they are exposed to all the malign influences invariably existing in large sea-port towns, which must impart vicious ideas to young people who have recently left some secluded part of the country. Take Liverpool, for instance, the port whence the largest number of emigrants come to us, and which contains one prostitute for every eighty-eight inhabitants, and the wonder will be, not that so many are contaminated, but that so many escape. When the dangers of the town are surmounted, another source of immorality is found in the steerage passage across the Atlantic. This occupies from one to three months, during which time the females are necessarily in constant communication with the other sex, and frequently exposed to scenes of indelicacy too glaring to be described here; and this in addition to the constant machinations of the abandoned and unprincipled men who are to be found, in greater or less numbers, in every ship’s complement of crew and passengers. Under such circumstances, the germ implanted in the sea-port town often develops into its legitimate fruit. But when the ship has reached her haven, and the perils of the sea are passed, there are dangers to be encountered on land. The present arrangements for disembarking emigrants at Castle Garden have removed many of the most objectionable features formerly incident to their entry into the land of their adoption, yet there are many still remaining. If a family desire to travel to the interior of the country, they can do so at once; but should they remain in the city, they are exposed to the tender mercies of the emigrant boarding-house keepers, generally themselves natives of the “old To one or the other of these causes many girls owe their ruin. Indeed, there can be no reasonable doubt that a majority of the prostitutes of foreign birth are more or less influenced thereby. In addition to these, there are other snares constantly set for strangers, to which we shall hereafter allude. It is scarcely within the province of this section to notice measures calculated to remove the evils named. With the first, the American people have no possible means of interfering. With regard to the second, many difficulties must be encountered and overcome. The Commissioners of Emigration have taken steps to avert some of the evils, and, in consequence of their application to the present Congress, a bill has been introduced making it a penal offense for any officer or sailor on emigrant ships to have carnal intercourse with any passenger, whether with or without her consent. The third evil named is a local question peculiarly and entirely under our own control, and, at the risk of anticipating the subject, it may be suggested that the most effectual way of obviating it would be the organization of a plan offering inducements and facilities for young women to leave the city, thus removing them from its baneful influences to a part of the country where their own labor would give them the means of a comfortable subsistence and a virtuous life. It is but poor policy to retain in New York numbers of persons who can by no possibility procure employment in an already overcrowded field of labor, and who must eventually consent to earn a precarious living by the sacrifice of virtue. It matters not through what agency their ruin is effected, whether by the oppression of a boarding-house keeper, the intrigues of an intelligence-office, or the wiles of abandoned ones of their own sex. The degradation is an indisputable fact, and the expenses to every citizen from the extra cost of police supervision, courts of justice, hospitals, and penitentiaries, would probably be enough to remove many from the city who are debauched Question. How long have you resided in the United States?
In intimate connection with the subject of the nativities of prostitutes now in New York are the answers to the above inquiry. Deducting the number of native-born women, it will be found that five hundred and sixty-three, or more than forty-five per cent. of the foreigners, have resided in the United States less than five years; and of this number, one hundred and fifteen, or nearly twenty-one per cent., have resided here less than one year. These averages support, to some extent, the opinion already advanced, that a large proportion of the prostitutes in New York City were either seduced previous to leaving their port of departure, or on their passage, or very soon after their arrival here, when they commenced forthwith a practice which forces them eventually to become a burden upon the tax-paying community. In a majority of cases, this must be the result of their career; the successive fall from one gradation of their wretched life to a lower finally landing them in the prisons or hospitals of a city toward whose expenses neither their pecuniary ability nor their labor have ever contributed a farthing. Their support thus falls upon the working population, an argument of dollars and cents which will not be without its influence in a consideration of the numerous evils of prostitution. The remaining fifty-five per cent., having been in the United States more than five years, are by law entitled to receive any assistance which their necessities may demand from local funds, but of this number there are some who have doubtless been chargeable to public institutions before they had completed the required term of residence, as there are unquestionably many who, in order to procure relief, make false representations as to the time of their Question. How long have you resided in New York State?
Question. How long have you resided in New York City?
