egulation."

Dr. Clarkson, in "The Venereal Clinic," already quoted, says, in
reference to the fancied security of licensed houses, "It may strengthen
the hands of practitioners to be able to tell interrogators in this
subject that in the opinion of leading venereologists, &c., no
foundation exists for any such feeling of confidence or security. In
other words, the system of licensed houses is a failure, and the 'red
light' of lust shines out as the lurid signal of disease and death."

It is surely hardly necessary to urge the moral objections to the
proposal. The United States Public Health Service not long ago sent out
a _questionnaire_ to representative citizens in various walks of life
asking for opinion in regard to open houses of prostitution. There was
an overwhelming preponderance of replies against the system on moral as
well as hygienic grounds. One Illinois miner answered: "The life of a
prostitute is short, and her place must be filled when she dies, and,
being the father of two girls, I would not want mine to fill a vacancy,
and I think all parents think the same." A Colorado carpenter replied:
"The woman engaged in such business may not be my wife, mother, sister,
or daughter, but she is somebody's wife, mother, sister, or daughter. It
is a violation of all law." One Chief of Police wrote: "Open houses of
prostitution breed disease, crime, increase the number of prostitutes,
corrupt the morals of the community, and are a menace to the youth of
the country." Another replied: "The only reason I have ever heard
advanced in favour of houses of prostitution is that they protect
innocent girls. I am opposed to sacrificing any woman to benefit
others."

If statistics could be obtained it would be probably found that the
system tends not only to increase disease, but the volume of sexual
immorality and crime. From the most materialistic point of view the
system is indefensible; while, looking at it from the moral aspect, it
is inconceivable that British people, who spent millions of money to
stop the traffic in black slaves, would ever officially countenance a
system which enslaves the souls as well as the bodies of its victims and
defiles the community in which it exists.

SECTION 4.--EXCLUSION OF VENEREAL CASES FROM OVERSEAS.

The Committee are of the opinion that by the strict exercise of the
provisions of section 111 of the Health Act, 1920, much may be done to
prevent introduction of venereal diseases