The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-11-04


come to Mexico. This may be all very well;
but with the assembling Of Congress we expect
an explanation from President Johnson that
will be satisfactory to the American people.
The Associated Managers and the Assoc
sisted Musicians ut LOggerhesds.
The associated managers, under the lead OF
the Oily Cannon of the opera and the Joyce
Heth in breaches of the Museum, are getting
deeper and deeper into trouble. They began
by assuming that they could do without the
press, and now they profess to believe that
they can do without the orchestras. The next
point in their programme will be to do without
the actors. By that time they will certainly be
compelled to do without the public. We shall
then have what the followers Of Oily Cannon
and Joyce Heth in breeches doubtless consider
model entertainments. II we may judge Of
their ideas from their practices, theatre with
out advertisements, without an orchestra,
without actors and without an audience is
in their opinion the very best proof Of
the skill, ability and liberality of its
manager. Let any one Of the associates Of
Oily Cannon and Joyce Heth achieve this
proud result, and he will wear the dramatic
diadem and be crowned lord Of all the rest
One or two of them really seem to US quite
sure to secure this honor. They may not be
able to clutch it at single bound, but they are
approaching it by series Of bounds, the
longest and most difficult Of which have
already been taken. What remains is 80 very
easy of accomplishment that we expect TO see,
before many weeks, the theatres completely
empty and the associated managers completely
happy.
At present, however, the organs Of the man.
ayers are roundly asserting that business was
never so brisk, that the managers were never
80 rich, and that the theatres were never so
prosperous. Admitting, for the sake of the
argument, that this view of the situation
is strictly correct, the question oc-
ours to us why these wealthy man
ayers should refuse their poor musicians
the slight advance in wages that they demand.
The musicians have always been the worst
paid performers in our theatres; and yet no
play of the present day can be satisfactorily
presented without them To opera and pan
tomime they are, of course, indispensable. Two
years ago, when the Musicians Association was
formed, these gentlemen were paid the beg
carly pittance of nine dollars week. BY what
is popularity called strike they succeeded in
forcing the -wealthy managers to raise their
salaries to fourteen dollars week. Now they
have the good sense and the spirit to demand
twenty dollars week, and they ought to OBJ
tain it. The managers have doubled their
prices of admission, and are rolling in money
If their own accounts be true They can, there
fore, well afford to pay the just dues Of their
employees. Twenty dollars a week is only
three dollars and thirty cents a day-less
than the wages earned by most mechanics,
and much less than the pay Of journeymen
shipwrights. The musicians are men of talent,
and have devoted several years to the acquire
ment of skill in their profession. They are
mostly men with families dependent upon them
for support, and they find that all the necessa-
ries of life, from spool Of cotton to load of
coal, have increased three or four fold in price,
while their own salaries have not been doubled.
To their reasonable request for an advance
which will enable them to maintain themselves
and their families respectfully the managers
return defiant answer. They do not even
offer q compromise; they will not part with a
single cent of the money which they boast is
pouring in upon them in constant streams.
Under these circumstances the cause of the
musicians becomes the cause of all laboring
men, and the various trades Unions ought to
take the part of the Musicians Association, and
see that this strike, If it may be so called, is
carried through successfully to Its legitimate
result
The party most interested in this last de-
velopment of the plans and principles of the
association engineered by Oily Cannon and
Joyce Heth in breeches is, however, the pub
lie. The managers do not care whether they
have orchestras or not Theatres in this city
are conducted, not with any artistic views, but
simply as machines to make money. The
fewer employees the managers have to pay the
larger are their profits. A piano or hand
organ costs much less than an orchestra, and
II Is therefore TO the advantage of the managers
to make the change. If by so doing they re-
duce their theatres to the level of lager beer
concert saloons they are all the better pleased;
for this is the sort of entertainment that some
of them are best calculated to conduct Upon
the same principle Of economy in their ex-
penses the most Of the managers produce old
London plays, because they are cheaper than
original American dramas. They have thus
deprived Ms Of an American dramatic literature.
One theatre in this city has stock company Of
three men and three women and a few super
numeraries, and yet pretends to present
standard plays. II Is evident then, that II the
public permit the orchestras to be abolished
the managers will never object Artemus
Wards extravagant idea will thus be realized,
and VA aha11 have Hamlet dvinO In slow muaiC