One of the modern reforms instituted by Spain's short-lived (1931-36) democratic republic was the outlawry of prostitution. When Dictator Franco seized power, he reinstituted prostitution, set a minimum age of 23 for admission to the profession, charged the police with responsibility for seeing that prostitutes were registered and had regular medical checkups. But Franco's police, tough on politicals, are lax with prostitutes: only 13,000 cardholders are on their books, but an estimated 100,000, many of them under 23, ply their trade freely. In many of the most elegant bars and cafés of Madrid, there are now so many women for...
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