"Social Evil" in Chicago and the struggle to filter out what is and is not relevant

In 1910, Chicago put together a Vice Commission, comprised of mostly men and two women, all of whom "command the respect and confidence of the public at large" (1). Their goal was to investigate the "social evil" (a term which is never defined throughout the entire nearly-300-page report) and create a solution to eliminate it from or control it within the city. The Mayor released a statement to the press about how years before (the exact date is unspecified) the city attempted to segregate vice in certain districts of the city, but as these groups of people perpetrating the activities labeled under Chicago's definition of vice were pushed out by their neighbors, they were sent into different neighborhoods and were now in a state of disarray, scattered all over the city. The committee separated into seven subcommittees: existing conditions in Chicago, social evil and saloon, social evil and police, sources of supply, social evil and crime, child protection and education, rescue and reform, literature and methods, medical questions, and law and legislation. The commission met regularly as well as holding 98 conferences over a period of 6 weeks, all of which were arranged by letters of invitation and press notices. Representatives from several philanthropic, civil, social and reform and business organizations attended these meetings to speak to the committee in person. The report is full of paradoxes. The committee itself was constructed of rich white men, but at the same time they make a big show of adding a black community member to the ranks, mentioning this addition five separate times within the first 10 pages of the report. The organizations involved were relatively well-suited to diversity but the two women on the committee were largely silent. From what can be surmised, the "social evil" is essentially comprised of anyone involved in prostitution, gambling, drinking to excess, or "perversion" which seems to be the code word of choice to say "homosexual." Within the perspectives and investigation into this social evil come even more paradoxes. On one page, the report will talk about how "it is a man and not a woman problem which we face today--commercialized by man--supported by man--the supply of fresh victims furnished by men--men who have lost that fine instinct of chivalry and that splendid honor for womanhood where the destruction of a woman's soul is abhorrent, and where the defense of a woman's purity is truly the occasion for a valiant fight" (47) but on another they will discuss whether or not they should sterilize all prostitutes. It's disorienting, to say the least. This text, however, is a wealth of information regarding to the treatment of the queer community. There are mentions of cross-dressing, even language that suggests trans* presence, as well as lesbians. The entire section mentioning the queer community is labeled under "medical questions" as "sex perversion." Any person mentioned is repeatedly labeled a pervert, and the law regarding "infamous crimes against nature" is brought up and the reader is reminded that anyone committing these crimes can no longer hold an office of honor, trust or profit, vote at elections, or serve as jurors, they will be sentenced to no more than ten years, and "it shall not be necessary to prove emission, to convict any person of the crime against nature" (348). This breakthrough is going to be pivotal for the foundation of my thesis, and the timing of discovering this could not have been more perfect. I am so thrilled to use this section in addition to other information about locations of these activities, particularly their prevalence in the north side, in proving my thesis that the neighborhood diaspora of Chicago's queer community was caused by under-reported, under-the-table police and societal persecution.


Source:

Chicago (Ill.).Vice Commission. “The Social Evil in Chicago :a Study of Existing Conditions /,” no. 1 (n.d.).