Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/120

 of humanity's castaways, the women of the streets. For seventeen years she toiled to have removed from our Statute Book certain Acts of Parliament which legalised vice. By these Acts of Parliament, known as the Contagious Diseases Acts, which were passed in 1866 and 1869, the authorities were empowered to imprison any of these women who refused to undergo an examination as to their physical condition. The first refusal meant imprisonment for a month with hard labour. The second offence was punished with three months' hard labour in prison. It was further provided that where a woman was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned, she could not recover damages if the official responsible for the wrongful arrest had offered a sum of money which, in the opinion of the magistrate, was sufficient to make due amends. It will readily be seen that many wrongful arrests would probably be made. It may not be so readily realised that many of the women preferred imprisonment with hard labour rather than submission to a degrading law.

It was to fight this horror, the creation by law of white slaves, the lowering of women to the status of chattels, things, that Mrs Josephine Butler gave the best years of her life. For seventeen years this magnificent heroine toiled, at home and abroad, before she won her reward. Often her life was in danger from