Page:Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil - Elizabeth Blackwell (1883).djvu/37

Rh efficacy. The police functionaries favor the brothel-keepers, and wink at a great deal that goes on." (161-2.) Again, "It is within my knowledge from evidence in these trials, that the girls were told by the brothel-keepers, before the inquiry by the Judge d'Instruction, or by the official, that it would be best to say they were very happy. This is a policeman who is going to inquire—'You had better say you are all right; you are very happy, are you not? if not, you had better leave with him.'" (170-177.)

Again, alluding to the great difficulty which we have had in forcing investigation in Belgium, the British Government agent says: "The municipal authorities of Brussels, who had been long accustomed to regulate the Police des Mœurs, were slow to admit evils on the part of their subordinates. In denying the possibility of irregularity or abuse, they appeared to forget that constant contact with the system is apt to dull the moral faculties of officials who supervise it." (App., p. 142.)

This profound remark on the inevitable degradation of the moral sense, when officials are employed to regulate acts of vice instead of to suppress them, is a weighty fact for a Christian nation to recognize.

We see that the Mayor and Magistrates, the Aldermen and Councilmen, even the Cabinet Ministers and ruling classes, become so accustomed to the plan