HQ 125 1)6 MS UC-NRLF THE REGULATION OF COMMERCIALIZED VICE An Analysis of the Transition From Segregation to Repression in the United States BY JOSEPH MAYER, M.A. SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY New York THE KLEBOLD PRESS 1922 Copyright, 1922 by Joseph Mayer CONTENTS CHAPTER Preface 5 I. The Passing of Segregation 9 Reasons for the Change 10 Vice Commissions Find Segregation a Failure 10 Results of Cosing Districts 12 II. Vice Control as Measured by Legislation 13 Regarding Sufficiency of Existing Laws 13 Degree of Compulsion Behind Different Laws 14 Law Enforcement Difficulties 15 Legislation and Public Opinion 17 Unofficial Law Enforcement Bodies 19 Summary 21 III. New Policies Recommended by Vice Commissions 23 Brief Summary of Measures 23 Representative Nature of Cities Compared 26 Recommendations Broadly Classified 27 IV. Development of Repressive State Legislation for the Control of Vice 28 Eight Outstanding Vice Laws 29 Summary of Development 30 V. A Year's Progress in State Social Hygiene Legislation.. 33 Social Hygiene Bills Introduced and Laws Enacted in 1917 33 Comparison with Vice Commission Recommendations and with Eight Outstanding Vice Laws 35 VI. Municipal Measures of Vice Control 37 Measures in 38 American Cities in 1917-18 37 Municipal Law Enforcement Problems 42 VII. Summary and Conclusion 45 The Repression of Vice 45 The Prevention of Vice 48 Bibliography 51 3 4G9007 LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 1: Indicating the Names of 25 Cities undertaking Vice Investigations, Population in 1910, Year of Investigation, and Year of Closing of District 11 Table 2: Recommendations of Vice Commissions, Indicating Percentage and Actual Number of Commissions Recom- mending the Various Measures , 24 Table 3: Year of First Adoption, by States and Territories, of Eight Outstanding Social Hygiene Laws 31 Table 4 : Municipal Measures Relating to Social Hygiene 38 'grraph: Representing Development of Eight Outstanding Social Hygiene Laws, and giving Total Number of States Having Such Laws, by Years since 1890 8 PREFACE In the past generation public opinion in the United States has undergone an important change in its attitude towards vice control. Following earlier unsuccessful attempts be- tween 1870 and 1900 in New York, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Baltimore and other cities to regulate or legalize prostitution, 1 most American municipalities had settled down to a policy of confining the social evil within certain more or less clearly defined red-light districts. - Under then existing municipal ordinances and state laws the keepers and inmates of bawdy houses were subjected to a nominal fine or imprisonment, which measures, however, were in the main enforced only outside of the district. .On the one hand, no effective measures had yet been framed to curtail the efforts of those who were continually recruit- ing new victims for the brothel nor to permanently close bawdy houses themselves. On the other hand, the general sentiment was to the effect that the complete repression of vice was neither possible nor desirable. 3 Today the situ- ation is quite different, and a far-reaching policy of repres- sion is in force the country over. When asked about this metamorphosis, students of the subject have invariably answered that the change has been from an attitude of toleration to one of repression ; but such general observations often tend to obscure more than they clarify, as is evidenced by the feeling of the average man that if public opinion can change from toleration to repression it can just as easily change back again from repression to toleration. 1 See report referred to in footnote on the following page, i. e., "Prostitution in the United States," pp. 26-32. 2 See idem, pp. 102-122, which contain an account of segregation in American cities with especial reference to conditions in red-light dis- tricts before these were closed. See also vice reports of cities listed in bibliography, infra. 3 See Seligman, Edwin R. A., LL.D., "The Social Evil with Special Reference to Conditions Existing in the City of New York," Second Edition Revised, New York, 1912, pp. 215-245, which contain an excel- lent statement of American public sentiment during the decade from 1902 to 1912. That every sign points to the present change being a permanent one is little realized, chiefly because its exact nature has never previously been analyzed nor its extent measured. Many studies have been made of the nature and extent of vice conditions existing at a certain time in a given locality, such as the municipal vice investigations undertaken by various cities of the United States, espe- cially between 1910 and 1915, and the more recent studies of vice conditions in Europe and the United States carried on by the Bureau of Social Hygiene. Practically no effort, however, has, up to the present time, been put forth to measure the change in policy itself which has been taking place gradually in the past generation and more rapidly in the past decade. The present study constitutes a con- structive effort to measure this change. It was while engaged upon the most recent 1 of the gen- eral investigations mentioned above, that the author be- came convinced of the need of making such a study as the present one. To adequately measure the change in public policy that was taking place, it was necessary, how- ever, to find some basis of comparison. This was fortu- nately at hand in the recommendations set forth in thirty municipal vice reports, mentioned above as having been made public in the main between 1910 and 1915. What changes in the then current policy these commissions recommended, after a serious study of existing conditions, obviously represented the substance of what was more or less lacking then and was looked forward to as a remedy. In 1917 the author prepared a summary of vice com- mission recommendations. This was subsequently pub- lished 2 with certain general observations regarding the change public sentiment was undergoing. These observa- tions were based, on the one hand, upon an examination of the vice reports embodying the recommendations and of official publications of agencies organized to study the social evil, and on the other hand, upon a study of vice conditions in forty typical American cities in 1917, upon which study, as already mentioned, the author was at the time engaged. In the report growing out of this study, recently published, is found an analysis of the significance of these vice reports and an account of their content. 3 ^'Prostitution in the United States," Vol. 1 : Prior to the Entrance of the United States into the World War. Publications of the Bureau of Social Hygiene. The Century Co., New York, by Howard B. Woolston. 2 See Social Hygiene, April, 1918, pp. 201-203. See also Chapter III of the present study. 3 See Woolston, op. cit., especially Ch. V. and tables at end of that chapter. 