Another Effort to Stop Trade Defeated in Diet by' the Vested Interests Tokyo, Mar. 7.
1 cand cun Sees tee set Sune ale rar eae gie be Steeped ibe abolished was frustrated yester-by the vested interests. beg Retoprer pee cit satin ars ian mer Senet lof which upholders of the fal! but left their seats to attack those who desired to introduce the thin end of the wedge whereby the white slave" traffic in Japan could be ultimately abolished.
While the debate was going on, news arrived that the Susski dis-was on fire. The Susski district contains a big segregated licensed vice area, and is distinct, from Several of the a rush for the door, Jjumped into automobiles and hurried to the scene of the conflagration. The members of Parliament who made the undignified exit that was almost a stampede were owne: jer shareholders in the Susaki licen This incident, nceidental coineidlence as it is, tells the whole story Joe why itis well-nigh impossible to end State-recognized vice Jepan. In the galleries were a number of the keepers of these dens, The motion to grant no more licences to would-be prostitutes, with the ultimate object of wiping cut the licensed houses was reject-
Jed by 157 votes to 53.
The Attack and Defence The sponsor of this excellent motion, Mr. Tsunejiro Matsuyama, of the Seiyukai (one of the Coalition parties) asked the House whether JJupan to-day should tolerate a system whereby the young women lof the nation were compelled to lead of shane, "From wherever ingle itin viewed," he said, the aystem of public prostitution existing in Japan is damnable. ticularly blameworthy ts it that such aystem is officially permitted and He then cited statistics to prove ithe falseness of the old argument that licensed houses serve to prevent the spread of disease. Mr. Matsuyama also pointed out that in jthe Gumma and Wakayama prefect tures, where public opinion has resed to tolerate "Red Light" re-zions, there were hardly eny private prostitutes, thereby shattering the Jargument that, with the abolition of public prostitution, private prostitution is encouraged.
An Opposition member, and one whom the press alleges to have extensive interests in the licensed vice business, objecting to Mr. Matsu-motion, made. several marks relative to Western mor jand Christianity, thut—to the least—were' untrue, were lunealled for and were most offensively rude. But when the owner of a den of white slavery is able to "represent" the people, outbursts, calumnies though they be, lof this kind, are not surprising.
'Mr. Matsuyama then pointed out ensed prostitution, far from private prostitution, Jonly encouraged it. He quoted [chapter and verse in support of his 'Statistics had shown, he suid, that private prostitution' in-reused soon after a licensed quarter was established.
Another defender of the system lof public prostitution tried to make four that the white slavery practised jin more Juponico does not restrict personal freedom and that a girl jean quit when she wants to do so. This is only a half-truth. The law, it is true, says that girls earn leave when they want to. But to get them away from their keepers is no easy task. From the time the unfortunate loro (prostitute) enters the big gate flanked by a police box, wherein is the segregated area, she begins to pile up. "debts." So say hor keepers anyway. These debts must be paid-if she wants to go. But she can never pay them. They never diminish; increase
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.