The World Scourge 
A Treatise of Social 
Conditions 
BY 
I. B. TROUT 
Editor and Joint Author of “Training the 
Sunday School Teacher” 
Pure Thought, Clean Speech and Right 
Living Foster Progress and 
Civilization . , w 
CXu, ■■ . Jii ~-rndJ 
1915 Copyright, 1915 
By I. B. Trout 
Send orders to 
I. B. Trout, Lanark, Illinois 
Price, $l.OO, postpaid Dedicated 
to 
The American Home 
for the 
Defense of Its Integrity CONTENTS. 
The Foreword 7 
Introduction g 
Part I—The Survey, 
Paet I—The Survey. 
Chapter 1. The Author’s Purpose 15 
Chapter 2, The Scourge 21 
Chapter 3. A Word to Parents 35 
Part II Contributing Agencies. 
Chapter 4. The Commercial Spirit of 
the Age 45 
Chapter 5. The Solicitor 53 
Chapter 6. The Cabaret and the Saloon 61 
Chapter 7. The Dance Hall 69 
Chapter 8. The Moving Picture Show 81 
Chapter 9. The Questionable Hotel. . . 89 
Chapter 10. Other Causes 97 
Chapter 11. Other Causes (Concluded). 109 
Part Hl—The Remedy. 
Part Hl—The Remedy. 
Chapter 12. Things that Have Been 
Done 124 
Chapter 13. Things to Be Done 131 
Chapter 14. Conclusion 143 THE FOREWORD. 
The social evil, or sexual impurity, is 
so commonly spread throughout the 
whole world, that it is treated under 
the title, “The World Scourge,” in this 
volume. The social conditions have 
been studied in a number of large cities, 
but mainly in one city that is typical 
of practically all others. Detailed ac- 
count of vice conditions and methods 
has been avoided as much as possible. 
The aim has been to write in a manner 
to prevent the social evil from becom- 
ing the ruin of young men and women. 
The vice conditions are about the same 
in all large cities with the exception of 
a few insignificant details. Vice is vice 
irrespective of where it may exist, and 
the little differences in methods of 
operation are of no particular conse- 
quence, and do not materially change 
7 1 h c TV or I d Scourge 
the final moral result. It has been the 
constant aim of the writer to treat this 
delicate subject in a manner and in 
language that will not offend against 
culture and refinement. Society is con- 
fronted by this great evil, and the con- 
dition must be met. This cannot be 
done and the evil destroyed so long as 
there is a general refusal to deal with 
it in an intelligent manner. It must be 
dealt with in the home and in society at 
laige, and not merely by the police 
officers, if the world is to be cleansed. 
Ibis book has been prepared for the 
general reading public. The subject 
is presented from the practical stand- 
point, mere theories have been excluded. 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
The social evil is the greatest evil 
known to civilization. This sin devel- 
oped early in the history of the race, 
and has been dealing out death during 
all the intervening centuries. Probably 
there has never been a land or a nation 
entirely free from its blighting in- 
fluence. It makes its inroads into all 
classes of society. Countless are the 
multitudes that have been destroyed by 
its cunning power. It would be appall- 
ing, indeed, to know the total number 
of persons who have been ruined by this 
sin since its first appearance among 
men. It has levied its toll on all classes 
of society, from the king on his throne 
to the poor peasant, none are exempt. 
God has forever stamped his disap- 
proval upon this great sin by punishing 
its victims with the most dreadful and 
9 Vhe World Scourge 
loathesome diseases known to mankind. 
However, in the face of all this, there 
are those who look upon it lightly and 
say that it is necessary to the highest 
welfare of the race. This absurd view 
of the situation can only be explained 
on the ground that there always are 
people who are quite loose in their meth- 
ods of thinking and equally loose in the 
rules of their morals. The person who 
is informed is compelled to abhor the 
social evil more than any other form of 
vice known to mankind. Its terrors are 
greatly emphasized by the fact that, not 
only do the guilty ones sutler, but it 
frequently happens that persons who 
are entirely innocent become infected 
by the germs of diseases, when they are 
exercising themselves in the lawful pur- 
suits of life. There are instances on 
record where death has come to the 
innocent party as the result of this 
infection. Surveyed from whatever 
angle one chooses the whole scene is one 
of deepest blackness. It becomes the 
10 Th e World S c our g e 
duty of every man and woman to help 
to stamp out the evil from the earth. 
The author is fully convinced that the 
evil can be almost, if not entirely, 
stamped out by an intelligent and con- 
certed action of all the best elements in 
society. We are looking hopefully for- 
ward to the time when our land will be 
freed from this terrible curse. 
I have spoken of the physical diseases 
that attend this sin. Dreadful as these 
are, they shrink into insignificant pro- 
portions when viewed alongside the 
destructive forces that take hold upon 
the souls of those who habitually engage 
in the evil. There is no sin that is so 
deadening to all the noble instincts of 
the soul as the sin of sexual impurity. 
It blights and destroys the whole spirit- 
ual nature. This form of indulgence 
destroys both self-respect and respect 
for mankind. The final result is the 
complete corruption and destruction of 
the character and soul. The pathway 
of the social evil is strewn with the 
11 Th e Wor I d Scourge 
wreckage and ruin of multitudes. So 
wide and so terrible in its appearance 
is this pathway, that we are safe to call 
the social evil the World Scourge. 
The social evil has been able to come 
to its present gigantic proportions 
largely because the best elements in 
society have been disposed to isolate 
themselves from an intelligent knowl- 
edge of its magnitude and its methods 
of operation, Now that numbers of 
the best people of this and of other 
lands have banded together to fight this 
sin, there is bright hope of a better day. 
This day is even at our door. When 
the time comes that more of the best 
people organize their forces to fight this 
sin, its days will be numbered and its 
doom very near. 
In preparing for the writing of this 
book the author has made his own in- 
vestigations in addition to what he has 
seen when following the ordinary walk 
of life. Tie has seen with his own eyes. 
He has heard with his own ears. Some- 
12 The World Scourge 
times he has been accompanied by a 
policeman or other person. Sometimes 
he has gone alone. He has been in 
places that are considered very danger- 
ous for any ordinary unarmed man, and 
yet he has never been seriously molested. 
He has taken great risks that he might 
be able to know for himself what the 
facts are. Knowing what he does, he 
does not recommend to any one to un- 
dertake so hazardous a thing as he has 
done, but rather recommends the reader 
to take no chances and to keep as far 
away from the forms of evil discussed 
in this volume as possible. 
13 PART I 
The Survey. 
Chapter 1. 
The Author s Purpose 
IN view of the fact that millions 
upon millions of souls are being de- 
stroyed as time goes on, the author 
has felt like contributing what he can 
to help correct the great evil. Great 
men who have viewed the mangled and 
the dying upon the field of battle have 
been moved to do all in their power to 
cause wars to cease and to bring in an 
era of peace on earth. Many as war 
has destroyed, it is quite probable that 
the world scourge has destroyed more 
than war. This evil is a distemper in 
the whole social fabric, blighting lives 
and destroying happiness and homes. 
15 The World Scourge 
As we said in our introduction, it per- 
meates all classes of society. It lays its 
death grip upon as many as possible, 
sparing none from prophet and priest 
to peasant and pauper. We have meas- 
ured carefully the dimensions of this 
evil and have felt impelled to lift our 
hands to do all in our power to hasten 
its destruction. 
We have travelled in a number of 
foreign countries as well as practically 
all over the home land, and, wherever 
we have been, we have seen the signs of 
this monster evil. So completely has it 
permeated society that, in some parts 
of the world, it has been legalized and 
apparently placed upon as respectable 
basis as the useful arts and trades. 
One would scarcely be believed by 
the majority of people were he to tell 
the exact status of this evil as it is es- 
tablished in some of the European 
countries. From palace to prison it 
seems to have the right of way and has 
the sheltering influence of the powers 
16 The Purpose 
that be. There are some places that 
the tourist would like to visit for the 
purpose of increasing his historical 
knowledge, but these same places are 
so completely honeycombed with the 
social evil that he foregoes this pleas- 
ure, or, going, he comes away with a 
hideous nightmare in his mind which 
haunts him whenever he thinks of the 
place visited. A number of such places 
could be named were it not best to re- 
frain from advertising them in such a 
way as to arouse the morbid curiosity 
of those who might not be able to with- 
stand the temptation to gratify an 
ambition to see for themselves, a very 
dangerous thing to undertake to do. 
Viewing the conditions as they exist 
throughout the world, and viewing the 
eternal vigilance with which this evil is 
trying to establish its power in our own 
land, we feel compelled to charge upon 
it and to help drive it into the sea of 
oblivion. We have no animosity against 
those who have been entrapped in its 
17 The World Sc our g e 
meshes, but we stand ready to destroy 
utterly the evil itself. Those who have 
been snared and ruined are to be pitied 
and ought to have our help and our 
warmest sympathy, but we ought to 
give no quarter to the evil that has 
trapped them. 
An evil that is so wily in its methods 
and so great in its power, that it can, 
capture and control the police force of a 
great city in spite of all that reformers 
seem to be able to do, surely ought to 
appeal to our manhood in such a way 
as to stir every drop of warm blood into 
action against it. We must not be sat- 
fled until this accursed thing of hell has 
been destroyed both root and branch. 
It cannot exist without feeding upon 
our boys and our girls. Where is the 
parent who is willing to contribute one 
of his offspring to this devilish mon- 
ster? And where is the parent who is 
secure against the possibility of fur- 
nishing one or more of his children to 
its insatiable appetite, so long as it is 
18 The Purpose 
allowed to stampede through our fair 
land and challenge us as Goliath chal- 
lenged all Israel? If Israel and her 
king cower before this monster, then 
isn’t it time that there be found a few 
Davids who will go out and destroy the 
evil that has been and still is destroy- 
ing so many lives and homes? 
With the hope that we may be able 
to help eradicate this evil from our land 
and from the earth, and with the hope 
that we may sound a word of warning 
that will result in the salvation of num- 
bers, we have entered this work. Per- 
sonally we have known a few persons 
who have been ruined by this great 
scourge, persons who, we believe, might 
have been saved had they been informed 
in the right way and at the right time. 
It is the author’s purpose to write 
what he has to say in language that will 
be clean enough to be read by any one, 
and to write in such a way as not to 
arouse the evil curiosity of any thought- 
less reader so that he will be caused to 
19 The World Scour g e 
enter the pathway that leads to ruin. 
Our purpose is to help the individual to 
feel like shunning this evil as he would 
shun the very vortex of hell itself. We 
are hoping to help not only the individ- 
ual but to help society at large, for so- 
ciety has been like a great sleeping 
giant, and something must be done to 
arouse people from their slumbers. We 
are doing what we can to add some- 
thing to those forces that are now at 
work to cleanse our land and the whole 
world from this evil. The war has be- 
gun. It will not be a short one, for 
Satan is determined not to be routed. 
We are volunteering for the purpose 
of helping to destroy this monster evil 
that has so far challenged all homes and 
all lands. If what we may say shall 
accomplish great good, we will be 
highly pleased; if it accomplishes but 
little good, we will feel repaid for the 
time and effort. 
20 Chapter 2. 
The Scourge. 
The world scourge, or the social 
evil, as it is commonly called, is 
the greatest sin of the human 
race. It fosters itself by the abuse of 
a God-given power, the power of prop- 
agation, or procreation. The sexual de- 
sire is lawful for the purpose for which 
God gave it, but it becomes the breed- 
ing ground for the greatest of sins, 
when it is abused and turned to unlaw- 
ful uses. To commercialize it and use 
it for the purpose of money consider- 
ations is one of the most grievous sins 
against God. If there be anything 
worse, it is the sin against the Holy 
Spirit. 
It is unfortunate, nev- 
ertheless true, that a girl or woman can 
21 The World Scourge 
always sell her virtue for money, and 
sell it for what seems to the thoughtless 
ones to be a good price. Let no one 
lose sight of the fact that virtue is 
worth more, infinitely, than any amount 
of money. The terrible sin involved can 
not be atoned for by money. Once vir- 
tue is lost, it is next to impossible to 
recover it again, however there is power 
with the Infinite to help any one re- 
cover himself from the snares of the 
Evil One. 
The number of girls and women who 
fall annually in our land is appalling, 
and is variously estimated at from a 
few tens of thousands to three hundred 
thousand, and even more. It is usually 
estimated that there are five times as 
many immoral men as women. Ihis, 
added to the number of lewd women, 
gives tremendous proportions to the to- 
tal number of immoral citizens in the 
United States. 
In July of this year (1915) the In- 
ternational Purityr Congress held a 
22 The Scourge 
meeting in San Francisco. At this 
meeting, Miss Mary Brown of Seattle, 
Superintendent of the Department of 
Curfew of the National Women’s 
Christian Temperance Union, is re- 
ported as having said, ‘‘There are in 
this country five hundred thousand 
openly immoral women, and probably 
a far greater number practicing im- 
morality clandestinely, including school 
girls. We find in this vast army women 
in mentality from those almost imbecile 
to those intellectually brilliant; in mor- 
als, from the coarse and vile blasphemer 
to the faithful attendant at religious 
services. No class is safe.’ The fact 
that no class is safe or exempt from this 
evil makes it at once the greatest enemy 
to mankind. 
