EUROPE AN ANTHOLOGY OF PROS PRIESTS AND KINGS, COMMISSARS AND PARLIAMENTS HAVE 
ALL TRIED TO PUT THE WORLD'S OLDEST PROFESSION OUT OF BUSINESS 
. NONE SUCCEEDED . SOME SOCIOLOGISTS, HOWEVER, HAVE GAMELY PREDICTED THAT 
ANY NATION THAT COULD ELIMINATE UNEMPLOYMENT WOULD ALSO ELIMINATE PROSTITUTION . 
GIRLS ONLY SOLD THEIR BODIES, THE ARGUMENT WENT, BECAUSE THERE WAS 
NO MARKET FOR THEIR OTHER SKILLS . THE MOBILE SQUAD . 
BUT AS PROSPEROUS, LABOR-SHORT WESTERN EUROPE LAST WEEK PREPARED FOR THE 
SUMMER FLOOD OF TOURISTS, IT WAS GLARINGLY APPARENT THAT THE SOCIOLOGISTS 
HAD, AS USUAL, GUESSED WRONG . INSTEAD OF VANISHING, OR EVEN 
DECLINING IN NUMBERS, PROSTITUTES SWARMED IN EVERY EUROPEAN CAPITAL, FROM COPENHAGEN 
TO ROME AND FROM BUDAPEST TO LONDON . THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC 
MIRACLE DID IN FACT TAKE SOME PROSTITUTES OFF THE STREETS BUT 
ONLY TO PUT THEM IN CARS . THE " KLAXON GIRLS 
" OF MILAN CRUISE CATHEDRAL SQUARE IN LANCIAS AND DAUPHINES, DISCREETLY 
TOOTING HORNS AND FLASHING THEIR HEADLIGHTS TO ATTRACT MEN'S ATTENTION . 
THE LATEST FASHION IN COPENHAGEN HAS BEEN CREATED BY " VANPROSTITUTES, 
" WHO CRUISE THE STREETS IN SMALL TRUCKS EQUIPPED WITH BEDS 
. IN ROME, THE FIRST GREEN LEAVES LAST WEEK PEEPED ALONG 
THE LUNGOTEVERE, AND FLOWERS SPROUTED BEHIND SIDEWALK TABLES ON THE VIA 
VENETO . SPRING HAD COME, AND THE LADIES COULD NOT BE 
FAR BEHIND . AS EARLY AS 9 A.M., TIGHT-SKIRTED HUSTLERS PROWL 
THE SQUARE BEFORE ROME'S MODERNISTIC RAILWAY STATION ; BY NOON, THEY 
ARE ENSCONCED ON THE BENCHES OF THE PINCIO GARDEN, CASTING PROVOCATIVE 
GLANCES OVER THE TOPS OF SUNGLASSES AT PASSERS-BY ; BY DINNERTIME, 
THEY BEGIN CONGREGATING NEAR ROME'S BIGGEST SUPERMARKET ALONGSIDE OLYMPIC VILLAGE AND 
BESIDE THE VAST RUINS OF THE BATHS OF CARACALLA . AT 
9 O'CLOCK, ON THE CORNER OF VIA SISTINA NEAR THE PIAZZA 
DI SPAGNA, THE PRETTIEST PROSTITUTES APPEAR, DRESSED NOT AS PROFESSIONAL HOOKERS 
BUT AS SWEET LITTLE SCHOOLGIRLS . IN PARIS, THE POLICE HAVE 
SUCCEEDED IN DRIVING MOST BROTHELS UNDERGROUND, BUT AN ESTIMATED 20,000 PROSTITUTES 
ARE STILL AVAILABLE TO TOURISTS AND DOMESTIC MALES . THE MOST 
EXPENSIVE (AROUND $20) WORK THE CHAMPS-ELYSEES, AND IN A DECLINING ORDER 
OF PRICE AND PULCHRITUDE COME THE GIRLS OF THE MADELEINE, THE 
GARE MONTPARNASSE, PLACE PIGALLE AND LES HALLES . BRITAIN'S STREET OFFENSES 
ACT, PASSED IN 1959, HAS ENDED THE PROCESSIONS OF UNDULATING WHORES 
THAT USED TO FILL UP PICCADILLY CIRCUS, BAYSWATER ROAD AND HYDE 
PARK . BORROWING A TRICK FROM THEIR SISTERS IN AMSTERDAM, MANY 
LONDON PROSTITUTES NOW SIT AT THE UPPER WINDOWS OF SCRUFFY SOHO 
FLATS FOR WHICH THEY PAY AS MUCH AS $150 PER WEEK 
. UPSTAIRS BAR . EVEN THE COMMUNIST BLOC HAS ITS PROBLEMS 
WITH PROSTITUTION, WHILE INDIGNANTLY DENYING THAT IT EXISTS . IN HUNGARY, 
BUDAPEST'S FEW WHORES ARE OFTEN BOOKED UP NIGHTS IN ADVANCE BY 
VISITING AUSTRIAN AND WEST GERMAN BUSINESSMEN . " ELISABETH OF THE 
DUNA, " A WITTY LITTLE MAGYAR WHO ADORNS THE UPSTAIRS BAR 
OF THE HOTEL DUNA, IS SO FAMOUS THAT GUARDS ON THE 
AUSTRIAN BORDER ASK TRAVELERS, " HAVE YOU ANYTHING TO DECLARE ? 
DID YOU SEE ELISABETH ? " THOUGH FLOURISHING AS NEVER BEFORE 
IN WESTERN EUROPE, THE WORLD'S OLDEST PROFESSION IS ALSO CONTINUING TO 
TAKE ITS ACCUSTOMED TOLL . IN ITALY, THE NUMBER OF REPORTED 
CASES OF VENEREAL DISEASE JUMPED FROM 1,679 IN 1958 TO 16,395 
LAST YEAR . IN FRANCE, DURING FIVE YEARS OF PROSPERITY, VENEREAL 
DISEASE SKYROCKETED BY 385 PER CENT . THE PROS PUT THE 
BLAME ON THE SEMIPROS, THE GROWING NUMBER OF YOUNG WOMEN WHO 
WORK DAYS AS SECRETARIES OR SALESCLERKS (AT WAGES RANGING FROM $120 
TO $150 PER MONTH) AND TAKE TO THE STREETS AT NIGHT 
AND REMAIN LARGELY UNKNOWN EVEN TO THE POLICE . AT WEEK'S 
END IN PARIS, WOMEN WERE FLOCKING TO MOVIE THEATERS TO WATCH 
ABSORBEDLY A NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM ON PROSTITUTION AND, PERHAPS, PICK UP 
A FEW POINTERS . 