The new abolitionists : a narrative of a year's work being an account of the mission undertaken to the continent of Europe by Mrs. Josephine E. Butler, and of the events subsequent thereupon / published under the direction of the British, Continental, and General Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution.

  • International Abolitionist Federation.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The new abolitionists : a narrative of a year's work being an account of the mission undertaken to the continent of Europe by Mrs. Josephine E. Butler, and of the events subsequent thereupon / published under the direction of the British, Continental, and General Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    had been enacted in a number of the principal cities” of America, for the supervision and legalizing of houses of ill fame. In January, 1876, Dr. Cox referred publicly to the above report, and avowed that great pressure had been brought to bear upon him, as a health officer, by various committees and “ persons who were sensitive on this subject,” and that he had informed these persons that the report was furnished “ merely as information, and not as a recommendation.” Here, as in other cases, the vigilance of our friends in America has marred, for the present the plans of the Regulationists. It should be mentioned that a measure of Regulation was on the point of being introduced in Harrisburg, in 1874, and that the attempt was defeated mainly through the exer- tions of Mrs. Anna Dickenson. From the Alpha, February 1st, 1876 :— “ By invitation of Rev. Dr. Sunderland, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of this city, a committee of the Moral Education Society met a committee of the ladies of his church, to lay before them the importance of a concerted action on the part of the women of Washington, and the country generally, to prevent the measure of licensing prostitution in the district of Columbia, as proposed by our Board of Health in their last annual report. “Dr. Sunderland said: ‘You are asked to consider a subject for which I have no words sufficiently strong for condemnation. I consider the recommendation of the Board of Health in their last annual report a most dis- graceful one. I introduce Mrs. Dr. Winslow, and re- signing the chair to her, will withdraw.” Mrs. Winslow stated the object of the meeting was to call the attention of women to the danger that threatened the capital of our nation.” [Here followed the reading of a petition to Congress against the proposed measure.]