The money cost of the social evil in 
the whole land is simply appalling. A 
careful investigation in one of our 
largest cities a few years ago revealed 
the fact that at least fifteen million dol- 
lars was paid annually for the price of 
23 The World Scourge 
virtue debauched by the evil. It evi- 
dently runs far into the hundreds of 
millions, if not past the billion dollar 
mark, each year, for the entire country. 
But the money cost of this great sin 
is of small consideration as compared 
with the terrible cost in virtue and mor- 
als. I here is nothing of so great value 
as virtue. It lies at the foundation of 
all true civilization and progress. When 
virtue is destroyed there can be no hope 
of the existence of things good. Viewed 
from this standpoint those who are fos- 
tering the social evil become a very dan- 
gerous element in our civilization, and 
this has been proven to be correct in 
every instance where this evil gets any 
considerable foothold. The sporting 
element, as it is called, can never be re- 
lied upon for the support of any good 
cause. They are invariably on the 
wrong side of important questions of 
morals, civilization and progress. The 
reason for this is found in the fact that 
the practice of sexual uncleanness de- 
24 The Scourge 
stroys the moral sense of the soul. Sex- 
ual impurity and soul purity cannot ex- 
ist in the same person at the same time. 
One must leave before the other can en- 
ter. The moral effect of sexual im- 
purity as surely disqualifies one for the 
good things of life as water puts out 
fire, or as fire devours the kindlings. 
All this explains why the home, the 
church and all benevolent institutions, 
even government, fall rapidly into de- 
cay in those lands where the social evil 
is tolerated and protected by the laws. 
It would he easy to give instances of 
the national effect of the evil, if we de- 
sired to name any particular nation, 
but we refrain for the sake of courtesy 
and propriety. 
It makes one shudder when he adds 
the moral and spiritual loss, the finan- 
cial loss and waste, and the economic 
loss; and then looks at the total sum 
and considers what this means in its 
power to break down our civilization, 
if it is allowed to go on unchallenged. 
25 The World Scourge 
Surely there is good ground for alarm 
and for insisting upon a concerted ac- 
tion against this sin which is so bitterly 
denounced and so severely punished by 
the great Creator. 
In a previous chapter we spoke 
briefly of the great power of the 
scourge. We wish to speak further on 
this phase of the sin. A few years ago 
this evil, with some other forms of vice, 
so completely captured and controlled 
the police force of one of our great 
American cities, that a careful investi- 
gation revealed the fact that the police 
force was getting three dollars in graft 
from the evils as protection, or hush 
money, to every one dollar they were 
getting from the city as salary. When 
such a state of things exists it does not 
require a prophet to tell who was served 
best by the police force, the city or the 
practicers of evil. It was with the ut- 
most effort that the city even lessened 
the evil, much less did it eradicate it. It 
simply did what seemed the best possi- 
26 The Scourge 
ble under the circumstances,—drove it 
some little distance under cover. 
Thus it is wherever one travels in the 
whole world; this scourge has fastened 
its grip on society, and countless thou- 
sands are being swept into moral ruin 
and into hell by its power. Lives and 
homes are destroyed, governments cor- 
rupted, and the whole social fabric is 
caused to suffer from its deadening in- 
fluence. This vice is always asking 
quarter, but it is never willing to give 
any. No human soul is considered too 
valuable by it to be destroyed. It de- 
stroys its victims and then turns and 
laughs and seeks and captures more. 
It is never satisfied with its hellish ef- 
forts, but gloats itself in the misery and 
blood of its victims. The more it de- 
stroys, the more it desires to destroy. 
In one of the large American cities 
alone there is said to be thirty-two 
thousand prostitutes, and at the same 
time this city makes its boasts that it 
has cleaned up the evil to a very large 
27 The World Scourge 
extent. It also boasts that it is the 
cleanest large city in the world. In one 
of the European capitals it was said a 
few years ago that there was not a vir- 
tuous woman in the whole population, 
but that it was only a mere question of 
price for immoral privilege. It is prob- 
able that this statement about the 
women of this city was too sweeping; 
but one thing is true, virtuous women 
in this particular city were very scarce, 
indeed. From the most isolated dis- 
tricts of the world to the cosmopolitan 
centers this scourge is in evidence and 
is doing its work of death and ruin. 
From religious centers to the places 
that are supposed to be God-forsaken 
the scourge has found its way and fast- 
ened itself like a parasite upon the hu- 
man family. It makes its levy upon 
the precincts of the sanctuary and upon 
the household of the king and ruler. 
Solomon, a wiser than whom never 
lived, yielded to its powerful influence 
and had seven hundred wives and three 
28 The Scourge 
hundred concubines, just nine hundred 
and ninety-nine more women than God 
intended a man to have at one time! 
Thus it seems that wisdom and fame 
and riches are not powerful enough to 
shield a man from the temptation by 
which this vice offers to lure its victims. 
The disrupture of the kingdom after 
the death of Solomon is traceable to his 
folly in violating the law of his God 
with reference to his relation to the op- 
posite sex. As we said, the social evil 
is a deadly enemy to the home, the 
church and the government. It thrives 
best where these sacred institutions are 
crippled; hence it strikes the death 
blow to them, in this way affording 
itself a chance to carry on its pernicious 
business. 
It becomes the duty of every one 
who loves his home, his church and his 
God, to lift his hand against this evil 
and help to drive it from the land. To 
stand idly by with folded hands expect- 
ing that others will rout this great en- 
29 The World Scourge 
emy of the race is only one way of help- 
ing it to retain its grip and to do its 
work of death, for when Jesus Christ 
met the man possessed of the legion, 
their particlar request of him was, “Let 
us alone!” They knew full well that if 
he would let them alone, they could con- 
tinue in the possession of the unfortu- 
nate man. What the social evil desires 
more than all else is just to be let alone 
by the good people of the land. If the 
good people keep hands off, there is no 
other power on earth to molest it in its 
work of ruin and death. 
“Let us alone! Let us alone!” is the 
cry that is heard all over the earth from 
the throats of the devotees of hell’s 
business. And the pity of it all is that 
a lot of good people have accepted the 
terms of the cry and have thus ratified 
a sort of treaty with the scourge. This 
cry takes a number of plausible forms, 
one is that of some so-called “Personal 
Liberty Leagues.” This simply means 
let us alone to do as we please and when 
30 The Scour g e 
we please, regardless of the welfare of 
our neighbors or society. It is not the 
business of Christians to let the Devil 
alone, but it is their business to make 
him all the trouble they can. Jesus him- 
self came into the world “to destroy the 
works of the Devil.” When we once 
make peace with the Devil, then we 
have no further business in the world as 
Christians. 
To sum it up, the world scourge has 
laid its hand upon all nations, tribes, 
kinds, classes, conditions, and is deter- 
mined, if possible, to destroy the race. 
We dare not close our eyes and make 
ourselves believe that either our family 
or the nation is immune from its dead- 
ening influence. The health depart- 
ment of one of our states, noted for the 
good quality of its citizens, recently re- 
ported that fully seventy per cent of 
the men and boys of the state, who were 
over sixteen years of age, were afflicted 
with some form of venereal disease due 
to illicit sexual congress. A very noted 
31 The World Scourge 
physician in one of our largest cities is 
reported to have said that fully ninety 
per cent of the men and boys in the 
downtown districts were similarly af- 
fected. In view of such statements 
as these, which might be multiplied, 
whether they be correct or not, is it not 
time that the good people of our land 
become aroused to the danger that 
stares then in the face? How are the 
youth of the land to escape when such 
conditions exist? 
Let us take a look or two to see how 
they are escaping. In one high school 
in a small town in one of our states 
there were found thirteen girls who had 
fallen and were in a condition of preg- 
nancy. How about the morals of the 
boys in that same school? Let the reader 
answer. In another state a certain girl 
had to be removed from the school by 
her parents, they having found out 
from the girl’s own lips that she was 
practicing immorality of the worst sort 
regularly with a boy schoolmate. We 
32 The Scour g e 
must not allow ourselves to believe that 
these few are isolated and extraordi- 
nary cases. They are merely typical 
cases of what is all too common in our 
country. It is a notorious fact that our 
schools, high schools and all, are becom- 
ing honeycombed by the social evil until 
no word is comprehensive enough to 
define it short of calling it the world 
scourge. And the school authorities are 
put to their wit’s end. 
“The existence of venereal diseases 
among people is much under estimated. 
There are credible statistics to show 
that one-half of the population of civ- 
ilized countries have had or have gon- 
orrhoea, and that from one-fifth to one- 
tenth have had syphilis.” The condi- 
tions in the half-civilized and savage 
tribes of the world is frequently very 
much worse than among the civilized. 
Surely the social evil is the world 
scourge. 
33 Chapter 8. 
A Word to Parents. 
THE most sacred trust in the 
world is the training of children 
for noble manhood and woman- 
hood. The responsibility of this trust 
rests upon the shoulders of parents. A 
large amount of the evil and sin of the 
world is due to the failure of parents to 
discharge faithfully their duties toward 
their children. If all parents were 
Christian parents, and if all these 
would faithfully train their children, 
there would be hut little sin in the 
world. 
In view of the fact that the social evil 
is so great and so dangerous it becomes 
the duty of parents to see to it that 
their children are properly warned and 
35 The TV or I d Scour g e 
taught with reference to the avenues 
which lead either directly or indirectly 
into this maelstrom of vice, and which 
levies such a frightful toll upon the 
race. 
Children should be taught the neces- 
sity and the value of personal moral 
purity. We mean the value of being 
perfectly moral in thought and desire 
when alone with one’s self. The 
thoughts and desires that arise when 
one is alone are the test of the strength 
of moral character. “As a man think- 
eth in his heart, so is he,” is the estimate 
placed by the Bible upon human virtue 
as it relates to the individual. Children 
then should be taught to think only the 
purest of thoughts. They should be 
taught to understand that impure 
thoughts will finally, if persisted in, 
impair health and usefulness. They 
should be taught to understand that 
anything which breaks down the moral 
character tends to impair the physical 
health. 
36 A TV or d to Pare nt s 
We doubt the wisdom and the pro- 
priety of being too specific in the nega- 
tive teaching with reference to morals. 
In many instances the less one knows 
about the specific details of sin and evil 
the better off lie is, and the more likely 
will he be to avoid them. We are rather 
in favor of teaching the tilings that the 
child and youth ought to know and ob- 
serve. If one is kept busy thinking and 
doing the right, there will be little dan- 
ger of his going into the wrong. 
It is not our purpose to discuss the 
subject of eugenics, but will leave that 
to the social scientist to work out as 
years of experience may direct. At 
present it is a question too much dis- 
puted for any one safety to deliver a 
pronouncement. We will simply say, 
“Go slow, and be sure you are right 
when you do go.” Each parent must 
have the judgment to decide how far 
best to lead his child into the intricate 
problems of physical life and existence. 
It is exceedingly unfortunate when the 
37 The World Scourge 
parent lacks in wisdom and judgment 
at this point. 
The parent’s teaching of his child 
ought to progress with the age and de- 
velopment of the child. There can he 
no fixed formula established to govern 
all parents in the teaching of their chil- 
dren. This teaching must not be turned 
over to the minister, the Sunday-school 
teacher, the public school teacher, or 
any one else. The duty rests upon the 
parent. He may receive help from oth- 
ers, but the burden rests upon him, and 
its success depends principally upon his 
efforts. As we have intimated, the 
main thing is to establish the habit of 
sound moral thinking and acting in the 
heart and the life of the child. If this 
is done, the details will largely take care 
of themselves. 
The child must be taught the impor- 
tance of forming proper social relations 
in life and the necessity of shunning 
those which are dangerous. There are 
a lot of people in this world that one 
38 A Word to Parents 
cannot afford to associate with in any 
intimate way whatever. The parent 
should thoroughly and wisely teach 
along these lines. This principle has 
an immediate bearing upon marriage. 
Young people should be taught to seek 
their life companions from the very 
best walks in life, and to shun marital 
relations with those who are engaged in 
things questionable. 
We are not going to say that there is 
no such thing as getting a good and 
faithful companion from the question- 
able walks of life. We know better 
than to say such a thing, hut we are go- 
ing to say that the chances are so few 
and so far apart that it is very foolish 
and risky to make such an attempt, and 
this should be vigilantly impressed 
upon the minds of young people by 
their parents. Safety lies in safe paths 
not in the paths of danger. There are 
some things in which one can afford to 
take a risk. There are other things 
in which no risk should be taken. Se- 
39 Th e Wor I d Scour g e 
curing a life companion in marriage is 
one of the things of so great impor- 
tance and so sacred that no one can 
afford to take a risk beyond that of 
missing in his very best judgment in his 
selection. 
