The History of Prostitution Part 46

_Question._ ARE THESE CHILDREN LIVING OR DEAD?

Living children of single women 133 " " " married " 334 " " " widows 265 --- Total living 732 Dead children of single women 357 " " " married " 457 " " " widows 371 --- Total dead 1185 ---- Aggregate 1917

The ratio of mortality will be as follows:

Children of single women 73 per cent.

" " married " 58 " "

" " widows 59 " "

-- Average on the total number 62 " "

or more than six deaths for every ten children born. The average infantile mortality of New York City for three years is,

Under 1 year of age 8499 From 1 " to 2 years 3259 " 2 " to 5 " 2578 ------ Total 14,336[383]

The population between those ages in 1855 was 77,568.[384] This would give a mortality of 18-1/2 per cent., or about 1-3/4 to every ten children under five years of age. It is not exceeding the bounds of probability to a.s.sume that the greater part of the children of prost.i.tutes die before they reach the age of five years, which will give a _pro rata_ mortality among that cla.s.s 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]

Years. Premature Births. Still-born. Total.

1854 435 1615 2050 1855 374 1564 1938 1856 387 1556 1943 ---- ---- ---- 1196 4735 5931

The births during the same period were:

1854 17,979 1855 14,145 1856 16,199

Total 48,323

This would show a proportion of 12-1/2 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 prost.i.tutes, 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 prost.i.tution, and urgently demands active interference.

The attention of the American Medical a.s.sociation 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 mult.i.tude 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 circ.u.mstances.[386] * * * Celibacy should be required of all syphilitic persons of either s.e.x."[387] It will at once occur to the mind of the reader that enforced celibacy would not affect the maternity of prost.i.tutes. 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 cla.s.s 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 syphilis the same course of reasoning would apply. If debarred from marriage, the s.e.xual appet.i.te would drive them to commerce with prost.i.tutes, and their illegitimate children swell the total of mortality. The health of parents must be protected before we can hope for healthy children.

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 s.e.x, whose guilty fear or shame thus seeks to hide the evidence of illicit amours."[388] That prost.i.tution 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?

Numbers.

Children living with the mothers 73 " boarding at the expense of mothers 247 " " with mothers' relatives 140 " supporting themselves 129 " living with the fathers 59 " in public or charitable inst.i.tutions 36 " adopted by families 20 " unascertained 28 --- -- Totals 659 73 -- 73 --- Aggregate of children 732

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 denominated "dangerous cla.s.ses" by the French authorities, and from their ranks are obtained many of the inmates of prisons and brothels. The children stated to be with their fathers, fifty-nine in number, it may be concluded were born before the mother's fall from virtue, and are decidedly the most fortunate of any coming under notice, while those living with the parents or relatives of the mother, amounting to one hundred and forty, or boarding at the mother's expense, of whom there are two hundred and forty-seven, stand less chance of contamination than if actually residing within the domains of vice. Those living in public or charitable inst.i.tutions exhibit one cause of taxation upon the general body of the citizens, and show that, indirectly, every man in New York is compelled to contribute toward the maintenance of vice or its offspring. A visit to the public inst.i.tutions on Blackwell's and Randall's Islands will prove that this is but one item of the expenses which prost.i.tution inflicts upon the community.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

NEW YORK.--STATISTICS.

Continuance of Prost.i.tution.--Average in Paris and New York.--Dangers of Prost.i.tution.--Disease.--Causes of Prost.i.tution.--Inclination.-- Dest.i.tution.--Seduction.--Intemperance.--Ill-treatment.--Duties of Parents, Husbands, and Relatives.--Influence of Prost.i.tutes.-- Intelligence Offices.--Boarding-schools.--Obscene Literature.

_Question._ FOR WHAT LENGTH OF TIME HAVE YOU BEEN A PROSt.i.tUTE?

Time. Numbers.

