Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-11-20
THE IRsATER IRBROGLIO.

The following is DIR. S~palding's reply tc
the statement made in the APPEAL on
Wednesday morning:
Editors appeal: In your Issue of the
18th inst, you say: The telegraph in.
forms us that there is am effort being made
in the Legislature to suppress variety
shows or thoaters. IL is said, with how
much truth we are not prepared to say,
that this effort emanates from the proprie-
tors or lessees of the sO-called legitimate
theateFs."
Your Geographic information has Ger
tainly led you into an error as TO the ma
ture of the application TO the Legislature,
A bill reducing the license for theaters,
opera houses, and all other places OF
amusement, from 800 TO 500, can hardly
be construed into an effort to suppress
them.
You are undoubtedly right in your
conjecture that this effort nanate from
=" the proprietors or lessees ofthe theaters
devoted To the 'sO-Called' Legitimate
drama"
But, in application TO The Legislature
they ask no favors for themselves. They
do not ask to BE extended 10 al! places OF
amusement alike, as you viii see, by
reading the memorial, and by publishing
the same you will give your numerous
readers "A correct view OF The case, which
they could not obtain from II perusal OF
your article of the 18Th inst.
You say, las to the relative morality OF
the two classes OF theAters in other cities
OF the state, we are not prepared 10 speak.
Here in Memphis, we do know the char
scter of the performances given IN
Broom's Opera House. So far as the mo
rality is concerned, il il quite "a good as
that of any legitimate theater IN the
land"
This you assert so positively that it
must be taken for granted you are per
fectly familiar with the entertainments
furnished in the Opera House as well as
every legitimate theater in the land,
and would be, if your assertion is correct,
as willing TO take your wives, mothers,
sisters aud children with Won to enjoy
the anusemeIts offered at the Opera
House as to any legitimate theater
i'm the land, and in order to give them an
opportunity OF Witnessing all the inno-
cent and moral amuscments accessible,
YOU might think proper to take them to
the Parlor Music Hall, the Metropolitan,
and the Varieties, when it opens.
But you say 1.-THE only thing TO be
looked at is the relative amoun OF the
license fees paid by the two classes, and
we have put ourselves TO some trouble.
10 get at the figures on this point and
in your summing up, (which, by the way,
isincorFect, } you say Broom pays 81 ,OOe
for state and county license and the Mem
phis Theater only $50 for the
same privilege" Now, as the bill
before the Legislature contemplates re-
ducing the license of Mr.. Broom FROM
81 900 to 500, it is reasonable TO suppose
that you, as friends and advo-
Gales of Mr.. Broom, would be
pleased with the efforts of the prepTie-
tors or lessees of the "so-called legiti-
mate theater," who think the question
should rest with the honorable members
of the General Assembly, who will be
governed ia their action in this matter by
their own sense Of propriety and the
wishes of the respectable portion of the
community.
II, in the contest between the legitimate
and decent amusements offered by the
proprietors or ~lessees of the 'iso-pallod"
legitimate tkeaters and the moral and in
teIlectual entertainments offered by the
opera houses and other places Of that
class, the honorable members of the Gem
eral Assembly, in their wisdom, should
conclude, as you have, that it is only a
matter of dollars and cents, and not a
question of morality and decency, then
IA proprietors or lessees Of the $50
called" Legitimate theaters must submit,
but they feel assured that their views and
wishes are seconded by every respectable
member of society whose attention has
been called to the question at issue.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient serv't,
g. II. SPALpING.