every year, thousands of girls descend to the way of the prodigal. No
one has counted their number. All we know of the unclassed is that they
exist, apparently in ever-increasing masses.

It was estimated in Chicago, not long ago, that there were about six
thousand unfortunate women known to the police, and something like
twenty thousand who managed to avoid actual collision with the law. That
is, the latter lived quietly and plied their trade on the street so
unostentatiously that they were seldom arrested. How many of these
unfortunates reached the streets through the dance hall is impossible to
know--we only know that it constantly recruits the ranks of the
unclassed.

[Illustration: A DANCE HALL]

The dance hall may be in the rear of a saloon, or over a saloon; it may
occupy a vacant store building, or a large loft. Somewhere in its
immediate vicinity there is a saloon. A dance lasts about five minutes,
and the interval between dances is from ten to twenty minutes. Waiters
circle among the dancers, importuning them to drink. The dance hall
without a bar, or some source of liquid supply, does not often exist,
except as it has been established by social workers to offset the
influence of the commercial dance hall.

Some dance halls are small and wretchedly lighted. Others are large and
pretentious. Some of them have direct connections with Raines Law hotels
and their prototypes. Of hardly a single dance hall can a good word be
said. They are almost entirely in the hands of the element lowest in
society, in business, and in politics.