6 In order to confirm the general observations then made, viz., that in the past decade the cities and states of the United States had been very generally enacting into law the measures of vice control suggested by said vice com- missions so that these recommendations, with slight modifications, can be regarded as the detailed elements of the new public policy in force today the author examined social hygiene measures proposed and enacted by the vari- ous states and territories holding legislative sessions during 1917, for the purpose of ascertaining more particularly the detailed nature of such laws, and made a further study of the measures of vice control actually in force in representa- tive American cities in 1917-18. Results of these studies 2 set forth in the following pages, bore out conclusively the general observations previously made and rendered it possible to describe in detail the elements of the new policy of control. The outstanding features of this new policy were traced as far back as 1890, and their development up to the very present is graphically depicted in the chart on the next page. 1 The conclusions are not only that a new public policy of vice control has emerged, but also that it has already become thoroughly established in state laws, municipal ordinances, and the regulations of various boards and com- missions, so that it is unthinkable to contemplate the pos- sibility of a return to the conditions of ten years ago when toleration and segregation were the accepted standards. Such a return would mean the repeal of hundreds of state laws and municipal ordinances now upon our statute books. Grateful acknowledgement for valuable aid and sugges- tions is hereby made to Professor Samuel McCune Lindsay of Columbia University in whose seminar in Social and Industrial Legislation the plan for the present study was formulated, and to Dr. Howard B. Woolston with whom the author was associated in the investigation of Prostitu- tion in the United States at the same time he was pursuing graduate work at Columbia. Appreciation is also expressed to the officials of the American Social Hygiene Association for their courtesy in allowing the author the use of the Association's files and staff for the purpose of collecting data and for sending out schedules of inquiry. details regarding this chart, see Ch. IV, infra. 2 Cf. Articles by the author: "Social Hygiene Legislation in 1917," Social Hygiene, January, 1919; and "Social Legislation and Vice Con- trol," Social Hygiene, July, 1919. Portions of these articles, somewhat modified, form part of Chapters II, V and VI of the present study. 12 1 1 ! 2 I H \ \ fj ^ ^^ : : X x J I ! 3 _A *-4j s? z" ^7 *i UL *^l SI 3 % = : = 1* D 2 1 * X ^ A 5 r V 1 n , 1 J 1 \ V *v* \ 3 \ S V 1 5 ^ ^ i i i ^ * ^^ V m tn \ lit ^"I ! i F % K ^* < \\ ! 03 V \ 1 \ : i 1 J CO a y i { \ V I r 01 \\ ll \ S L k S i\ ^wa 1 - - - I 52 i N %B \ fU n 1 js 1 I II 2 ! 1 1 J i i D a 1 1 1 1 \ CD i \\ CO '03 \ ^. I \ I as i \ % V ! CD CD ^,. ..,, \ \ \ 2 s \ ^t m i, 2 \ \ \ 1 cu rr, \ \ 1 ; a S t 1 Vk s 4 5 3 ^ f ^ t t t * 3 t r D r 3 r J a ) o 3 5 J ft r c J C 3 D J D m mm J a 3 ^ t C 2 The Regulation of Commercialized Vice An Analysis of the Transition from Segregation to Repression in the United States CHAPTER I THE PASSING OF SEGREGATION Ten years ago segregation was an accepted policy of vice control. Certain stock reasons were given, murmurings of which are still heard here and there. Practically every large city in the United States had its di-strict. In fact, New York and Chicago had several. To question segrega- tion was to be branded either a fool or a fanatic. Since that day a remarkable change has taken place. Over two hundred cities 1 , including every one over 100,000 population 2 , have closed their districts. Not a trace of one (much less several) is to be found in New York or Chicago. The notorious "Barbary Coast" of San Francisco and arrogant "Storyville" of New Orleans are no more. This is a significant change. Nor was it brought on by military necessity. The few remaining strongholds of vice were being shaken to their very foundations even before the United States entered the war. The War Department had simply taken the new order at the flood tide and had made the most of it. At the time the training camps of the United States were rilled with the best part of our young manhood, Major Bascom Johnson, Director of the Division of Law Enforcement, War Department Commis- sion on Training Camp Activities, said : "There is today 'not a single red light district within five miles of any cantonment or military training camp or naval station ] Up to January 1, 1918, 178 districts had been accounted for as closed and from July, 1917, to September, 1918, the War Department had closed approximately 100. A complete list can be had through the American Social Hygiene Association. 2 On January 1, 1918, out of 62 cities with over 100,000 population (1910 census), 60 had closed their districts. The remaining two were closed soon thereafter. where any considerable number of soldiers or sailors are training." 1 The red light district has passed. REASONS FOR THE CHANGE One naturally asks: "Why the change?" There are a number of contributing causes, but several stand out un- mistakably. The predecessors of the American Social Hy- giene Association had for some time been preparing the way. Local societies were organized and American com- munities were urged to make a serious study of vice con- ditions. With the coordination of these activities in the above mentioned Association, a concerted program of action along educational, medical, and law enforcement lines was definitely launched and carried into effect. Another cause was the discovery of the organism of, and the treatment for syphilis, which showed the futility of medical inspec- tion 2 and changed the attitude of the medical profession. Still a third major cause was the extensive studies made by the Bureau of Social Hygiene, of conditions first in New York City and then in Europe. To European experience American advocates of segregation and regulation were con- stantly pointing. The results of the Bureau's researches were both startling and clarifying. They proved beyond dispute that abroad where such a system of control ought to suc- ceed if anywhere, since police action is summary and auto- cratic and not subject to politics and popular control as here in the United States regulation 3 was an absolute failure and was being abandoned. As for segregation it had long since been discarded. As a result of and in connection with these activities and studies, city after city in the United States instituted vice investigations, two score in less than a decade. Many of the men appointed on these investigating bodies held the then still accepted theory of segregation, but without ex- ception these finished their labors with an absolute reversal of conviction. The disclosures left no alternative. As the facts became known, public opinion began to consolidate, until today the revolution is complete. VICE COMMISSIONS FIND SEGREGATION A FAILURE What were the disclosures that caused such a metamor- phosis? Simply these: It had become patent that segrega- tion did nothing that was claimed for it. On the contrary, lu Next Steps," Social Hygiene, January, 1918. Cf. also Woolston op. cit., pp. 129-130, where the observation is made that segregation v/as passing in 1917. 2 Cf. Footnote, next page. 3 Cf. "The Regulation of Prostitution in Europe," by Abraham Flexner, Social Hygiene, December, 1914. 