Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-11-26

METHODS DISTASTE-
Full TO ROYALTY

VINO were sitting IN the standing room.
Even after getting seated, the furor
| and heat of the ascension and para
chute leap mastered the feelings and
attention of the audience. They were
now getting back to normal breathing,
getting so they noticed others, com
mencing to say, "Ohl" to those around
them.
just as they got settled down to
dream away the few remaining trans
latiOns, and feeling they were getting
their moneys worth and to really for
get all the horrible things of earth,
they had seen before they came in,
just then, when the time was, above all
other times on earth, that "man
wanted to be alone" then the sublim-
ity of the occasion, the serenity of the
atmosphere, the harmonic chords con-
Meeting every heart in the theatre, the
quietude, in short, the very Heaven
those Italian cheese-eaters and beer
guzzlers had made for our elite, fash
ionable and charming audience, were
all broken into with truly American
innovation. We couldn't let the Ital-
ian music heaven last too long. We
had to get in our Americanism before
the people got too badly saturated with
musical ideas, thing not overly toll
Grated in this country.
The dreadful thing whie,i happened
was the fault of no one man. 1t was not
the fault of the theatre management
for we know of no more congenial and
accommodating staff of officers, nor was
it the fault of the audience. 1t was
the fault of what we can call only
Americanism. 1t was that same thing
that happens in every theatre of the
land every night in the week. 1t hap
pened because we live in America,
and America happened because Co
lumbus discovered it. Nobody is to
blame, and yet everybody is to blame,
too. BY this time you would like to
have an inkling of what the terrible
calamity was that befell the audience
so bewitehed by the mellifuous Da-
gos. This was the crime.
An army of ushers was loosened onto
the unsuspecting audience with arms
full of yellow dodgers announcing the
next performance of real "nigger"
show When you were awakened from
your sweet reverie by the dodger
presented you, you looked down ex-
pecting to see something in harmony
with the "happy thought" you had
on. Men folks instinctively grasped
the dodger, imagining it might be a
nice long pipe, with the bowl in the
middle, or an Egyptian cigaroo, while
the ladies intuitively knew il must be
a eharnnng pink tea stunt got up for
the occasion, But who on earth. while
yet in heaven, would have expected to
have yellow c0on-show dodger waved
through their musical inspirationP
Coon shows are all right, and so are
musical concerts. But the two won t
mix, neither will their programs To
see Sambo doing a eakewalk with Lu-
Ella would be a sight to make the an
gels weep. Yet the Sambo dodger in
one hand and the program of the gen
ius of centuries in the other makes MS
all feel like obeying the seriptural in
junction ' to NLet not the left hand
know what is in the right"
This crime, of course, was only COM
mitted to few. There were MANY
who, doubtless, were glad to see the
dodger come along to keep them
awake. For these the Italian dulei.
mer with his inimitable Creatore 10
peek the mystic strings. hath No