OCR Text |
Show ."Licensing Prostitution." rfii.T Lakk City, Jan. 22, ''J. Editors IkralJ; In yi t;r issue of this uioruing appears ap-pears mi etliloi .-. under tho above caption. Since, as you say, prostitution prostitu-tion "cannot be done away with, will minietirs and newspaper moralists devise some better plan for dealing with it than by fining orjrnprisoning theunfortuoata women?" The curse of proHtitutiou is like the curse of alcoholic stimulants, in that both have defenders. Iu regard to whisky, it is maintained, and with some truth, that good does result from the use of stimulants uuder certain conditions, con-ditions, while tboso who look at prostitution pros-titution with an indifferent eye, assign nb a reason for such iudifkr-euce, iudifkr-euce, that it is a "necessary evil," and ih..t many men and women had better patronize prostitution than raise families. In both, too, the evild that result from prostitution and ! intemperance, as regards stimulants, ure incalculably in excess of any real or Biippoaed good that accrues from the tolerance of these prevalent immoralities. im-moralities. Without going into an exhaustive argument, and accepting the ground that the evils must be fought as they exibt, there B ill is a remedy, so far untried, that appears tn ho worth nn PTnPriment. Tt ia generally accepted as a fact that the only way in vuich tu stop alcobolic intemperance Is by killing out iu-ordinate iu-ordinate den ires for stimulants. Notwithstanding Not-withstanding the assertions -and ideas of prohibitionist, legislative enactment enact-ment will never remedy the evil, for aa long as men want liquor tbey will have itin spite of any law tbut can be matie. And this is precisely tbe pca'tion that prostitution occupies; ycu cannot kill it by laws, and it can only be eradicated by moral suasion. Nevertheless, it can be restricted, and by this means the evil is taken hoid of and battled as it at present exists, while to futurity is left the moral work of banishing it. The general and predominant features of laws restricting prostitution provide that a womau who has tbe reputation of being a prostitute, or who is the inmate of a house of ill-fame, shall be liable to punishment punish-ment for the oflense of prostitution. It will bo Been that this is a very broad ground on which to obtain bumauity, who make thtse laws, j have been much kinder to themselves, , and have mude such provisions that j it is exceedingly difijcult to prove i guilt in their cases. In order to! make a frequenter or supporter which ia perhaps a better term of; a house of ill-fame amenable to the same laws by which an inmate is punished, it mu3t be cleariy proven that Buch frequenter was actually seen in the act of prostitution. The injustice in-justice of such a law ia very palpable. If lawmakers and a community are determined that prostitution shall be considered a crime and punished a3 Buch, it ia high time- that Bex differences differ-ences should be obliterated, and that the same proof that establishes the gnilt of tbe one, shall also establish the guilt of the other. If a man has he reputation of being a frequenter of such places, or to make it stronger if it is known that he does frequent such places, without any clearly legitimate legiti-mate object, let such reputation or proof be a sufficient reason to constitute consti-tute the guilt of the accused. If this, ia too broad, then the rule applied to women is too broad. It is certain of prouucing une resun, uuu mat, is inai if men will persist in supporting Buch places, tbey will be more c'.rcumepect, regarding it, and it will not! be flaunted so freely before i the publio face; our young people will Bee lea of it; the disgrace attaching to it will become greater through tho care that will be taken to hide it, in consequence of which it will not be so generally winked at and condoned as it ia at present, and the chances are that the number of prostitutes and their supporters sup-porters will grow gradually and grati-fyingly grati-fyingly less. It may be an evidenco of conceit to speak well of one's own suggestions, but there is reason to believe be-lieve that this plan could be put in efiect with very desirable results. Baldy. |