nl_e17

Bessie Cushman, "Another Maiden Tribute," Feb 1887
Chicago, another in the lumber districts of upper Michigan, and his
"own place" in a region seldom mentioned in polite circles. Your
correspondent attempted an investigation from the other side by
correspondence with Representative Breen as to the truth of the
statement ascribed to him, and the remedy, if the evil exist. His reply is
direct.
"These vile dens and the vice they foster is the curse of our
country. Prostitution is undermining society. The only remedy I could
see was to get a bill through the legislature imposing severe penalties
upon the keepers of disreputable places. Heretofore the punishment in
this state has been a year in the county jail or $300 fines. I introduced
a bill making the penalty five years in the penitentiary. It has passed
and will take immediate effect. Under this law, if the authorities do their
duty, and in our part of the state they will, we can suppress this terrible
evil."
The "new earth" tarries for a legion of citizens who shall say in
quietness and assurance, "Our officers will do their duty" and that
means that only such will be put in power. Michigan has risen up and
given us a glimpse of the great abomination she is about to eject. What
are we going to do about it? That is the most practical question ever
taken upon mortal lips. Legal suasion is the right arm of reform, but
without scientific suasion which wins the consent of the mind, reform is
a body destitute of brain, and without the all-permeating suasion of
Christ's regenerating gospel, it is a body without heart and blood. Into
these lumber camps must go the missionary of the White Cross,
bearing the Bible in one hand and a text book of physiology and
hygiene in the other, and a copy of the revised statutes of the state of
Michigan about him somewhere, for use in extreme cases. We have
seen and heard of this offset of perdition; shall we go our way and
straightway forget the horrible vision, or shall we consider that
wherever, in lumber or mining camps, or under any conditions, men
are aggregated together, without Christianizing and refining influence
then they revert toward barbarism, and there we may infer that the
worst forms of prostitution will be found? The W.C.T.U. may cause to
be lifted up in all such places, the glitering White Cross, by distributing
its literature and inculcating the doctrine of purity as both possible and
advantageous to men. We can penetrate the "vile dens," or if we come
upon a place we may not enter, our wits will help us to learn the
reason, and to uncover the iniquity, and discovery itself is remedial.
We shall find stalwart men to help us in securing better legal
enactments, as our canvassers for the social purity petition
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