10 conditions flagrant and intolerable had come in its wake. Segregation had really never segregated. Regulation and medical inspection 1 proved to be failures, and the district the most virulent source of venereal infection. The district enabled vice to organize on a vast scale and greatly augment its traffic. The resultant advertisement made vice more easy of access and provided a source of sexual brutalization and degeneracy. Segregation corrupted the police force, stimulated illegal sale of liquor, increased crime and de- bauchery, and fostered sexual perversion. Surely this was a great enough indictment to give any one pause. Similar indictments were rendered in city after city until the most stubborn exponents of the established theory were silenced. Every city undertaking an investi- gation worthy of the name abolished its district. Nor has any gone back to it. The following list comprehends American cities in which definite vice investigations were made up to 1916. The table speaks for itself. Table 1 : Vice Investigations and Closing of Districts. PLACE POPULATION 1910 i i g- * 3 B > >< YEAR OF CLOSING OF DISTRICT PLACE POPULATION 1910 YEAR OF INVES- TIGATION IYEAR OF CLOSING OF DISTRICT Atlanta 154,839 1912 1912 Little Rock 45,941 T9T2 1913 Baltimore- Bav Citv 558,485 45,l66 1913 1913 1915 1913 Louisville Minneapolis . 223,928 301,408 1915 I9II 1917 1913 Bridge po rt IO2,O54 I9IS 1915 Newark. 347,469 1914 1917 Chicago 2,185,283 IQIO 1912 New York 4, 766,883 IQI2 I9l6 Cleveland- Denver 560,663 2I3,38l 1911 1913 1915 1913 Philadelphia Pittsburgh 1,549,008 533,905 1912 1912 1913 1914 Elmira Grand Rapids . Hartford Honolulu 37,176 H-2,571 98,915 52,l83 1913 1912 1912 1913 I9 J 3 1912 1912 1917 Portland, Me... Portland,Ore._ Richmond, Va~ St. Louis 58,571 2O7, 214 127,628 687,029 1913 1912 1914 1914 1915 1913 1914 1914 Kansas City, Missouri Lancaster 250,000 47,227 1911 1913 1913 1914 Shreveport ._ Springfield - Syracuse 28,015 51,678 137,249 I9U 1914 1912 1917 1915 1913 Lexington 4O,OOO 1915 1915 Toronto 376,538 1913 1913 1 A woman might be pronounced free from contagion only to be infected again by her next customer and thus spread disease to succeed- ing patrons till once more examined. 11 Some 200 cities followed the example of communities seriously studying the problem with the result that even the worst strongholds have fallen. RESULTS OF CLOSING DISTRICTS The most important result of the closing of districts is the changed status of commercialized vice. In an "open town" vice is either tolerated, regulated, or even legalized. In other words, it is looked upon as in some way necessary. Under such circumstances, vice is in the ambiguous posi- tion of being both illegal and quasi-legal at the same time, so that any approach to a consistent policy is impossible and a corrupted police force is inevitable. The abolition of the district clears the way for a constructive program, definitely puts the ban of social disapproval upon sexual commerce, brands it as illegitimate and forces it to stand in the same light as other offences against the law, and crystallizes public sentiment to back up persistent law enforcement and repression. From interviews, letters, and questionnaires it was found that the closing of districts brought two further results. Except in several cities where no definite effort was made to apprehend dispossessed prostitutes or force them to leave the city, a substantial decrease both in the volume of and in the demand for prostitution was noted. Nor was there any increase in crimes against women. Making vice more inaccessible and removing the lure and artificial stimulation of the red lights has shown clearly as far as districts are concerned that the volume and intensity of commercialized vice can be decidedly reduced. 1 The wholesale closing of red light districts indicates that a marked change in public sentiment has occurred. It is the purpose of the present study, as outlined in the preface, to examine this change. In the next chapter various aspects of social legislation will be analyzed in some detail and succeeding chapters will apply this analysis to the task of ascertaining what the various ramifications of the change are. a ln one southern city crime decreased fifty percent after the closing of the district. See records on file with Bureau of Social Hygiene, Inc. See also Woolston, op. cit., pp. 124-130, for results of closing districts during the decade preceding the fall of 1917. 13 CHAPTER II VICE CONTROL AS MEASURED BY LEGISLATION A study of vice control must necessarily take account of social legislation. Certain misconceptions to the contrary notwithstanding, the net progress in solving any social problem finds its most definite measure in legal enactments relating thereto. The social worker who loses faith in the efficacy of legislation has lost hold on by far the most potent tool with which he has to work. Three misconceptions have caused social workers to lose confidence in the value of legislation. One is epit- omized in the expression "we have laws enough, if they were only enforced" ; the second is the feeling that all laws should compel obedience and be enforceable to an equal degree ; and the third is the idea that "educating the public" is much more conducive to achieving a given end than is legislation. All these have an element of truth behind them, which should be accurately defined and properly understood in considering legislation as a measure of changed public sentiment. REGARDING SUFFICIENCY OF EXISTING LAWS Legislation naturally implies enforcement as well as en- actment and adequate means should be provided for making a law effective, but inadequate enforcement, whatever the reason, does not imply "that we have laws enough." In fact, many laws after brief experience in efforts to enforce them require amendment or supplementary measures to render them enforceable. For example, here is a statute pro- viding for the imprisonment of convicted prostitutes. But, if there are no institutions within which to place those convicted, judges refuse to sentence and juries fail to con- vict. What is needed is another measure, establishing deten- tion and reformatory institutions a "supplementary" law rendering the other one enforceable. From this standpoint, legislation regulating the social evil may be roughly divided into "basic" laws which set the standards and provide punishment for violation and 13 "supplementary" or amendatory measures whose purpose it is to render the former more effective. Political corruption and public inertia, or other more inherent difficulties to be brought out, may further hamper enforcement, but all of these are very different matters from saying "we have laws enough." DEGREE OF COMPULSION BEHIND DIFFERENT LAWS This brings up the question of whether all laws for the regulation of vice should compel obedience and be enforce- able to an equal degree. Social hygiene laws vary in point of strictness or laxity, according to the degree of certainty or the purpose the legislative authority had in framing them. From these angles a law may be said to be compul- sive, formulative, or informative. Compulsion, in varying degree, is necessarily the sanction behind all of what we have called basic laws, but that the main object is compulsive can be said of only one group. There are certain criminal offences, such as murder or in- cest, upon which society has long since set an imperative stamp of disapproval. Regarding them the opinion of normal individuals is practically unanimous. Condemna- tion and punishment are the chief