Chefoo, Sept. 16.
The steamer Tunglee which left here for Daiven yesterday afternoon carried a full complement of pas-rongers, all composed of Russian women. The first, second, and riped full, and male passenger conspicuous by their absence. The exodus has begun, and in about week's time there will not be one Russian toft in this city except for the usual half a dozen Slavs who have been regular members of the community functioning as bakers, commission agents, and so forth.
Each year Chefoo witnesses an influx of Russian wom Harbin, Mukden, Dairen, Ti Shanghai,' brought operators of cabarets and other institutions, these operators being Russians, Jews, and Chit association with the business back to the time when "White"
Russians, in face of the Bolshevik onslaught, had to seater to. the poles of the earth, Two Hundred Women Engaged It is computed that each summer some 200 of these unfortunate women are engaged in the business of making money for their employors cork on their own us having been frequently levelled upon the police for permitting the indiscriminate operation of bars, cabarets, ete. It is now an-sanced that, next year, the authorfics propose to introduce very stringent, regulations tending to reduce the number of such establishments toa minimum. If true, this good news indeed, Members of the foreign com munity who have always interested themselves in. social welfare work have always viewed with dismay the virtual non-interference with the activities of the keepers of cabaret] and houses of ill fame. Until now all that the authorities have cared for is to charge so much for a licence and s0 much for each woman end Jet it go at that, The scale of licence fees is as follows:—{$300 a season a first-class estab" lishment (cabarets)
250 for a second-class eatablish-
'$200 for a third-class establish-
Now, when one ponders over the fact that this season licences were granted to 57 establishments, one at once realizes the reluctance of the police to reduce the number of establishments to a minimum, Moreover, each woman has to pay $20 a season for permission to dance and this year the Chamber of Commerce has. taken a hand in charging $5 additional for each, The Case of Tsingtao More or less the same state of affairs prevail at Tsingtao where formerly, in the time of the Kao En-hung' Administration, restrietions were imposed severely and unscrupulous operators properly punished for any misdeed. In those days, the number of establishments was maintained at half a dozen and the authorities showed great reluctance to make money out of the business. But at the present time, there are said to be over 40 houses of questionable reputation in operation at Tsingtao and, presumably, they charge as much for a licence there as they do here No medical examination of the inmates is now carried out and the conscquenice is that the percentage disease is very high. The Amer tean naval authorities carry out a medical inspection of their own upon those establishments who would submit to it, but not having. records as to tie actual number of inmates, they ure, of course, unable te discover irregularities, such as the hiding away of those women who rffay be affected.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.