Page:Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil - Elizabeth Blackwell (1883).djvu/62

52 "Order and decency are maintained in the streets." (7407). "You may now go along the streets without any interruption."

The facts in relation to brothels, and the effect of law and public opinion upon them, is noteworthy. In 1849, with a population of 314,000, and an inert public opinion, there were 211 brothels, with 538 inmates. In 1870, with a population of 510,816, and a public opinion gradually awakening to the evil, there were 204 brothels. After nine years of vigorous measures required by the citizens, the brothels were reduced to less than one-seventh of the original number. This remarkable result shows the power of public opinion when it demands and supports the enforcement of law.

The great and mischievous error, that vigorous repression of the public manifestations of vice is necessarily productive of an increase of secret vice, is entirely disproved by carefully recorded facts in the municipal experience of this great city of Glasgow.

In his answers to questions (7644-5) Mr. McCall declares, "It is a matter of fact, not mere conjecture, that the administration has reduced the number of prostitutes not residing in brothels." "I have no doubt that the number in Glasgow has been very much reduced in the ratio that the brothels have been reduced." Again (7537), "I am persuaded, especially as regards young men, that taking away the