1 month 71 2 months 49 3 " 76 4 " 62 5 " 51 6 " 126 7 " 129 8 " 17 9 " 21 10 " 32 1 year 325 2 years 55 3 " 245 4 " 203 5 " 125 6 " 87 7 " 56 8 " 69 9 " 32 10 " 26 11 " 8 12 " 14 13 " 6 14 " 7 15 " 9 16 " 13 17 " 3 18 " 4 19 " 8 20 " 4 21 " 2 22 " 1 23 " 2 24 " 2 25 " 1 27 " 1 29 " 1 30 " 1 32 " 1 34 " 1 35 " 1 Unascertained 53 ---- Total 2000

It has already been stated that the average duration of the life of a prost.i.tute does not exceed four years from the commencement of her career.

This is one year beyond the estimated duration as given by some English writers, but very far below the average, as ascertained in Paris, in which city, at the time M. Parent-Duchatelet inst.i.tuted his elaborate system of investigation, he found in the gross number of 3517 prost.i.tutes, two hundred and forty-two who had led that life for upward of fourteen years, and six hundred and forty-one who had continued their course upward of ten years. What a contrast to the table given above! In Paris, 6-2/3 per cent.

had survived the horrors of courtesan life for fourteen years; in New York, only 2-3/4 per cent. have reached the same period. In Paris, 17-1/2 per cent. existed; in New York, 3-3/4 per cent. exist after ten years of exposure; or, in other words, where seven exist in Paris, only three have survived in New York, or where seventeen exist in Paris, only four survive in New York. It can not be a.s.serted that Paris is a more healthy city than New York, and this difference must arise from the fact that, while judicious arrangements are _enforced_ in the former, a similar policy has not been recognized in the latter. If this relative mortality were the only fact known on this matter, the economy of human life would be an irresistible argument in favor of measures of supervision judiciously conceived and promptly executed.

In the city of New York, six hundred and thirty-four women, more than thirty-one per cent., have been on the town less than one year, and three hundred and twenty-five, or more than seventeen per cent., for a s.p.a.ce of time ranging from one to two years. Here, then, is one half of the total number, the experience of the remainder extending through various periods up to thirty-five years. With reference to those who a.s.sign such an extent of duration, it may be remarked, as was done in considering the question of age, that they are, with scarcely a solitary exception, those who, having been prost.i.tutes in their younger days, are now engaged in brothel-keeping, and are thus exempted from many dangers attending the ordinary life of a harlot. If the same rule had been observed here in their cases as was done in the inquiries at Paris, namely, to exclude them from the list of prost.i.tutes, the relative mortality given above would have shown still more unfavorably for New York.

It may be asked, What peculiar dangers attend the life of a prost.i.tute in this city? There is a frightful physical malady to which all are liable, and which will be alluded to under its proper head. There are other dangers to which prost.i.tutes, in a greater or less degree, are exposed. It is not necessary to remind the reader that at intervals the public is shocked by accounts in our daily papers of cowardly and outrageous a.s.saults upon these unfortunate women, perpetrated by ruffians of the other s.e.x. Sometimes it is an onslaught made by a party of men, for little or no provocation, on a number of females; or it may be an attack of a paramour on his victim. To this latter description of ill-treatment common women are peculiarly liable; for, beyond their habits of promiscuous intercourse, almost every one of them, particularly those in the middle or lower cla.s.ses, has attached herself to some indolent fellow who acts as her protector ("bully" or "lover" is the common designation) when she becomes involved in any difficulty with strangers, but who exercises an arbitrary and brutal control over her at other times. In many cases, singular as it may appear, an actual love is felt by the woman for "her man." In others it is a mere arrangement for mutual convenience, the man taking her part in all quarrels, and the woman providing funds to maintain him in idleness. The intemperate habits of the prost.i.tutes also tend materially to shorten their lives.

