Social Morality
The residents of Dunedin have been very much perturbed recently 6ye'r>. ; finding that a couple of immoral houses existed in their midst. A . couple of meetings—one of men and , one of women—were held at which j various resolutions, were carried. All speakers seemed to recognisa that they were dealing with the most difficult social problem of the world, and • . admitted tbat immorality cannot be stopped by any._ code of laws ever framed. The me'etings were the outcome of a couple of police court cases recently against a man named Ebzery and a woman named Mrs Parser foe' keeping or assisting in the management of houses of ill-fame. Resolutions were passed at the women's meeting on Saturday nigtit strongly protesting /against the inadequacy of the sentences passed. For 'the man or woman who procures inmates for such houses, no punishment that' is like- . ly to be inflicted can be too severe, for . recent disclosures at home show that '. very often unwilling Victims are forced- l " to live immoral lives. But in dealing \ with those who only keep what are \ known generally as assignation houses there is, in our opinion,' a tendency to over-rate that evil while a greater one • goes unmentioned. If such people are • to be put in the dock (and we certainly ■ are not objecting) tne greater sin- | ners—the chemists who provide young people with means of ',' prevention" should be put in alongside of them. For the' latter really '.. creates two classes of wrong-doers, the immoral couples and the people'who provide them with conveniences for wrong doing. No word at these meetings is 1 said against the greater wrong ooer. ■ We presume any young people would ! have no difficulty in any town in New Zealand to-day in obtaining whatever ; they happen to fancy in this way. Mrs Lindo Fergurson, in seconding a motion, decidedly deserves credit for having the courage of her opinions in suggesting the registration of. hbuses of ill-fame. As most women are opposed to any such course she, at anyrate, had courage to voice her opinions to ' what would likely hostile audienceBui it is questionable" if the day has not gone by when these houses would remedy the evil. As long as preventives are sold indiscriminately there will be a number of youDg girls and women .who-will "sow their wild oats." At best thsy would perhaps be a convenience for the class of elderly men who come before the courts for assaults on young children. Even if hoasea of ill-fame cured the evils, it is repugnant to a sense of justice that the few should be sacrificed for ths benefit of the many. Another lady moved a motion asking ■ for the protect'on of girls up to 18„ahd in speaking .to it said the .W. C.T.U. had always asked for the protection of both sexes up to the age of 21—the age up to which their property was protected. It aiwrays seems to us illogical to argue that because a gir.f \- sball not>aispo33 of her property till stie is 21 she shall not dispose of her personal morality. Girls' do not carry their property or money about on their person to be disposed of in a moment of' excitement or temptation. The two cases are not at all parallel. She also referred to a deputation having" waited on the Minister of Justice with {he request and had some hard things so say - about, him for not having acceded to it. We remember such a deputation waiting on a Minister a year or twoago anrt he very logically refused tbe reauest.beeao.se "he did not want to make their sons criminnls." Referring to punishments for moral wrong-doing ' Mrs Ferguson quoted Moses. But there is one aspect of Moses' laws which we have never seen quoted—viz., that he inflicted the same punishmot on both wrong-doers. Years ago it was '. thought • because the the offending * woman got the natural punishment, it was just that the man should receive the legal punishment. Nowadays T when so many girls manage to escape; the natural punishment, if they knew they were liable to incur equal punishment with their male companions it would act as a strong deterrent to wrong-doing. Only once in reading / reports of women's meetings on the subject have we raad of a woman (that .was-in-Wellington) facing the two \ -
sides of the question squarely, and she Baid "Young girls- want protecting from themselves as well as from men." In arguing for equality of punishment we simply argue in reference to young people of similar—or nearly similar age.
As our law at present stands, a |fc)utb younger than bis female companion can be punished for her seduction, and this is a -übversion of the laws of nature. Some years ago we beard a Salvation Army Officer say that as the result of her experience she had come to the conclusion that women were intended to be the guardians of morality. This was the teaching of Moses and is the law of nature, and the law of nature is Divine law. It possibly seems somewhat cowardly to throw the burden on the weaker sex, but it is no doubt the stronger sex morally. And we are pretty certain that when mothers taught their daughters that law there was less immornlity than there is now.
Of all the speakers at the women'B meeting, Mrs Lindo Ferguson was by far the most practical, and she gave reasons (and true ones) why the present lax state of affairs exists and suggested various means of * remedying the evil. But it seems to us there is one reason that we have never yet beard touched upon. It is now 40 or 50 years ago since the limitation of families was preached publicly as a cure for poverty. Unfortunately, many single women adopted the expedients suggested as well as their married sisters. Result that among our present-day mothers there must be many—especially in towns —who sowed their wild oats with impunity. Consequently they cannot have the regard for parity that a mother should have, and ihey have no objections to their daughters enjoying themselves so kng as they keep out of trouble. Other mothers hope that if ther daughters do not walk a moral chalk line they will at anyrate be able to avoid danger. The consequence is a of control. These remarks apply equally to both sexes. Of coarse if any number of people have arrived at this stage, it is only right that the state should undertake in some way the control the parents neglect. Knowing the evil exists, no matter why, the question is what is the remedy. First we place the prohibition of the sale of preventives. There will always be a number of people of both sexes (and not only young ones either), who, as long as they think there is a- reasonable possibility of their misdoings being undiscovered, will not exercise self-control. If preventives are to be sold they should be sold only by licensed dealers and only to people who can prove their marital state. The making of immorality an offence punishable equally on both parties. The W.G.T.U. are logical in this respect, although we are afraid that placing the age too high would only lead, in present circumstances, to a larger crop of criminals. If they don't include equal punishment for both sexes we don't see how they are going to enforce the law. The chief of the London women police recently Baid that large numbers of young people of both sexes Ere sowing their wild oats. One lady advocated the strict prevention of street solicitation, but this remedy we don't think would reach the class it is so particularly desirable to reach. Here again Mra Ferguson hit the nail on the head when she objected to young people eoing i about together without supervision. The danger to the flapper class is tha unrestrained social intercourse they are allowed of an evening; just at the age when nature is most strougly insistent and when the mind :s not matured.. As long as this social state is allowed, so long will we have juvenile immorality, and for this reason"we are loth to see severe punishments put on the youthful offenders of either sex. It would be much more advisable to reintroduce "the curfew" for their benefit, or to pass a law preventing the free' and unrestrained intermingling of the sexea that now takes p!ace,or perhaps to prohibit the pastime known as to. people below stated ages. In whatever way the cure for the evil is to be carried out it must be along the lines that prevention (in its true meaning) is better
than cure. Punishments at the best would only be a palliative and a salve to the public conscience, and wa are afraid some unfortunates here and there will bo punished, and the grsat majority of the offenders, as at present, will get off scot free.
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Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 24 August 1917, Page 2
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1,487Social Morality Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 24 August 1917, Page 2
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