aims. Evidence, unless totally lacking, is easily obtained, for few would wish to cover it up or avoid giving it. Justice is quick and enforce- ment sure. This, however, is only one side of basic law and in the main is built on principles established long before modern statutory enactments came into being. This side is cer- tainly important and necessary, but looking on its bleak, punitive, and negative aspects one fails completely to get the meaning of modern legislation. Modern statutory en- actments, and especially social laws which deal mainly with health, safety, and community well-being, are constructive and positive and aim at prevention, habit-formation, and the fixing of opinion rather than at condemnation and punish- ment. Penalties are of course assessed ; but, as in regula- tions against smoking in street cars, such may be for the purpose mainly of habit-formation. Merely the appearance before a police judge with warning not to repeat the viola- tion might be considered a sufficient mental and moral stimulant without resorting even to the assessment of a fine. There is a wide gap indeed between the compulsive purpose and power of an informative law, through which a public lavatory is placarded and certain information is thus made available to those who will read, and a law against 14 murder or incest which results in swift condemnation and punishment. And, in between these two extremes stands the vast bulk of modern social legislation, with varying degree of en- forceability and compulsive power, formuiative enactments, habit-forming and opinion-fixing laws which must take into consideration unformed and differing opinions, con- flicting interests and calculated evasions, new and untried channels of enforcement a thousand and one complexities, from which the older type of law is quite free. Spitting in public places, exceeding the speed limit, soliciting for prostitution, truancy from school, employing a child under fourteen illegally such are typical subjects of modern social legislation and regarding which no cut-and-dried method of enforcement or administrative procedure can be found. The element of truth, therefore, behind the first two of the misconceptions mentioned is that there are certain problems and difficulties inherent in the very nature of modern social legislation. LAW ENFORCEMENT DIFFICULTIES Let us briefly examine some of these difficulties and com- plexities. Among them political corruption and public in- ertia hold a recognized place. Corruption or graft is a prolific hindrance to proper law enforcement. Where the mayor of a city or other officials have been elected to office with the aid of "entrenched interests," where dishonest and inefficient police or court officers are subject to bribery, where court rulings or the disposition of cases are made to serve questionable ends, where the public is inert or con- tinues in the attitude of "let George do it" corruption and graft are bound to be obstacles to law enforcement. Furthermore, a democracy like ours implies representative government and majority rule. Very few laws are enacted with the unanimous approval of the people's representatives, and where a bare majority secures the passage of a measure, there is a large minority to contend against in enforcement. 1 Within this large minority, prejudice, conservatism, ignor- ance, and studied misinformation circulated by "interests" affected must be combatted. If the measure aims to correct a social maladjustment or evil, a part of this minority will be an "entrenched interest" whose business will be ma- terially damaged and perhaps destroyed by the new law. Such an "interest" can always be depended upon to bring pressure to bear to defeat the measure and, failing in this, present attitude among many people toward the federal pro- hibition amendment, even after that instrument has become a funda- mental part of the law of our land, is an example of this. 15 to attempt to secure seemingly harmless changes before passage which will remove the sting or provide a loophole for evasion. This should not mean discouragement for the social worker but rather renewed vigilance and the secur- ing of an amendment or new law at the next session which will be more effective. If the measure originally passes unmutilated, such an "interest," fighting for its life, will employ skilled attorneys to find a way of evading it or of blocking enforcement. This shows the necessity, in every field that combats long established social wrong, of unofficial organizations (vigil- ance committees, if one pleases), more actively engaged in seeing that the said law is enforced than the "interest" is in seeing that it is not. If the "interest" finds a way of evading the law, the measure may have to be amended sev- eral times before the fight is won and the "entrenched in- terest" is made amenable to the law or put out of business. In addition, the jury system as indispensable as it un- questionably is presents obvious difficulties for law en- forcement in communities hostile to a given piece of social legislation. This applies, of course, to petit or common juries rather than to grand juries which are subject largely to the public prosecutor. Common juries reflect the senti- ment of the particular local community from which they are drawn; and although the state legislature may pass a very admirable law and judges uniformly uphold it, juries may still hamper enforcement by refusing to convict under it. Another difficulty is the fact that modern social legisla- tion is still in a highly experimental stage, and proper and adequate methods both of formulation and administrative procedure are still in the process of being worked out. The careful and painstaking work bestowed upon labor legislation is already being followed in other social fields, but much has yet to be done before a consistent and well- drawn code for social legislation is forthcoming. The legis- lative draftsman has become a necessity and every social organization should utilize one. He should be fully equipped with a knowledge of the limitations and possibilities of channels for enforcing the remedial measure, as well as with a knowledge of the need it is sought to supply. Questions of personal rights, constitutional limitations, delegated responsibility, legal phraseology, and the like, must always be faced, and the slightest disregard of any of these frequently invalidates an otherwise excellent meas- ure or renders its enforcement practically impossible. In this connection it is often necessary to know how much to secure through the state legislature and what to leave to the regulatory power of the board or commission called 10 upon to enforce the general provision. There is an in- creased tendency to leave the working out of detailed regu- lations to subordinate bodies and to secure only a general law from the state. This makes for increased elasticity and enforceability ; but the board or commission to which responsibility is delegated must be in sympathy with the measure it is sought to enforce, or further difficulty is en- countered. Such are roughly some of the principles and problems of modern social legislation, both of enactment and enforce- ment, but there is nothing here to discourage regarding the effi'cacy of legislation as such nor to lead us to chase a will- o'-the-wisp for a substitute. It