A plea to “every American citizen” regarding the morality of young naval officers deployed in Japan after the War. The writing in this handbill expresses concern for the ease with which service men were able to frequent brothels around the naval base in Yokosuka, and the 100% chance of them contracting syphilis.
The original article was published in the Des Moines Register, and the present handbill reproduces this article for wider distribution. It was issued by Anti-Conscription Committee, who opposed peacetime conscription. The sensationalist story of debauchery among young naval officers stationed in Japan was likely disseminated to induce moral panic among those with Christian values, with the view to ending peacetime conscription. The author, Rev. Lawrence L. Lacour (1907-1999) was a prominent figure in the Methodist church. From 1950 (approx. 4 years after this article), he moved to Japan to oversee a project to build 29 churches, before returning to the US to serve as the Methodist General Board of Evangelism.
This surviving piece of ephemera sheds light on an interesting point in the history of brothels in Japan, when there was a large population of American army officers stationed across Japan after the War.
