Page:Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil - Elizabeth Blackwell (1883).djvu/27

Rh "Nearly every one of the foreign women has a man living with her, and we have great trouble with the men, who are also foreigners—great, big, hulking fellows, mainly supported by the women. They do not do a day's work; they go to the various cafes and restaurants and wait there to receive the money from the women" (785).

"A few years ago," says the same witness, "a tradesman in the Quadrant assisted the police very vigorously in putting down this vice, and he said it was the falsest step he ever made in his life. He has never known what peace or happiness has been since. He is annoyed in every shape and way by the women and the men living with them; these people (men and women) are strong enough to exert pressure upon tradesmen interfering with their vocation." Such is the condition of London, the British metropolis of four millions of human beings, under the let-alone system; the natural family ties between parent and child destroyed; the streets a public exchange of debauchery for vicious men and women; brothels allowed to flourish and multiply; no check put upon licentiousness; the most abominable acts left unpunished; the police paralyzed; superior officials indifferent or perplexed; and foreign vice and foreign influence making itself more and more strongly felt in that great metropolis!