should rather make us realize that we must still further sharpen and perfect the most ade- quate tool there is for shaping and enforcing the corporate will, viz., well-defined and properly executed laws. LEGISLATION AND PUBLIC OPINION The discouraging aspects of law enforcement problems have led to the question of whether "educating the public" is not more conducive to achieving a given end than is legislation. In one sense this statement is a true expression of fact, in that education is a very important matter and should doubtless be considered both the beginning and the end of social legislation. The value of educating public opinion through the press, through lectures, pamphlets, or otherwise cannot be overemphasized; but to set such edu- cation over against legislation, as though they came from widely differing sources and had little in common, shows a wrong point of view. In the first place, with reference to the correction of a given social maladjustment, remedial legislation should naturally be the outcome of a better in- formed public and the capping stone of the work of correct- ing the maladjustment. Instead of having very little in com- mon with public opinion, modern social legislation achieves enactment through public opinion. Legislation is the cor- porate body politic expressing itself, through appointed representatives and set channels, in rules of action. More- over, modern social legislation is in itself an element and a very important one in the very process of educating public opinion, toward which end informative laws (such as for example those providing for the dissemination of information regarding venereal disease perils) are primarily directed. As has been pointed out, the vast bulk of modern social enactments are formulative measures habit-forming and opinion-fixing laws which are enacted not merely for the punishment of certain wrong-doers but more particularly for the guidance of the average respectable citizen. Social 17 legislation, in standardizing and fixing the common man- date, is itself an aid in educating public opinion. It is, therefore, with the idea that educating public opinion must proceed in some mysterious extra-legal fashion that one should take issue. In fact the public school system itself, through which the citizenship of tomorrow is educated, rests on a legal foundation is made possible through a law or a series of laws. Indeed, where public education proceeds through legally established channels, it can always be more effective than where its work must be carried on unofficially and sporadically. The lecture, the chart, the stereopticon slide, the motion picture, the pamphlet, the instruction in the class room these can be utilized by officially established institutions better than by private organizations. Witness the far-reaching program the Section on Educational Activities of the United States Public Health Service was able to launch as a result of the passage of the Chamberlain-Kahn bill 1 to fight venereal diseases. Public opinion should be continually educated, and every available channel (official or otherwise) is pertinent towards this end. Along a number of lines the public does not know its own mind, and there will always be problems to puzzle. Nor is it ever unanimous about anything pertaining to mod- ern social difficulties. It must not be overlooked, however, that one of the most effective ways the social mind has of formulating itself and of fixing opinion is to set a legislative standard and, through the resulting clarifying and habit- fixing process, coming to a better formed and more matured idea of what it is really trying to educate itself to do. Social legislation, then, far from being quite separate from, must be considered an integral part of the work of educating public opinion through the fixing of better social habits. The element of truth, however, in certain misunderstand- ings on this score, lies in the fact that public interest too often subsides after the passage of a law, as though the task of educating the public along a given line ended there. Frequently, after the first wave of sentiment demanding better conditions has resulted in a remedial measure, the public has seemingly expected the law to do the rest un- aided. But the interests affected will always put up a fight, nor can a law enforce itself against the natural opposition all corrective legislation meets. Legislative experiment to fix opinion and shape better social habits cannot succeed adequately unless educational efforts continue for the pur- pose of consolidating the gains made and of securing a by President Wilson, July 9, 1918. 18 more generous acceptance of the new social standards. Constant alertness and vigilance, on the part of those in- dividuals already educated up to the remedial measures adopted, are necessary both to keep some of the hesitant ones in line and to win over the rest. With this double aim, as well as for the purpose of shaping unsettled opinion to the point of making a legislative experi- ment since on many matters public opinion has not made up its mind even to that extent individual as well as organ- ized collective effort is always necessary. Toward this end vigilance societies play their proper and important part. UNOFFICIAL LAW ENFORCEMENT BODIES Such unofficial agencies for combating vice have been established under a variety of names in a number of American cities and were found in one-third of the cities interrogated in connection with data summarized in a sub- sequent chapter. 1 In several cities such organizations have already been superseded by official boards or commissions, but the need of the unofficial society supported by volun- tary contributions is always urgent. The work that such a society can do varies with the degree of enlightenment in a given community, but in general it will run along the lines of nullifying the efforts of "entrenched interests"; of instituting proceedings against law breakers, especially in connection with the injunction and abatement law; of co- ordinating the work of various officials in whose hands the work of enforcing the law lies ; of locating weak points in the machinery of law-enforcement and seeing to it that these are remedied; of warning recalcitrant officials and of bringing ouster proceedings where necessary ; and of educating the public up to the new standards through the press, lectures, literature, charts, moving pictures, and the like, where such education is not already provided through official channels as, for example, through the Board of Health. A great part of the marked effectiveness of the injunc- tion and abatement law in closing up houses of ill-fame and forcing property owners into a more careful attitude regarding the use their property is being put to, is due to the efforts of the unofficial law enforcement agency, which, likewise, can help keep officials informed as to other law infractions. Similarly, where the courts hold that the evi- dence is not sufficient to convict or the police seemingly cannot furnish the evidence, detective work on the part of a law enforcement agency can locate the difficulty. If an iChapter VI. 19 additional appropriation is needed, or an amendment to the rules of evidence, or a supplementary law establishing a reformatory for women or a vice squad the society can call such matters to public and