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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 3

Were Prostitution Unattended by Contagious Diseases we should not Advocate Government Interference

Were Prostitution Unattended by Contagious Diseases we should not Advocate Government Interference.

I must here admit that if prostitution carried moral mischiefs only in its train, it would be to a great extent, if not entirely, outside the proper sphere of legislation. Failure must always be the fate of any attempt to make people virtuous by Act of Parliament. The evils produced by prostitution are two-fold, moral and physical. page 6 The remedies adopted must be in like manner twofold—the moral mischief must be left to the influences of religion and civilization, and to the care of those who from their special position are peculiarly fitted for grappling with moral evil. The physical mischiefs on the other hand must be met by physical measures; the same thing which is true of the results is true of the causes of prostitution. These also are two-fold, moral and physical—the moral causes must be met in the same way as the moral results—the physical causes in the same way as the physical results, that is to say, the means adapted to dealing with moral evil must he applied to the one; the means of grappling with physical evil to the other. It will be at once apparent that the question how to deal with prostitution is a very wide one.