The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-22
RIVER AT 8 A. NJ.
THE FARCE ENDED: CURTAIN.


The curtain drops on the farce en-
titled "Reciprocity;' the actors leave
the stage, and the audience, its sides
sore with the reaction of the muscles
used in laughter, retires in broad
grin. with a loud guffaw now and then
from some surcharged individual. The
universal verdict, from professional
critics as well as the general crowd,
is that. as a farce, there has been
nothing to equal it on the boards i'll
this generation. Playwright Foster is
deluged with compliments on the sue
cess of his play. de is certainly mas
ter of his art If there is to be said
one word of criticism, it is in the dan
~,Tous[y close approach he makes to
the serious. 1t gives occasion for q
misconception by the simple of the
motif of the play; they are apt to mis-
take it for drama when it is only high
comedy. But the reception accorded it
by all but such indicates that the rare
humor of it is not lost in its mock
seriousness.
1t is worthy moments study. The
motif of the play is the monopoly OF
seal catching in Boring sea granted
the North American Commercial COM
pany. whose ambassador is John W.
Foster with a salary and honorarium
paid by the United States. The aim
is to entrap Canada into securing the
monopoly from invasion by her sealers.
Congress authorizes treaties of reel
procity to be negotiated. This is the
province of the state department. But,
it's head being defective, the president
appoints Mr.. KassOn plenipo to nego-
tate them. Mr.. Foster, in some capac-
ity, has negotiated treaty with Rus
STA and Japan securing their cooper
alton in maintaining intact his COM
pany's monopoly. Mr.. Foster invites
the Dominion prime minister to come
to Washington to negotiate a reciprocal
treaty. His authority for this is not
known; but he does it, and they accept
and come with their bundle of reciprO-
cal trading stock. Meantime, a side
show. sundry EXPERTS who have been
trying to find out how fast the seals
are being killed off, is engaged in its
computations and reports a decrease of
so per cent.
The Canadians are met with warm
welcome They are dined by the presi-
dent, iollied by the secretary and
blandly smiled on by Foster They are
assured that this administration wants
that is, its kind of reciprocity, a "heads
I win, tails you lose, or tails you lose,
heads 1 win" sort of an affair. When
the Canucks try to set down to bust
ness with the secretary of state, he
assures them that the president has
taken all this business out Of his hands
and they must see Mr. Kasson. That
gentleman informs them that really ne
has no commission to treat this par
ticular case, the whole matter having
been put in charge of Mr.. Foster. The
latter gentleman greets them with a
sardonic smile. He has the Canadians
now where he wants them. He felici-
tates himself upon the adroitness with
which he has spread his web and lured
the flies into it. He rubs his hands
complacently. There is a brief parley,
and the Canadian gentlemen retire
from the stage with a discounted,
disappointed look on their faces. Eos
ter looks as if he was not so sure
whether he had caught the flies or not
Our Washington and ottawa dis
patches of Saturday morning supply
all that is necessary to appreciate the
farcical ending. Mr.e Foster allows the
public to know that he presented
Laurier his ultimatum. Both nations
are to agree at once to stop pelagic
sealing, the modus to go into effect
Dec proximo. Then both countries
appoint commissioners to consider and
adjust all unsettled questions, including