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Show LICENSING PROSTITUTION. The ministers aro again hammering away at the By&tem eo general throughout tho luitcd Sialea of periodically calliDg the prostituteB before the police courts, and assessing fiucB against them for plying their unlawful profession. The editors are also onco more shaking it up, and demanding its abolishment. Salt Lake is not the only city where thia ay b tern ia practiced. Indeed, the town would be an exception that did not follow thia course. Whatever may be said to the contrary the system, iu reality, amounts to a licensing of prostitution aa a busineaa. Munioipal councils and police magistrates do not like to be told that they are legalizing the crime, but that ia just what they are doing, and nothing leas, They do not make it lawful by passing ordinances for its protection, but were such law.8 actually ac-tually on the statute bookB, they could not be more regularly or efficiently enforced than they are now in nearly every city of the Union. It ia seldom tnat auy eiiro iur u apeciuu umu id made against tho fallen women. The keepers of the housea aro notified to appear at the municipal courts, and if in funds they usually respond, plead guilty, pay their fines, and go hence with the implied understanding that they will not again bo disturbed until the time arrives for taking out the next "license." In LaCroese, Wis., the city marshal semi-annually notifies tbe women and .gumblera by postal card, to answer at the police court on a designated day. In other cities the collections are made quarterly, and in some monthly. In Salt Lake there is no particular regularity in tho matter, but the arreata are periodical. There is aleo thie difference in faverof the local administration, lb at, usuully, legitimate legit-imate charges are made against the cyprians, and convicting evidence ob taiued belore the prosecutions ure commenced. The general system, however, is the earn a hero as elsewhere. else-where. The charges are preferreJ only about bo often. Iu the interim the women are permitted to go along aa tboy have been, without fear of moloelation, provided always, that thoy rln nnt r'j (licir trade ao openly and brazenly ' as to oflend tbe public eye. The officers ful'y understand that the fino will not have tbe efket of stopping stop-ping the crime, and they rcliza that the women co direct from the court room to their bagoios determined to entice more victima if possible, in order to rrrike up for the money con-tributed con-tributed to the public treatury. Everyone" who lovea morality will proclaim against thia eys'-em, and say it should he abolished. But who will deve a belter mode fur dealing with the evil? No one would he io favor of licensing pros'.itution, and thus making it a legitimate business, protected by law. All countries have enacted laws fjr its sup pression, but theae statutes bav? proven littie lesi than dead Ititfis in the books. The evil baa not been suppressed iu any country or in any uge of which we have record. It may be checkd in pheea, but it cannot, can-not, or at least has not been stopped. Few cities have goco so far as Salt Lake in efforts lo suppress prostitution. prostitu-tion. Yet the evil exists and apparently appar-ently thrive here iu tpite of. ligoroiiB laws agaiust it. Then if it cannot be done away with, will ministers and newspaper moralists devise aorae better plan for dcalirg with it than Oy Qulng ur liuurisouiug tbo uofortu nate women? The poor creatures cannot be always kept in jail, aiid when at liberty they will ply their trade. Public ecatimeut being so strongly set against the law ful licece of the businesa, tbe question rceolvea itsslf into one of unlawful permit by the periodica! infliction ol penalties, or of allowing the evil to go .im ui f-uutauuieuii, uuu uuremruiueu. Of the two, the occasional fine tbe more frequent the bettor - is preferable, prefer-able, because thai tine h ivo the effect of making the cfleuse lesa public, and to a greater or lees degree keeping it in check. |