When They Come Home
Files
Title
When They Come Home
Description
This pamphlet is specifically designed to educate the spouses, significant others, and family members of World War I soldiers on the topic of venereal disease.
Excerpts:
Page 2, paragraph 2 : "When men and girls are changing their occupations and ways of life, when war disciplines are being removed and when spirits are buoyant, the greatest temptations to self indulge amid dangerous pleasures occur. Cities and towns throughout the country face now the most important crisis -- the biggest emergency yet encountered in the fight against veneral disease.
WHAT THE WAR HAS TAUGHT US
'Our ignorance and failure in handling the problem of veneral diseases constitute the greatest crime of American civilization. This is the clearest lesson of the war'. "
Page 4, paragraph 2 : "Now the returning soldiers, who have been given intelligent protection and wholesome recreation, are to be turned back to the civil communities. The federal government must, of nessecity, in the next few months, give up its wartime control. These men are your responsibility now."
Page 8, paragraph 3 : "With war's final end, many war buildings, war jobs, and institutions will go to the scrap heap. But every item in the program of veneral disease control is as necessary to successful peace as to successful war. Don't scrap your patriotism and community spirit in this manner. There should be no peace for prostitution, no truce for the 'tenderloin', no armistice with veneral disease. Make your blows knockouts against vice. The soldiers, when they come home from the trenches, will be the first to join you in your fight."
Excerpts:
Page 2, paragraph 2 : "When men and girls are changing their occupations and ways of life, when war disciplines are being removed and when spirits are buoyant, the greatest temptations to self indulge amid dangerous pleasures occur. Cities and towns throughout the country face now the most important crisis -- the biggest emergency yet encountered in the fight against veneral disease.
WHAT THE WAR HAS TAUGHT US
'Our ignorance and failure in handling the problem of veneral diseases constitute the greatest crime of American civilization. This is the clearest lesson of the war'. "
Page 4, paragraph 2 : "Now the returning soldiers, who have been given intelligent protection and wholesome recreation, are to be turned back to the civil communities. The federal government must, of nessecity, in the next few months, give up its wartime control. These men are your responsibility now."
Page 8, paragraph 3 : "With war's final end, many war buildings, war jobs, and institutions will go to the scrap heap. But every item in the program of veneral disease control is as necessary to successful peace as to successful war. Don't scrap your patriotism and community spirit in this manner. There should be no peace for prostitution, no truce for the 'tenderloin', no armistice with veneral disease. Make your blows knockouts against vice. The soldiers, when they come home from the trenches, will be the first to join you in your fight."
Creator
United States Public Health Service
Source
M 9 Box 55, Folder "Supplemental Literature," Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Contributor
Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Rights
This item is in the public domain. Acknowledgement of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is requested.
Notes
Learn more:
American Social Health Association, Social Welfare History Project
American Social Health Association, Social Welfare History Project
Collection
Citation
United States Public Health Service, “When They Come Home,” Social Welfare History Image Portal, accessed December 21, 2024, https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/items/show/11.