There are some lines of conduct in 
life that practically unfit those engaged 
in them for ever becoming desirable 
companions in marriage. Harlotry is 
one of these. The stage and some other 
things are dangerously near being such, 
if not altogether such. There are psy- 
chological and other reasons that could 
be given for such statements, but we 
refrain and simply state the bare fact. 
There are some lines of employment 
that, if engaged in to any great extent, 
practically unfit one for genuine love 
of another of the opposite sex. The 
properly trained young person will stu- 
diously avoid life companionship with 
such persons, not because there might 
not be an exception to the rule, but be- 
cause the rule is so common that there 
40 A Word to Pa rents 
is practically no such thing as getting 
the benefit of the exception. Many 
poor deluded souls have chanced the ex- 
ception and, like Ahab, got a Jezebel 
instead of the exception. Once one is 
tied up to a Jezebel life becomes ex- 
ceedingly lively, and just as miserable 
as it is lively. 
It is wise in parents to invite into 
their homes good people, especially 
good young people, and to lead the way 
for their children to form acquaintance 
and companionship with persons of 
strong character. This practice will 
shield their children greatly from the 
undesirable elements in society at large. 
The best wa}" to close the gateways into 
immorality and sin is to lead into the 
open gateway of good morals. A splen- 
did negative illustration of this truth is 
found in an incident that took place in 
one of the largest cities of the United 
States. A noted revivalist was conduct- 
ing a revival in this city. He conceived 
that it would be a good thing to have 
41 The World Scour g e 
a night Christian parade through the 
red light district after one of the even- 
ing services. The parade was planned. 
Singers, music and marchers were all 
secured. The hour came. The march 
was begun and finished according to 
previous arrangement, and the good 
people went to their homes. Then 
what? Those in a position to know the 
facts said that never before in any one 
given night had so many uninitiated 
young men and older ones been re- 
ceived into the resorts of sin in the his- 
tory of this district. It would have been 
much better for all parties concerned 
if the parade had been through one of 
the best districts in the city instead of 
the worst. The teaching is clear: “En- 
ter not into the path of the wicked, and 
go not in the way of evil men. Avoid 
it, pass not by it, turn away from it, 
and pass away.” 
The relation between parent and 
child is one of vital importance. The 
parent’s duty to his child is one of the 
42 A Word to Faren t s 
greatest duties confronting him in his 
life relations in this world. It is very 
unfortunate that many parents allow 
their children merely to grow up, in- 
stead of bringing them up in the proper 
nurture. Parents should so teach their 
children as to fortify them against the 
evils of society. Especially is this true 
with reference to the social evil, for, as 
previously noted, some authorities say 
that no less than three hundred thou- 
sand girls and women fall from virtue 
annually in the United States. When 
we add to this appalling number the 
larger number of boys and men who 
violate their virtue, it becomes impera- 
tive that parents be alert. 
43 PART 11. 
Contributing Agencies. 
Chapter 4. 
The Commercial Spirit of the Age. 
THESE are days of intense com- 
mercialism. So strong is this spirit 
that it has become quite common 
always to ask with reference to any en- 
terprise, “Is there any money in it? If 
so, how much?” rather than to ask first, 
“Is it morally right?” If a thing can 
be made to pay there are scores of men 
ready to engage in it whether it be right 
or wrong. In the minds of multitudes 
the paying quality of an enterprise cov- 
ers all of its evil moral qualities. It is 
because of this spirit of intense com- 
mercialism, largely, that men and 
women by the hundreds are willing to 
45 The World Scourge 
make commerce and merchandise of in- 
nocent and helpless women and girls. 
If it were not for the money that the 
panderer gets for his fiendish work, 
probably almost every one of them 
would stop the nefarious business, but 
it is the fee or stipulated sum that 
makes him willing to sell the innocent 
and the helpless. 
The commercial spirit figures again 
and makes men high in authority will- 
ing to allow the evil to go on with as 
little molestation as possible because 
the graft comes to many of them in the 
form of fees for protection given to 
those who are engaged in this human 
commerce. Very large sums are gath- 
ered into the hands of those who, by 
virtue of their position, could help to 
crush out the evil, but who are hushed 
into silence and apparent indifference 
by the money thus given them. 
The evils of the commercial spirit 
show again in the oft discovered fact 
that much of the property used for im- 
46 The Comme r c i a I Spir i t 
moral purposes is owned by persons 
whose rank in life indicates that they 
would be against every form of vice, as, 
for instance, when leading church peo- 
ple rent property for immoral purposes 
just because the rental for this purpose 
is higher than could be obtained for 
legitimate purposes. It has even been 
reported that endowments held by cer- 
tain respectable organizations have 
been invested in properties used for 
evil and immoral purposes, because the 
income from such rentals is larger than 
the property would bring for the usual 
lines of business. 
The intense spirit of commercialism 
has begotten a condition of the closest 
competition between men engaged in 
the same line of enterprise. This close 
competition has resulted in a number 
of economic conditions, among them the 
low wages paid to girls and women, 
wages that are not sufficiently remu- 
nerative to furnish a living for those 
thus engaged, and their time being ab- 
47 Th e Wor Id Sc our g e 
sorbed by their employers, they are al- 
most compelled to seek some sort of re- 
muneration from some other source. In 
many cases this results in the girl sell- 
ing her virtue, for this seems always 
to be marketable, and at a very good 
price, if only the time element is con- 
sidered. No sum is large enough to pay 
for the loss of virtue, but when only the 
time element is reckoned with, the price 
seems quite large. With sheer need, 
sometimes poverty, pressing on the one 
hand, and the glittering lure of gold 
enticing on the other hand, many girls 
are led into a life of shame, who would 
otherwise be perfectly virtuous and 
chaste. It must be remembered that a 
large percentage of these are orphans, 
or foreigners who are isolated from 
their parents. Many, however, are 
girls who are living with their parents, 
but whose parents pay but little atten- 
tion to what their children are doing. 
There are thoughtless parents in our 
large cities and throughout the country 
48 The C o 77i mer dal Spi r i t 
who take practically no note of what 
their children are doing so long as they 
can support themselves and do not be- 
come any financial burden upon the 
parents. This spirit in parents affords 
an opportunity for the social evil to 
creep right into the sacred precints of 
the home and destroy the most valuable 
asset there, the children. A close study 
of this wage question will be sure to 
convince the student that it is a very 
large factor in promoting the evil un- 
der consideration. 
The commercial spirit is sure to be- 
get extravagance in the use of money 
and in the methods of living. This ex- 
travagance takes hold of the children, 
and especially of the girls in this day 
of the follies of dress and fashion. 
Thus the desire for fine clothes and the 
accompanying life of gayety and ease 
takes hold of the mind. The result in 
many cases is a search for some quick 
and easy (?) way to make money. In 
easting about the deceiver makes the 
49 TJi e World Scourge 
girl believe that her best opportunity 
for gratifying the bent of her mind is 
in securing money by making com- 
merce of herself, and she is thus caused 
to step into the life of shame. When 
the fine clothes are gotten in this way 
all the finer sensibilities of the soul are 
destroyed and the finery does not fur- 
nish the satisfaction that was sought in 
the possession and display of dress. 
However, the fact remains that count- 
less numbers of girls are entrapped in 
the manner described, and once en- 
trapped, it is rare when one has enough 
moral strength left to rescue herself. 
The final result is most disastrous, in- 
deed, for records show that very few 
are ever able to turn from the life of 
sin. 
It is not difficult to see that the com- 
mercial spirit has largely to do with the 
social evil when it is considered that in 
one large city alone more than fifteen 
millions of dollars changed hands annu- 
ally in carrying on this evil. The great 
50 The Com mer dal Spirit 
bulk of this money most surely went 
into the hands of those who controlled 
the business and not into the hands of 
the poor girls and women who are made 
commerce of. It has been shown that 
wealthy men and millionaires are the 
ones who reap most largely of the ill 
gotten gains. In large numbers of 
cases the girls do not have enough 
money given to them to he able to buy 
clothing fit to wear on the street. The 
girls are often kept in the close confine- 
ment of poverty. It is a slavery that 
makes the slavery of the early years of 
our country seem almost like freedom 
in comparison. The slavery of the 
commercial spirit as manifested in this 
ungodly traffic has never been surpassed 
by any slavery or servitude in the 
world’s history. 
51 Chapter 5. 
The Solicitor. 
A GOOD solicitor is an important 
factor in almost every line of 
business. The better the solicit- 
ing is done, the better the business 
grows and thrives. The large firms of 
the day usually have several solicitors 
in the field for the purpose of turning 
business their way. The big vice giant 
has learned the lesson and learned it 
well. 
Many of the larger cities of Europe 
almost swarm with solicitors for the ne- 
farious business called the social evil. 
They are very cunning and polite, and 
are willing to do anything you may de- 
sire in the way of an accommodation, 
if you will just be led by them into the 
dens of vice. They are even business- 
53 The World Scourge 
like enough to offer to guarantee the 
protection of those whom they solicit. 
Probably the guaranty of one of these 
fellows would be worth about as much 
for protection as five acres on the sum- 
mit of Mount Vesuvius for raising po- 
tatoes. A guaranty offered by any one 
of Satan’s agents or representatives 
ought never to be taken seriously 
enough to cause one to * act on the 
strength of the value of the offer made. 
In both European and many of the 
larger American cities is the ever-pres- 
ent taxi man, or, as he is called in Eu- 
rope, drosky man. Many of these are 
persistent solicitors for houses of vile 
repute. The reason for their persist- 
ence is found in the fact that they get 
a ‘hake off” from the resort for every 
customer landed. Many of these fel- 
lows solicit for a number of resorts. By 
so doing they secure enough patronage 
to keep them busy hauling their pa- 
trons practically all the time during 
their work hours. For this service they 
54 The S olic i tor 
charge the patron a good fee, which, 
added to the “rake off,” amounts to a 
fairly remunerative business. These 
men are very helpful to the growth of 
vice for the reason that they are so cun- 
ning and persistent that they secure the 
patronage of multitudes of men and 
boys who otherwise would never enter 
the road to ruin. The very fact that 
they are standing on the curbstone of 
the city and soliciting patronage makes 
them an important gateway into the 
social evil. We must not be understood 
to say that all taxi men are making this 
either all or part of their business, for 
there are many of these men who are 
absolutely opposed to vice in all its 
forms, and who will not knowingly as- 
sist any one to find a resort, no matter 
how much money consideration might 
be offered. All honor must be given to 
any man who spurns scores of oppor- 
tunities to earn money on the ground 
that he stands opposed to the evil. 
In many places there is the ordinary 
55 Th e World Scourge 
street solicitor. These are both men 
and women, and should be shunned as 
one would shun a mad dog. It is far 
better to be bitten by the dog that has 
the rabies than to be enticed by one of 
these solicitors. The dog does not in- 
jure the moral character of his victim, 
while the solicitor does. 
There is another kind of solicitor 
called the panderer about whom we 
wish to speak. The panderer is a per- 
son who makes his business to procure 
girls and women for immoral purposes. 
This he does by solicitation either direct 
or covertly under the guise of some 
sort of friendship. 
The panderer may go out from the 
city into some rural town and there 
pose as an agent introducing some line 
of goods, a book, etc. He, or she, as 
the case may be, is outwardly quite 
moral and religious, attending Sunday- 
school, prayer meeting and church ser- 
vices in general. The acquaintance of 
one or more girls who seem to be likely 
56 The Solicitor 
pi ej is formed. These are lured to the 
city by some one of a score or more of 
ready-made pretenses. Once in the city 
the poor victim is easily taken care of 
by the organization that sent the solic- 
itor out for game. The two most used 
solicitors of this sort in the recent past 
are most likely the gallant and religious 
young man and the pious and appar- 
ently godly woman. Either of these 
have not had a great deal of trouble in 
gaining the confidence of that class of 
people who are “easy bait” socially. 
In the city this sort of soliciting is 
done usually under the pretense of se- 
curing a better position for the unfor- 
tunate victim. As an example the fol- 
lowing may be related: A young lady 
teacher who was not securing very good 
wages for teaching in a country school 
had a desire to go to a certain large city 
and secure employment at better wages. 
She went to the city and secured a po- 
sition as day cashier in a respectable 
restaurant. The wages paid her are 
57 The World Scourge 
said to have been very reasonable. Sbe 
was “spotted” by one of these pander- 
ers who made it his business to eat at 
that restaurant. He finally formed an 
acquaintance with her and found out 
where she attended church and Sunday- 
school. Of course he was religious for 
convenience sake, for it is very conven- 
ient at times to be a Christian, and he 
went to the same church, entered her 
Sunday-school class, and in many acts 
of kindness and friendship completely 
secured the girl’s confidence. She re- 
ally looked upon him about as she would 
upon a kind brother, for she was in the 
great city alone and appreciated such 
acts of kindness. In process of time he 
suggested to her that he could secure 
her a place where she would have but 
little to do, and she would secure very 
much more pay for her services. She 
finally agreed that he might take her to 
the place for the purpose of conferring 
with the parties with a view of accept- 
ing the position. The time was set for 
58 The Solicitor 
the visit to the place. She went with 
him. She ented the house. The lock 
clicked when the door was shut, and she 
found herself a captive for immoral 
uses. She was retained for some weeks, 
when upon a cold and stormy winter 
night she, with one of the other girls, 
managed to make their escape to lib- 
erty. The final result was the arrest 
and conviction of some of the parties 
to this miserable crime. Many more 
similar cases might be recited. We 
sound a warning to girls to beware of 
the solicitor from the Godly (?) saint 
on down to the person of ordinary air 
and mien. 
