The laws against such sales of children are perfectly clear, Chapter SXExV of the Criminal Code, articles 313, 314, and S15, states:—
Many abduction cases investigated annually are found to be unprovable Ina court of law and never get 50 far, on account of the refusal of the Birls concerned to admit to any coercion in leaving their homes.
Article 313: (1) Whoever brings an-'These cases arise in many different other into a state of slavery" shall be Punished with imprisonment for not tess ways, but nearly all of them have Than one year and not more than seven the same ending—a house of ill. years: fame, A mill girl may be persuaded (ID An attempt to commit an offence by-an ardent lover to leave her work under this Afiicie shall be punishable. and tive with him. She consents. During a brief few weeks she has a wonderful time, enjoying pleasures 14 the amusements of Shanghai in way she had never dreamed of. Northerners as they are to-day and Then her seducer puts it to her that yet allow the South to realize its He has no more money and suggests Rew political concept. The Crown Rat she go back to her twelve hours would remain the symbol of unity, though the sovereign members The choice put before her is be. tween this drudgery and a gay life would decide for themselves as to in an open house. The choice is often the closeness of their formal rela~ in favour of the latter, since by her tions with it, But in any event. lopment the girl has' forfeited the the scheme which "Pacificus" puts respect of her family and the chances, forward, visionary as it may be of her obtaining a position like the' in some respects, implies that the tone she left are remote. The con-|_ Irish Commonwealth would be per-rection between the seducer and the owners of the house to which the manently associated by Treaty with irl eventually goes may be suspected. Great Britain, with commonwealth but it seldom can be proved. All preference for Britain, a reciprocal the way through the girl has acted of citizenship and an entente for the her own free will Purposes of defence.
Of the trafic in women and Visionary? Of course it is. It children it is always dificult to get has to be, for the man who can accurate information, since most of solve the present difficulties along below ground. The sale of the lines of former conceptions has children during famines has been yet to be born. In these days, touched upon. It {sa distressing 50- lal phenomenon that is not by any when the shibboleths of old are means peculiar to this country and crashing before the march of com-will exist, in the opinion of many. Prehended realities, adjustment of who have studied It, so Tong as there thought becomes of imperative fare famines, necessity. Old formulae are not Contracts of Sate always standing the new tests Novel solutions have to be found Such sales are usually made for old problems. It may very through middlemen who have been employed for the purpose by nerwell be that the solution put for-sons in populous areas or who rely ward by "Pacificus" will be in-pon paying starvation prices and capable of full realization, but the reselling later at a profit. Children. very fact that thinkers are explore 's0 bought are sometimes placed in ing every possible way out of the much better surroundings that they Present impasse—no matter how would otherwise have had. some orthodox or heterodox they may being adopted into childless families and others being employed by well-be—is probably the best promise to-do people in the capacity of ser-of an ultimate and permanent vants. More often, however, it is to Settlement. It might be in such bbe feared that the most dreadful fate fan event that Ireland might so awaits them. contribute to this new idea of the Another type of sale es that by British Commonwealth that she parents themselves direct 0 the would find herself following the ultimate purchasers. Most of the example of her patron saint. It recent cases that have been found in is said that St. Patrick, after he Shanghai are in this category. There fare set forms of contracts in such escaped from his Irish owner, sales. The first stipulates the sale of qualified for his religious mission Jthe child for a certain specified pur-jand returned to Ireland, actually [pose in return for a sum named. paid his former master for the contract of this sort usually contains loss inflicted upon him when he a clause forbidding the use of the Jas a slave boy, escaped, and it child for immoral purposes, but might very well be that Ireland in sometimes this clause is omitted. The ithe role Mr. de Valera fancies for second sells the child in perpetuity, the parent renouncing all rishis. her might repay Great Britain in Sometimes the clause forbidding pro-the future for the schisms of the tution is found in these contracts resent. A serious discussion for also. The third sells the child out such a day as this, but with the Fight, making no exceptions as to the [prospect of something being done fuses to which she may be Dut heal present discords, it is per-fourth type, very rare, ince it is /missible to suggest, while extending evidence tpn which the parties car be criminally prosecuted, sets fortt fo the Trish congratulations on this wist'the child is being sold for pur-festival, that hopes of agreement poses of prostitution. There cine Jmake this day one of particular Tumerable varieties of these four significance.
J types of contracts In accordance with /the district in which the sale is made, the urgency of the parents! need for money,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.