boys and
young men of relating smutty stories, repeating foul jokes and making
indecent allusions destroys respect for virtue. In addition there are
such direct physical causes of undue adolescent sexual excitement as
constipation and alcoholism, and such mental ones as nervous
irritability.

To the constant discussion and speculation regarding sex and its
mysteries by the adolescent young male, must be added the artificial
idea that idle prattling on the subject is a sign of "manhood." Thus
many young men whose natural trend is in the direction of decency and
right sexual living, "step out" or "go to see the girls," as the
phrase is, because they think that otherwise "they are not real men."
More subtle in its evil effect, yet somewhat less dangerous
physically, perhaps, than the professional prostitute is the lure of
the "hidden" prostitute, who carefully conceals her derelictions, and
publicly wraps herself in a mantle of virtue.

PROSTITUTION

The training of the average male mind in impure language and thought
during boyhood and adolescence, the cultivation of his animal at the
expense of the moral nature, often leads the adolescent to seek
satisfaction by frequenting the prostitute.

_Prostitution_, known as the "social evil," is promiscuous unchastity
for gain. It has existed in all civilized countries from earliest
times. Prostitution abuses the instinct for reproduction, the basic
element of sex, to offer certain women a livelihood which they prefer
to other means. Love of excitement, inherited criminal propensities,
indolence and abnormal sex appetite are first causes of prostitution.
Difficulty in finding work, laborious and ill-paid work, harsh
treatment of girls at home, indecent living among the poor, contact
with demoralizing companions, loose literature and amusements are
secondary causes. They all contribute to debauch male and female youth
and lead it to form dangerous habits of vicious sensual indulgence.

Prostitution seems inseparable from human society in large
communities. The fact is acknowledged in the name given it, "the
necessary evil." Regulation and medical control only arrest in a
degree the spread of venereal diseases to which prostitution gives
rise. The elementary laws on which prostitution rests seems to be
stronger than the artificial codes imposed by moral teaching. It is an
evil which must be combatted _individually_. Men are principally
responsi