Political Science Of The State

426 POLITICAL SCIENCE.
1. Houses of prostitution. Christian legislation, it is be-
con- Heved, has always frowned on such places. The
brothels. evjj jn jtseif }s great, as destroying the moral
tastes and making it almost necessary that a ruined woman
for gain's sake should sell her body. In modern times also,
perhaps since the times of the Crusaders, a loathsome disease
has infested the world, which spreads through generations
the seeds of weakness, as well as degrades the constitution
and even the capacities of families. But the crime courts
secrecy, and may escape a strict police. Some laws, there-
fore, would make it decent, and give it a license, prohibiting
at the same time all public solicitation. But this is an im-
moral plan. The vice thus licensed is admitted to be a vice,
and thus society becomes a partner. Or, is it enough that
those qu& qu&stum corpore faciunt should be registered and
kept in health under a medical police. This secures the
health of the community, and so far is a good regulation.
But it gives increased safety to those who indulge their pas-
sions, and so far tends to increase the vice. Something more
seems to be needed, such as the fear of arrest and exposure
from time to time on the part of the men who may be found
in such haunts. On the other hand, endeavors to reclaim
the unfortunate ones who make their homes there ought to
go along with severe penalties inflicted on keepers of brothels
who make gain out of other persons' sins.
2. The sale of spirituous liquors and drunkenness. Here
Sale of spirituous we have an immorality of the most serious kind,
i* *
iquors" cherished by a part of the community, but which
the sober part claim to be a source of evil greater than any
other. The scale on which intoxicating drinks are used is
enormous ; the' revenues derived by governments from this
source are of the greatest importance; the persons concerned
in vending them as their entire business or a part of it, are
more numerous in cities than those who pursue any other
trade ; many employments could not succeed without adding
this sale to their other business, and the most contrary opin-
ions have currency in respect to dealing with this vast evil