The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-16

addition 70 this the manager was TO nav all OF
ner expenses and the expenses of Eve OF her at
ss aia, ne Contract psies OF this actress for
TIE United States receives for his services for
four years time S200, COO The actress gets $4,000
more l Ioi Io nights than we pay our president
Madame Nilsson sang in that same city two
Weeks, lor which she received over $4,000. A
Judge Of the supreme court Of the United states
receives $loov0 per year for his salary. That is,
Madame Nilsson absorbed the salaries of three
supreme judges OF the United States for one
year, and she did Is In two weeks time.
TINS viii hep you to see what vast sum of
money Is expended every year in the theater.
IL you were to take the aggregate OF the sum ex-
pended 0y employees and attendants on all the
tneaters OF this country for the year OF 1880 you
would be amazed at the figures. Take the ex-
penses OF the tneaters in our own city. Do you
Know how much money there is expended
midst OF the cry OF hard times? There are ten
theaters in our city. The usual admitance fee
Is - down to 10 cents.
Sarah Befnhsrdt was here one night and took
away from our city 5000 Her admission fee
was - and yet her house was packed. A theater-
goer does well not to go more than three nights
night, would be over $50 Der year. And yet
this is only the beginning of the expense.
we are now facIng simple question; we need
not get confused here. The simple question
That we are 10 determine Is as to whe her the
return has been equal TO the money expended
In the court OF Caesar, in the court of candid
Judgment OF this world, what verdict shall be
AS TO the visible, tangible good left in return
Tor this ysst expenditure there is not one thing
70 put your hand upon. No road has been
graded no bridge has been thrown across a
chasm or river: no new country opened to set
Element; not another star added 10 our flag; no
ship TO carry our commerce to foreign ports; no
gathered material for the defense Of our country
no fort. arsenal,
Has the money, therefore, been expended for
the public goodf But we are not yet ready for
our decision There IS often the highest good
rendered TO the public and yet 1t is not wnere
you can put your hand upon II and where your
eye can see II. Some of the best aud most
lasting benefits for the public are where you
cannot see them; are not In stately structures,
iron tracks or Heating palaces.
These higher benefits occur in the education
ana the morals OF the people. There is u refine
ment which rests upon a basis broader aud
whose pinnacle pierces higher into the heavens
than the ancient pyramids. II Ii can be shown
that this vast sum of money has gone for this
KIND OF benefit To the public, then the theater
deserves our most sincere thanks aud our most
devout patronage. What do the facts attest?
Let us here try the theater by the educational
test
And you will notice that this mas been one of
the strongest arguments and the one most relied
upon by those who have favored the theater.
This Is the standpoint from which they have
argued when they have maintained that the
tpeater should be purified and supported by the
0est people OF the land. We should give IL n
most candid test In the court of Cesar on this
ground. The dramatic element il in our
nature. IL will have response. The drama
mas brought 10 us some of our most choice
additions TO our Literature. From the stage
has been received some ugeful information
which the people did not have before. We
grant all this To the stage. We are dealing with
facts. We have no desire to forget Shakespeare
aud Johnson, and many other great lights of
the boards. But because there have been great
lights upon the stage, and contributing to
the innence P Pho the shsr
has been for the public good. Just the
opposite might be the case. The words OF John
Foster on this subject might aid us in getting a
clear view of the real merits of the case. He
says: "No question could be more easily de-
cided than whether II tie lawful to write and TO
read useful aud ingenious things in dramatic
form, but it is an altogether different question
whether the stage is useful means OF enter
tainment aud moral instruction. SO different
question ID it that the stage may be as injurious
M the drama is beneficial A young man may
wisely and consistently value the drama, read
ing il and studying IL with discriminating crit
tcism, and yet wisely and righteously denounce
the thester. There are the excitements of
scenic effects; the evil associations; the over
whelIning appeals to the sense; the gloss put
upon impurities, and very much else, making
up the difference. The study OF anatomical
plates for scientific purposes is quite another
thing from the exhibition OF those plates 10
mixed assembly, some of whom may find in
them the stimulus for the basest passions"
1t need not be- taken for granted that the the
alter is needed for the dissemination of kuowl-
edge. This should be carefully borne in mind.
