was brought to my attention the incredibly pathetic plight of a widow
with four children who was in such constant fear of spreading the
infection for which her husband had been responsible, that she
touchingly offered to leave her children forevermore, if there was no
other way to save them from the horrible suffering she herself was
enduring. In spite of thousands of such cases Utah is the pioneer and
only state with a law which requires that this infection shall be
reported and controlled, as are other contagious maladies, and which
also authorizes boards of health to take adequate measures in order to
secure protection.

Another humanitarian movement from which assistance will doubtless come
to the crusade against the social evil, is the great movement against
alcoholism with its recent revival in every civilized country of the
world. A careful scientist has called alcohol the indispensable vehicle
of the business transacted by the white slave traders, and has asserted
that without its use this trade could not long continue. Whoever has
tried to help a girl making an effort to leave the irregular life she
has been leading, must have been discouraged by the victim's attempts to
overcome the habit of using alcohol and drugs. Such a girl has commonly
been drawn into the life in the first place when under the influence of
liquor and has continued to drink that she might be able to live through
each day. Furthermore, the drinking habit grows upon her because she is
constantly required to sell liquor and to be "treated."

It is estimated that the liquor sold by such girls nets a profit to the
trade of two hundred and fifty per cent. over and above the girl's own
commission. Chicago made at least one honest effort to divorce the sale
of liquor from prostitution, when the superintendent of police last year
ruled that no liquor should be sold in any disreputable house. The