These tables require no comment. The attention of the reader may merely be called to the fact that three hundred and ninety-four women have been already reported as born in the State of New York, of which number three hundred and fifty-three have resided within its limits continuously from the time of their birth, Question. What induced you to emigrate to the United States?
This table shows that a majority of the prostitutes of foreign birth were induced to emigrate to the United States either by considerations of policy—four hundred and eleven assigning as their reason a desire to improve their condition in life—or from family connections, six hundred and nineteen having arrived with relatives and friends, or with the purpose of joining relatives and friends already in this country. It will not be denied by any one familiar with the subject that one main reason for emigration is always found in the comparative difficulty of earning a livelihood in the place of the emigrant’s nativity, and the expectation of doing better in a strange land; a conclusion sustained by the fact that a prosperous year in Europe serves to check the arrivals here, and vice versa. With the difficult problem of labor and remuneration in the Old World it would be out of place to interfere; but it may be remarked that, badly as many branches of female employment are paid for with us, they are still worse paid for in England. Reference to a previous chapter, treating of the causes of prostitution in that country, will at once establish this point, and the instances therein quoted of the wages paid in London will remove all surprise that this country should be a receptacle for underpaid operatives, or that the hope of realizing better wages should be sufficiently powerful to sever all ties of birth-place and home. But many of these impoverished women were actually dependent upon friends for the payment of their passage-money, and consequently arrived here almost literally penniless, with very slight prospects of obtaining work, and frequently with but one alternative, and the only one they had before coming here, which they must embrace or starve. From an examination of these causes alone, it is apparent that, however well qualified, physically and morally, to add their quota to the prosperity of the United States, had their exertions been properly directed, yet the circumstances under which these women emigrated were so embarrassing as to render them easy victims to those whose special business seems to be to ensnare the friendless and unfortunate. This branch of inquiry may be continued by a reference to the following table, giving a summary of answers to the Question. Did you receive any assistance, and if so, to what amount, to enable you to emigrate to the United States?
It appears that only two hundred and sixty-two, or about one fifth of the total number, paid their own passage-money, the remainder having received pecuniary assistance toward that object ranging from an unspecified amount, which, in all probability, was not more than the positive expenses of the voyage, to six hundred dollars. It will be observed that the majority did not receive more than forty dollars each, eight hundred and eighty-three of those assisted stating that such help did not exceed that sum. This certainly was but a very inadequate amount to pay the expenses of an outfit and a voyage across the Atlantic, and then to support a person in a strange land until employment could be The following table corroborates this theory; it consists of replies to the other part of the same Question. Did you receive any assistance, and if so, from whom, to enable you to emigrate to the United States?
As a general rule, the parties by whom assistance was rendered were not likely to advance any amount beyond what was absolutely required. Even this amount would perhaps be reduced Question. Can you read and write?
Seven hundred and fourteen of the women who were examined in New York City say that they can read and write well. This must not be regarded as proof that they have received a superior, or even a medium education, but is a phrase which may be interpreted to mean that they can read a page of printed matter without much trouble, and can sign their names, although truth compels the admission that their writing is very often a species of penmanship extremely difficult to decipher. Beyond such acquirements as these, very few, scarcely one in each five hundred, have progressed. Five hundred and forty-six can read and write imperfectly, a grade of education which may be defined as midway between the amount of knowledge already described and a state of total ignorance; enough, in fact, to relieve them from the suspicion of being altogether illiterate, which is the sole advantage they can claim over the two hundred and nineteen who can read only, or the five hundred and twenty-one who confess that they can neither read nor write. As a whole, there is little doubt that the prostitutes in New York believe, “where ignorance is bliss, But, seriously, such a state of ignorance is most deplorable. To give an idea of the facilities for acquiring education in the various countries from which these prostitutes reach us, the following statement from the United States Census for 1850[381] is submitted: The ratio of persons receiving education is as follows:
