lR

the exploiters

The present investigation has estabhshed the fact that
the business of prostitution in New York City is ex¬
ploited and, for the most part, controlled by men,
though women are also involved. The names and ad¬
dresses of over 500 men so engaged have been secured,
together with personal descriptions and the records of
many of them. Some are owners, others, procurers,
the rest mainly cadets or pimps,— younger men who
have a single girl, at times a " string " of girls, " work¬
ing " for them on the street or in houses. The
woman exploiter is at times herself a proprietor;
usually, however, she is employed by men on a salary
to operate a resort.

(I)    owners

The men proprietors have reached their present voca¬
tion by many paths. They have been wrestlers, prize¬
fighters, gamblers, " politicians," proprietors of " creep
houses,"' fruit venders, pawnbrokers, pickpockets,
crooks, peddlers, waiters, saloonkeepers, etc. Some of
them pose as " business men," carrying cards and
samples, to serve as a subterfuge when they are arrested
as vagrants or  for living off the proceeds of prosti-

1 A " creep house " is a place .;where women take men to rob them.

77