Newspaper Page Text
Atlanta’s Vice Crusade an Inspiration to Nation
CHURCH FEDERATION COUNCIL OF CHI CAGO SENDS BROADCAST OVER THE COUNTRY THE MODEST STORY OF JOHN J.
EGAN, TELLING HOW “RED LIGHT” HO USES WERE BLOTTED OUT—OTHER AMERICAN CITIES FOLLOW ATLANTA.
f 10 those of us who have been watching
j * j the battle at close range it is highly
gratifying to note that the leaders of
reform in the greatest cities of Amer
ica are using the success of the Atlanta vice
crusade to stimulate other communities every
where to “go and do likewise.”
The Social Purity Committee of the Chicago
Church Federation Council and the American
Federation for Sex Hygiene have united in
asking the papers of the country to give the
widest possible publicity to the work which
has been such an inspiration to the reform
workers of the world.
The Golden Age has kept its readers well ac
quainted with the progress of this remarkable
campaign, and is glaw now to give a brief re
sume of what has been accomplished and how
it was done.
We give this story here, not only to encour
age other reform workers, but also to help
warn dependent girls who come to the city to
beware of the light that leads to bewilder and
dazzles to blind.
The Men and Religion Campaign Against Com
mercialized vice in Atlanta.
The following account of the campaign is
given by Mr. John J. Egan, chairman of the
committee in Atlanta, Ga :
“This movement came as a result of the
union of the churches following the Men and
Religion campaign. A committee appointed,
consisting of laymen and ministers, began an
investigation of the city, and became convinced
that the first evil that, should be attacked was
that of protected vice. A careful investigation
of the conditions was made and submitted by
this commitee at a luncheon attended oy prac
tically all the ministers of the protestant evan
gelical churches of the city. It was the unan
imous vote of the meeting that the commitee
launch a campaign against protected vice. Our
newspapers did not co-operate with us and it
became necessary to contract for display ad
vertising in all of our three daily papers. The
first admertisement was published June 25th.
July 15t'h the ministers of our city were again
called together bv this committee and another
report was made to them. At its conclusion
Bulletin No. 6 was signed by practically every
protestant evangelical minister in the city, ‘As
ministers of God, we cannot and will not be
silent so long as this partnership between the
city and vice cnotinues. ”
United Churches Can Do the Thing.
What has been done in Atlanta can be done
in any city where the churches of Jesus Christ
will unite and the ministers will raise their
voices persistently against this evil. The
churches of Jesus Christ have the power to
remove the sin of protected vice in any city \
whenever the churches will unite in their at
tack against it. Until they do this, upon their
heads must continue to rest the blood of every
young girl bought and sold in these houses of
bondage; and this blood, precious in God’s
sight, will be required at the hands of the
churches of Jesus Christ, their ministers and
members, who have the power to end protected
vice and exercise it not.
“Other cities all over the country are fol
lowing Atlanta’s example. Asheville, N. C.,
Athens, ©a., Philadelphia, Pa., Little Rock.
Ark., and Birmingham. Ala., are among the
very recent recruits.
THE GOLDEN AGE FOR AUGUST 7, 1913
“You can add that the work has been per
manent in Atlanta; that moral conditions are
better here than they have been since Atlanta
became a metropolitan city; that the police
force, which had to devote a large part of its
energies to regulating these houses of prosti
tution, can now devote itself unreservedly to
the enforcement of the law against immorality
whenever practiced.
“Our police commission, city council and
three daily newspapers are supporting the
chief in his policy of law enforcement.
“The experience in Atlanta illustrates that
the backbone and strength of commercialized
vice is the money profit there is in it; 44 houses
with 265 inma.es, took in more than S7OO 000
per year. Seven of these houses rented for
$43,074 per annum when rented for immoral
purposes, and would not bring 25 per cent of
rent for legitimate purposes. The men
and women who were getting these profits were
naturally anxious to continue this ‘easy money’
income. The advertisements show in part the
schemes they resorted to discredit the reform
ers and reform movement.