In addition to physical dangers must be considered the mental anguish they undergo, which inevitably preys upon the const.i.tution. To this even the most depraved of them are at times subject. In the earlier stages of their career is an agonizing memory of the past; thoughts of home; regrets for the position they have lost. As they proceed in their course they suffer from an antic.i.p.ation of the future; the grave, a nameless, pauper grave, yawns before them; thoughts of the inevitable eternity intrude; and a past of shame, a present of anguish, a future of dread, are the subjects of thought indulged by many who would never be suspected by the gay world of entertaining a serious reflection. It may be said, in the words of Byron,

"But in an instant o'er her soul Winters of memory seem to roll, And gather in that drop of time A life of pain, an age of crime."

The period for their nocturnal revelry returns, and, though with a breaking heart, they must deck themselves with tawdry finery, and forcing a smile upon their faces, resume a loathsome trade to earn their daily food. With such torments, physical and mental, can long life be expected as their lot? Can any human frame withstand these incessant attacks for a lengthened period? It would not be at all surprising if the ratio of mortality among prost.i.tutes were greater than it is.

_Question._ HAVE YOU HAD ANY DISEASE INCIDENT TO PROSt.i.tUTION? IF SO, WHAT?

Disease. Attacks. Numbers.

Gonorrhoea 1 Attack 153 " 2 Attacks 53 " 3 " 44 Gonorrhoea and syphilis 36 Syphilis 1 Attack 395 " 2 Attacks 81 " 3 " 38 " 4 " 12 " 5 " 4 " 6 " 4 " 8 " 1 ---- Total attacked 821

The nature and effects of venereal disease have been already so fully specified in notices of the various systems adopted for its prevention, given in the preceding pages of this work, that it would be a needless repet.i.tion to dwell upon them here. It is sufficient, for the present purpose, to call attention to the fact that more than two fifths of the total number of prost.i.tutes examined during the investigation CONFESS that they have suffered from syphilis or gonorrhoea. The probability is that the real number far exceeds this average; that, alarming as is the confession, the actual facts are much worse. This opinion is based upon the results of professional experience, and a knowledge of the difficulty which exists in obtaining any voluntary reliable statement on the subject.

Even a.s.suming that the answers obtained are correct, they indicate ample cause for the perpetuation of the disease, and its introduction into almost every branch of society. One half of the total number who confess that they have suffered or are suffering from this disease, state that they have been so afflicted once only. In other forms of sickness which admit of a perfect cure this would be no cause for alarm, but in this instance it is a mooted point among medical writers whether the syphilitic taint can ever be eradicated from the system where it has been implanted, and the arguments on each side are urged with great ability. Without presuming to pa.s.s an opinion on the question, or expressing any doubt of the correctness of those learned men who think it possible to remove the taint from the body, it is policy to urge, in this case, the views of their opponents that it can not be eradicated. Upon this ground every citizen is competent to determine for himself the amount of public mischief resulting daily from a ma.s.s of prost.i.tutes, two out of every five of whom are _confessedly_ diseased.

_Question._ WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF YOUR BECOMING A PROSt.i.tUTE?

Causes. Numbers.

Inclination 513 Dest.i.tution 525 Seduced and abandoned 258 Drink, and the desire to drink 181 Ill-treatment of parents, relatives, or husbands 164 As an easy life 124 Bad company 84 Persuaded by prost.i.tutes 71 Too idle to work 29 Violated 27 Seduced on board emigrant ships 16 " in emigrant boarding houses 8 ---- Total 2000

This question is probably the most important of the series, as the replies lay open to a considerable extent those hidden springs of evil which have hitherto been known only from their results. First in order stands the reply "Inclination," which can only be understood as meaning a voluntary resort to prost.i.tution in order to gratify the s.e.xual pa.s.sions. Five hundred and thirteen women, more than one fourth of the gross number, give this as their reason. If their representations were borne out by facts, it would make the task of grappling with the vice a most arduous one, and afford very slight grounds to hope for any amelioration; but it is imagined that the circ.u.mstances which induced the ruin of most of those who gave the answer will prove that, if a positive inclination to vice was the proximate cause of the fall, it was but the result of other and controlling influences. In itself such an answer would imply an innate depravity, a want of true womanly feeling, which is actually incredible.

