Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls

This is a primary document from the heart of American Progressivism, a muckraking exposé that pulled back the curtain on organized networks trafficking young girls in the early twentieth century. Ernest A. Bell compiled sworn testimonies, police records, and investigative accounts to document how procurers systematically lured vulnerable young women away from their families and into houses of prostitution. The book details the mechanics of this hidden industry: the recruitment methods, the transportation networks, the corruption of officials who looked the other way. But this is not merely an expose. It functions as a call to arms, prescribing exactly what citizens, legislators, and moral reformers could do to dismantle what Bell called "this hideous monster." The language is of its era, sometimes uncomfortable to modern ears, but the document remains a vital historical record of the social conditions that prompted the first major movements toward child protection and women's rescue in America. For readers interested in Progressive Era history, feminist reform movements, or the origins of anti-trafficking advocacy, this volume offers an unfiltered window into how reformers saw and fought a hidden crisis.