p. 6 | MRS. I. H. EVANS by MRS. I. H. EVANS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 18, 1910

MRS. I. H. EVANS

By MRS. I. H. EVANS

The White Slave Traffic—No. 3

MRS. I. H. EVANS

WHILE the white slave traffic, that living menace to innocent and beautiful girlhood, reaches its evil tentacles into the cities and towns and even the villages of the land, it is the country girl who leaves home and goes to work in a city, who is in the gravest danger. A thousand nets are spread for her unwary feet; pitfalls of which she does not dream lie in her path.

Earnest-hearted Christian men and women who see the dangers to girlhood everywhere are raising their voices in warning and protest to girls and to their parents and guardians on this subject. Edwin W. Sims, United States district attorney of Chicago, says:—

“The recent examination of more than two hundred white slaves by the office of the United States district attorney at Chicago has brought to light the fact that literally thousands of innocent girls from the country districts are every year entrapped into a life of hopeless slavery and degradation because parents in the country do not understand conditions as they exist, and how to protect their daughters from the white slave traders, who have reduced the art of ruining girls to a national system.”

In view of what he has learned in the recent investigation and prosecution of this traffic, Mr. Sims says, further:—

“I can say in all sincerity that if I lived in the country, and had a young daughter, I would go to any length of hardship and privation myself rather than allow her to go to the city. . . . But if circumstances should seem to compel a change from the country to the city, then the only safe way is to go with her to the city; but even this last has its disadvantages from the fact that, in that case, the parents would themselves be unfamiliar with the usages and pitfalls of metropolitan life, and would not be able to protect their daughter as carefully as if they had spent their own lives in the city.”

And again: “Do not trust any man who pretends to take an interest in your girl, if that interest involves her leaving her own roof. Keep her with you. She is far safer in the country than in the big city, but if go to the city she must, then go with her yourself; if that is impossible, place her with some woman who is your friend, not hers; no girl can safely go to a great city to make her own way who is not under the eye of a trustworthy woman who knows the ways and dangers of city life.”

Miss Florence Dedrich, of Chicago, a rescue worker for the Moody church, has gained through her long experience in working for girls, a true knowledge of many of the dangers that beset the country girl. She contrasts the country girl and the city girl thus:—

“The country girl is more open to the enticements of city life, being more truthful, perfectly innocent, and unsuspecting of those whose business it is to seek their prey from girls of this class. The city girl has had it drilled into her from the time she could walk that she must regard people with distrust, not speaking to strangers anywhere, accepting nothing from any one, and making confidants only of her own people.”

Enumerating the dangers that lie in the path of the country girl, the same worker says:—

“The dangers begin the moment a girl leaves the protection of home and mother. One of these dangers is the fact that there are watchers, or agents, either men or women, at our steamboat landings, railroad stations, everywhere, who seek attractive girls evidently unused to city ways, try to make their acquaintance by using inducements and deception of every conceivable kind, by offers of helpfulness, and by showing every kindness.

“Girls are offered refreshments, either to eat or drink. Many are secured in this way, and realize, when too late, that the refreshing drink was drugged.

“After coming to the city, homesickness may overtake a girl, and, even if warnings have been given, she may forget them, throw off restraint, and pour out her heart freely to those of whom she knows nothing; and in this unguarded moment the mischief is done.

“Another danger still, and a very serious one, is our lodging-houses, many of which are houses of shame, hidden from public eye.

“Rooming in one place and taking meals in another is a great danger, and one which should be guarded against.

“Without a moment’s hesitation I would say, after much investigation, that one curse of our land is the five-cent theaters. More harm is done right here in one night than could be undone in years.

“Ice-cream parlors and fruit stores, in many cases combined, run largely by foreigners, are where scores of girls have taken their first step downward.

“There are restaurants selling wines and liquors, where many young girls go as waitresses, which hold dangers for every girl.

“The amusement parks are now becoming a serious menace to our young people. Advertisements are another temptation in store for the country girl.

“One of the most fascinating allurements of city life to many a young girl is the dance hall.

“Many girls have a great desire and ambition to work in a store in the city. I would never allow a girl to do it unless I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she possessed great strength of character. A serious cause for the downfall of many girls is the small wages which so-called Christians are paying—barely enough for mere existence.”

Much more might be written on the subject, but enough has been presented to show that the danger to girls, even in this country, is a very real one. One of the saddest features of the whole sad business is the extreme youth of many of the girls who are led or forced into a life of slavery worse than death. Before they can have any idea of life or its possibilities, or any faintest comprehension of what a life of sin means, they are enticed and seduced into the dens of vice. One man, whose heart was not entirely dead to feelings of humanity, found his little victim weeping because her doll had not been brought with her, as promised; and, taking pity on her, rescued her from the life she was about to enter. Another child of tender years, not so fortunate, bewailed the loss of her Teddy bear.

This terrible vice and its evil effects may seem very remote from your child in her sheltered home. But the only safety for any girl lies in vigilance, in warning, and in shunning the places of temptation and downfall.

Takoma Park, D. C.