19th Century Industrial Capitalism and the Youth Crisis of New York City. Essay

” (Cohen, 11) When on their own at night, “unsupervised young men were ready to take in the amusements of the metropolis to the extent permitted by their pocket-books. ” (Cohen, 11) They lived on their own and socialized with other young men who lacked self-discipline. After work, they went home to eat and later congregated at bars and brothels. The unfamiliar living conditions transformed the personalities of young men and reshaped it into a bold male form of culture.These settings allowed them to explore the limits of leisure-like activities. The new industrial and economic system did not only alter social relationships but also shift the moral education. As the self-seeking individualistic model of economy grew, irreligious families neglected the moral training of youth. This neglect led to a serious fracturing of the virtuous community.

Young men confronted a highly visible traffic of prostitution as prostitutes increased in both number and visibility. “Innocent young men could easily be led astray by bad women. (Cohen, 231) Within a short period of time, places of evil, like brothels and theatres, replaced religious homes, and the lust of lower ranking women replaced the virtue of these men’s mothers and sisters. Brothels were central to the forming, nurturing, widening, and deepening the male culture. The young men socialized in the parlor of the brothels because most young men could not afford the expense of frequent visits to the upstairs rooms of prostitutes.

Clerks hid their activities at the brothels and theatres from their parents and employers. They were very careful to protect their reputations and maintain a separation between their two lives, because damage to their reputation could cost them their jobs and cause terrible shame to their parents. These men protected their reputations by adopting interchangeable identities and creating second characters. For example- Richard Robinson, the suspect in Helen Jewett murder, went by the name Frank Rivers during his visits to brothels.Clerks maximized their earnings with little or no regard for the moral implications of their moneymaking methods. Established men and professionals could afford “the $5 fee that prostitutes charged for their sexual services.

” (Cohen. 112) Young clerks were among the men who frequently visited the upstairs rooms. A young clerk might earn “at most $4 per week (an entry-level job). ” (Cohen, 111) Spending $5 dollars each time was definitely a stretch. The accumulating cost of the frequent visits to prostitutes might have turned some of the clerks into “consummate scoundrels. (Cohen, 318) it is shocking that no one knew or questioned the source of funding for their immoral indulgence. It seemed that the corruption of these rogues of New York exploded out of control during this period. Not only prostitutes but also clerks benefited from their relationships.

The city had no professional police force, but a small number of men had full-time employment as police and watch officers. ” (Cohen, 9) It was impossible for an unprofessional police force to control the masses of rowdy young men. Harassment of prostitutes was permissible to men wanting to tease or bully prostitutes. Society began to understand the need for some authority to restrain these young men.

Society directors realized that prescriptive literature was not enough to guide the youth to the virtuous world. In small towns, churches provided intellectual and moral training for the youth.In the beginning, to fill the void of the churches, moral male reformers published advice books to help these young men living away from home in New York City. These books exposed the sexual dangers of the big cities. Moral male reformers also appealed to young men by organizing open meetings, which were led by young men like them. During these meetings, they discussed prostitution and vice, “entering into details of the most revolting description and filling the minds of young and old with ideas that they had never before entertained, and associations of the very existence of which they were previously and happily ignorant.