59 Chapter 6. 
The Cabaret and the Saloon. 
WE treat the cabaret and the 
saloon together because usually 
the cabaret is connected directly 
with the saloon. They work together 
under the same management and are 
really the same institution. In most 
cases the cabaret is merely the back 
room of the saloon. The proprietor 
buys or rents a room, say with a twenty- 
foot frontage and one hundred or more 
feet deep. Fifteen feet of the front is 
partitioned off for the saloon and the 
other five feet used for a hallway by 
which patrons can enter the cabaret 
without going through the saloon. The 
saloon may be fifteen feet by thirty feet 
in size and all the rest of the space is 
used for the cabaret. 
61 The World Scourge 
This larger room is furnished with 
tables and chairs for the guests. There 
is a platform for the piano and the mu- 
sicians. From two to six, and sometimes 
more, entertainers and singers are em- 
ployed. These are usually girls who 
are paid anywhere from fifteen dollars 
to thirty dollars per week, owing to the 
amount the proprietor can afford to 
pay and to the ability of the singer. 
They are expected to be on duty from 
Bp.m. to 1 a. m. Where the room is 
large enough and the business justifies, 
some part of the room is used as a dance 
floor upon which the guests may dance 
with their companions or with the girl 
entertainers. All sorts of liquors are 
served to the guests at the tables from 
the mildest lemonade and grape juice 
to the strongest whiskey, brandy and 
absinthe. The liquors are brought by 
waiters from the bar in the saloon. The 
waiter expects a tip of ten cents or more 
for every glass of drink served. Some 
cabarets are also prepared to serve 
62 The Cabaret and the Saloon 
meals at about two or three times the 
ordinary price charged in a restaurant 
for the same foods. In short the caba- 
ret caters to all the wants and whims 
of its patrons, and expects them to pay 
well for all they get, and the poor dupes 
usually leave most of their money in 
the place and come away worse off than 
when they entered, both physically and 
morally, and especially financial!}?-. It 
would be practically impossible to say 
anything particularly good about the 
cabaret and at the same time tell the 
truth. It is not run for the moral up- 
lift of its patrons, but for the benefit of 
the proprietor’s pocket, and in many 
instances as a feeder to worse forms of 
vice. 
While the place is open for business 
from early in the morning until one 
o’clock at night, the main part of the 
business is transacted from 8 p. m. to 
1 a. m., when the city ordinance re- 
quires that it be closed. However, very 
many of them have plans for the enter- 
63 The World Scourge 
tainment of their trusted patrons much 
longer than 1 a. m. A good back door 
and a nice tip to the policeman, if he is 
the kind that will receive a bribe, are 
the things that make it possible to vio- 
late the city ordinance with respect to 
closing. The revelries carried on after 
one o’clock behind closed doors are 
often such as are not suitable to de- 
scribe in a book like this. It is sufficient 
to say that the culmination of several 
hours of drinking produces a scene that 
is disgusting in the extreme and that is 
exceedingly degrading to those who 
partake of it with pleasure. 
The great evil of the cabaret rests in 
the fact that it is really a saloon with a 
number of things added. It sells the 
same drinks sold in the saloon. It ad- 
mits women as well as men into its 
quarters. It offers music and other 
forms of entertainment as inducements 
to its patrons to frequent the place. It 
affords a fine opportunity to men and 
women of immoral turn of mind to 
64 The Cabaret and the Saloon 
solicit others for immoral purposes. 
Many of them have an immediate con- 
nection with some speak-easy hotel or 
assignation house. On the surface there 
is a show of more or less refinement, 
while under the surface there is the 
worst form of moral corruption. All 
the evil things that can truthfully be 
said about the saloon can be said about 
the average cabaret. 
A very dangerous feature of the cab- 
aret is that many innocent persons 
enter the place thinking it a sort of 
harmless amusement where they can 
spend a little time and come away un- 
hurt. They learn to like the place, and 
later become entangled in its meshes in 
such a way as not to be able to free 
themselves again, but are swept off 
their feet into the worst forms of vice. 
Many of these places are incubators 
where every form of immorality and 
vice is hatched and protected. No 
words of condemnation can be used 
that are too severe for some of these 
65 Th e TV or I d Scon rg c 
whirlpools of sin. They become all the 
more dangerous because of the fact 
that, upon the surface, they seem to be 
rather harmless to the one who has 
never been taught carefully the princi- 
ples of good morals and religion. No 
man has ever yet been able to say a 
good thing about the saloon and tell the 
truth at the same time. The cabaret 
deserves great condemnation because it 
leads to the great social evils of the day, 
often right into them. 
The songs sung are frequently very 
immoral, or they are plainly sugges- 
tive, which may be even worse than the 
former, for when a morbid condition is 
established in the imagination it will 
picture scenes more vile than the real. 
In many instances the girl singers are 
allowed to mingle freely with the pa- 
trons and engage in impure conversa- 
tion and allow the men to take liberties 
in handling their persons that are 
grossly immoral. All this is supposed 
not to be allowed by the city ordinance 
66 The Cabaret and the Saloon 
and the police; but it does exist just the 
same, and every well-informed person 
from the mayor on down to the private 
citizen knows it exists. It is the facts 
that are stated and not mere theory. 
Cabarets are like crows, some are 
blacker than others, but they are all of 
the same kind and class nevertheless. 
Criminals are criminals, though some 
may be much worse than others. We 
have yet to see the cabaret that is not 
closely associated with some form of 
evil. 
Until some one finds out how to run 
one successfully without fostering vice 
we will stand squarely against the 
whole business and warn all who wish 
to live pure lives to keep out. The spi- 
der web has a silky softness, but it leads 
to death just the same. So the cabaret 
has the sound of music, the appearance 
of sociability and the offers of society, 
but its inner recesses are the chambers 
of death to the nobler instincts of the 
soul. It would be very difficult to find 
67 The World Scourge 
one that is not immediately connected 
with a saloon. In fact the cabaret is 
the parlor to the saloon, a sort of place 
where vice goes courting, a place where 
one is not supposed to be particular 
about the kind of company he keeps, a 
place where lambs, moral badgers, croc- 
odiles and polecats all mingle together 
and have a sort of general good time. 
One of the best evidences against the 
cabaret is the fact that, if the liquor, 
the immoral songs and liberties were 
cut out, they would die like the flies 
and the frogs of Egypt when Moses 
stretched out his rod to exterminate 
them. The cabarets of today can no 
more live separated from vice than buz- 
zards without carrion They are one 
of the most fruitful contributing agen- 
cies to the world scourge. Quite re- 
cently (July, 1915) the mayor of one 
of our large cities is reported to have 
ordered all cabarets connected with sa- 
loons to be closed. This act bears tes- 
timony to what has been said. 
68 Chapter 7. 
The Dance Hall. 
THE history of dancing is about 
as old as the history of the hu- 
man race. It has always been a 
popular form of amusement. In the 
past few centuries it has become a very 
popular form of amusement. Folk 
dances and national styles of dance are 
common throughout the world. So 
popular has dancing become that we 
have a dance in connection with the in- 
auguration of our President; and there 
are a few churches in the United States 
that have dance halls attached. Some 
of our large business institutions have 
provided dance floors for their em- 
ployes during the noon hour. 
It is not the purpose to discuss the 
dance in its broadest sense or to con- 
69 The World Scon r g e 
demn all forms of dancing as being evil 
and leading to the grosser sins. We 
are aware that David and other wor- 
thies danced, and we have no objection 
to any one dancing if he does it in the 
spirit and for the purpose of David’s 
dancing. We are also aware that there 
isn’t much dancing done these days 
after David’s example, even by the 
church people. Somehow or other when 
our church people dance, they prefer 
quite a different sort of dance from 
that of David, notwithstanding they 
like to refer to him as their pattern, for 
argument sake. Our purpose is to dis- 
cuss the effects of the modern dance 
hall as managed in our cities, the dance 
hall that admits any one who chooses to 
enter, irrespective of the quality of his 
moral character, whether good or bad. 
It is common for these halls to be 
conducted under the name of a dancing- 
academy where lessons in dancing are 
given. The academy idea makes a 
splendid blind behind which to conduct 
70 The Bance Hall 
the grossly immoral dance hall. The 
idea of a dancing school covers up a 
multitude of sins. Even the average 
policeman feels justified in passing by 
the academy without making any in- 
vestigations, for the educational idea 
gives the place an apparent air of re- 
spectability that does not need the scru- 
tinizing eye of the policeman. Some- 
how it happens that these halls, like the 
cabaret, cannot thrive unless they are 
closely connected with the drink traf- 
fic. Not the Spirit helps the patrons 
to dance, but spirits; and up to the 
point where the spirits cause wobbling, 
the more spirits the better. After this 
some questionable place is often sought. 
It is quite a problem in our cities how 
best to regulate special bar permits as 
they relate to dance halls and special 
dances. This goes to show how closely 
connected the modern dance hall is with 
the liquor and saloon business. Why 
should liquor be thought of or men- 
tioned in connection with the dance, but 
71 Th e Jfr orl cl Scourge 
for the fact that the two go hand in 
band. In the long ago, in the days of 
Herod, wine and dancing went hand in 
hand, and it cost John the Baptist his 
head, though he was not interested in 
Herod’s orgy in the least. Not only 
the guilty suffer, but the innocent as 
well. 
It must be admitted that the dance 
as it is related to drink in many popu- 
lar places of resort tends only to arouse 
the baser instincts of the human soul. 
A careful study into the social condi- 
tions in many of these halls reveals the 
fact that the dance is only a blind to 
cover up from the general public the 
baser things to which it leads. The 
dance is the secondary and not the pri- 
mary object. A very large percentage 
of fallen girls and women attribute 
their fall to the immoral influence of 
the dance hall. 
One of the worst features of these 
dance halls is that they are open to the 
public without discrimination. It is a 
72 The Dance Hall 
dangerous practice to allow wanton 
men and women to come in and associ- 
ate indiscriminately and intimately with 
persons of pure character and to go on 
the floor and dance together. This at 
once affords opportunity to men of vi- 
cious character to come into the graces 
of the unsuspecting and cause their 
fall. The modern public dance is al- 
ways a menace to society whether it is 
held in a dance hall or in a church 
parlor. 
If dancing were limited to the chaste 
and pure, and if there was a law pro- 
hibiting the sexes from dancing to- 
gether, if the objections from the moral 
point of view were removed, then there 
would be but veiy little dancing done. 
It would soon be a thing of the past. 
He who will take opportunity to in- 
vestigate among those who are fre- 
quenters of the public dance halls will 
soon learn from their own testimony 
that the reason for dancing is not found 
so much in the fact that the exercise is 
73 The Wor Id Scour g e 
considered desirable, as in the fact of 
the close personal physical contact af- 
forded by the dance. It requires more 
than the ordinary moral character to 
withstand this without falling into a 
grosser crime. 
Girls and women are expected to 
dress for the dance in such a way as 
will expose to public gaze some of their 
physical charms. We are not saying 
that there are none who can stand even 
against this temptation to become a lib- 
ertine, we are speaking of the great 
danger to the average person, and our 
contention is that the danger is so great 
to so large a number, relatively speak- 
ing, that the institution called the dance 
hall should be done away by law. It 
has no right to exist as it does. We be- 
lieve that fully half, or more, of the 
fallen women and girls can trace their 
fall to the dance. Beyond controversy 
the record of the dance hall is bad say- 
ing the best that can be said about it. 
Let him who doubts the correctness 
74 The Dance H all 
of what has been said read the confes- 
sion of a poor girl who died the victim 
of the dance and its evil effects. Her 
name was Minnie Clark. She was tal- 
ented. The pastor who officiated at her 
funeral published her confession in the 
following words which need no com- 
ment : 
“Listen! Let me speak. I surely 
ought to be heard. Those who will speak 
at my funeral will only know a few 
scant facts about my life, whilst I know 
all the dreadful history, from its inno- 
cent beginning to its end in dishonor. 
“Who but myself, with a perfect 
knowdedge of the steps which led me 
out of virtue’s path, should warn those 
who are about to take the track away 
from purity and peace? Who but poor 
Minnie Clark should voice the cry of 
the thousands of ruined girls, against 
the loathsome cause of their ruin, beer 
and the saloon? 
