The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-25
From the Chicago Tribune.

ny England in regard to the per
 formance of '"The Mikado" has raised some supremely ridiculous Issues. It has touched the houmorous English man. and especially the Irishman, on the funny bone. 'The Mizado'' Is supposed to portray period when Japan was only semi-civilized and before 1t became a world power and developed It's fighting capacity. It would have been much wiser to let the opera be given as an avowedly comic and grotesque production than to assume that somebdy might think It was designed as a truthful representation of conditions as they exist in Japan today.
 The stage has it's conventional figure for nearly every nationality. If a de- parture from truth in these national types were cause of offense the English man would have right to protest against John Bull as he appears on the French stage, a coarse, ungainly, dull, often drunken creature, dresed in outlandish clothes, representing a character never seen in England or anywhere else in the civilized world.
 The Frenchnlan, again, would have right to protest against the conventional Gaul of the Am lean stage. He wears an impossible hat and broad trousers. He Is always ready to pick a quarrel and threaten duel, but falls into rank cow ardice when 1t comes to an issue with his adversary.
 The Dutchnan is always represented in summer pair of trousers, particularly broad in the beam, with an extraordinary hat and duli stupid face. He Is more or less silly or coarse in his performances. The Russian is endowed with fierce whiskers, carries bomb, approves of as assination, and generally Is an unpleas- ant character. The German comic actor talks a hideous dialect. and Is in his best days an affront to the entire German na ton. The Italian is stealthy villain with stilletto.
 Uncle Sam. the conventional figure for the American nationality, Is shown on the stage in a most ludicrous, and often dis gusting light. He has a long goatee. He is chewing tobacco, permits his slavia to stain his shirt front, and Is always spit ting furiously. He has a comic costume. His trousers are made of the stars and stripes and his coat is a long tailed atrocity. He indulges in figures of speech that are by no means complimentary to his reputation for breeding and education, and is both vulgar and profane in his language.
 Thus every nation has its conventional stage character which is more or less an affront to the nation it is supposed to represent, but 1t Is seldom the case that III feeling Is generated. Our Irish friends have taken offense at the stage Irishman, and in some instances have undertaken even to boycott him, but in this they. arc unduly sensitive, precisely as the Japa- nese would be if they were to object to "The Mikado."
 It Is not distinctly understood that they have objected to its representation. al- though with them the real mikado is semi-deity The suggestion appears to have originated in England, and to have been due to the officiousness of the Lord Chamberlain and some officials who feared the Japanese might be annoyed by the representation of the opera But if of- fense has been taken when none was meant. and there was no just cause for offense, the Japanese and not the English would have appeared in an unfavorable light.
 It is impossible to consult national sen- sitiveness to the degree of prohibiting stage performances in which these con ventional characters appear. If it were to be done in the case of Japan it would have to be done for England, France, Germany. Holland, America, and every other nation.
 These characters are avowedly carica- tures and are exhibited as such. The American who is bnoadmnded. or is endowed with any sense of humor. can see Uncle Sam depicted in a grotesque light 6n the French or Spanish stage with out losing his temper. So can the Eng lishman see John Bull made fool and ass on the continent, especially in France and Germany, without seeing in it a deroga- ton of national dignity deserving of protest.
 It is better to let the stage cling to it's ddol< Nhan people shall travel more and