The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-28
AN INSULT TO DECENCY.

that tiS 1lAAAA0SSAAACAI III AO llCaLIC
in this city to insult the de-
cency Of the Capital Of North Caro-
lima by bringing the immoral Girl
From Rectors" here unless prevented
by the authorities. The very warp
and wool Of the play is immoral, and
as presented in New York and else
where is as indecent an exhibition as
ever outraged a ~forbearing public.
The not prudish New Yc-k World
gave it a roast that pilloried it in the
minds Of all but the prurient and no
respectable theatre critic gave it COM
incubation. It is born in dirt, adul
terry and garishness. When presented
rs intended. it is vile, vulgar, vicious.
When expurgated, it is like guano
without the SMELL. Last year this
play visited the South. Most Of the
respectable papers denounced it in
unmeasured terms, and respectable
women Stunned it as they would a
pestilence. The Mayors Of Raleigh,
Richmond n other cities, refused to
let it pollute the minds Of their peo-
pie. Raleigh got more good adver-
Using when it's Mayor put a ban on
that reeking ~rottenness than 1t had
previously obtained in a score Of
years. The Mayor Of Durham, out
Of excess Of caution, ruled that it
should give a performance in the
afternoon to a committee Of censors.
It was done. and the Durham men
who saw it were unanimously OF the
opinion that it was not fit to b. pre-
scented in a decent community. The
performance did not take place.
Asked by a newspaper man in Dur
ham what was the moral Of the play,
one of the company replied: Moral,
hell. we are playing for money" It
was, therefore, driven from North
Carolina, and every decent man and
woman in the State felt to thank God
for the militant virtue in this old
commonwealth that drove out the ag-
~gresation Of vulgarity.
With no proper sense of RESPONSE
bility to the public, theatrical mana
gers hay brought this same play back
to North Carolina this year. They
advertised that it has bee fulnigated,
most Of it's nastiness sloughed off, and
she is presented as a reformed denizen
OF the sort Of world Of which Reno
is largely made up. It may be that
the worst lines have been cut out, that
cologne has been poured over the
nastiness to make it smell sweet, and
that it is less nauseating than when it
made Southern cities hold their noses
last year and treat it as a plague. But
the play is so bad that Southern peo-
pie will not olerate It.. II Raleigh
should fail to tell the. aggregation to
move on" there. is not a respectable
lady in the city who would be seen
in the place producing it. The man
agernent Of the theatre who puts that
play on the boards, after all hat has
happened, wantOnly insults the deem
cy of the community and shows lack
OF respect for the best public opinion.
This week Raleigh is inviting the
State Historical and Literary Asso-
citation to be it's guests. This week
II is playing host also to the State
Teachers Assembly. Every day in
every year it is inviting the parents
Of the State to send their sons and
daughters here to be educated. What
do we promise them? That Raleigh
has a moral zone that Is elevatinS.
That is the pledge and it is an honest
pledge. With hat promise out. are
we to be silent when the manager OF
the. theartre puts on the boards a
play conceived in sin and present
ed in %iniquity? Is that the way we.
keep our promise? But, If the city did
not owe an obligation to preserve its
claim to social cleanness, hostility to
Vulgarity and protection to youths
who come here to be educated. do we
not owe it to u own young people
not To hiring shameless adultacY and