Page:Roe 1911 What women might do with the ballot.djvu/10

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

tion and Abatement Law which has been passed by Iowa and Nebraska, because it gets right down to bed-rock, to the very source of the white slave evil. This is the house of disrepute itself.

The writer is informed that in the two above States white slavery has been abolished. Therefore, if both the Pandering Law and the Injunction and Abatement Law can be passed, you will have excellent weapons for the attack you should make in your State. The women of Idaho having helped to pass a law against pandering, are now busily working to secure an Injunction and Abatement Law.

Women have played an important role throughout the United States in launching and conducting campaigns for laws which will help abolish white slavery.

It was the women of California who caused the recent laws to be passed there. They employed an attorney to draft laws suitable to the needs of the State. Women of other States have successfully backed similar laws. The next step is to demand their enforcement.

In Seattle, where it was believed that the laws against vice were not enforced, the women shared honors with the men in electing officials pledged to rigidly enforce these laws.

In our efforts to abolish the traffic in girls, it does not seem fair to fight the unfortunate women who either gravitate or are tricked into lives of shame. The persons to fight are those who encourage, maintain and protect the social evil. That is where the laws of supply and demand enter into the question. White slavery is the outgrowth of a stimulated demand, incited and encouraged by men and women, low and degenerate as they are grasping and avaricious. Newspapers and court records for several years past tell of the vast number of girls that are inveigled into disreputable resorts. Therefore, we must assume that the voluntary supply is not sufficient to meet the demand.

We should remember that if there is no demand there will be no supply.

Why not wage relentless war against those who create the

8