The following is a fair average estimate of the acquirements of native and foreign-born prostitutes:
The average of educational facilities in the United States is as one to five; in European countries it is one to ten. In other words, every one in this country has twice the opportunities for education compared with those born in the Old World: opportunities which, in the cases of these women at least, have not been improved to their full extent. Of those who claim to be well educated, the United States show more than the average. In the class imperfectly educated, foreigners show one half of their number, and the superior advantages in this country only produce exactly the same proportion. The proportion of those uneducated is not much more favorable in natives than in foreigners. Some allowances must be made, however, in this calculation, for the fact that many children of foreign birth arrive here at an early age, and gain such education as they possess in American institutions; but even this will but slightly affect the disproportion alluded to. But no possible modification of the facts can be conceived sufficient to excuse the negligence of the parents or friends of one fourth of the native-born prostitutes in this city at the present Sectarian bigotry must be held responsible for much of this offense. “If our children can not be educated as we please, they shall not be educated at all. If they must not read the books we wish, they shall never learn the alphabet,” is, in effect, if not in words, the language of thousands in this country to-day. What are the results of this cruel policy? The children go forth into the world: the boys, to earn a precarious living by the sweat of their brow; the girls, condemned to the most servile work in any family where their stupidity may find a shelter, until they meet with some man of their own mental calibre, whom they marry, and forthwith bring up their unfortunate children in the same manner in which they themselves were reared. This is the brightest view of the future of ignorant children; the darker shades are depicted in the annals of vice and crime—may be seen daily in our prisons, hospitals, poor-houses, and pauper burying-grounds. The picture is not overdrawn; nor will the reply so common in this generation, “These are the children of foreigners,” serve to exonerate the parents; for even if all the uneducated native women who have answered these questions were born of foreign parentage, a fact which must be proved before it is admitted, but which we are not inclined to concede, yet they were born on our soil, where public schools were open to receive them, and their intelligence would enhance the credit of the land in the same proportion that their ignorance diminishes it. A love of their adopted country, its institutions and its fame, is not too much to ask of parents who derive their maintenance from its resources. It is a libel upon the parental instinct (it can not be called feeling) to allow any child in the United States to arrive at years of maturity without acquiring a good plain, solid education. Fathers or mothers who pursue such a course as this would consider themselves unjustly accused if told they were training their daughters to become prostitutes, but such is the fact. It is scarcely possible to imagine any thing so likely to lead a woman from the paths of rectitude as ignorance, coupled with the conviction that such ignorance is an insurmountable barrier to her progress in life; it drives her to intoxication to drown her reflections, and from intoxication to prostitution the transition is easy and almost certain. Here, then, are a number of young women thrown into society every year without the least education; untrained for good, and Could our liberal facilities for education be duly improved, much would be done to prevent the vice of prostitution. No classical or extraordinary tuition is required to accomplish this end; merely common sense rightly cultivated, and conscience enlightened and developed, so as to appreciate the difference between right and wrong, will do much to aid a woman to pass unscathed through trials which constantly ruin the ignorant. The question has sometimes arisen whether it should not be made compulsory on parents to educate their children. The present is not the place to discuss that subject, but the following statistics will show to what extent the duty is neglected. The United States Census for 1850 reports:
The New York State Census for 1855 reports:
No returns are made of the numbers attending schools, and these must be sought from other sources. The report of the Board of Education for 1856 states the average daily attendance at the ward or public schools to be 44,598. The same document gives data from which the attendance at religious, corporate, or other public schools can be calculated, but says nothing of private schools. An approximate estimate of the latter can, however, be made with the help of the United States Census. In 1850, the proportions were about one private to every twelve public scholars, and since that period there has probably been but little change in the ratio.