“Only a few hours—and I shall lie in 
the silent grave, but in my last mo- 
75 Th e TV or Id Scourge 
meats let me warn one and all. Beware 
of Beer! Beware of Novels! and, Shun 
the Saloon. These three have wrought 
my downfall. As you look upon my 
sad form, I beg you not to say, ‘That 
is what she brought herself to.’ But 
please tell the truth and say, ‘That is 
where the American saloon finished its 
work of destroying Minnie Clark.’ 
This is the last sad act of a short but 
terrible tragedy. The one who first of- 
fered me a glass of wine, the friends (?) 
in whose homes I learned to drink beer; 
every bartender who sold me drink,’ 
everyone who bought drink for me and 
every saloon owner-and may Igo a 
step farther and include those who have 
licensed the saloon; each of these have 
a part in this solemn tragedy, and must 
share the responsibility for my deep 
fall. Had I not learned to drink beer, 
I should have shunned the saloon. I 
would not have been drawn into the 
society of such men and women who 
helped me rapidly downward, and who 
76 The Dance Hall 
now do not mourn my loss, my disgrace 
and my ruined soul. Ido not forget 
that I am to blame. Too well do I 
know that God holds me accountable 
for all the dark past. I need not argue 
this point, but I want this published 
broadcast for the sake of other weak 
ones like myself, that: 
“Those who taught me to drink, 
“Those who manufacture the drink, 
“Those who bought me drink, 
“Those who sold me drink, 
must share with me at the judgment 
bar of God. The first step in my down- 
fall was the reading of novels. I rev- 
elled in these stories with great de- 
light. They led me to take the second 
step, which was the theater, then the 
dance, and then came evil associatesJ 
drink and the saloon. And now at last 
—oh, how I dare think of it! A drunk- 
ard’s grave for my body and hell for 
my soul. In the name of Him ‘who 
shall judge the world,’ I appeal to you 
to exert your utmost ability against the 
77 The TV orld Scour g e 
saloon entrenched behind the bulwarks 
of law. 
“In the name of the girls whose bod- 
ies are found floating' on the rivers 5 
whose corpses are in the morgue today, 
and tomorrow in the potter’s field; in 
the name of the girls who tonight will 
be drinking in saloons; but more loudly 
I would plead, in the name of the pure 
young girls, who soon will be ruined 
like myself, oh hear me, ye citizens, and 
destroy the saloon which destroyed me! 
“Do you pity me? Is your heart 
touched? Would you speak comfort to 
my sad, aching heart? You may. Not 
exactly to me, but you can pity, you can 
help rescue the girls who are starting 
on this downward road to hell. My 
life which was once promising is now 
blighted. My life which might have 
been a blessing in the world now ends 
in this horrible tragedy, murdered by 
the saloon. 
“Oh, ye people who know ‘the better 
way,’ who are strong in morals, strong 
78 The Dance Hall 
in faith, strong in God, if there is any- 
thing in religion, if the Gospel has 
power to save, will you not hasten with 
it to the thousands in the cities of New 
York and Brooklyn whose souls are 
neglected ? 
“Yours in behalf of the ruined, lost 
and dying Minnie Clark.” 
It will be noticed that this girl speaks 
principally about liquor and the saloon, 
but it must also be observed that she 
claims that the dance and its associa- 
tions led her to drink. This is one of 
our contentions, the dance hall and 
drink go hand in hand. We know that 
we are correct Even if such halls do 
exist they are a menace to society, be- 
cause the modern dance as conducted 
in public halls tends to increase the so- 
cial evil. Immorality can exist apart 
from strong drink, though it exists 
much easier with drink. 
The fact stares us in the face that 
the dance halls in our cities are contrib- 
uting agencies to the world scourge and 
79 The World Scourge 
ought to be suppressed. They levy too 
great a toll upon the manhood and 
womanhood of our land to be allowed 
to exist. There are too many of the 
youth of the land ground through these 
mills who come out libertines, for us to 
allow them a place in our cities. 
80 Chapter 8. 
The Moving Picture Show. 
EVERY lawful thing can be and 
has been abused. The moving 
picture show is not necessarily 
evil. There may be some people who 
are thoughtless enough to think that it 
is the “moving” feature that makes the 
show objectionable. The question is 
not whether the picture is moving or 
stationary. The question is one as to 
the moral quality of the thing repre- 
sented in the picture. We have seen 
moving pictures that were highly edu- 
cative, and we have seen other pictures 
that we considered quite immoral in 
their nature, and vice versa. It is a no- 
torious fact, however, that the moving 
picture has been so greatly abused that 
many of our cities have been compelled 
81 The TV or I d Scourge 
to have all films passed upon by a board 
of censors before being presented to 
the public. 
There are at least two kinds of mov- 
ing pictures that tend to lead to im- 
morality, namely, those that present 
things immoral and those that covertly 
suggest immorality. The latter are the 
worst kind, for there is greater danger 
from exciting a morbid curiosity and 
leaving it to imagination to work out 
the details than in presenting the actual 
completed scene, unless the completed 
scene were excessively vile, indeed, a 
thing that is not likely to be presented. 
It is the covert design that is so very 
mischievous and that results in exciting 
the evil passions to acts of vileness. 
Another serious objection to the 
moving picture show, one that leads to 
many acts of vice and crime, is the 
darkened condition of the room in 
which the picture is displayed. Dim 
light and darkness tend to provoke the 
desire in the minds of men to indulge in 
82 The Moving Picture Show 
things evil. When a public assembly 
room is poorly lighted, and when it is 
open to a mixed multitude of all classes 
of people, the tendency to do evil things 
that lead to the grossest immorality is 
greatly multiplied. 
The average moving picture show 
has become such a resort for persons of 
questionable character that it has be- 
come necessary to place detectives in 
the rooms to discover and eject or ar- 
rest characters who make themselves 
nuisances in the place. The back seats 
of these shows have often been the 
meeting place of persons bent upon 
immoral practices. Those who have evil 
designs on the innocent have made the 
picture show a place of resort with the 
object in view to fall into conversation 
with the innocent and so lead them into 
vice and sin. It is a fact that little by 
little various nets have been woven by 
the vicious element about the moving 
picture show, until honest proprietors 
have been driven to their wits’ end to 
83 The World Scourge 
discover the necessary preventive meas- 
ures to defeat these wicked parasites of 
society from bringing the influences of 
death into the precincts of their places 
of entertainment. 
Where is the man who wants his 
wife, his daughter or his sister to go 
into one of these mixed crowds who 
press into some of the picture shows 
until they are packed in like sardines 
in a box, and there take a seat at ran- 
dom, happening to fall in between two 
men who are bent on vile intentions, 
men who are not there for the pictures 
but for an opportunity to ensnare some 
innocent girl or woman? There has been 
enough revealed about these things to 
make one’s blood rush at double speed 
along arteries and veins. There are 
shows attended by men so vile that if 
all who are there for some other pur- 
pose than the show would leave, it 
would seem like a stampede caused by 
the panic produced by the shout of 
“Fire! Fire!” 
84 The Moving Picture Show 
So demoralizing in general is the av- 
erage picture show that the city of 
Gaiy, Indiana, has provided these 
shows for the school population in the 
school properties and under the control 
and supervision of the school authori- 
ties. This is a wise provision, indeed, 
because the picture show has come to 
stay, and the thing to do is to make it 
a fit place for persons of pure morals, 
especially for our wives, sisters and 
daughters. 
There is one other feature of these 
shows that we wish to mention. It is 
that many of them, very many of them, 
are so exciting and sensational in their 
nature that they produce nervous ex- 
citement to such an extent in their pa- 
trons that they become what we term 
neurotics. And it is a fact that the 
more nervous and excitable any people 
are, the more readily they yield to the 
common vices and immoralities. On 
general principles such shows ought to 
be suppressed. 
85 The IV orl d Scourge 
Then there are a lot of them admit- 
ted the proprietors to be unfit for 
women and children, hence they have 
placed over the door, “Women and 
Children not Admitted.” Fine adver- 
tisement, indeed! Ought not every 
member shun such places of amusement 
as are not fit for the rest of the family? 
Fspecially when it becomes necessary 
to shut out mother and the children? 
But why shut them out? Precisely be- 
cause these shows are immoral in their 
nature. 
We have not condemned all picture 
shows. We have condemned only those 
that are of a nature to be contributing 
agencies directly or indirectly to the 
scourge called the social evil. How- 
ever, it is entirely too much the rule and 
not the exception that these shows are 
managed in so loose a manner that they 
become very objectionable to the best 
people of any community. In evi- 
dence that our criticism is not too 
sweeping, we state the fact that strong 
86 The Moving Picture Show 
efforts have been made both by general 
and local authorities to have them 
brought under better control. 
87 Chapter 9. 
The Questionable Hotel. 
THE well regulated hotel is a ne- 
cessity, but there is no apology 
for tolerating the questionable 
hotel, the place where vice is allowed 
shelter and where it masquerades in the 
garb of a lawful institution. 
There is a class of hotels in all of our 
large cities, and in some of the smaller 
ones, that are nothing more than assig- 
nation houses. These places cater only 
to the patronage of the sporting class 
for the sake of the money they can 
make. It pays a great deal better to 
rent a room several different times for 
immoral purposes in one night for a 
dollar each time, than to rent it to a 
lawful customer for the whole night for 
one dollar. 
89 The World Scourge 
Many of these hotels have their of- 
fice on the second floor of the building, 
and on the same floor are the rooms 
they rent to transients of questionable 
character. The next floor above the of- 
fice is rented to girls and women who 
live regularly in their rooms and are 
subject to the call of the clerk for im- 
moral purposes, when the men patrons 
of the place come and so desire. Some 
of the clerks and bell boys are bold 
enough to suggest the services of a har- 
lot to any transient man who may un- 
wittingly enter the place and take a 
room for the night. In this way they 
become direct contributing agencies to 
the social evil. 
There are numbers of these hotels 
that are connected with places of 
amusement, such as cabarets, dance 
lalls, etc., and secure a large patron- 
age from those who frequent these 
places. Slot all persons who patronize 
the places of amusement named are 
guilty of immorality, but there is a 
90 The Questionable Hotel 
class who are and who become the sup- 
porters of the shady hotel. 
The questionable or shady hotel al- 
ways has its touch with resorts of simi- 
lar kind in other cities, and through 
this means immoral girls and men be- 
come informed as to some new city they 
may desire to visit, thus losing no time 
nor taking any unusual risk in practic- 
ing their immoralities in the new place. 
In fact the whole sporting world is one 
organization in a sort of general way. 
It is not likely that thejr have any care- 
fully worked out system by which they 
help one another, but it is quite appar- 
ent that, on general principles, they are 
connected and so become very helpful 
to each other. It is but natural and to 
be expected that people who are en- 
gaged in the same line of activity will 
know each other and help each other 
when this helpfulness does not inter- 
fere with their own prosperity. In evi- 
dence of what has been said, the follow- 
91 The World Scourge 
mg is quoted from the report of the 
Chicago Vice Commission; 
“Assignation hotels are scattered all 
over the city, especially in the down- 
town district, and on the West and 
North sides. Prostitutes in saloons and 
on the streets use these cheap places. 
The charge for rooms varies from 25 
cents to $2.00, The conditions in many 
of these hotels are unsanitary. The 
furniture is cheap and the beds are used 
by many persons each night without 
change of linen. These places, as used 
b}r street walkers and women soliciting 
in saloons, are the sources of the spread 
of venereal disease to a greater extent 
than any other expression of the social 
evil. There are practically no provis- 
ions for cleanliness on the part of either 
the men or the women.” 
The unsanitary conditions in many 
of these hotels is almost beyond de- 
scription. They are veritable hotbeds 
for the spread of the most dangerous 
forms of disease and ought to be placed 
92 The Questionable Hotel 
under the strictest quarantine. There is 
fully as much necessity for quarantining 
these places as for putting a strict quar- 
antine on smallpox, if the good of the 
public health is to be considered. A 
perfectly moral stranger from out of 
the city may chance to take lodging in 
such a place. He may sleep in a bed 
that is reeking with the germs of some 
loathsome disease, and later the disease 
may develop in his person, causing him 
untold mental and physical agony. 
A civilized community has no excuse 
to offer for allowing such cesspools to 
exist. The main reason why they do 
exist is found in the indifference and 
inactivity of the general public, A 
careful examination of any hotel regis- 
ter will usually give a clue as to whether 
the place is doing an assignation busi- 
ness. In some cases this cannot be re- 
lied on, but in the most glaring viola- 
tions it becomes practically indisput- 
able evidence. The only thing needed 
in the shady hotel to prove that any 
93 The TV orl cl Scourge 
couple who may desire to register are 
husband and wife, is a pen and ink, or 
if this is not available, an ordinary lead 
pencil will serve the purpose. 
It is suggested to the reader that, 
when he is about to register in any ho- 
tel, the character of which is not known 
to him, he should take time to look back 
over a page or two of the register. If 
he finds that an unusual number of 
married (?) people have been register- 
ing, and that the same room has been 
assigned several times during the same 
day, then he should politely excuse him- 
self and seek another place to stajr. He 
cannot afford to risk his health in such 
a place as this. There are plenty of ho- 
tels that studiously shun doing any 
business with the immoral class. These 
hotels deserve our patronage and our 
encouragement, for at its best the hotel 
business has to put up a hard fight to 
keep itself free from moral vampires. 
