The convention of ministers complained recently about the alleged laxity of the police and other municipal officers in fighting the so-called social evil and other vices that endangered the morality of soldiers and sailors. They announced that if the local authorities would not take care of the matter soon, they would appeal to the Federal government for action.

In principle, of course, they are right. There are city ordinances, state laws, acts of Congress, and Federal statutes which, if strictly complied with, would make the continuance of the social evil in Chicago and elsewhere impossible. But human beings will always seek to gratify the instincts and desires they are heir to, in spite of all attempts at spiritualization. Theoretically, the indignation of the Lord's shepherds is absolutely justified. In some sections of Chicago, conditions are really deplorable. But when it comes to putting theory into practice, one encounters the same difficulties that all apostles 2of morality have encountered since the dawn of human history. The natural instincts--just because they are natural functions--will, under all circumstances, prove stronger than all the laws and ordinances laid down by man. It is possible to cover up, more or less, the outward manifestations of vice and its concomitants by instituting strict measures, but the evil itself will never be removed by laws or police rules. It will go on just the same, and, due to the fact that it evades public control, will constitute a greater peril to our civic life.

If vice is really and truly to be eliminated, it will be necessary to approach the matter from a different angle and to dig in the right spot in order to lift out the root. But this can only be done when our social and economic conditions have changed to such an extent that every individual will make enough to found a family of his own in the early years [of manhood], so that he can supervise, in a well-regulated and comfortable home, the moral development of his growing children and give them moral assistance when they go out into the world--assistance which they need during the years of their prime.

But even then, the evil could not be entirely eliminated. One would have to be 3satisfied to limit it to the possible minimum. Those moralizing gentlemen [the ministers] ought to know that. The Bible says: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." And that still holds true today. The social evil will remain, until each mature person is given the opportunity to gratify the demands of nature in a legitimate manner, sad as this admission may be for humanity. You cannot put nature in fetters. Wherever it is done, the results are disastrous. Any reliable doctor will agree to that.

By this statement we do not mean to condone the conditions existing in Chicago. These are indeed to be deplored. However, in view of the size of the city and the extent of its tourist trade, they are nothing out of the ordinary. Those who have had the opportunity to observe conditions prevailing in the large seaports, would not agree that Chicago is any less "moral" than those [seaports]. It is not fair to blame the municipal authorities for conditions as they are. If responsibility has to be fixed, the inadequate control system should be blamed. Only through strict medical supervision of prostitutes can the tragic consequences of the social evil be curbed to a resonable extent and the spreading 4of certain contagious diseases be prevented. Police regulations will not do any good. The police may as well help hungry people by forbidding them to get hungry.