Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-18

and clear as to its plot, and free from
tricky involution or mock heroes. IL
grips the interest from start to finish
and as an impeachment of our financial
and business system it is as lucid and
to the point as one could desire.
This play is running its seventh week
in Los Angeles; 1t could be relied on to
run twenty-seven weeks in New York.
and, l verify believe fifty-seven weeks
in London. But Mr.. Broadhurst cannot
stop here-he will do better; He will
grasp the kernel of economic truth after
which he is as yet only cropping. He
will realize that the cure for private
monopoly is not a return to competition,
but a worldwide trust, in which all the
people shall be equal partners.
To the casual observer, l imagine.
Mr.. Broadhurst's play appears as an
invocation to the great public to make
up and exert itself in the interests of
justice and honesty all around. | fancy
the author himself is a little bit under
this delusion. But those who are better
economically posted will easily per-
ceive that really it falls far short of
this, and rather is call to the smaller
fry to rally round and see to it that
in the great scramble for unearned in
crement, big sharks Baylis and Stone
man otherwise Rogers and Rockefell-
err shall respect the rights" and
"Whack up" fair with little sharks
Gresham, Martin ct al, who stand for
the capitalistic small fry. In other
words, to give-not the whole people,
but-the little exploiters gang a show
Somewhat as Tom Lawson in making
his in-no-w wise toll be- belittled revela-
lions thought to regenerate the world
and render everything lovely simply
by securing his fair pickings'' to the
a
father l once heard of who sent his son
forth into the world with the strict ex-
ordium to be MODERATELY hon.
est"
OF course as we watch the play our
sympathies are with the author and
his heroes. Gresham and Martin are
good fellows" The former FOUND
other out of 1t; and he wants
only-all there is in-his own good
auckland his digers' sinews; while
Martin, brick that he is, al
ready has retired satisfied" with
five millions which he never earned,
and plunges in again only on chival-
rous impulse to help Gresham out of
tight corner. But here is where the
damnable, insidious poison turks, lur-
ing us on to sanction rotten system
modified and tinkered, oh, yes, of
course-for the beaux yeux of certain
of its practitioners. Good fellows?
Isn't even Rogers-I should say Baylis
"a good fellow "outside of business"
Aye, the Devils a good felloW-out
of hell
Before closing, with a tribute of
praise for the staging and acting of
Mr.. Broadhurst's play, as presented az
the Bel9sco theater, l cannot forbear
an INCIDENTAL remark on the mental az
titude of a great part of the audience
toward crucial utterances of some OF
the chief characters. / saw around me
faces well known in financial circles,
people who figure in their everyday
lives as pillars of the present system
worshipers of the God of things as
they are I saw their faces grow tense
and eager as truths new to them yet evil
IDENTIFY not unwelcome-for the human
heart is sound at the core-fell on their
ears. But they hesitated to applaud
lest the amenities of their set be
outraged or transgressed. I waited un
til it was almost too late-seemed al
most like applauding the next point,
and then. smack! 1 brought my palms
smartly together in a silent house, and
the house rang with applause. Aye,
the human heart is sound at the core;
and the American Time-Spirit is one of
tentative challenge of the things that
ne. wherefore, MI bloduiulsl, ne VI
good cheer and of stout heart and falter
not on the path you have entered. You
will arrive economically as you already
have arrived dramatically.
AS a playa piece of dramatic work.
manship-"The Dollar Mark is bril-
liant, successful and satisfying in
high degree. 1 enjoyed it immensely.
AS an instrument in the arousing of
a public conscience only yet beginning
to rub it's eyes, it has it's uses. But as
a handbook on economics it will hardly
do.
more thoroughly awake. 1 feel sure
Mr.. Broadhurst also will have found
himself, and be there with the goods"
in the shape of ripper effort that shall
make touch with the depths. So mote
it be!