This would give a school attendance of sixty-six per cent. of the population between the ages of five and fifteen years, or ten per cent. less than in 1850. That the proportionate numbers receiving education are diminishing is susceptible of proof from one fact. In 1856, the pupils in the public schools were 347 more than in 1855. During the last fifteen years the population of the city has increased more than twenty thousand per annum, and of this increase about one fifth (or four thousand) are between the ages of five and fifteen. It follows that in 1856 there were four thousand additional children in New York as compared with 1855, but there were only 347 additional attendants at the public schools. Admitting that other schools received the same increase of pupils—an admission more liberal than facts would warrant—the education of seven hundred only would be provided for, leaving three thousand three hundred destitute of instruction. In the course of the year 1856, the attention of the Board of Education was directed to the large number of children not attending any school, and upon the basis of a partial census of the city they were assumed to amount to sixty thousand. This was conceded to be an over-estimate. The figures given above would make the number 39,594, which may very likely be nearer the truth; but even this may be in excess, and, to allow for all possible contingencies, we will place it at thirty thousand. Even this is an alarming statement: the suggestion that of all the children in our city nearly twenty-seven per cent. are growing up in a state of perfect ignorance, presents so many frightful considerations that the mind revolts at the bare possibility. But the facts will not permit any other construction. If this criminal neglect be continued, it must produce fatal consequences to society, and the view of impending results would almost sanction a compulsory education.[382]
The civil condition of the prostitutes in New York City furnishes matter of serious consideration in view of the slight restraints which the ordinarily received rules of society place upon the passions, and the utter inefficiency of such regulations to counteract the influences tending to female degradation; influences, in fact, which they very frequently augment rather than check. In the cases of many females now under notice, marriage was invested not only with the sanctions of a civil contract between the parties, as recognized by our state laws, but, according to the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, was regarded as one of the seven holy sacraments which it is deemed an act of sacrilege to violate. Yet, in the face of these ordinances, the civil contract is broken, the sacrament is profaned in one fourth of the total number of cases, or four hundred and ninety out of two thousand which are now under notice. It would be out of place to enter here on any disquisition respecting the duties of the married state; regarded in its abuses as provocative of prostitution it is noticed hereafter. Enjoined by the precepts of Holy Writ, supported by the sentiment of the world, and respected by all virtuous men, marriage is an institution which needs no argument to enforce its claims to the most rigid observance. That this sacred compact is too frequently violated by one or other of the contracting parties is proved by almost daily experience either in courts of law or by intercourse with the world. Conflicting testimony sometimes renders it doubtful to whom the blame ought to be imputed, but there can be no uncertainty whatever as to the opinions entertained by society at large in such cases. If the husband has been guilty of a breach of his conjugal duties, he reads the whole of the evidence, graphically reported, with occasional embellishments, in the columns of the daily papers, flatters himself that he is acquiring notoriety, is congratulated by friends of his own predilections on his success, and in a short time is fully reinstated in his former social position. On the Of the prostitutes in New York, one thousand two hundred and sixteen have never been married. Their sin is the less because they have not to answer for broken vows, nor have they any outraged confidence on which to brood, but to endure only the sin and odium attached to their present condition. Two hundred and ninety-five prostitutes are widowed. In their cases death has put an end to the marital contract, and, thus left free to act for themselves, they stand in nearly the same condition as single women. An investigation of the nativities of these women shows that about one third each of the single and married prostitutes are natives of the United States, and of widows about one half were born in this country. The question may arise as to the causes to be assigned for the depravity of married women, and for the large proportion of widows in the ranks of the abandoned. It would certainly appear that one of the principal, if not the principal cause which can be specified is the very early age at which such marriages are contracted. Young people yield to the impulse of a moment, acknowledge the charms of a person they meet in a ball-room or public assembly, and are married with a very imperfect knowledge of each other’s character, with but little reflection on the probable result of the alliance, and with but a slight appreciation of the obligations they are contracting. It was a wise regulation, whether regarded physically or morally, which fixed the earliest period of marriage in ancient Germany at twenty-five years, and declared the union invalid if the parties had not reached that time of life; nor would the morality of New York suffer if a E. C., now nineteen years of age, is a married woman, who has been separated from her husband five years, and must therefore have been married when less than fourteen years old. C. W., now twenty-one years of age, has been a widow for five years, and was married at fifteen. A. S. was married at sixteen, and E. R. at fifteen. C. C., now twenty-eight years old, has been a widow more than twelve years. C. G., aged twenty-four, has been a widow seven years. Both these women were under sixteen when married. The list might be extended almost indefinitely. The following inquiry, as a continuation of the same branch of the subject, is embodied in this section. Question. If married, is your husband living with you, or what caused the separation?