“The campaign in Atlanta cost about $6,-
500 for advertising and about an equal amount
for other expenses, including investigation and
the temporary care of the women. The ad
vertisements were written by one of the lead
ers of the movement —Mr. Marion M. Jackson,
a prominent attorney, president of the local
M. Y. C. A., and vice chairman of the executive
committee of the Men and Religion Forward
Movement, whose generous donation of time
and talent has been greatly used of God.
Many Fallen Daughters Used of God.
“The spirit of Christianity which actuated
the protest against vice resulted in many con
versions among the women and girls, notably
a notorious keeper for years of one of the larg
est houses of prostitution in the city. This
woman was so moved by the spirit of Christ
as to give all her savings—twenty-five thou
sand dollars —towards a permanent rescue home
which, through the co-operation of the church
es, has been established. Through this home
and other channels more than two hundred
girls and women have been thus far helped.”
Improvement in Other Cities.
Considering the improvement in conditions
in Atlanta, it is interesting to note that Des
Moines, lowa, was successful in closing its vice
district, and thereby actually reducing vice,
and to the surprise of both the friends and ene
mies of the movement, also reducing crime of
al] kinds at the same time. Seattle, Wash.,
a year or so later, also accomplished splendid
results, although in Seattle they had to remove
from office the mayor of the city and elect a
new mayor before the citizens could have the
law enforced. This campaign cost about $16,-
000.
Mercy for the Girls.
It is sometimes suggested that to close the
houses of prostitution and drive out the in
mates, is cruelty to the women. To this there
are several answers. One is that nothing could
be worse for the women than for them to con
tinue the life they are in. There is nothing
more cruel than the treatment received by wo
men in the life of vice. They are constantly
diseased, frequently beaten by their so-called
lovers or keepers, and often drunk and sick.
The life they live and the associates they have,
encourage drug habits, such as the use of co
caine and all other insidious habit-forming
drugs, as well as liquors of all kinds. Their
money is taken away from them by grafters
and criminals, and by the keepers who sell
them cheap goods at high prices. They are
often abused by drunken companions or cus
tomers, and in short it is hardly possible to
conceive of a worse life. The women and girls
are kept in it because they are told by the peo
ple who make money off of them that they are
outcasts and that nobody else will have any
thing to do with them. If the house is closed,
it not infrequently happens that some of the
inmates give up the life and return home or
return to honest work when they find that
there is a chance for it. It also happens that
some of them marry while others drift to other
cities to continue in the life of vice until they
die, often under 40, many under 25 years of
age l ■* - -v -"’-ar-! r i
“BROUGHTON IN LONDON.”
(Continued from page six.)
The church building proper occupies about
the size of a city block at home. As there are'
no blocks in London, this description wouhl
mean nothing to an Englishman. It is one Oi
the sights, the show places of the city, and is
only about ten minutes’ walk from the halls of
parliament and Westminster Abbey. Years
ago it was in the center of the wealth and
refinement of the city, but the rapid increase
of London has driven residents farther out in
all directions, and today the majority of the
members of the church and congregation live
at least five miles away, stores and shops and
offices being located in the immediate neigh
borhood.
Immediately adjoining the church audito
rium is a vast building in which are baths,
swimming pools, various reception and rest
rooms and libraries, with smaller auditoriums.
Much of the institutional work of the church
is held here under direct auspices.
Some idea of the enormity of the work un
dertaken may be gained when it is said more
than a million people were personally aided
during the past twelve months. The influence
from this great center of religious endeavor
is more than that of a church and has more sig
nificance than a creed, for Christ church has
auxiliary organizations which put forever out
of business the money shark, the second-hand
furniture dealer or the high-priced physician,
with which so much of London is afflicted.
The barmaid goes to church at this place
to borrow or to receive assistance instead of to
the pawnbroker; the man out of a job goes
here to get work, for the church has a great
employment bureau; the person who is poor
and ill can get medical assistance without
money and without price; the man who wishes
to borrow a few pounds to tide him over can
get it from the bank, for Christ church has a
savings department with more than 50,000
pounds on deposit.
One of the greatest organizations in Lon
don, with a higher standard of morality as its
motto, meets in the church every Sunday af
ternoon. It has its own band, its own programs
and distributes thousands of dollars every
year among the needy and suffering. It is
known as the P. S. A., meaning the Pleasant
Sunday Afternoons.
7
