South Bend News-Times, Volume 34, Number 225, South Bend, St. Joseph County, 13 August 1917 — Page 3

V -S V;, .- jf ; l f $ f H V ' U 1 I A 1 f 0 esearches Tkat Sli H the Wicked ow OW Mod ern Traffic in Souls Has Descended f rom a Still More Wicked Traffic

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of Our Ancient Pagan Past

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Gathered from All Parts of the World Were Sold Opc.ily.

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The Wife of Baal" Henry Motte', Striking Painting of a Phoenician and Babylonian Ceremony. Girls of Extraordinary Beauty and High Birth Were "Presented" to the God. They Were Supposed Either to Die of Starvation on His Lap or to Be Devoured by the Lions If They Jumped. As a Matter of Fact This Ceremony Was Part of the White Slave Traffh Carried on by the Priests of These Temples, Who, After the Worshippers Withdrew, Came Back and Took the Sacrifice Away. By William I. Page, Author of the Novelized Version of "The Wanderer." A N exhaustive sraicli uns made for historical data

;,'(' 'M f'uihiin up tho dramatic picture of the Prodigal Sou's surroundings in the iib so offcctively and m realist i-a!ly portravrd in David Pxdns-

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Boulanger's Painting of the lave Market in Rome. White Slavery Was an Open Institution in the Old Pagan Capital, and Women

riotous livingr." That she should bo living in Jerusalem is not surprising, for in the timo of Solomon it was tho richest city of t ho ancient world, surpassing even Babylon. Its wonderful palaors built of rare woods and adorned with pold are described in the Book of Kinjrs. Kven down to the Christian era it was a preat centre of lifo in Western Asia. The unspeakable eorruption of Babylon is well illustrated in "The Wanderer," bv the Babylonian mother, Nadina, who profits by the shame of her own daughter Tisha. T quote from the book of the piny: " 'And what t hinkest thou of my house t' inquired the smiling Nadina. turning abruptly from Tola. " 4To one like me from the country,' replied Jether, 'it surpasses all imagination. My dreams of the city have been realized, and more.' " 'Ah, but wait until thou hast seon my Tisha a dove.' added the fond mother, clapping her hands and bidding one of the hand-maidens fetch her daughter.

co's Statins: of "The Waii'lerei-

The search taught us

many things, and. annuiL' dhers. that white slavery was even more a cure of the ancient world than of the modern, and yet it was e-entiallv the same evil" that causes so much misery in our society to-day. This interesting view of a traffic whidr is almost, f.f old as time its. If. se? forth in a.n article bv the omi'nent sociolotrist. Professor Alexis Karaton of the PniverFity of Moscow, in a tr- .-.tiv,. recently published in PusFinn and translated in this country. The-rreat difference between ancient and modern times, so Professor Karaton declares, was that in the former the evil was jvn' ral'y looked upon as a normal inevitable condition, while to-day society is constantly "warrinir against tin evil, however prevalent and seemingly ineradicable it may be. Tn preparing to pres.-nt this theme upon the stace, Mr. Belaseo, who staged "The Wanderer" so wonderfully, vent very thorouirhlv into the details of aico-nt Hebrew life and of the surrounding Oriental life, including that of Babylonia and Kirypt of the same period. The biblical tory of the Prodigal S.mi and the result of Mr. Belaseo's researdies into Oriental hist or v. were then Incorporated in "The Wand :vr." The trrea, centre of "white shivery" and wickedness In those days was Iab jon. a city whose luxurv in manv respects has never been surpassed. The ruling trnds of Babylon were IVaal. the male deity, and Ishtar. his female counterpart. In the vast temples of Baal and Ishtar dwelt thousands of female votaries, condemned to a life of degradation for various periods. The astonishing Ktatement of Herodotus that every woman in BahvlorT. no matter how troo.i h- family, sacrificed herself at least once as a temple votary, appears to have been true. In thevorship of Baal, "white slaverv" was horribly mingled with human sacrifice. Beautifui maidens were left on the lap of the mnrMrou ima-j- of P.aal. os, nsiblv to be devoured by the lions that were loose in the enclosure, but the priests of the temple res.Mied those whom they dehired for their own purposes. The known world was ran-a.-ke.l to provide "white fdaves" for Babylon. Ship trading to the most distant seas, probably even the British Ishs, bought or stole the fairest daughters of the lands they visited" ami carried

