the patriotic youth of New Japan, wishing to pay homage at the most famous shrines of Ise, are compelled to reach the spot by passing along a road lined on both sides with legalized brothels, it looks as if official encouragement to impurity was offered, or at least temptation was presented, to the rising generation.
But Christianity has always taught, in Japan as elsewhere, that prostitution, whether licensed or un-*licensed, is a sin, and has sought by various means to check this terrible evil. Formerly no girl was able to escape from her awful slavery, no matter how much she desired to free herself, except by permission of the keeper! But within the past few years a campaign has been waged that has greatly weakened the tyranny of the abominable system. A test case, bitterly fought at every point, was carried up through all the courts to the highest, and finally won by those who contended that a girl could not be kept in a brothel against her will. Another test case, carried up to the Supreme Court, and decided in favor of the keepers, to the effect that the financial obligations of the girls are valid in law, has given the reform movement a temporary set-back. But, in spite of all obstacles and opposition, the crusade against the social evil has achieved a large measure of success. About 14,000 girls have been set free; the number of applicants for admission, as well as of unlicensed prostitutes, has diminished; the number of visitors has so largely decreased, that some brothels