Many hotels employ one or more house 
detectives mainly for the purpose of 
94 The Questionable Hotel 
detecting any irregularities that may 
try to steal a march upon them. 
Then, further, one subjects himself 
to the possibility of the worst form of 
temptation by staying in a questionable 
hotel, for many of them have the prac- 
tice of rooming the stranger in some 
part of the building where one or more 
of their immoral women may have a 
chance to solicit him for vile purposes. 
It is not wise to subject one’s self to 
this form of temptation. Pass on. You 
may have to pay more for a room in a 
good hotel, but you will get better serv- 
ice and be safe. 
95 Chaptee 10. 
Other Causes. 
THERE are a great number of 
contributing agencies that help to 
increase the social evil and to 
make it more difficult to battle success- 
fully against it. A number of these 
will be treated briefly in this and the 
following chapter irrespective of their 
relative importance in relation to their 
effect upon public morals. 
Rooming Houses and Flats. 
fn all ot our cities there are a great 
many rooming houses. In large num- 
bers of these, rooms are rented to the 
sexes indiscriminately. Practically no 
attention is paid either by the owner or 
the renting agent as to the moral con- 
dition in these buildings. If the rent is 
97 The W arid Scourge 
paid according to contract, no further 
demands are made. A condition of 
this kind at once affords a splendid ren- 
dezvous for almost every sort of vice. 
There are scores of rooms and flats that 
are used for housing those who make 
their living by conducting immoral re- 
sorts. 
The low rent charged for rooms in 
many of the cheaper rooming houses 
and flats is an inducement to hundreds 
of young men and women who come to 
the city to seek quarters in them, and 
thus they are a great source of danger 
to that innocent class who become a 
ready prey for the sporting world. It 
is a very dangerous thing for any 
young man or woman to occupy a room 
in a building that is inhabited by a num- 
ber of persons of immoral character. 
The chances are that such a person will 
be led into the same forms of vice. It 
is time that the parents in small towns 
and in the rural districts should awaken 
to the fact that there is great danger 
98 Other Causes 
confronting their children when they go 
to the city to work. A young girl goes 
to the city alone to seek work and a 
place to room. When she goes out in 
search of a room, she soon sees a sign 
in a window, “Rooms for Rent.” She 
enters and inquires. She finds the price 
in favorable comparison with her means 
and the place convenient to her work. 
She bargains for the room and moves 
in. The house happens to be a verit- 
able beehive of morally loose people. 
In a majority of cases the girl will 
sooner or later fall, if for no other rea- 
son than that she finds she can add 
considerable money to her income by 
practicing immorality, and her folks at 
home will be none the wiser, but will be 
pleased that she is making so much 
money. There are not only scores, but 
literally hundreds of just such cases. 
And worse than the rest, many of these 
girls write to their sisters or their girl 
chums in the country and get them to 
come to the city for the same game. It 
99 Th e TV o rid Scourge 
is time for parents to become not only 
awake but enough alarmed to act intel- 
ligently. 
Another source of great evil is the 
flat of several rooms that is rented by 
some party, either man or woman, or 
both, for the purpose of conducting an 
immoral resort. In one building alone 
there was recently found twenty-four 
flats which were used for no other pur- 
pose than the social evil. The madam 
may room two or three girls on the 
premises. She also has a number of 
girls whom she calls over the phone 
when business demands their services. 
These are termed “call girls,” because 
they hold themselves in readiness dur- 
ing certain hours of the day and night. 
This form of vice becomes very danger- 
ous since the madam makes it her busi- 
ness to form the acquaintance of young 
and desirable girls and to lure them to 
her place of business and teach them 
how to make “easy money” by selling 
their virtue. The danger is intensified 
100 Other Causes 
still further because the patrons of 
these houses are usually men of means 
and men who are respectable in the 
business world and even in the churches 
of the country. More than one madam 
has made her boast to the officers that 
her patrons were men of the very best 
classes, and that one coming to her 
resort, either man or girl, would he 
treated well and would need fear no 
danger of disease or of any other sort. 
Numbers of these madams keep in 
close touch with country and village 
girls and lure them into a life of shame. 
This is frequently done while the par- 
ents think the girl is working at some 
honorable pursuit and rooming with 
some good friend in the city. The vice 
carried on in these flats might he called 
“gilt edged vice,” for the reason that it 
pretends to take on elegant form. 
Most of our cities are simply honey- 
combed with it to the extent that it is 
appalling. It is doubly dangerous be- 
cause it makes the unwary believe that 
101 The World Scourge 
it is really respectable. Many of this 
class of sports attend church and Sun- 
day-school and move in the very best 
circles of society, so-called. These facts 
have been verified by a number of re- 
form societies and agencies. 
The Telephone. 
The widespread and common use of 
the telephone has greatly helped to in- 
crease the social evil. Not because the 
telephone is wrong in itself in any way, 
but because it makes it so easy to call 
persons and confer with them without 
the neighbors or any other person see- 
ing or knowing. The public telephone 
booth is one of the greatest menaces to 
public morals. It is open at all hours 
of the day and night for any one who 
chooses to use it and who has the nickel 
to drop in the slot. It is greatly pat- 
ronized in the cities by that class of 
people who would not venture to use 
the phone at home for the purpose de- 
sired. It is one of the chief agents in 
102 Other Causes 
the rooming houses and the private flat 
that is used for immoral purposes. The 
telephone puts the whole city at one’s 
command in a certain sense. Many 
persons will answer the phone who 
would not think of admitting the party 
calling them into their home or their 
office. 
The Chicago Vice Commission said, 
“The telephone is the main agency used 
in conducting these flats (meaning the 
immoral flats). Most keepers have a 
list of young girls ‘on call/ that is, girls 
who are employed during the day and 
who are ready to come to these flats 
during the evenings when there is a 
rush of business.” Further evidence 
of the mischief the telephone does is 
found in the fact that the Chicago Tel- 
ephone Company, at the urgent request 
of the Morals Commission of the city, 
has agreed to remove any phone from 
any room or flat that is being used for 
immoral purposes. 
103 The IfT or I d Scourge 
Massage Parlors and Manicure Shops. 
Many of the massage parlors and 
manicure shops have become notorious 
dens of vice and immorality. Espe- 
cially is this true of those conducted in 
the downtown districts. The manicure 
establishment is conducted by girls and 
women, and thus it becomes the meet- 
ing place for men with these parties, 
who desire to arrange for immoral 
practices. What can be said of these 
manicure shops can be said of the mas- 
sage parlors and bath rooms managed 
by women and open for the trade" of 
men. The reputation of many of these 
places has become so bad that it is not 
uncommon for a chaste woman who has 
been manicuring to discontinue and 
seek some other employment in order 
to avoid the suspicion that may fasten 
itself upon her if she continues in this 
occupation. There are likely perfectly 
respectable women following these lines 
of business, but nevertheless they are a 
104 Other Causes 
source of danger to morals and have 
been so recognized by all careful inves- 
tigators. 
Lady Barber Shop. 
The barber shops conducted by ladies 
for the patronage of men are fre- 
quently conducive of a low standard of 
morals. Men of vile intent are disposed 
to patronize these shops for no good 
purpose. We have hardly come to that 
high development in our civilization 
when it is wise for any lady to under- 
take to run a barber shop for men, un- 
less she expects to increase her tempta- 
tions and her danger. She can manage 
her shop properly, but the chances are 
that it will not be done. Many of these 
shops are the anterooms to vice. 
Ignorance. 
The lack of such literary training as 
will fit one for some lucrative calling in 
hie is often the cause of girls going 
wrong. Because they lack in theirsedu- 
105 The World Scourge 
cation they are compelled to seek em- 
ployment where low wages are paid, 
often not a living wage. The result is 
that the girl resorts to the practice of 
immorality in order that she may make 
enough money to keep up with the de- 
mands of society. Careful investiga- 
tion discovers the fact, that far the 
larger majority of sporting women are 
deficient in their literary training, and 
many of them lack in native mental tal- 
ent. It is rare that one is found who 
ranks high intellectually and education- 
ally. And, when one of this rank is 
found, there is always some unfortunate 
history back of her fall. Ignorance is 
a dangerous foe to good morals. 
The Double Moral Standard. 
One of the curses to our present-day 
civilization is the double standard of 
morals. It is absolutely wrong to have 
one standard for men and another for 
women. The only right thing to do is 
to require the same of one sex that we 
106 Other Causes 
require of the other. It was so in the 
days of our Master. The Pharisees 
were demanding the life of the woman 
taken in adultery and made no demand 
whatever of the man. Whenever the 
public sentiment will as readily excuse 
and for give the woman as it does the 
man, then there will be some chance for 
a fallen girl to rise, and scores of them 
will take advantage of this opportunity. 
The fact that there is practically no 
forgiveness for the girl who goes wrong 
tends to discourage the fallen and cause 
them to keep on in their evil way. On 
the other hand, if the public would take 
her hack again into their arms and lend 
the helping hand as is done to the man, 
she would be encouraged to rise up and 
try harder than ever to keep out of the 
paths of sin. 
Careful investigation proves that 
multitudes of fallen women and girls 
continue in the downward course sim- 
ply because the future seems hopeless 
to them so far as restoration to respect- 
107 The World Scourge 
ability is concerned. When we are 
once rid of the Pharisees the whole 
world will take on a new life. Jesus 
Christ released the woman and freed 
her from stigma so far as he was con- 
cerned, on the ground that she go and 
sin no more. Whll may we afford to 
learn from the Master and go and do 
likewise. It is not so much sin, awful 
as it is, that is disgrace, as the disposi- 
tion to continue in sin. He who sins 
and turns from his sin, having repented, 
is just as honarable in the sight of God 
as if he had not sinned, notwithstanding 
what the Pharisees may say. When the 
Spirit of the Master once takes hold of 
men, then there will be but one standard, 
and this standard will make it perfectly 
possible for any fallen sinner to rise, no 
matter to what depth he has fallen. 
The writer can point out cases where 
girls had gone wrong, who, repented 
and who are now the very best of house- 
wives, respected by all who know them. 
Reformation is entirely possible. 
108 Chapter 11. 
Other Causes (Concluded). 
Immoral Theaters and Shows. 
MOST of our large cities are fes- 
tering with immoral theaters and 
shows, where performances are 
given before the public that outrage 
every sense of morality and virtue. 
The vilest scenes are transacted and the 
most grossly impure suggestions made. 
Everything is done that carnal propen- 
sity can invent to aid and abet things 
that are impure. Everything is offered 
the public, from the mildly suggestive 
to the Salome dance. The sensual pas- 
sions are stirred to the full extent, and 
when the show is over scores are ready 
for the practice of the vilest immorali- 
ties. The advertisements of these plays 
109 The World Scourge 
appear upon the billboards throughout 
the city and country in pictures that are 
not fit to be exposed anywhere, unless 
it be in the abyss of darkness inhabited 
by the fallen angels. Such conditions 
lead the youth of the land in but one 
direction, the direction of immorality. 
Here again we are confronted by the 
double standard in a little different 
form. Some popular actress disrobes 
herself of everything except a slight bit 
of thin veiling and dances before the 
elite in some parlor on Lake Shore 
Drive, or some other avenue of wealth, 
and they call it “poetic expression,” and 
the press agents go into ecstasy of rhe- 
torical figure in their efforts to describe 
its beauty in the morning papers. But 
if some handsome woman gives prac- 
tically the same dance in less sumptuous 
quarters, these same fellows are loud 
in their condemnation of the immoral 
scene. We are quite disposed to be- 
lieve that sin is sin whether it be trans- 
acted in gilded palaces or in hovels. It 
110 Other Causes 
does not matter where Salome dances. 
The questian is, Did she dance? If she 
did, shame upon her! The immoral 
show tends to immorality whether we 
call it by some refined name like “poetic 
interpretation,” or by some other name 
more suited to its low moral qualitjr. 
The whole devilish business contributes 
to the world scourge. 
The theater at best is not conducive 
of good morals. This we need not 
argue, but just let the stage people tell 
their own story. Olive Logan, a cele- 
brated actress, says: “The actual pre- 
vailing character of actors, male and 
female, has been not only disreputable 
but immoral and licentious.” Clement 
Scott says: “It is really impossible for 
a woman to remain pure who adopts 
the stage as a profession. Everything 
is against her.” Testimonies of this 
kind might be multiplied to a great 
number, all coming from the mouths of 
actors and actresses of the day. If the 
theater is immoral at the core, how can 
111 The Worl d Scourge 
it be other than demoralizing- to those 
who attend? What influence upon the 
world would the church have for good 
if it were as impure as an institution as 
is the theater? We are compelled to 
conclude that, not only the so-called 
immoral theater tends to increase the 
social evil, but the theater as a whole 
tends in this same direction. 