official attention and have them provided. If there is misunderstanding between the officials themselves, the society" can act as a coordinating influence. If some official is grossly negligent and refuses after repeated urging to do his duty, the society can see to it that he is driven from office. Public opinion needs constant stimulation and enlightenment and the unofficial society will probably always be needed to pave the way and enlighten the people upon those things that are still in the vanguard of progress. Unofficial vigilance and law-enforcement societies 1 can and do play a large and necessary part in the work of vice control. The importance of the work done by the Com- mittee of Fourteen of New York, the Committee of Fifteen of Chicago, or the Morals Efficiency Committee of Los Angles cannot be overemphasized. Such efforts are part of the organized campaign that must be constantly waged against established abuses and for the creation of better social habits. The social hygiene movement has or has had many interests arrayed against it liquor, drugs, cer- tain property owners and business firms, and other factors that have gone to make commercialized vice one of the most lucrative of enterprises. Many- temporary set-backs are to be expected before adequate and enforceable laws result and enforcement is uniformly secured. Prejudices as deeply rooted as life itself must be met and overcome. The social mind is already decided on many points, but it is still groping for light on a number of exceedingly difficult and unsettled questions. As part of the full social hygiene program, unofficial efforts are indeed important, but they must always lead up to and help consolidate the results of legislative experiment, reaction and considera- tion, further and more adequate legislative trial, 2 and so on, until out of the chaos of prejudice and misconception concerning matters sexual will come a clearer idea of what should constitute a rational sex life for both men and women. As this idea clarifies itself, the irrationalities of sex can be more consistently and thoroughly combatted. iThe organization and work of such societies is fully described in a pamphlet (No. 182) published by the American Social Hygiene Asso- ciation. 2 Cf. repeated efforts to perfect the "penalty upon the place" provision of the Liquor Tax Law of New York, F. H. Whitin in "Obstacles to Vice Repression," Social Hygiene, Vol. XI, No. 2, April, 1916, p. 153. 20 SUMMARY An examination of the misunderstandings concerning the value of legislation, therefore, brings to light the following facts: First, far from having laws enough, we are con- stantly in need of carefully drawn laws, since progress in coping with any evil can only come about in this way. Secondly, the type of laws often most needed today are supplementary rather than basic ones, the kind that provide more adequate agencies for law enforcement. Thirdly, there is not the same degree of compulsion behind all law, and modern social legislation, being in a highly experi- mental and uncrystallized form, is inherently beset with difficulties of enforcement. Fourthly, legislation comes into being through the force of public opinion and is the best reflector of the public attitude towards the control of any evil, but public opinion must be kept alert and vigilant if its mandates expressed in law are to be effectively car- ried out. Law enactment and enforcement afford a medium for measuring social control. The degree of law enforcement, however, is difficult to evaluate. With respect to the en- forcement of any given law or series of laws, the size and hostility of the minority legislated against, the attitude of bench, bar, and law enforcement officials, the activities and power of the entrenched interests that are affected, the attitude of juries, the vigilance of law enforcement bodies all these must be studied and properly weighed. This is by no means a simple task nor would there be any way of determining the accuracy of the results of such a study. On the other hand, the nature and extent of the laws themselves can be accurately determined, and the state of public opinion regarding the control of an evil can thus be .clearly gauged. In the United States, legislation com- prehends in the main state and federal statutes, and in lesser degree city ordinances and the regulations of boards, commissions, or departments possessing delegated legisla- tive power. In the preceding chapter it was pointed out that a de- cided change has occurred in the past decade with respect to the control of the social evil, which change has been plainly marked by the closing of red light districts the country over. Segregation has passed and a new policy of vice control appears to have taken its place. What this new policy is, as seen in social hygiene legislation enacted in recent years, will be taken up in the following chapters and the questions of law enforcement will also be touched upon. The beginning of a conscious formulation of a new policy 21 of vice control will be studied in the legislation proposed by vice commissions in their recommendations a decade back. Certain outstanding- measures of vice control -will then be selected from these recommendations and their history traced from early beginnings a generation ago to the extent of their existence today upon the statute books of the several states of the union. After this longitudinal study, a cross-section will be taken of recent state legisla- tion pertaining to the whole field of vice control and of supplementary city ordinances and board regulations. In conclusion, the vice legislation surveyed is summarized and the changed public opinion reflected therein, epitomized. CHAPTER III NEW POLICIES RECOMMENDED BY VICE COMMISSIONS Serious investigations into vice conditions in the United States were made in the main between 1910 and 1915. 1 Be- fore 1910 little accurate information was available and au- thorities agree that a change in public sentiment regarding the control of vice dates from the period of these investiga- tions and from the findings that thus came to light. Refer- ence to the importance of these investigations and to the conditions uncovered by them has already been made in the preface. The recommendations of commissions conducting these surveys, therefore, should be the obvious source of the be- ginnings of a new policy. The legislative measures of vice control proposed by the commissions is an index of laws more or less generally lacking at the time and looked for- ward to as a new method of control. The table on the next two pages presents a list of these recommendations. BRIEF SUMMARY OF MEASURES The table does not include all the recommendations the various commissions set forth, for quite a few were of local import solely or were submitted by only one or two of the Commissions. The table comprehends those recommenda- tions on which more or less substantial agreement was in- dicated. A comparison is here made of the recommendations of twenty-five cities making careful investigation. Among these, there was unanimous opinion that districts and brothels should be abolished, that vice should be suppressed, and that the laws should be rigidly enforced. Fifteen of the twenty-five felt the need of regulatory measures per- taining to hotels and rooming houses; nine with reference to saloons, cafes, or dance halls ; ten regarding motion-pic- ture theatres or amusement resorts ; and thirteen pertaining to parks or public places. Seventeen advocated the strict iCf. table 1, p. 11. 