The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-12


and labor to meet on equal terms, and calmly
discuss their mutual rights, before either Of
them has come to realize the most elemen-
tary obligations to each other ? Admit that |
capital deserves all the opprobrious epithets |
with which Mr.. Phillips so literally bespatters |
il, has the orator no condemnation for labor |
that shows itself within its own ranks equally |
arrogant cruel, and intolerant? The relation
between the two great factors of social pro-
gress is not founded upon denial of eternal
principles of justice, like that which existed
between stakeholder and slave 1t is one
which calls for adjustment not for abolition,
and the man or the party that seeks to inten-
sity existing causes of division is contributing
to social chaos instead of social reconstruc-
ton. There can be no particular harm in
the ladies and gentlemen of the Reform
League, the Suffrage Convention, or the
Peace Association meeting once year, and
edifyiDg each other with resolutions of high
import and speeches of incisive smartness
But there is great deal of harm involved in
riding their favorite hobby with complacent
disregard of existing facts, and in leading
good many we'll meaning people to believe
that the world can be reformed by resolu-
tions.
Here, at our very doors, is q body of men
whom the promptings of demagogues can
inflame to acts of violence and murder. That
is surely fact as lamentable as the tyranny
of corporations and the idleness of Congress
men. II will be a long time before our social
refo1mers can convince the railroad compa-
nies and the mining operators that the blood
of the three laborers murdered at Scranton
rests upon their heads. Suppose they should
adopt the more practical method of bringing
the men to see that the reconciliation of capi-
tai and labor is impossible, while acts like
these can be done in the name of working
men. 1t is of no use to stand on the hill-tops
and shout about the social millennium
that will one day come, unless men show
the sincerity of their belief by descend
ing into the toll and struggle of
daily life, and helping to bring it
about. We hear many noble-minded women
complain of want of fitting work in
worthy sphere. Has the Suffrage Oonven-
tion no womanly hearts and persuasive
tongues to aid in the elevation Of their sisters
of Pennsylvania, who unsexed themselves on
Tuesday last, and became more pitiless and
cruel than the men who cheered them on ?
Those in want of plausible argument against
the timeliness of womanhood suffrage may
plead that the mass of ignorant women are
capable of worse deeds, and more susceptible
to evil influences, than the mass of ignorant
men. They may point to the doings of the
viragoes of Scranton as proof of such
statement, just as the disbeliever in the
possibility of a reasonable compromise
between capital and labor may appeal to
the moral afforded by the same events
The Leaguers and the apostles of the
suffrage need not abandon their general
theories before any such exceptions, but they
should set to work and prove that the excep
tions are not vital by showing that they can
be removed. The ladies and gentlemen of
the May anniversaries must guard against
the delusion that all the world has attained
the same level of intelligence and moral cul
| ture as themselves. Theories that may be
| strictly applicable to the members of an ap-
| preciative audience may be found totally un-
suited to the mass of people oat-of-doors.
| Now that the reformerS understand perfectly
well what they severally want, suppose they
| should, one and all, set about showing a capa-
| bility for raising the substratum of society to
level where rights and duties would be har-
monized. A little honest missionary work
would do society much good, and the MEM
bers of all the conventions no harm. s-
| THE RIGHT OF THE CLERGY TO GO
| TO THE THEATRE. 10
From, Theodore Tiltons Golden Age M
| Kate Field, child of the theatre though
she never treads the stage save as a lecturer,
| felicitates her readers in the Tribune on the
Rev. Robert Collyers brave sermon in de-
| fense of the drama, and on his taking his
family to a theatrical performance The cler-
/ gyn,ans practice is good; his reasons for it
are sound; the prejudice against the drama
| and its representation is narrow and unjust
and the brilliant lady's joyful mood of mind
is pardonably jubilant and femininely war
rantable Few ministers go to the theatre
! and few actors go to church; but if each GLASS
were to make themselves more familiar with
the best labors of the other there would be
less misunderstanding between two of the
most influential of professions.
The clerical rage against the theatre was
originated by Jeremy Golfers keen and
biting book on "The immortality of the
Stage, written in England during the uni
versal laxity of morals which Immediately
followed the restoration of the Stuarts., This
snappish little work had great popularity,
which in some respects it deserved, for it was
written in sturdy, enjoyable, and Bunyan-
like English. Its first sentence opened the
vein which it followed to the end. ''Being
convinced, says the author, 'that nothing
has gone further in debaucbing the age than
the stage-poets and the play house, thought
could not employ my time better than in
writing against them" Accordingly he smote
them hip and thigh. His argument exhibits
q hot Gospel bitterness of feeling, Puritani-
cal narrowness of judgment, and curious
insensibility to the function of dramatic
poetry; but, at the same time, he coined and
put into currency many wholesome criticisms
of popular plays, pointing out Objectionable
passages, and furnishing catalogue of hun.
dreds of stains and blemishes such as, for the
most part, have since passed into the Index
Expurgatorius. One of the arguments, not
of Jeremy Golfers essay but of his
time, against the theatre, was stated in
a sermon preached at Paul's Cross, as
follows-''1he cause of plaques is sin, if you
look to it well; and the cause of sin are plays
therefore the cause of Dlapuea are nlava. "-f