Others than those engaged in the pro- 
fession condemn the theater. Henry 
Beecher said: “The theater must 
he corrupt to live. It is notorious that 
the theater is the door to all the sinks 
of iniquity.” William Ellery Charming 
said: The theater has nourished in- 
temperance and all vice. It is disgraced 
by profaneness, coarseness, indelicacy, 
low wit, such as no worthy woman of 
the name can hear without blushing, 
and no man can take pleasure in with- 
out self-degredation.” 
112 Other Causes 
Low Wages. 
The low wages paid to girls by many 
of the mercantile and manufacturing 
enterprises of the land tend to increase 
immorality. There has been some in- 
crease in the wages in the past six years, 
but in many cases they are below a liv- 
ing wage yet. The girl must live, and 
if she is poor and if she is without the 
support of someone else, she must live 
upon what she earns, and she must earn 
enough in some way to live, or she must 
go to some infirmary. She must live. 
If the wage paid her by her employer 
will not keep her, then she will *he 
tempted to try to add to it by resorting 
to some other means than her daily 
work. Ii she is at all attractive there 
will be someone ready to suggest to her 
the so-called easy way to make money. 
If she has never been carefully trained 
with reference to morals, or if she is 
naturally a weak character, she will be 
almost sure to fall. 
113 The TV or I d Scourge 
There are many fallen girls who can 
trace their fall to the need of more 
money due to the fact that they were 
not getting a living wage. Investiga- 
tion by a state commission brought out 
this fact clearly in one of our largest 
cities within the past five years. To be 
sure, one of the largest employers of 
girls tried hard to make it appear dif- 
ferent when he was on the stand before 
the commission, but the girls from his 
own establishment overthrew his testi- 
mony when they were put on the same 
stand and testified. 
We will give one example that was 
investigated. Two gentlemen, one a 
banker from a western state, were walk- 
ing along the street in a large city at 
seven o’clock one evening. A fine look- 
ing young woman solicited them for im- 
moral purposes. Astonished that so 
handsome a girl was in so vile a busi- 
ness, she was asked to explain the cause. 
Her explanation was, that she was 
clerking in a certain large department 
114 Other Causes 
store, one of the largest in the United 
States, and that her wages would not 
support her, for she was required to 
dress well in the store and to move about 
on a certain social plane. She said that 
she had no one in the world to help her, 
and that she resorted to this means two 
evenings of each week to make up her 
deficit; and that she was always off the 
street by ten o’clock. She told what 
department she clerked in, and what 
counter. Further investigation at a 
later date showed that she was at the 
counter she had named. This same 
store has been accused of suggesting to 
their low-paid girls the propriety of 
making money in this immoral way. 
Whether the accusation is true to facts 
or not, it is difficult to know. How- 
ever, the incident just related would be 
strong circumstantial evidence. Now, 
dear reader, suppose that your own 
dear beautiful daughter or sister should 
he orphaned and thrown out in just such 
circumstances as this one, how do you 
115 Th e TV arid Scour g e 
think it might result? Stop and think 
seriously before deciding the matter. 
You have no security that she might not 
go wrong. This girl was someone’s 
little girl once, and may be she was 
sweeter than your own child. Inno- 
cent, beautiful girlhood is no protection 
against the social evil but rather in- 
creases the danger. 
Love of Dress and Display. 
There is another class of girls who 
work for their living and who are re- 
ceiving wages sufficiently remunerative 
that they ought to be able to save some 
money. Their great love for dress and 
display causes them to spend more 
money than they earn in legitimate 
ways, and they frequently resort to im- 
moral practices. Large numbers of 
fallen women and girls frankly admit 
that their love for these things was the 
real cause of their departing from the 
path of purity. In a certain sense 
church people are somewhat to blame 
116 Other Causes 
for this evil, for there is entirely too 
much love for and display of dress and 
jewelry bjr those who are the professed 
followers of the lowly Christ. Many a 
girl has been led to vice by her efforts 
to keep pace with her own church peo- 
ple in matters of dress and display. 
They could keep pace with the Master 
without failing into this temptation, but 
not with his professed followers. 
The Vulgar Styles of Dress. 
The styles of women’s dress cannot 
be described in this book without violat- 
ing the rule that we started out with, 
namely, that we would use language 
pure enough to be read by anyone. It 
is sufficient to say that every form of 
lustful vice is developed and nourished 
by the extravagant and shameful styles 
of dress seen on the streets of any vil- 
lage or city. It is not to be wondered 
at that there are so many lustful looks 
and practices on the part of men, but 
it is rather to be wondered at that there 
117 Th e JV or I d Scourge 
are any pure men, when we consider the 
forms of temptation paraded before 
them constantly by the opposite sex. 
And here again we find the church peo- 
ple appropriating the whole ungodly 
thing to their own uses and becoming 
leaders in the wicked practices. Is it 
any wonder that the world scourge 
stalks around like a great giant bidding 
defiance to all moral reformers? 
Lack of Teaching and Warning. 
Parents, teachers and leaders neglect 
to teach the rising generation with ref- 
erence to the proper care and use of 
their procreative organs. The failure 
at this point is the cause of the very 
common practice of what is called “the 
secret sin, so common among the 
youth of both sexes. The practice of 
the secret sin naturally leads to all other 
forms of vice and becomes a very fruit- 
ful feeder to the social evil. 
Children and young people should he 
taught the importance of cleanliness. 
118 Other Causes 
both physical and moral, as it relates to 
the procreative organs. Physical un- 
cleanness is almost certain to be fol- 
lowed by the habit of self-abuse, and 
self-abuse naturally leads to illicit con- 
gress. Young people should be in- 
spired to live clean lives for the sake 
of their best physical, intellectual and 
moral development. The boy or girl 
who will live properly will have no 
trouble in outdistancing his fellows in 
school work, for the simple reason that 
the common run of young people lessen 
their mental strength so much by the 
practice of self-abuse that they cannot 
compete successfully with the one who 
does not fall into this ruinous habit. 
Every lawful inducement ought to be 
brought to bear upon the youth in order 
to cause him to avoid this very common 
sin. 
Then there Is the danger of contract- 
ing one or more of the terrible diseases 
which follow in the wake of immoral 
practices with those of the opposite sex. 
119 I he if ' or I d Scour g e 
Very few, indeed, are the young men 
and women who have been told any- 
thing of the nature of the awful dis- 
eases that are almost sure to result from 
prostitution. These diseases are as 
much to he dreaded as the leprosy. It 
is a question in the mind of the medical 
profession whether some of them can 
he entii ely cured when once contracted. 
Add to the terrors that come to the 
physical body the terrors that fasten 
themselves upon the mind and the soul, 
and the picture of the results of the 
social evil is one of the most dread- 
ful that can be contemplated. These 
things ought to be carefully impressed 
iipon the mind of all young people. 
Countless multitudes of'the fallen are 
lamenting the fact that they were never 
warned of the dangers lurking in the 
pathway of lust. As grown-ups we 
may not be doing our duty with respect 
to this. We must arouse ourselves if 
we would save our boys and girls. 
A large number of other agencies 
120 Other Causes 
contributing to the social evil might be 
named and discussed, such as the lax 
divorce laws, the economic stress of in- 
dustrial life, unhappy homes, broken 
promises, the foolish customs of court- 
ship, the craving for excitement, the 
love of ease, etc. Enough has been said 
to arouse the reader to thought and we 
hope to intelligent action against this 
great evil. 
Child Marriages. 
At the meeting held in San Fran- 
cisco, referred to in Chapter 2, Mr. 
C. L. Rediield of Chicago is reported 
as having said: “I say to you, posi- 
tively, that these child marriages are 
laying the foundations for new sources 
of vice and crime. A campaign of edu- 
cation on the question of early mar- 
riages is urgently needed. Perhaps 
some of you think that thus to delay 
marriages would be to increase largely 
the immorality among the unmarried. 
Heretofore you have based your judg- 
121 The World Scourge 
ment in such matters on common sense, 
but I am telling you now that there is a 
sound scientific reason, heretofore over- 
looked, why such marriages are an in- 
jury to the race. The injury is not to 
those who marry hut to those who come 
after them. The product of those early 
marriages—reproduction which breeds 
mentally and morally unfit—is the first 
step in the production of those forms 
of vice which we have upon our shoul- 
ders to eradicate.” 
122 PART 111. 
The Remedy. 
Chapter 12. 
Things That Have Been Bone. 
IT is much easier to discover the fact 
that a man is sick than it is to know 
just what is the matter with him or 
to administer the proper remedy. 
That there is a serious moral dis- 
temper affecting the social life of the 
world no thoughtful observer will deny. 
Society is reeking with corruption of 
the vilest sort, a corruption that de- 
mands its toll of all classes of society 
and that wrecks lives, homes and happi- 
ness. A remedy must be applied, and 
this remedy must be the best possible 
to discover, if the world is to be brought 
up to the highest standard of moral 
123 The TV or I d Scour g e 
efficiency. A number of things have 
been done in the recent years that have 
greatly helped to ameliorate the condi- 
tions. 
Through the earnest efforts of large 
numbers of the best citizens both in the 
church and outside a strong sentiment 
has been created against the social evil. 
This sentiment has taken practical ef- 
fect through a number of moves that 
tend toward the moral uplift of society. 
In almost every American city the 
notorious segregated districts, com- 
monly called red light districts, have 
been closed, and vice is no longer 
allowed to parade itself as a legitimate 
business of the community by the con- 
sent of the people. The closing up of 
these districts has been a long step in 
the right direction, though it has not 
worked a complete solution of the prob- 
lem. This has removed the temptation 
farther from those who have not been 
partakers of vice, and has resulted in 
saving multitudes of young men and 
124 Things That Have Been Bone 
women from falling, notwithstanding 
the cry that comes from certain quar- 
ters that it has made matters worse. It 
is utterly absurd to claim that the social 
evil exists to the same degree as it did 
before segregated vice was destroyed. 
Another very helpful thing has been 
the appointing of a Morals Commission 
in many of the cities. The business 
of this commission is to follow closely 
upon the trail of all forms of vice and 
adopt methods for correcting social 
errors. Such commissions are working 
vigilantly in several cities and have ac- 
complished very good results. 
In many places there has been a com- 
plete shaking up of the police force 
in such a way as practically to eliminate 
the graft system as a means of protect- 
ing violations of the laws and the ordi- 
nances respecting the social evil. Much 
remains to be done before the average 
police department will be what it 
should. 
A large amount of good has been aa- 
125 The TV o rid Scourge 
complished by the various forms of mis- 
sion work, especially by the midnight 
mission bands. Still larger results will 
come from future efforts of this sort. 
The press of the country has entered 
into the fight against evil in a manner 
as never before, and the good results 
are becoming daily more apparent. 
Another very helpful thing has been 
the practice of making public through 
the newspapers the names of persons 
who own property that is used or rented 
for immoral purposes. This form of 
assault has caused numbers of church 
members, trust companies and others to 
abandon the practice of harboring un- 
desirable tenants. In some places it 
has created a very marked stir among 
people who were considered the best 
citizens and at the same time were 
knowingly renting properties for the 
vilest uses. This stir has very mate- 
rially helped not only the individuals 
concerned, but society at large. 
The telephone companies come in for 
126 Things That Have Been Hone 
their share of praise because many of 
them have agreed to remove any and all 
’phones that are in houses where the 
social evil exists. In some of the large 
cities they are more than ordinarily 
careful in living up to their agreement. 
Where this is done the evil has been 
struck a hard blow. 
Many of the state legislatures and 
the city councils have enacted laws and 
ordinances that tend greatly to reduce 
vice and immorality. 
Church workers are awakening to 
their duty and their opportunity with 
respect to the social evil as never before, 
and the result has had a marked effect 
for good. 
Saloons, dance halls, cabarets and 
other places that have been fostering 
vice are being put under much better 
regulations in many cities than in 
former years. 
The United States law known as the 
Mann Act, while it has been greatly 
misapplied, has lessened to a commend- 
127 rh e TV or I d Scour g e 
able extent the social evil as it was for- 
merly carried on between the various 
states. 
A better understanding has been 
established among the civilized nations 
in the past quarter century and more 
is being done than ever before to pre- 
vent commerce in girls and women be- 
tween the cititzens of various nations. 
This is lessening commercialized vice 
and protecting numbers of helpless 
victims. 
One of the most hopeful signs is the 
fact that there seems to be no disposi- 
tion anywhere to take backward steps 
in the work of reforming society and 
cleansing it from this gross evil. 
Quite recently one of our States has 
Passed a law known as The Injunction 
and Abatement Bill. This is a long 
step forward. Commenting upon this 
new law, Mr. Samuel V. Thrasher, 
Superintendent of the Committee of 
Fifteen of Chicago, is reported to have 
said: “The vital point in the bill is that 
128 Things That Have Been Done 
it enables any citizen, having proof that 
a building is being used for purposes 
of prostitution, to serve notice upon the 
owner of the building or his agents, and 
if within a reasonable time the owner 
does not institute correctional measures, 
such citizen may apply for an injunc- 
tion. If his allegations are sustained, 
the court may issue an order closing the 
building for one year, unless the owner 
gives a bond to abate the nuisance.” 
