. I asked her why she did not get out of the
house, which was one of the worst in Chicago. Her answer was: "Get
out--I can't. They make us buy the cheapest rags and they are charged
against us at fabulous prices; they make us change outfits at intervals
of two or three weeks, until we are so deeply in debt that there is no
hope of ever getting out from under. Then, to make such matters worse,
we seldom get an accounting oftener than once in six months and
sometimes ten months or a year will pass between settlements--and when
we do get an accounting it is always to find ourselves deeper in debt
than before. We've simply got to stick and that's all there is to it."

To frame an enactment which will knock this prop of indebtedness system
out from under the white slave business might appear to be a most
difficult matter, and yet I believe that the legislature which enacts a
statute of which the following clause is the essential part will go a
long way towards accomplishing this most desired result:

"And whoever shall hold, detain, restrain, or attempt to hold, detain or
restrain in any house of prostitution or other place, any female for the
purpose of compelling such female, directly or indirectly, by her
voluntary or involuntary service or labor, to pay, liquidate or cancel
any debt, dues or obligation incurred therein or said to have been
incurred in such house of prostitution or other place, shall be deemed
guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in
the penitentiary at hard labor for not less than two or more than ten
years."

There is only one other enactment which all legislatures should be urged
to pass, and that is one which strikes directly at the white slaver, the
"procurer," the owner or the "fellow." Keepers of houses of ill-fame
have discovered that the hideous task of keeping the unwilling white
slave in subjection is much easier if a certain ownership of her is
vested in a man. In many cases this man is the one who is directly
responsible for placing the girl in the house, but this is not
invariably the case. When it is the case he receives not only a lump
purchase price down on the delivery of his victim to the house, but he
is recognized by the keeper as her owner and master, the one to whom a
certain percentage of her income is paid and with whom all settlements
on her account are made. What is more important in the eyes of the
keeper is that this man is held absolutely resp