Confronting an aging city’s vice problem with facts, not sensationalism.
This historical study compiles findings and concrete recommendations from the Vice Commission of Philadelphia, issued to Mayor Rudolph Blankenburg. It presents the local conditions, investigations, and policy proposals that aimed to reform a wide range of urban vice and its effects on community life.
The book uses documentary evidence, witness accounts, and official data to examine areas such as parlor houses, call houses, furnished rooms, and the role of employment agencies, as well as issues around venereal disease, child welfare, and legal controls. It outlines how investigations were conducted and what reforms the city might pursue to protect the public and vulnerable residents.
- Grounds the study in Philadelphia’s 1913 urban context with practical recommendations.
- Explains the scope of vice-related problems and the investigators’ methods.
- Details the interplay between law, policing, and social reform.
- Offers historical perspective on early 20th‑century public health and policy debates.
Ideal for readers of local history, public policy, and urban reform, this edition sheds light on how cities addressed complex social problems in the early 1900s.