This new law is both fair and reason- 
able and will go a long way toward 
wiping out the evil. 
Another far step in one of our large 
cities has been to order the displacement 
of the red lights. This action was taken 
in July of this year (1915) and was the 
result of a strong pressure brought to 
bear through public agitation, caused by 
educating the public conscience. One 
of the police captains, speaking of the 
moral effect of this order, said: “This 
has done more good than all the raids 
put together. It has acted as a regular 
129 The TV or I d Scourge 
tonic. What does a person think when 
he sees a red light? He thinks there’s 
something crooked going on. Ever 
since the world began, I suppose, red 
has been a symbol of evil. When a 
man is very angry they say he sees red. 
The color even has its effect on animals, 
not omitting the 131111.” 
Speaking of the above action, another 
police captain said: “The results have 
been most gratifying and the ‘new red 
light district’ will soon be a thing of 
the past in fact as well as in outward 
appearances.” 
130 Chaptet 13. 
Things to Be Done. 
EVERY person who is interested 
in the welfare of the world feels 
thankful for what has been done 
to free society of the social evil. The 
things that have been done with greater 
or lesser success have encouraged the 
best citizens to look hopefully forward 
to the things that can yet be done. 
Much remains to do, but no more than 
can be done, and done successfully, if 
the good people will work zealously 
together. 
Society needs to be shaken from cen- 
ter to circumference on this question 
until it understands that it is practically 
the most important problem confront- 
ing the world today. The home, the 
church and every teaching agency in the 
131 The Wo rid Scourge 
land must be awakened to the duty of 
teaching the young people the sacred- 
ness of the marriage relation and the 
serious results to both body and soul 
when God’s moral laws are not lived out 
in life as they ought to be. The public 
has not yet been awakened to the real 
magnitude of the task before them. 
The church must be aroused out of its 
negative goodness to become actively 
good. There are a lot of Christians 
who are so good that they are really 
good for nothing. Their power is never 
applied or felt in matters of social up- 
lift, they idly pass by the common wel- 
fare of the community as if it was in 
no way related to their duty. Both 
pulpit and pew must be stirred out and 
put to work. The church can do much 
more than it has done to rid society of 
this evil. 
There must be the elimination so far 
as possible of all those agencies that 
tend to perpetuate and build up the 
social evil. The saloon must go. It 
132 Thing to Be Done 
does no good. It is a perpetual source 
of evil It cannot live in a pure atmos- 
phere, and the atmosphere cannot be 
pure where it lives. It throws out a 
strong moral stench that stifles things 
that are good and pure. When it is 
voted out of existence the social evil 
will he very greatly decreased. 
There must be a relentless prosecu- 
tion of all who procure women and girls 
for immoral purposes. The solicitor, 
the cadet, the pimp, the panderer and 
all of their kind must be driven from 
the land or into prison. We kill dogs 
effected with the rabies. The charac- 
ters named are far more dangerous 
than mad dogs. We do not recommend 
killing them, but we do recommend put- 
ting them out of business. They must 
not be allowed to carry on their nefari- 
ous business. They can be extermi- 
nated. 
Immoral rooming houses, shady 
hotels and flats where the social evil 
lives and thrives can be practically done 
133 The World Scourge 
away when once the public goes to work 
with the problem dead in earnest. It 
is easy to ferret out such places and 
practically just as easy to clean them 
up. The main thing needed is deter- 
mination on the part of the public. We 
already have the laws and the ordi- 
nances. There is no apology for their 
existence. 
Show houses where vile scenes are 
transacted and vulgar songs sung must 
be stopped from doing their work of 
death. Policemen who will arrest the 
guilty ones instead of laughing at their 
performances must be stationed in such 
places. They can be cleaned up. 
Our laws can be strengthened in their 
weak points until there will be little if 
any chance for the social evil to exist, 
except it be under the closest cover. 
Jokers and loopholes can be eliminated 
from the laws regulating the social rela- 
tions. 
Well organized and persistent dress 
reform societies can do much to lessen 
134 Thing to Be Done 
the evil by advocating and practicing 
simple and modest dress. The public 
must be taught that simplicity is the 
soul of beauty. There is no harm in 
real beauty, and everyone has the right 
to be just as beautiful as possible. 
However, our modern distorted notions 
of beauty need to be changed. It will 
greatly help society when this takes 
place. 
Our cities can be divided into dis- 
tricts, each under the care of a morals 
officer, whose business it will be to know 
whether vice is being practiced in his 
territory, and if it is, to report it to the 
central authorities, whose duty it will 
be to suppress it. Thorough lighting, 
thorough inspection and thorough polic- 
ing will clean up the filthiest spot in 
any city. There are enough good men 
and women available in any city to do 
this. The trouble is we have allowed 
the bum element to take the reins and 
drive to suit themselves. The better 
135 The TVorld Scourge 
class must organize tlieir. forces and 
work until theirs is the victory. 
Every state in the union should have 
a law enforced requiring that any 
young person, man or woman, desiring 
to become married shall be pronounced 
free from any venereal disease by a 
competent physician before being al- 
lowed to enter into marriage. If a law 
of this kind were rigidly enforced it 
would have the effect of causing young 
people to shun immorality before mar- 
riage and it would also protect thou- 
sands of innocent girls from suffering 
from impure and diseased husbands. 
One instance, typical of thousands of 
others, will serve to illustrate the need 
of such a law. A splendid young 
Christian girl was married to a young 
man whom she believed to be virtuous 
and pure. Not long after the marriage 
took place she found herself suffering 
terribly and sought the services of a 
very competent physician. She had 
never been sick a day in her previous 
136 Thing to Be Done 
life, but had always enjoyed the best 
of health. Upon questioning her, and, 
after the proper examination, the physi- 
cian discovered that she was suffering 
from one of the most loathesome vene- 
real diseases contracted from her hus- 
band, and that she could never enjoy 
another well day as long as she lived, 
unless an operation should be per- 
formed. Think of an innocent, pure 
young Christian woman trusting her 
life to the one whom she loves only to 
find herself plunged into such despair! 
There have been countless numbers of 
similar cases, and they will continue to 
multiply until we have laws that will 
protect the innocent from such moral 
imposition. 'Not one of us has any 
security that our own sister or daughter 
will not be a victim of such unfortunate 
circumstances. We are too much given 
to believe that it will always be some 
one other than our own immediate 
friends who will suffer. But suppose 
it should he, are we not interested 
137 Thing to Be Done 
enough to be our neighbor’s keeper, or 
are we satisfied to go along through this 
world unmoved by the misfortunes and 
the suffering of others? The state has 
a duty she owes to her citizens with 
respect to this evil and she ought to dis- 
charge this duty faithfully. 
We have pure food laws that require 
every article to he true to the label it 
bears, and that the label correctly de- 
scribes the article. We need a pure 
morals law that will require places of 
business to be what the sign exposed 
indicates. A law of this kind will 
change the scene behind a lot of signs. 
Some hath houses, massage parlors and 
other places will either go out of busi- 
ness or change their business. It would 
not be an overly difficult matter to en- 
force such a regulation, if the police 
force is of the right sort. The trouble 
is that there are a lot of policemen who 
wear the old-fashioned blind bridles. 
They can only see straight ahead, and 
not very far or well in that direction. 
138 The JV or I d Scourge 
Better wages must be paid to girls 
and women who are hired in many of 
the stores and shops, wages that will 
support them in the necessities of life 
at least. It is a crime against humanity 
and against civilization to pay any one 
less than a living wage. Such a prac- 
tice is a form of slavery that must be 
done away by law. When this is done 
thousands of girls and women will be 
saved from a life of shame. This ques- 
tion has been argued and proved long 
enough, it is time to act. It will lessen 
the exorbitant profits of some enter- 
prises, but it will add great moral 
wealth to the community, a thing far 
more valuable than money. 
Every place known to be used for 
immoral purposes should be quarantined 
by the display of the proper sign, and 
the inmates kept from mixing with the 
Public and the public kept from enter- 
ing such places until the business is 
changed. Such places are known to 
spread disease of the worst form, infi- 
139 The World Scourge 
nitely worse than the measles and some 
other forms of disease that are quaran- 
tined. Venereal diseases above all other 
should be quarantined. Any people 
who will quarantine the measles and let 
syphilis go free is dangerously near be- 
ing a community of fools. 
The night city should be done away 
by thoroughly lighting the streets and 
by policing them much better than in 
the daytime. There are a lot of places 
of business running open all night that 
should be required to close. Every law- 
ful means should be used to get people 
off the streets at night and cause them 
to be in their homes or in some place 
much less dangerous to morals than the 
streets of the ordinary city. We are 
not in favor of what is called blue laws, 
but we are in favor of sensible laws that 
will regulate society in such a manner 
as will be conducive of the highest 
standard of morals. 
When we once become awakened and 
the public conscience fully aroused, 
140 Thing to Be Bone 
light and experience will reveal a thou- 
sand things, so to speak, that remain to 
be done and that can be done. Every- 
thing should be done that will destroy 
the social evil and elevate society to the 
highest moral level. 
Probably the greatest agency for the 
uplift of the race would be the per- 
petuation of a thorough campaign of 
teaching. We are inclined to the belief 
that there is more power in teaching 
than in coercion. In the meantime, un- 
til the teaching can take hold of the 
minds of the people, there must be lawrs 
to regulate in matters of public morals. 
It is not to be expected that we will 
ever succeed in elevating the morals of 
the whole community to that high level 
where restrictive measures will not be 
needed. There always will be some 
morally weak people who will have to 
be kept in place by restrictive measures. 
Mr. Clifford G. Roe, President of 
the American Bureau of Moral Educa- 
tion, speaking with reference to the 
141 The World Scourge 
need and the value of teaching and 
arousing the public, is reported to have 
said; 
“In the past our efforts have been 
largely centered upon the school teach- 
er, the doctor, the lawyer, and the min- 
ister. Our new plan is to bring the 
facts before the great masses of the 
people, the farmer, the business man, 
and the laborer. In my opinion Chi- 
cago is today morally the cleanest met- 
ropolitan city in the world. And what 
has made it so? An aroused public 
sentiment, a quickened moral con- 
science, a deeper and truer conviction 
concerning the responsibility of citizen- 
ship.” 
“We must educate! We must edu- 
cate! or we must perish!” is as true 
concerning this great social evil as it is 
concerning any of the affairs of life and 
good government. 
142 Chapter 14. 
Conclusion. 
IT is not likely that the land can he 
freed entirely of every vestige of the 
social evil, but it can be so reduced 
that it will no longer be the world 
scourge. It can be so nearly annihi- 
lated that its toll of human beings will 
be insignificant as compared with what 
it is taking now. 
There are those who say it cannot 
be done. The thing that can’t be done 
is always the thing that somebody does. 
There was a whole continent of people 
who said that the ocean could not be 
crossed, but Columbus crossed it just 
the same as if they had all been shout- 
ing for him. Our people said that 
messages could not be sent by elec- 
tricity, some even called the man a fool 
143 The World Scourge 
who was trying to do it, but Mr. Morse 
discovered the telegraph and proved 
them to be mistaken. 
It can be done, and it will be done 
whenever the people of God have as 
much faith in him as they have disposi- 
tion at present to surrender to the 
Devil; whenever we value men above 
money; whenever we really believe that 
souls are worth more than pleasure; 
whenever we prize our boys and girls 
above anything else in the world. 
Whenever our chief aim becomes the 
welfare of the race from the moral 
standpoint, the social evil will he driven 
so far into the sea of oblivion that it will 
never again seriously interfere with hu- 
man welfare and progress. 
There is no city in the land that can- 
not be ridded of the social evil in five 
years time, or the vice so reduced that 
it would be very difficult to find anyone 
practicing the sin. 
To say a thing cannot be done that 
ought to be done, and which God and all 
144 C onclusi on 
good people want done, is surrender- 
ing to Satan and declaring him to be 
mightier than the Creator of the uni- 
verse. The world scourge can be anni- 
hilated, and it will be just so soon as 
the good people take off their gloves 
and go to work in the strength of Him 
who gives them life and who always 
leads his people to victory. 
The final conclusion is, that com- 
mercialized vice must go. It is going, 
and it must be kept going until it dis- 
appears from the land. It cannot stand 
against a healthy public sentiment. 
This sentiment is the result of proper 
agitation and teaching. It therefore 
becomes the duty of the good people 
of the country to keep up an intelligent 
system of teaching and training the 
public conscience against this evil. The 
strongest weapon against this crime of 
the ages is proper teaching. Coercive 
measures are good temporarily to hold 
vice in check, but teaching is the thing 
that will lift the public up to that moral 
145 The TV or Id Scourge 
plane which will make commercialized 
vice and other forms of vice a practical 
impossibility. 
146