Page:Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil - Elizabeth Blackwell (1883).djvu/19

 CHAPTER I. THE "LET ALONE" SYSTEM.

facts contained in the English Blue Books, to which reference will be made in the following pages, are doubtless familiar to many persons. No apology, however, is needed for again bringing them forward, for it is a duty not to allow them to be forgotten. Some Parliamentary papers of temporary interest may drop out of sight, but these should be kept in view, and urged upon the conscience of every parent in the land; for to the conscientious parent, equally with the statesman, the importance of this evidence can not be exaggerated. A knowledge of facts is the more necessary at the present time, on account of the renewed endeavors to establish a false principle of legislation, which are now being made.

It may not be generally known, that in consequence of the serious facts brought to light in relation to an actual trade in buying and selling young English girls for evil purposes on the Continent, a Select Committee of the House of Lords was appointed in (9)