El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-03
Ell Paso Sees One of the
Much Discussed Sex
Tangled Plays
TTTITH New York police closing up
w the sex tangled plays that ap

VI 18TH New York police closing up
w the sex tangled plays that ap-
pear to have become the rage of
late and all the country talking about
4 it. Ell Paso was rather interested in
The Traffic" which showed at the FL
PasO theater last night. but if it ex-
pected to get real shock It was dis
appointed.
1.-THE Traffic" as it name indicates, is
a white slave play and the white SLAYER
several of him, aided and abetted by
woman OF the same World-the
brOthel, the crooked politician, the
sweatshOp victim, the sick sister, all
are in the cast but it IS not such
show as ought justly to bring police
condemnation.
The play is said to have been written
for the purpose of exposing the traffic
IN girls and it has been attacked by
prudes-and Others-On the ground
that its real purpose it to appeal TO
those who want to be shocked and to
make money for the author and pro-
Queer Both statements are probably
right; at least It serves both purposes
The play bares the methods of the
SlaverS and warns girls of terrible
dangers and it is making money for the
author and the producer.
The Traffic" is not vulgar 1t is
merely a bit of life set upon the stage.
SOciolOgists have written of affairs no
more improbable; civic probe commit
tees have brought to light conditions
parallel 1t deals with a question as
old as the world and one that society
must face squarely; it exposes the type
of men who must be dealt with and
the temptations that must be removed
from the girl 1t aims blow at the
starvation wages that are paid to girls
who labor in cities; it shows the danger
to their health as well as their morals
While the play makes money for its
producers, it has a field where it can
do good. It is hardly conceivable that
a man or woman could witness the
play and not be led to a better reali-
cation of the duty they owe to others
TT is not charity" one of the char
acters eXclaims to the sweatshOp pro-
pr.etOr, that we want Pay US a llv-
ing wage and we won't need your
charity" This is the basic idea of the
play-an appeal for a living wage to
save girls from being forced into lives
Of shame 10 live. A poor girl, an
orphan, IS struggling TO make living
on SIX dollars a week Tor herself ana
little sister. They live in a tenement
The sister. for want of air, falls III I
with tuberculosis. There is no honest |
way to raise the five dollars a week [
necessary to send her TO the country.
Here the tempter enters. He offers to /
send the child away. processes love for |
the sister and induces her to go with /
him on pretenSe of loving her. Then /
follows the scene in the cheap hotel, /
where she is beaten, coerced. threat ]
beast and his associates to the brOthel. /
The sequence of events are all possible; |
all natural enough. The girl is with /
out friends, the men have official in /
fluence and their traffic is not in /
terfered with by the law. Justice is /
blind, but not deaf" says one of the !
women characters, @for it can always /
hear the clink of coin" In this case |
it does.
Then follows the life of shame. but 1
the sick girl is kept in the sanitarium 4
until she grows better. Then the same 1
procurers get her into their clutches /
and the sister is forced to kill to save 4
her. A court trial follows and an &C |
quital results. A home is provided for I
the little one but none for the errinS /
one the one who has sold herself that /
the sister might live. The young doctor 4
who had loved her in the beginning, /
IS willing to help her, but MARRIAGE |
No. there is no marriage for the girl /
who has fallen Girls don't go wrong
from choice; it's because society knocks