The most striking and painful fact in these answers is revealed in the first line of the table, which contains an announcement so disgraceful to humanity that, but for the positive evidence adduced by the figures, it would be scarcely credited, namely, that of four hundred and ninety married women now living as prostitutes, seventy-one (more than one seventh) are cohabiting with their husbands. It can not be controverted that such cohabitation necessarily implies a knowledge of the wife’s degradation, and a participation in the wages of her shame. Nor will any argument, however plausible, succeed in removing from the public mind the conviction that the man is far the more guilty party of the two, and he can not escape the suspicion that he was the primary agent in leading his wife to prostitution, or, in legal parlance, The conduct of husbands is alleged in a majority of the cases as the cause of separation; two hundred and thirty-five out of four hundred and nineteen women give the following causes:
The cases wherein “intemperance,” “infidelity,” or “no cause assigned” were replied, are vague, and may be construed to attach blame to either, or both. Sufficient has been proved to show that in many cases prostitution among married women is the result of circumstances which must have exercised a very powerful influence over them. The refusal of a husband to support his wife, his desertion of her, or an act of adultery with another woman, are each occurrences which must operate injuriously upon the mind of any female, and, by the keen torture such outrages inflict on the sensitiveness of her nature, must drive her into a course of dissipation. Many women thus circumstanced have actually confessed that they made the first false step while smarting from injuries inflicted by their natural protectors, with the idea of being revenged upon their brutal or faithless companions for their unkindness. Morality will argue, and very truly, that this is no excuse for crime; but much allowance must be made for the extreme nature of the provocation, and the fact that most of these women are uneducated, and have not sufficient mental or moral illumination to reason correctly upon the nature and consequences of their voluntary debauchery, or even to curb the violence of their passions. “Ill-usage of husbands,” a crime particularly rife in England, and apparently fast becoming naturalized here, also stands as a prominent cause of vice, and is one which can not be too pointedly condemned. It strikes at the root of the social fabric, and must invariably be denounced both on account of its enormity as an offense, and of its almost inevitable consequences to the woman, a sense of degradation, too often followed by the sacrifice of rectitude as the only means to escape such brutal tyranny. Without The following table will conclude this section: Question. If widowed, how long has your husband been dead?
It will be perceived that nineteen prostitutes have been widows less than one year, twenty-two for one year, thirty for two years, and so throughout the scale. The table presents but little necessity for observation, the principal conclusion to be drawn from it being that the majority of this class are driven to a course of vice from the destitution ensuing on the husband’s death. It has been shown that a large number of them are very young, and it can be scarcely necessary to repeat that any young woman in a state of poverty will be surrounded with temptations she can with difficulty resist. Much as this state of society may be deplored, its existence can not be denied. Question. Have you had any children?
The women who reply to this question in the affirmative are
In continuation of this subject is the Question. If you have had children, how many?
The replies give the total number of children borne by each class: thus the single women have given birth to four hundred and ninety-one children, the married women to seven hundred and ninety-one children, and the widows to six hundred and thirty-six children. The following tables exhibit the same facts in a more extended form, showing the number of children which each woman has borne, and specifying the sex. Question. If you have had children, how many? REPLIES OF SINGLE WOMEN.
REPLIES OF MARRIED WOMEN.
REPLIES OF WIDOWS.
Commencing with the offspring of single women, it will be seen that one was the mother of ten children, eight boys and two girls. Two women gave birth to six children each. Four gave birth to five children each. Three gave birth to four children
The next point claiming attention is the number of illegitimate children resulting from prostitution, based upon answers to the Question. Were these children born in wedlock?
