| Formation | 6 September 1881 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Philadelphia, United States |
| Purpose |
|
| Headquarters | Philadelphia |
Secretary | David Clarence Gibboney |
The Law and Order Society was a temperance and Sabbath observance organization founded in 1881 in Philadelphia in the United States. It campaigned for the enforcement of the liquor laws in that city, the proper observance of the Sabbath, and against "white slavery" (prostitution), but it did not aim to reform prostitutes. It claimed in 1917 to have reduced the number of saloons and similar establishments in Philadelphia from 6,000 to 1,910.
History
The society was formed on 6 September 1881.[1]
It campaigned against "white slavery" (the supposed luring of innocent white girls into prostitution).[2]
Its agents had no official standing but acted as witnesses in court cases against those serving alcohol illegally, such as in 1906 when their agents gave evidence in Reading, Pennsylvania, that the brothel-keeper May Reilly had illegally served liquor on a Sunday.[3]
They conducted raids on speakeasies, confiscating the stock while waiting for officers of the law to arrive.[4]
It claimed in 1917 to have reduced the number of saloons and similar establishments in Philadelphia from 6,000 to 1,910.[5]
References
- ↑ Adams, James H. (2015). Urban Reform and Sexual Vice in Progressive-Era Philadelphia: The Faithful and the Fallen. Lanham: Lexington Books. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-4985-0869-8.
- ↑ "Forty Years in the Wilderness; or Masters and Rulers of the "Freemen" of Pennsylvania: VII "Law and Order" ", Rudolph Blankenburg, The Arena, Vol. XXXIV (1905), Jul.-Dec. No. 188-193, pp. 128-142 (p. 133)
- ↑ "Illegal Liquor Selling Charged", Reading Times, 13 March 1907, pp. 1 & 5. Retrieved from newspapers.com 14 January 2020. (subscription required)
- ↑ United States Bureau of Education. (1906). Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year Ending June 30, 1904. Vol. 1. Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 622.
- ↑ Prohibiting the Manufacture and Sale of Alcoholic Liquors in the District of Columbia: Hearing Before Committee on the District of Columbia, House of Representatives, Sixty-fourth Congress, Second Session on S. 1082 ... Vol. Part I. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1917. p. 217.