The daily Alaskan., 1912-11-25

 place SiO,OOO to your credit at the -th National bank for capital When do you and ienetn propose Co be mar. riedT'
 q believe it Is the lady's privilege to fiX the day." I replied
 Within a month ! became a married man and had the bureaus Of plays In working order I hired a dozen readers of experience in theatrical mat ters and another dozen who had never tried to write a play or had tread the boards. When an was ready cd. vertised fer plays. They came in by hundreds. I had each play looked into by an expert and an inexpert reader, and those that seemed worthy of at tention were passed along up through the others Hll they came to me.
 I had had sufficient experience in thy business Co enable me to take advan- tage of Mir. Starkweathers enterprise to solve a problem connected with it that had long interested me l hired a competent person to bounce upon the motif of each play-wherein there was motif-and enter it In a blank book kept for the purpose with a brief statement Of the machinery or the story or whatever G may be consider cd by which the theme was illustrat- cd. had a theory in my mind which I believed would be proved or dlsprov- cd by this record.
 We'll, was surprised to find that though we were obliged Co SO through a great deal Of chan to get a very little wheat we did get some wheat Much of this wheat turned out Co have been produced by playwrights who had al. ready achieved some success, but what astonished me was that we received a number of plays that were based on an excellent dramatic theme and only needed fixing up by one familiar with the technique of the stage Co make them acceptable.
 I selected one of these plays by an unknown author and took it Co my fatherInlsw with the suggestion that we put it on the boards. He was much pleased with the result thus far Of his scheme and gave hls consent Co the plays production.
 The play was called The Secret Drawer" The plan turned upon the finding of a lost win. There were e number of fine dramatic scenes in it the author had succeeded fin present ing It in a form Co hold the attention of an audience. and I was fortunate in finding actors and actresses well fitted to impersongte the different characters The piece succeeded and proved fairly remuueratlve. Mir StarkweatheT was delighted at the proof Of his statement that to get plays managers must read manuscripts.
 The day after the production of "The Secret Drawer" I received a call from a gentleman with long hair and beard, wearing a rusty suit of black
 What do you mean, sir he said "by stealing tbe plan 0t my piay' re- writing it and putting 1t on the boards It was sent you in confidence, and I did not dream of your appropriating it without paying for it."
 ''To what play do you referT I asked.
 "To my play, The Lost WnE You have called your version of e The Secret Drawer"
 My friend" I said after surveying him for some time thoughtfully, "I am only a passenger in this business. You go to John Starkweather, No. l97 B. street, and state your case Co him.
 "starkweather, the leather msnT
 "Yes."
 Hes rich. IT he doesn't come down handsomely for this theft I'll sue him. !" And he went out Co find my father-in. law.
 A dozen accusations were made ei- ther in person or by letter ot our hay ing stolen the themes of plays submit ted Co us and declined. Tn several in-