Dangers of the Dance

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 4, 1912

Dangers of the Dance

WE are warned of the dangers of this great social evil, not alone by the ministers of the gospel, but by the officers of the law, who, above all others, see the practical workings of this menace to good morals. District Attorney Zabel, of Milwaukee, according to the Lutheran of June 6, 1912, bears this positive testimony:—

Ninety per cent of the cases of juvenile delinquency—and the delinquency of other girls—that come to the district attorney's office, start in the dance-halls. The dance-hall situation is even worse than it has been painted. The dance-halls where liquor is not sold are ultimately the cause of more trouble than the others, because parents allow their children to go to them when they would not allow them to go to the halls where liquor is sold. Not that anything very bad happens in the dance-hall. It is simply a convenient meeting-place, where no introduction is required. From there the young girls are taken to other places. Young girls—good girls—go there night after night, but they do not remain good very long. They meet other girls, and unscrupulous men who do not hesitate to take advantage of them. The woman of the street and the young girl meet in the dance-hall on an equal footing, and the young girl soon becomes a woman of the street. I could name one down-town dance-hall that is primarily responsible for the ruin of one young girl for every day in the year, yes, and even more.