23 TABLE 2: RECOMMENDATIONS OF 25 VICE COMMISSIONS Actual num- ber of Percent cities* , , of total recom- REPRESSIVE MEASURES no . of mending cities same. Repression and Law Enforcement Repress evil and enforce laws 100 25 Districts and Brothels Abolish district 100 25 dose houses 100 25 Prosecute owners and proprietors 28 Enact Injunction and Abatement Law 44 11 Hotels and Rooming Houses License hotels ; inspect, regulate, require bona fide registra- tion; revoke license or penalize for violation 48 12 Enact Tin Plate ordinance 28 7 License and control rooming and lodging houses and revoke license for violation 44 11 Saloons and Cafes Prohibit connecting rooms, private booths, screens, cur tains, etc., and revoke license for violation 44 11 Restrict number of saloon licenses 24 6 Dame Halls License and supervise dance halls 8 Have woman officer or supervisor at dances 16 4 Prohibit sale of liquor or saloon connection through passes, etc 16 4 Motion Pictures and Amusement Places Censor, supervise and license motion picture theatres, and provide more adequate lighting and policing 32 8 Supervise places of amusement; suppress indecent vaude- ville, picture-slot machines, nickelodeons, etc 32 8 Parks and Public Places Suppress solicitation on the streets and in public places (railroad stations, parks, etc.) 36 9 Supervise, light and police parks more adequately 32 Patrons antf Prostitutes Prosecute patrons or publicly expose 24 6 Abolish fining system and penalize severely 32 8 Prohibit moving about of old prostitutes and recruiting of new 16 4 White Slavery and Age of Consent Enact state white slave law 32 8 Raise age of consent 32 8 *The recommendations listed were made by investigating bodies in the fol- l^CWal&t a; c*u ucciii j. uiietuduuiat J. itL^uwi S", x 'ui-iuxiiu, j.u.c, x< mond, St. Louis, Schenectady, Springfield, Syracuse, Toronto. See bibliography, infra, for fuller reference to these reports. 34 Actual Mr of Percent cities of total recotn- no. of mending cities same. Courts and Police Establish morals or night court and extend probation sys- tem 28 7 Appoint police women or extend powers 40 10 Commission Establish Morals Commission or Bureau 44 11 PREVENTIVE MEASURES Corrections and Custodial Care Provide for rescue and reform 72 18 Establish reformatory for women 68 17 With hospital and industrial training facilities 56 14 Provide for feeble-minded women and girls and separate delinquents from semi-delinquents 44 11 Children Keep children off streets at night and suppress rowdyism 16 4 Exclude messenger boys (or minors) from night service and resorts 12 3 Recreation and Comfort Open up social centers in public schools 32 8 Develop playgrounds and athletic facilities; establish comfort stations and baths 36 9 Extend amusement and recreation facilities; appoint Comission 36 9 Housing and Working Conditions Prevent overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in homes 12 3 Secure minimum or adequate wages for women and girls 28 7 Require social or welfare secretaries in factories and stores and better provision for comfort (rest rooms, etc.) 44 11 Supervise employment agencies 16 4 Medical Measures Make venereal disease reportable 60 15 Establish or enlarge free clinic and testing facilities 52 13 Prohibit advertisements and sale of fake cures 24 6 Make venereal disease a bar to marriage 32 8 Institute compulsory treatment of eyes of new-born 12 3 Disseminate knowledge of venereal perils 28 7 Empower boards of health to close houses under con- tagious disease ban 12 3 Education Provide sex education 72 18 in public schools to pupils 56 14 in training schools to teachers 20 5 to parents, stressing responsibility 24 . 6 Emphasize single standard and chastity 36 9 Extend vocational education 16 4 25 prosecution of owners and patrons of bawdy houses and of prostitutes. Eight made recommendations as to white slavery and to raise the age of consent; fifteen regarding courts and police methods ; eleven establishing morals com- missions; twenty pertaining to corrections and custodial care ; five protecting children from immoral influences ; thir- teen providing for recreation and comfort; eleven relating to housing and working conditions; twenty pertaining to medical measures; and eighteen providing for sex edu- cation. REPRESENTATIVE NATURE OF CITIES COMPARED The twenty-five cities 1 compared included one-fourth of the largest cities of the United States in 1910 2 (that is, those above 100,000), and all of them with the exception of Paducah were over 30,000. Since commercialized vice is practically altogether a problem of the larger city, recom- mendations from 25% of such cities give a representative result. Again, these twenty-five cities had in 1910 a popu- lation of over eight million and with New York City, where similar conditions were being brought to light at the same time through an investigation 3 of the Bureau of Social Hygiene, Inc., represented an urban population of over twelve millions. This was distributed over sixteen or one- third of the states in the Union. When it is considered that every city affects a considerable rural population surround- ing it, it is safe to say that the concensus of recommenda- tions herein given sets forth very accurately the sentiment of the United States regarding the vice problem at the time the recommendations were made. It should be borne in mind, also, that the vice problem has been found to be the same in practically every city, so that the results obtained from an investigation in one municipality applies to any other. It is not like the hous- ing problem, for example, which must be studied in its relation to each particular city where the problem exists. There is no need either to make investigations regarding the facts of vice over and over again, except as some par- ticular city is interested to find out what progress is being made there. The municipal vice investigations undertaken during 1910 to 1915 presented a clear picture of what was typical of practically any urban community at that time, 1 Toronto was considered sufficiently American for the purpose in view. 2 See population given in table on page 11. 8 See Kneeland, George J., "Commercialized Prostitution in New York City," New York, Edition of 1917. 26 and the legislative proposals put forth represented their convictions as to what should constitute a new policy of control. RECOMMENDATIONS BROADLY CLASSIFIED Not all the recommendations are in the form of legisla- tion to be enacted. The first one listed ; viz, "Repress evil and enforce laws," is too broad for any classification. It connotes, however, the general policy of repression and prevention which is outlined in detail in succeeding recom- mendations and which was to supersede the then preva- lent policy of segregation and toleration. Other recommen- dations, such as those to abolish red light districts and to close bawdy houses, were evidently for the purpose of doing away with the prevailing policy. It is only the remaining ones, therefore, that contain the elements of a new method of vice control. These, for the purpose of the present study, can be best divided into proposed state laws and board regulations and such measures as would be left for municipalities to enact. In the following chapter the state legislation indicated in the list of recommendations will be dealt with, and certain outstanding measures will be traced historically to show the growth of public opinion along these lines. 