Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/734

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HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

on such a vital matter as this proposed legislation; it is a mighty complicated and intricate subject." A decided titter ran around the room. Women who had been making a study of the question from the home side for a number of years did not resent being told that they did not understand it but they smiled at a man's coming to tell them so. To show that they were fair, when he said that the packers did a great amount of good in carrying food in time of war he was cheered. His argument had no effect. After he had finished the league adopted the committee's recommendations and passed the resolution against which the packers had directed their efforts.

Social Hygiene, Dr. Valeria H. Parker, chairman. Resolutions recommended and adopted on the abolition of commercialized prostitution: (a) The abolition of all segregated or protected vice districts and the elimination of houses used for vicious purposes, (b) Punishment of frequenters of disorderly houses and penalization of the payment of money for prostitution as well as its receipt, (c) Heavy penalties for pimps, panderers, procurers and go-betweens, (d) Prevention of solicitation in streets and public places by men and women, (e) Elimination of system of petty fines and establishment of indeterminate sentences, (f) Strict enforcement of laws against alcohol and drug trades.

Drastic resolutions were passed for the control of venereal diseases, applying alike to men and women. Those on delinquents, minors and defectives were as follows: (a) Legal age of consent to be not less than 18 and laws to include protection of boys under 18 as well as of girls, (b) Trying cases involving sex offenses in chancery courts instead of in criminal courts is advocated, (c) Mental examination and diagnosis of all children, registration of abnormal cases, education suited to their possibilities; supervision during and after school age; custodial care for those unable to adjust to a normal environment, (d) Reformatory farms for delinquent men and women.... these institutions to have trained officers. (f) Women on governing boards of all charitable and penal institutions; as probation and parole officers; as State and local police; as protective officers; as court officials, as jurors; as physicians in institutions for women and on all State and local boards of health. The committee recom-