The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-17
BY FRANkLIN FYLEs.


 New York, Oct. 16.--tSpecial )-The theatrical business would be a good one to conJoin prophet with profit. First to get the sure forecatser. The money would%corne in overwhelmingly. This writer never guesses at the fu- ture of the new play he describes. week has lapsed though. since the birth of '.The Fourth Estate and ''The Mas ter Key" and one is dead already while the other lives vigorously; so he may consider them for their quickness of defeat and triumph. And both present American socialistic problems serious. iy.
 Out of respect to the dead. I will write firts an obituary of "rhe Master Key That key is sexual love, the author sets forth. and he makes it apen deadlock between a millionaire manufacturer and labor union. The play gives the tip to wage earners. When they would lessen their days work and increase their pay, they should put an irresistible working girl tn the way of the boss and let nature take its course. To make the scheme more potent as a factor in the conflict of capital and labor, if the case pre- scented by Author Cosmo Hamilton is to be taken for guidance. the man should be impulsively sentimental. like Actor 0rfn Johnson, and the girl sweet persuasively. like Actress Frances Ring.
 Have trades unionlsts considered the idea of making walking delegates out of pretty girls? The leader in this strike is an eloquent old man. enthu- siastfc and obdurate. and he makes no headway in the fight. young school lna'am, equally resolute, but contrast in personal charm, unconsciouslyAt takes the affair out of his hands, enthralls the employer and makes the strike vic- Ur~w. Etnk Key presents the labor problem seri- agsiy. yet gives no practical solution, except in a sporadic case.
 A young mill owner by inheritance comes home from many years of Flu robean absence to find his plant idle and his striking employees at the point of starvation. They don't know him by sight So he resolves to learn the eth ies of the controversy by pretending to be one of his new hired men. and living fortnight in strikers home where the schoolma'am and labor lead CTS are boarders. Thus. you see, the antagonistic elements are thrown to- gether in a way sure to produce re- suits of one sort or another. Strongly assertive, Orrin Johnson and sweetly < contradictory Frances Ring couldn't hit together without striking fire: and the flame flares brighter and hot for unionfsm in work and wedlock. Yet
 fne master Key raiis 10 the ground with a thud that is dull between its two stools of love and labor.
 sS Why? The key of mastery finds a keyhole through which to unlock bar Tier between capital and labor in a par ticuiar case: but manifestly it won't turn the bolts generally. and the hearts of the lovers don't throb hard enough for satisfying romance. oh, go long with you. says the bulk of the audi ence, when Miss Ring, enamored of Mir. Johnson in his disguise of a work man, turns him down, spanks him hard. and sends him away, upon learn ing that he is a millionaire employer, and ready to grant the strikers" de- mands. not because she has convinced him that they are reasonable. but be- cause he loves their advocate. The