A Phase of White Slavery in Ancient Jerusalem, as Revealed in "The Wanderer.' Here Is Shown the Sea Captain Who Has Just Seized Two of the Unfortunate Slave Girls, Victims of the Wicked Traffic of That Day.

them to captivity in Babylon and other Oriental centres. These shocking1 crimes were perpetrated in the name of a fa!e idolatrous religion, ami accepted by the people gi'iicrally as lawful and proper, but we must not suppose that hivauM thev were sanctioned bv law thev caused no sutler mi: to the victims. The women condemned to a life of slianie and misery sulYeml perhaps not less than the "white slaves" of to-day. The irYc.A lun powerful then never thought of showing mercy to poor and helpless girls, while now the strongest forces of society are employed to protect them. The shadow of "white slavery" hung over the whole ancient world like a dreadful pall. Human beings naturally longed f( r a peaceful, united family life. Fathers? and mothers loved their daughters perhaps not less than to-day. But at any moment their loved ones were likely to be snatched away from them by the hand of the tyrant, to be i s, d f.s the plaything of the moment. Beaut v was then indeed a curse. Sensuality ruled the human race. "The Babylonian banquets." says the great Orientalist. Prolessoi- A. H. Sayce, "were carried to a disgusting excess and the pleasures of the table degenerated into debauchery; nay, at the very time when the victorious Persians rushed into the city the Princes of Babylon were engaged in festivities and BeMiazzar was given ip to intoxication in company with thousands of his lords when the hand which wrote on the wall of the roval banqueting

house and predicted his approaching fate aroused him to the dreadful reality of his condition. 4 'But this total degeneracy of manners was above all conspicuous in the other sex, amongst whom there were no traces of that reserve which usually prevails in an eastern harem. The prophet, therefore, when he denounces the fall of Babylon describes it under the image of a luxurious woman who is cast headlong into slavery." While the traftio in helpless women was regarded in Babylon and the Orient generally as a legitimate form of commerce, this view was not universal. Notably in the Jewish State there were stringent prohibitions against this kind of traffic and Jaws protecting women's virtue. The divine injunctions on which the laws were based may be found in the book of Deuteronomy and in otherparts of the Bible. Israel condemned and punished looseness of conduct, mainly because it tended to weaken the unity of family life, which was the great strength of the nation. The man who spent his time in dissipation away from home could not be a good father or so:j. This point has just been explained very interestingly in a lecture on the history of the social evil by Professor Morris J. Karpas, of Cornell University Medical Department. It is clearly on good historical grounds that a Babylonian girl, Tisha. was chosen as the siren of the plav who

leads the prodigal son Jether "to waste his substance in

Cor-yrfRht. lf'17. by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved.

The girl came toward them wearily. She

was fair, indeed, to look upon, though dark of skin and of eye. She was young barely more than eighteen but already the wisdom of the world was hers. Her thick dark hair had been cut short so that it fell only to her neck, and a great golden comb held back the tresses from her forehead. Her gown was richly ornament ed with beads and golden embroider', and her sandals were of some kind of cloth rnd silver. Upon her fingers were giant rings, emeralds and rubies, which sparkled in the evening sunlight as she raised one hand to brush back some rebellious locks of hair. "What dost thou desire of me, my mother?" she asked, with a bored air, a supercilious glance taking in the youthful Jether. 4 'I would have thee meet Jether, a mightv prince of Juden.' directed the mother. 'Jether hath come to Jerusalem to see the great city.

and thou must be his hand-maiden.' "The girl bowed her head in submission and saluted Jether by half kneeling before him. " 4 Thy Tisha stands before thee. Jether,' she said, obediently, and would have knelt, but Jether restrained her by taking her hand. " 'Thou shalt not kneel,' he commanded. 'Thou prt too beautiful.' " 'Thy servant is glad if she plenseth thee.' she .mswered coquettishly. 'I but do the bidding of my mother, for her word is law to Tisha. Still on my own behalf I would welcome thee to Jerusalem, and bring thee wine and food after the journey. Stayest thou long?' inquired Tisha. " 'As long as thou dost make me welcome,' replied Jether. Another phase of the sensual life of the Orient is illustrated in the play by Pharis, the giant Phoenician va captain who carried away Tisha under one arm and the girl Sidonia under the other, saying: "T shall take both, for one may die." The Phoenicians who inhabited Tyre and Sid on and other seaports of Syria carried on most of the maritime trade of ancient Asia. They voyaged to the most distant parts of the world and brought back gold, precious stones, many luxuries and especially "white slaves" to the rulers and merchants of Babylon and other civilized capitals.

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