The force of desire can neither be denied nor disputed, but still in the bosoms of most females that force exists in a slumbering state until aroused by some outside influences. No woman can understand its power until some positive cause of excitement exists. What is sufficient to awaken the dormant pa.s.sion is a question that admits innumerable answers.

Acquaintance with the opposite s.e.x, particularly if extended so far as to become a reciprocal affection, will tend to this; so will the companionship of females who have yielded to its power; and so will the excitement of intoxication. But it must be repeated, and most decidedly, that without these or some other equally stimulating cause, the full force of s.e.xual desire is seldom known to a virtuous woman. In the male s.e.x nature has provided a more susceptible organization than in females, apparently with the beneficent design of repressing those evils which must result from mutual appet.i.te equally felt by both. In other words, man is the _aggressive_ animal, so far as s.e.xual desire is involved. Were it otherwise, and the pa.s.sions in both s.e.xes equal, illegitimacy and prost.i.tution would be far more rife in our midst than at present.

Some few of the cases in which the reply "Inclination" was given are herewith submitted, with the explanation which accompanied each return. C.

M.: while virtuous, this girl had visited dance-houses, where she became acquainted with prost.i.tutes, who persuaded her that they led an easy, merry life; her inclination was the result of female persuasion. E. C.

left her husband, and became a prost.i.tute willingly, in order to obtain intoxicating liquors which had been refused her at home. E. R. was deserted by her husband because she drank to excess, and became a prost.i.tute in order to obtain liquor. In this and the preceding case, inclination was the result solely of intemperance. A. J. willingly sacrificed her virtue to a man she loved. C. L.: her inclination was swayed by the advice of women already on the town. J. J. continued this course from inclination after having been seduced by her lover. S. C.: this girl's inclination arose from a love of liquor. Enough has been quoted to prove that, in many of the cases, what is called willing prost.i.tution is the sequel of some communication or circ.u.mstances which undermine the principles of virtue and arouse the latent pa.s.sions.

Dest.i.tution is a.s.signed as a reason in five hundred and twenty-five cases.

In many of these it is unquestionably true that positive, actual want, the apparent and dreaded approach of starvation, was the real cause of degradation. The following instances of this imperative necessity will appeal to the understanding and the heart more forcibly than any arguments that could be used. As in all the selections already made, or that may be made hereafter, these cases are taken indiscriminately from the replies received, and might be indefinitely extended.

During the progress of this investigation in one of the lower wards of the city, attention was drawn to a pale but interesting-looking girl, about seventeen years of age, from whose replies the following narrative is condensed, retaining her own words as nearly as possible.

"I have been leading this life from about the middle of last January (1856). It was absolute want that drove me to it. My sister, who was about three years older than I am, lived with me. She was deformed and a cripple from a fall she had while a child, and could not do any hard work. She could do a little sewing, and when we both were able to get work we could just make a living. When the heavy snow-storm came our work stopped, and we were in want of food and coals. One very cold morning, just after I had been to the store, the landlord's agent called for some rent we owed, and told us that, if we could not pay it, we should have to move. The agent was a kind man, and gave us a little money to buy some coals. We did not know what we were to do, and were both crying about it, when the woman who keeps this house (where she was then living) came in and brought some sewing for us to do that day. She said that she had been recommended to us by a woman who lived in the same house, but I found out since that she had watched me, and only said this for an excuse. When the work was done I brought it home here. I had heard of such places before, but had never been inside one. I was very cold, and she made me sit down by the fire, and began to talk to me, saying how much better off I should be if I would come and live with her. I told her I could not leave my sister, who was the only relation I had, and could not help herself; but she said I should be able to help my sister, and that she would find some light sewing for her to do, so that she should not want. She talked a good deal more, and I felt inclined to do as she wanted me, but then I thought how wicked it would be, and at last I told her I would think about it. When I got home and saw my sister so sick as she was, and wanting many little things that we had no money to buy, and no friends to help us to, my heart almost broke. However, I said nothing to her then. I laid awake all night thinking, and in the morning I made up my mind to come here. I told her what I was going to do, and she begged me not, but my mind was made up.