demoralization of woman by the registration system, shows an utter
debasement of law. This system is directly opposed to the fundamental
principle of right, that of holding the accused innocent until proven
guilty, which until now has been recognized as a part of modern law.
Under the registration or license system, all women within the radius
of its action are under suspicion; all women are held as morally
guilty until they prove themselves innocent. Where this law is in
force, all women are under an irresponsible police surveillance,
liable to accusation, arrest, examination, imprisonment, and the
entrance of their names upon the list of the lewd women of a town.
Upon this frightful infraction of justice, we have the sentiments of
Sheldon Amos, Professor of Jurisprudence in the Law College of London
University. In "The Science of Law," he says, in reference to this
very wrong:

The loss of liberty to the extent to which it exists, implies a
degradation of the State, and, if persisted in, can only lead to
its dissolution. No person or class of persons must be under the
cringing fear of having imputed to them offences of which they
are innocent, and of being taken into custody in consequence of
such imputation. They must not be liable to be detained in
custody without so much as a _prima facie_ case being made out,
such as in the opinion of a responsible judicial officer leaves a
presumption of guilt. They must not be liable to be detained for
an indefinite time without having the question of their guilt or
innocence investigated by the best attainable methods. When the
fact comes to be inquired into, the best attainable methods of
eliciting the truth must be used. In default of any one of these
securities, _public liberty_ must be said to be proportionately
at a very low ebb.

Great effort has been made to introduce this system into the United
States, and a National Board of Health, created by Congress in 1879,
is carefully watched in its action, lest its irresponsible powers lead
to its encroachment upon the liberties and personal rights of woman. A
resolution adopted March 2, 1881, at a meeting of the New York
Committee appointed to thwart the effort to license vice in this
country, shows the need of its watchful care.

_Resolved_, That this committee has learned with much regret and
apprehension of the action of the American Pub