From the PREFACE: THE responsibility for the publication of this report of the moral survey of Syracuse is assumed by the Committee of Eighteen. The judgment of the committee has been fortified and strengthened by that of more than fifty other men and women who have read the report and approve its publication. The work was conducted under the direction of the executive officers of the American Vigilance Association, and the actual investigation of conditions was made by its expert investigators, in whose moral character the Committee has every confidence. They have performed a difficult and disagreeable task with commendable thoroughness and discretion. The Committee of Eighteen assures the citizens of Syracuse that every statement made in the report is borne out by the facts. Indeed, understatement has been the constant policy of the Committee. The purposes of this report are, first, to inform the citizens of Syracuse of the actual conditions relative to vice and prostitution; second, to awaken the conscience of the city and arouse a public sentiment that shall compel the present and all future administrations thoroughly and insistently to enforce the laws relative to prostitution and the liquor traffic; and third, to suggest means of reducing prostitution that have been adopted in other cities and states with marked success. In this way Syracuse may be freed from the horde of men and women who make a business of commercializing vice, and who resort to every means to lure the youth of both sexes into their toils. The light having been thrown upon the social evil by the publication of this report, the responsibility for its continued permission rests squarely upon the citizenship of Syracuse. The committee has faith that the citizens can be relied upon to make Syracuse cleaner, healthier and more moral. * * * * After the Preface is a comment by Jane Addams: "Our own task is absolutely simple and clear. It is that of turning on the light, and of guiding the present hopeful movement as wisely as we can. To an enlightened public opinion and a growing conscience this ancient evil is rapidly becoming 'a moral affront and an utter impossibility.' "