Note 206 — Chapter XXXVII

"Sergeant Robinson, of the Twenty-sixth Precinct, made a raid on the abandoned women patroling the park last evening. At 11 p. m. six unfortunates were caged." Thus runs the record. Will some one now be kind enough to tell us whether Sergeant Robinson, or any other sergeant, made a raid upon the abandoned men who were patrolling Broadway at the same hour? Did any one on that night, or, indeed, upon any other night, within the memory of the oldest Knickerbocker, make a raid upon the gamblers, thieves, drunkards and panders that infest Houston street? By what authority do the police call women "abandoned" and arrest them because they are patrolling any public park or square? If these women belonged to the class euphemistically called "unfortunate," they were doubtless there because men were already there before them. And if it was illegal in women and deserving of punishment, why should men escape? Prima facie, if crime were committed, the latter are the greater criminals of the two. We humbly suggest to all who are endeavoring to reform this class of women, that they turn their attention to reforming the opposite sex. If you can make men so pure that they will not seek the society of prostitutes, you will soon have no prostitutes for them to seek; in other words, prostitution will cease when men become sufficiently pure to make no demand for prostitutes. In any event, the police should treat both sexes alike. Making a raid, as it is called, upon abandoned women, and shutting them up in prison, never can procure good results. The most repulsive and bestial features of "the social evil" have their origin in the treatment that women receive at the hands of the police; and society itself would be much better if the police would keep their hands off such women.—[P. P. in The Revolution.