The Ne Mann's Case Analysis

The investigators told the press that Moore had arranged the purchase of two young girls. One was described as “so little and so childish that she wept when they took her from one house to another because she had to leave her Teddy bear behind.” However, it was all a ruse as the two “girls” turned out to be experienced prostitutes who were 23 and 25 years old. Also, the ladies weren’t forced to do anything. One of them testified, “All I remember is he asked us to go to Seattle, made arrangements for us to go to Seattle, and I said, ‘Yes, I would go.’” It was clear to the judge that Belle Moore wasn’t guilty of white slavery according to the intent of the law. “White slavery, as popularly understood, is that condition to which young and innocent girls are debased when sold into captivity for immoral purposes,” he stated. “The evidence did not show you to be guilty of such a sale.” Nonetheless, she was convicted of compulsory prostitution of women and was sentenced to five years.
Belle Moore’s case marked a tipping point when The New York Times became one of the few newspapers to tone done the rhetoric of white slavery. By 1914, The …show more content…
In fact, Sims and Roe helped draft the bill. This bill passed easily, although the pretenses were astounding as James Mann even asserted that “(t)he white slave traffic while not so extensive, is much more horrible than any black slave traffic ever was in the history of the world.” Furthermore, Mann’s legislation cited a study conducted by the Dillingham Commission that was far from scholarly, nor impartial, and expressed racist opinions. Nonetheless, the White Slave Traffic Act of 1910, or as it was known “the Mann Act,” was signed by President Taft. Taft allocated $50,000 to a then fairly new branch of government to pursue Mann Act violations, the Bureau of Investigation, the precursor to