s gang which oppressed her.

One recital of this kind is enough, although instances by the score
might be cited which differ only in detail and degree.

It is only necessary to say that the legal evidence thus far collected
establishes with complete moral certainty these awful facts: That the
white slave traffic is a system operated by a syndicate which has its
ramifications from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific ocean, with
"clearing houses" or "distributing centers" in nearly all of the larger
cities; that in this ghastly traffic the buying price of a young girl is
from $15 up and that the selling price is from $200 to $600--if the girl
is especially attractive the white slave dealer may be able to sell her
for as much as $800 or $1,000; that this syndicate did not make less
than $200,000 last year in this almost unthinkable commerce; that it is
a definite organization sending its hunters regularly to scour France,
Germany, Hungary, Italy and Canada for victims; that the man at the head
of this unthinkable enterprise is known among his hunters as "The Big
Chief."

Also the evidence shows that the hirelings of this traffic are stationed
at certain ports of entry in Canada, where large numbers of immigrants
are landed, to do what is known in their parlance as "cutting out work."
In other words, these watchers for human prey scan the immigrants as
they come down the gang plank of a vessel which has just arrived and
"spot" the girls who are unaccompanied by fathers, mothers, brothers or
relatives to protect them. The girl who has been spotted as a desirable
and unprotected victim is properly approached by a man who speaks her
language and is immediately offered employment at good wages, with all
expenses to the destination to be paid by the man. Most frequently
laundry work is the bait held out, sometimes housework or employment in
a candy shop or factory.

The object of the negotiations is to "cut out" the girl from any of her
associates and to get her to go with him. Then the only thing is to
accomplish her ruin by the shortest route. If they cannot be cajoled or
enticed by promises of an easy time, plenty of money, fine clothes and
the usual stock of allurements--or a fake marriage--then harsher methods
are resorted to. In some instances the hunters really marry the victims.
As to the sterner methods, it is of course impossible to speak
explicitly, beyond the statement that intoxication and drugging are
often us