But suppose some should insist that il Is need
ful, We are to then deal faithfully with the way
she has done her work. In the courts OF this
world. before the throne of Cesar has the edu.
cation OF the theater been for the public good?
Here We must call upon the facts to tell the
story. 1t will not do to go into denunciation.
What are the plain facts o. history here7
Dramatic representation had its origin among
tha Greeks, with u troop OF bacchanalians, in
rude and boisterous songs, interspersed with
dances, conducted with high degree OF licsn-
tiousness both of language and actions. Though
the Greecian stage allowed no women upoa IL,
ana the actors were few, yet this institution
went lar towards overturning the state.
Among the Romans these popular amuse-
ments were adopted just rs that mighty nation
| degenerated from its stern love oil virtue and
beesmee efeminafe and corrupt These are
| simple facts of history which no scholar will
think OF doubling.
The history OF the European stage is told In
| few words. | am sorry t. have TO confess that
| ii owes its origin to what was called church.
lt was out OF those plays called "Ihe Mys-
| teriss, acted upon the stage in the middle
ages, that the modern theater in Europe and
| America came.
Those of you who are at all acquainted with
the plays here mentioned know that they were
too low. vulgar and ssphemous to be tolerated
In any respectable society. No description can
be given OF them here. We notice their char
acter and pass ON. Hannah Moore says OF them:
events too solemn for exh bitioa and too
awful for detail were brought before the audi
enee with a formal gravity more offensive than
levity itself. Celestial intelligences, uttsring
the sentiments and the language aud blending
with the bufooneries OF Bartholomew Fair,
were regarded as appropriate subjects of merri-
ment for holiday audience"
wish yon now to sit quietly in Caesars
Judgment hall aud listen 10 the testimony as To
what the { aching, the educational influence OF
the theater has been. Aristotle $: "The
seeing OF comedies ought TO be forbidden to
young yeople, not being safe till age and discip-
lin confirmed them ia sobriety. fortified them
in virtue. and made them proof against de-
bauchery."
Plato says: "Plays raise the passions, and are
dangerous 10 morality.
ovid, himself one OF the most lieentious OF the
Latin poets, advised the Emperor Augustus to
suppress the theater on the ground Of their be-
ing the source of corruption of public morals
The inEdei Rousseau opposed thealers the
schools of vice. He opposed the establishing of
one at Geneva and gave as his reason that the
Rters were the enemies of public morals.
Lord Maeaulas condemned the lieent business
Of the theater in the most unmistakable IAN
guags. Aud refused positively TO let his daugh-
ter go an actress. That great master of En-
gish tragedy. Macready, would not let his
daughter become an actress.
This is evidence IN the house OF Cesar; II
these patrons of the stage that IL
good means for educating the public 70 be
Tor the good OF the nation, why should they not
nave gwen their consent 70 have their children
follow the profession in which they themselves
were eagSgedg
In the times of the French revolution the
theater had to Dc suppressed in Paris on account
OF its corrupttng aud dangerous Influence.
In the DAYS OF Cromwell in London the same
thing done by the public. Ii It's teachings
were for the public good, why did the public
nud II desirable To shut their doors?
soon after the declaration Oh independence
the American congress passed measure for The
suppression of the theaier. Taey believed it
to tie an avowed enemy OF the public gue1.
With these estmouies before Us what must
our candid verdict hef Is not this "a most
ious thing that there Is that WASH sum of money
whlcA We found wa> being spent 10 maintain
the theateF Is actually being spent To teach I'M
morality; 20 .ead It's patroas TO the lowest level
OF the drunkari aRd the iibertine2
We found that there Was nothing that could
be said IsvoE Of the theater IS 10 what IL adds