27 CHAPTER IV DEVELOPMENT OF REPRESSIVE STATE LEGIS- LATION FOR THE CONTROL OF VICE State legislation, rather than local measures, has been selected as a basis for tracing the development of the re- pressive policy of vice control for two reasons: first, be- cause all the states and territories in the United States can be included; secondly, because state laws are clearly com- parable, well codified, and readily accessible. This is not true of city ordinances. State laws, also, are more basic than local ordinances or regulations. They reflect a deeper public opinion and a more general conviction, so that sub- sidiary and changing sentiment is being pushed aside in focusing upon statutory enactments. In tracing the development of a repressive policy as seen in state legislation it was thought well to omit certain in- direct measures 1 of control suggested in the recommenda- tions of vice commissions. Generally speaking such laws of indirect application are later in appearing than are meas- ures of direct control, such as a law prohibiting the keeping of a bawdy house. If none or very few of the outstanding and direct statutory measures of vice control were in exist- ence a decade or generation back, it is safe to assume that the indirect ones were likewise lacking. A contrary result would be altogether misleading so far as being indicative of the policy of vice control in vogue at any given period. It might have happened, for example, that a rigid inspec- tion of tenements in the residential section of a city had been inaugurated for the express purpose of more strictly confining the social evil to the regular bawdy house or district, which would not have indicated a repressive policy at all but one of toleration. Furthermore, as indicated in Chapter II, indirect and subsidiary laws usually cluster around and get their meaning from a basic law. iState laws of indirect application omitted in this chapter deal with indecent vaudeville, recreation and housing, employment agencies, and sex education. Such laws are examined in later chapters. EIGHT OUTSTANDING VICE LAWS The following statutory measures listed in vice commis- sion recommendations, were selected as basic for the pur- pose of ascertaining how far public opinion regarding vice was changing in the direction of a repressive policy at various points during the past decade or generation. To what extent laws along these lines had been enacted at any given period measures the progress made. Age of Consent law, setting age below which sexual contamination of a woman becomes an act of criminal rape for the man involved. White Slave law, prohibiting compulsory prostitution or pandering. Injunction and Abatement law, a civil statute making it possible to close a bawdy house as a common nuisance. Keeping Disorderly House, a criminal statute prohibit- ing same. Venereal Disease made Reportable, enabling the Board of Health to follow up such cases and to control the spread of the disease. Venereal Disease a Bar to Marriage, prohibiting the marriage of venereally diseased persons by requiring a certificate of health or other evidence of freedom from such disease. Venereal Disease Advertisements Prohibited, forbid- ding advertisements by doctors purporting to cure such diseases, and thus preventing the activities of quacks. Reformatories for Women, establishing institutions for adult female offenders. In tracing the development of these eight outstanding so- cial hygiene stautes, the date of their first appearance in a given state were the dates made use of, regardless of subse- quent amendments made to the laws and regardless of law enforcement difficulties. It was felt that the date of first appearance marked the crystallizing of public opinion in the direction of the control embodied in the particular statute and as such should be used as the index. Since changes in age of consent laws are in the direction of raising the age, a definite age had to be decided upon. This was taken as fourteen years, which is the age most authorities have agreed should represent the minimum in statutory law, common law having long- since fixed an age of ten. Where a distinction between chaste and un- chaste women is drawn, the average of the ages set by the statute was used. 29 The first type of white slave law to manifest itself was against the panderer or procurer of women for purposes of prostitution. In that sense it is used here. Pimping or living off the earnings of a prostitute is usually covered by a later law. 1 Reportability laws 3 represent the first effort to check venereal disease through compulsory legislation. Some- times such laws were passed directly by the state legisla- ture. In other instances, the legislature passed what was called an "enabling act" empowering the board of health to make venereal disease reportable at any future time it saw fit. Only actual reportability laws, either by statute or board regulation, are listed here. 2 Regarding reformatories for women a distinction was drawn between juvenile offenders and adult offenders be- tween the ages of 16 (or 14) and 25. Only those laws dealing with adult offenders are here considered. The first appearance of these eight outstanding laws by states and by years is listed in the table opposite as far back as 1890. Those appearing before 1890 are designated "B 1890." At this point the reader should turn back to page eight, where a graphic chart is presented to show the de- velopment of these laws on the basis of the total number in force year by year. SUMMARY OF DEVELOPMENT It is interesting to note that common law, which was brought over to the United States from England by early settlers, both sets an age of consent (ten years) and brands a bawdy house as a common nuisance, but it makes no mention of the other measures listed in the table opposite. It is logical to suppose that a tightening of the control of vice should begin where common law leaves off. That is precisely what the graphic chart on page 8 brings out. Before 1890 twenty-nine jurisdictions had already set the age of consent at 14 years or above and twenty-five had ipor further subsidiary laws covering the commercialized aspects of vice, see pp. 35-36 of this study and also Worthington, Geo. E., "De- velopments in Social Hygiene Legislation from 1917 to September 1, 1920;" Social Hygiene, Oct., 1920, vol. VI, No. 4, p. 557. 3 Those requiring the compulsory reporting of venereal diseases. 2 A subsidiary venereal disease law closely connected with the re- portability law is that requiring the compulsory examination and quaran- tine of suspected persons. Similarly, a law subsidiary to the one pro- hibiting the advertisement of venereal disease cures but closely connected is the one forbidding the sale of remedies without a prescription. Both these subsidiary laws are later in appearing but they have become quite important to the proper carrying out of the more basic laws. 30 Table 3. YEAR OF FIRST ADOPTION, BY STATES AND TERRITORIES, OF EIGHT OUTSTANDING SOCIAL HYGIENE LAWSI Name of State or Territory *o g &i