The whole of the children borne by single women are, of course, illegitimate. Of the children of married women over forty per cent., and of the children of widows forty-four per cent. are illegitimate. Taking the total number of children of the three classes, and calculating upon this broad basis, it will appear that 1090 illegitimate children were born, giving an average of fifty-seven per cent.; or, to speak in plain terms, of every hundred children borne by women who are now prostitutes, forty-three were born before the mothers (married women or widows) had embraced this course of life, and the remaining fifty-seven were the fruit of promiscuous intercourse, liable physically to inherit the diseases of the mother, morally to endure the disgrace attached to their birth, and very probably to be reared in the midst of blasphemy, obscenity, and vice, to follow in the footsteps of their parents, and perpetuate the sin to which they owe their origin. The excessive mortality among this class of children is developed in the following replies to the
The ratio of mortality will be as follows:
or more than six deaths for every ten children born. The average infantile mortality of New York City for three years is,
The population between those ages in 1855 was 77,568.[384] This would give a mortality of 18½ per cent., or about 1¾ to every ten children under five years of age. It is not exceeding the bounds of probability to assume that the greater part of the children of prostitutes die before they reach the age of five years, which will give a pro rata mortality among that class of nearly four times the average ratio of New York City. This calculation must be taken in connection with the cases of abortion produced by extraneous means, not admitted in the replies to the interrogatories, and which will probably never be known. It is impossible to doubt that these are far more frequent than recorded in the tables. Under the heads of “Premature Births” and “Still-born” the following numbers are reported.[385]
The births during the same period were:
This would show a proportion of 12½ per cent., or one to every eight of all the children born in New York City. It is not to be taken for granted that all these are the result of improper conduct, although unquestionably many are so. Applying the same ratio to the children of prostitutes, and calculating the 1917 births in these tables as extending over a period of five years, would give forty-eight cases each year; but multiplying the average by four (the proportion of deaths from natural causes), we shall find the appalling number of one hundred and ninety-two cases each year—an array of infantile mortality presenting features which place it almost on a level with the infanticide of some Eastern nations. Were it possible to form any definite idea of the abortions actually procured, and which are suspected, on reasonable grounds, to amount to a very considerable number, the amount would be startling. The sacrifice of infant life, attribute it to what cause you may, is one of the most deplorable results of prostitution, and urgently demands active interference. The attention of the American Medical Association has been drawn to this subject, and from a “Report on Infant Mortality in large Cities, by D. Meredith Reese, M.D., LL.D., etc.,” published in their Transactions, we extract: “The causes of mortality among children of tender age are, in a multitude of cases, to be found only by extending our inquiries to their intra-uterine life, and the physiological state of the parents, but especially the sanitary condition of the mothers, their hygienic and moral habits and circumstances.[386] * * * Celibacy should be required of all syphilitic persons of either sex.”[387] It will at once occur to the mind of the reader that enforced celibacy would not affect the maternity of prostitutes. They are liable to give birth to children, and, as their physiological condition is such as to preclude the possibility of their children being healthy, the only way to check infant mortality in this class is to deal with the mothers, and adopt means, if not to prevent their infection, at least to limit the ravages of disease as much as possible. This point is discussed more fully in the chapter on Remedial Measures. To men tainted with Dr. Reese’s very able pamphlet contains some remarks upon abortionism, and its extent, thus: “The ghastly crime of abortionism has become a murderous trade in many of our large cities, tolerated, connived at, and even protected by corrupt civil authorities. These murderers—for such they are—are well known to the police authorities: their names, residence, and even their guilty customers are no secret. Would that it were only the profligate, or even the unfortunate of their sex, whose guilty fear or shame thus seeks to hide the evidence of illicit amours.”[388] That prostitution largely contributes to this crime can not be doubted, but to what extent must remain unknown, from the secrecy which surrounds it. The revolting cases which appear at intervals in the daily papers are but a mere fraction of the total. Question. Are these children living with you, or where are they?
This table shows the social influences to which the survivors of this ill-fated band of children are exposed. There are seventy-three stated to be living with their mothers, and, so far as they are concerned, no reasonable person can entertain any hopes as to their future morality. Born in the abodes of vice, their dwelling is in an atmosphere of squalid misery or sordid guilt; they never have a glimpse of a better life; they are marked from their cradles for a career of degradation; they can fall no lower, for they stand already on the lowest level. Such as these are | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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