The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-05-19
A. o. H. DENoUNcEs VULGAR
LITERATURE AND A DE-
GENERATE STYLE.

The Ancient order of Hibernians, i
convention assembled last week in tn
city of Boston, adopted a set of timel.
resolutions, not the least important o
which was a resolution condemnation!
of the Questionable and vile literatur
that is now rampant in America, anC
the debasing class of plays with which
the American stage is now shocking re
spectacle people.
This resolution makes pointed refer.
ence to the source of responsibility fol
the debasing class of plays referred to
when it calls attention to the "un-
Christian, if not anti-Christian," syn
dictate upon which the American peo-
pie are dependent for their legitimate
pleasures.
1t were well if other organizations
followed the example set by this Irish
| Catholic organization in Boston. Any
one who has given the least thought to
the matter must be instantly convinced
that there is eminent danger to the
purity of the American home when the
youth of the land are given free access
to dbasing books and their passions
played upon by suggestive and i'm
moral plays.
That the convention of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians manifested an ap-
probation of existing conditions is OBJ
vious from the following paragraph
from the New York Evening Post,
whose editorial page-at all times COM
servative-rehects the better thought
of the American people:
The increase of coarseness in the
theatre, and the complacency with
which offenses against good taste are
regarded by audiences supposed to be-
representative Of the most highly Gull
tivated classes of the community, are
among the most disquieting social phe-
no1nena Of the day. There never was a
more striking Illustration of the truth
of the old proverb that familiarity
breeds contempt. Not so very long ago
the production of a play from the
French was always preceded by assur-
ances that it had been subjected to a
careful process of disinfection, but now
the managerial plan is to stimulate
public interest in a new piece by pre-
liminary hints concerning the impro-
prieties contained in it, and domestic
audacities are added to European
denominations. 1t is no exaggeration to
say that the conventionalities of civil
lized life are outraged today upon the
New York stage-not in all theatres,
Of course-as habitually and as fla
gravity as they are in Paris, not ex-
cepting even the Theatre Antoine. And
these nudities of speech and action are
not only not resented, but are vehe-
mently applauded, and are accepted as
matters of course, even by young girls
still in school, or just out of it, who
never ought to be exposed to such pol4
luton, least of all in the company of
young men. The evil is a very seril
ous one, and one not at all easy to deal |
With. Undoubtedly the baser daily |
,ress has made itself partly RESPONSE /
de for the existing condition Of af- |
airs by the encouragement which it |
las given to INSCRIPTIONS managers
md the decentralization which it has
wrought in the public mind and con-
cience by its exploitation of all that
S abnormal and disgusting, but the
newspapers, although they can help a
irty play by advertising it, cannot
Iurt it by denunciation. Things have
ONE to such pass that the surest
way to crowd a theatre and enrich its
manager is to say that the show in posi-
ession of the stage is not fit to be
cen. This fact is notorious, and must
e perfectly well known to the writers
Tho make practice of infinitely de-
cribing all the more atrocious features
f vulgar or salacious representation,
nder the pretence of exhibiting vir-
1ous Indignation.