Prostitution

After the World War of 1914-18, the League of Nations took up the problem in accordance with Article 23, which entrusted the League with "the general supervision over the execution of agreements with regard to the traffic." In 1921 the League sum moned an international conference at Geneva, attended by dele gates from 34 nations. It proposed that the words "white slave traffic" should be altered to "traffic in women and children," that a new convention should be drafted, that an advisory com mittee be set up and that Governments should be invited to make annual reports on the traffic and on the measures taken for check ing it. All these proposals were carried out. In 1923 the committee recommended that "pending the abolition of the sys tem of State regulation, no foreign woman should be employed in or carry on her profession as a prostitute in any licensed house"; that a questionnaire be issued to the Governments; and that a study of conditions on the spot should be undertaken by experts. In 1927 the committee of experts appointed in pursu ance of the foregoing recommendation published a report in two parts containing information obtained by visits to 28 countries and the replies of Governments to the questionnaire sent out. This report has been used in the following observations on the principal countries.

Great Britain.

In Great Britain there is no system of li censed houses or registration of prostitutes. The law is mainly governed by the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, as amended in 1912 and 1922, which makes procuration or attempted procuration a misdemeanour. The law further makes it a felony to have carnal knowledge of a girl under 13, and a misdemeanour in the case of a girl between 13 and 16. The same applies to the occupiers of premises who knowingly permit these offences, to persons taking a girl under 18 out of the possession of her par ents or guardians for the purpose, and to the detention of any woman or girl in a brothel. The maintenance of brothels is prohibited, and by the Vagrancy Act of 1898 males are pro hibited from living on the earnings of prostitutes. The traffic in women and children is dealt with by the Children (Employment, Abroad) Act of 1913, which prescribes the conditions for a mag istrate's license to take girls under 16 out of the country for "singing, playing, performing or being exhibited for profit"; and by the Aliens Order of 192o. The Licensing Act of 1872 con tains a provision, adopted from 1847, which makes it an offence for publicans to allow "common prostitutes to assemble and con tinue" in licensed premises. Otherwise they are not interfered with by the police except for disorder or annoying persons by solicitation : in regard to the latter, which also applies to males, the police exercise their own discretion and exhibit much varia tion of practice.

There is some evidence that street-walking by prostitutes, which used to be the great feature of London as compared with other capitals, has diminished; but the diminution may be partly explained by the practice, which has greatly increased, of motor cars waiting about and picking up girls. There is no reason to

believe that prostitution has diminished; but on the other hand it is clear that the foreign traffic in girls is of very small account. Englishwomen are too independent to make good subjects, and the Criminal Law Amendment Acts have been successful in pre venting such exploitation as there was. Great Britain is a party to all the international conventions.

The Question of Compulsory Examination.

No account of Great Britain would be complete without a reference to the partial adoption in certain garrison centres of the system employed elsewhere. In 1864 a Contagious Diseases Prevention Act was passed providing for the compulsory medical examination of prostitutes and the detention in hospital of those found affected. It applied to 11 garrison towns, was amended in 1866 and in 1869 was applied to 18 towns. This gave rise to a campaign in the opposite direction, with which Mrs. Josephine Butler's name was prominently associated. A royal commission investigated the question in 1871 and a select committee did the same in 1879. The majority reported in favour of the acts, being impressed by the evidence, which was strongly for them, and much of which was quite unbiased. Nevertheless in 1883 the House of Commons passed a resolution condemning the medical examination of women, and as this would have entailed refusal to vote the money required to carry on the system it was immediately dropped. In 1886 the acts were formally repealed.

In India the system was introduced for military cantonments in 1865, partially suspended in 1884 and stopped in 1888 on ac count of the action of the House of Commons. A new Canton ment Act was passed in 1889 and an amending act in 1893, which prohibited the compulsory and periodical examination of women.

In consequence of the enormous increase of syphilis—from 75.5 to 174.1 per 1,000 for primary and from 29.4 to 84.9 for sec ondary cases—which followed, a new order was made in 1897, which gave power (I) to call on persons suffering from a con tagious disorder to attend a dispensary, (2) to remove brothels.

(3) to prevent the residence or loitering of prostitutes near can tonments. Troops in India or in other stations abroad are in a different position from those at home and show a much larger proportion of men affected. If the army statistics of the different countries are examined over a number of years, two things ap pear :— (I) wide variations between the several countries, (2) a sort of epidemic rise and fall. The variations may be explained by the degree of care exercised in the regulated countries, Prussia having consistently the best record ; the English figure is higher than for any regulated country. Flexner, arguing against regula tion, suggests that the important factor is the size of the town, but that takes effect through the difficulty of carrying out the measures, which increases with the size.