Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1906-10-17
TRUTH OF HISTORY
Rev. Thomas Dixon Defends His
Books and Plays

Richmond in response to insistent
demands of his audience for a
speech, when "The One Woman"
was being presented to packed
house:
"Ladies and Gentlemen:
81 thank you for this evidence
of your approval of my work. l
am sorry | cannot please one OF
your editors who Is not here to-
night. / assure you ] have no
grudge against him. I've found
in twenty years experience in
public life that my enemies are al
ways my best friends, and I've
learned to love them.
"With the bitterest personal
luminosity apparent in every line,
the editor of one of your evening
papers says in substance that l am
a criminal because ] left the minis
try to eern my living as a
dramatist. These are strange words
tor q man who lives by writing.
"Seven years age found myself
the pastor of the largest Protestant
congregation in New York, in
receipt of the largest salary OF any
minister in my denomination. But
/ found the two important facts,
that / had no talents for the pastor
ate and that l was only platform
speaker, and that ny entrance into
the ministry was the most serious
mistake Of my life, and for this
reason and the additional reason
that l could no longer subscribe to
dogmas | was required to preach.
According to my critic, / should
have held on to my big church and
my salary. But / did what any
honest man would have done; |
resigned my church and my salary,
and returned to my farm in Vir-
ginia and began life over again,
earning a living for my wife and
ba bies with my pen. For six years
| worked day and night as slave
and wrote the three novels which
have given me the first success of
my life, and gave to my loved ores
the comforts l desire for them. La
dies and gentlemen, is this crime 2
81 draTatized my novels and
made a still larger success in the
drama.I have no apologies to make
for the work. The theatre is fast
coming to be one of the mightiest
forces fer good in mordern cIviliza-
ton. There are 100000 people
in the United States; among these
there are less than twenty men who
are writing successful plays. The
highest am bition Of my life is to
fight my way into the first ranks
of this little group of brilliant
men. The drama is the most power
fui of all the forms of human ex-
preston. And | count it the
highest honor of my career that l
have written the first play in the |
history of America SO powerful
that legal steps have been taken
to stop it; not because, mark you,
it is false or i'm moral, bit because
it is evrelasting'y true.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you can
not suppress the truth by the vote
of a town council; crushed to
earth it will rise again. Uncle
Toms Cabin has been played for
fifty-four years. More than one
hundred companies are now play
ing il in every tongue of the civ
ilized world. Wherever it goes
the name of the Southern white
man is being covered with immortal
infamy. Ten years ago / saw this
play in New York sat TIN ough The
three horrible hours, and saw my
mother and father and ell my
people of the Southland covered
With unspeakable shame. leaned |
over on the seat in front Of me and
buret into tears. Then and there
promised Almighty God that if
he gave me strength would tell
The story of my own silent people
and give to the world their side Of
the darkest problem that ever
Swallowed the life of nation. L
wrote the Clansman and produced
it North and South. In the North
thousands of good Yankees have
my hand and Thanked me
for giving them the real knowledge
they had never received on this
question. II cannot produce it
in the South / will not produce it
In the North. The truth is it's
own vindication North, South,
East ana Nest.
"rhe Clansman will be played
as long as the negro and the white
man face each other on a square
mile of this earth's surface. You
can't suppress it, because it is the
truth. The next great problem
this nation must face is the advanc-
ing wave of radical socialism that
has reached our shores from the
sewers of the old world. This
poison he's begun slowly to eat the
heart out OF our national charac-
ter.
"'The One Woman treats this
theme in the simple language CT
laughter and tears. The Socialists
have threatened me for writing it.
thank them for TIE compliment
and I'm not alarmed. Again | !