Sodom the Second | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 12, 1871

Sodom the Second.

THERE has been much discussion of late concerning “the social evil” and how to deal with it. St. Louis has undertaken to regulate it by license and inspection like any legitimate employment. Other cities and towns ignore it in their legislation, and only repress its most odious manifestations. The spiritualists and some of the “woman suffragists” are laboring to lessen the measure of blame with which society regards the crime of prostitution. The one right and practicable method for government to pursue—persistent and vigorous suppression—is nowhere attempted. Meanwhile the evil and the incitements to it are steadily increasing. The fact that licentiousness is a fearful element in the social condition of any nation, and brings after it rapid and terrible retribution, must be our excuse for noticing such facts as the following published in the New York Tribune: “The annual pic-nic of the Female Parasol and Umbrella Makers’ Union was held at Lion Park at One Hundred and Tenth Street and Eighth Avenue. About 6,000 persons were present on the dancing platform. With the exception of two personal encounters, tolerable order prevailed; but the grounds, according to an eye-witness, were the scene of debauchery without parallel. Men and women seemed to have forgotten that there is such a word as decency, and gave the rein to unbridled passion, without the slightest effort at concealment. Nor was there the slightest attempt at interference on the part of the police.”—Christian Statesman.