One effect of the present system is the practically unchecked
transmission of disease. A reform in this direction would not solve
the basic problem, for there would remain full opportunities of
blackmail and extortion, but it might still remove a menace to the
health of the community which is probably more serious than
tuberculosis.

A statute to this end was enacted in New York State a few years ago:
an act for the medical examination of the women. It was declared
unconstitutional because of one word. It should have read, "the judge
may"; instead, it read, "the judge _must_." Far more difficult to deal
with is the opposition of the people who believe that the moral sense
of the community would be jeopardized by any laws suggesting that
prostitution is unavoidable.

In ironic contrast to the failure of legislation to prevent the spread
of disease, is the success of an ill-advised statute making adultery a
crime. Under it, a married man having relations with a prostitute and
the woman herself, are subject to criminal prosecution. It affords a
fresh field for extortion, how largely used it is impossible to say.

The history of the passage of the adultery act presents one of the
most ghastly jokes ever perpetrated by a State Legislature.

For years such a bill had been introduced in the New York Legislature
and had been passed by either the Assembly or the Senate without
comment and then quietly killed in the other house. It was obvious
that such a law could not be properly enforced and its blackmailing
possibilities were manifest, yet no one, not even Governor Hughes, who
was then in office, could be openly opposed to its passage.