Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1916-02-17
A Menace to Society and the Home
"A Moral Cancer Requiring
Radical Treatment.
MORALS DETERIORATE?
The Dress Of Women Today Not Fit for
Polite Society---Fashions Appeal
to the Sensuous--- Woman
hood to Blame for Moral
Decline
by r. Hammond Elliott
PART Ill

results of immortality cannot but help,
to the one possessing such knowledge,
10 restrict all immoral tendencies they
may have and be strictly moral.but the
manner in which it has been handled
and promulgated is erroneous. knowl-
edge upon any subject, and especially
upon this one. should only be propa-
gated by experts in the respective sub
jects. The bungling effort of the anna
teur only results in the pupil deriving
a partial comprehension and, usually,
a distorted version of the subject
taught which will be great deal more
likely to encompass his ruin rather
than accomplish his salvation. A lit
lie knowledge is dangerous thing.
This misdirected reform movement
has been given vociferous expression
I'm the pages of the nations books and
PERIODICALS. Some of the editors and
authors are absolutely sincere in their
enorts toward moral reform, but the
greater majority of them are but seiz-
ing the opportunity TO turn out book
after book and article after article
which reek with sentimentality and
founded on gross sensuality Go into
any library or bookstore and pick out
promiscuously doozen of the most
recent novels or the current maya
zines. and you will find that the sub
ject matter or the plots of ten OF them
could not be read or related TO mixed
audience without embarrassment.
We cannot put the blame for this on
the authors, for they write for their
livelihood. and are forced to select and
adapt their subject to the national
taste to secure il. No,we cannot blame
them. but we can place the blame upon
the reading public which patronizes
their writings, for they are directly
tie cause of such books being written
by causing a demand for them. Is it
not a deplorable fact to have the inn
morality of the national thought CAPT
talized for profit? Does it appear
from this that the standard of liter
ature has been advancing Contrast
il with the literature of a generation
ago, and how does it appear? Favor
ably Assuredly not The standard
has degenerated so low that il can
hardly be compared at all.
Let us now discuss the national
amusements. This subject is such a
complicated one in itself that we will
only be able to take those which show
to a greater extent than others, the
rise or descent of the nations morals.
We will take the most popular of these
amusments, the theatre. Upon the
ramifications of this branch of the
subject alone volumes could be writ
ten. so We will make a hasty survey
of it, Here, as in literature, the moral
standard has gradually declined. An
examination of the plots of the very
quintessence of all theatrical produc-
tions-"the grand opera"-show that
they would hardly conform to what we
understand as being strictly moral.
But here the mind is diverted to some
extent and the sordidness of the actual
plot ameloriated by the environments
and the performance of the artists.
The majority of the secondary at
fractions of the theatre, the tragedy,
the drama, the melodrama, the musi-
cal comedy and the burlesque are of a
very low moral standard. In the case
of the musical comedy and the bur
lesque. vulgarity is openly advertised
and exhibited as a drawing card, to
further increase the financial profits
of the producers, and, sad to say, the
result quite justifies this particular
method of capitalizing immortality OF
late years the so-called Sex Play has
been introduced on the stage in some
of our largest cities. The primal OBJ
ject of these plays were to reform the
morals of the cities where they were
shown, and, in the skilled hands of ex-
pert theatrical producers they un-
doubtedly had a beneficial influence
The great trouble with these comes the
fact that they have been seized upon
by second-rate troupes and stock COM
panics, and in such hands, instead Of
exerting the influence for which they
were devised, they become a disgrace
to the stag and an affront to tn clean
minded individual.
Take the more recent and universal
ly popular rival of the legitimate stage
the moving picture" Here, more
than anywhere else we can see the evi-
dence of declining moral standard
for it is, figuratively speaking, liter
ally pictured before your eyes Nov
ing pictures can be divided into many
classes, of which three are the most,
important. The educational picture
the perturbation of the higher books.
and the picture that centers on the
sexes. 1t is this last that calls for our
attention. The moving picture pro-
ducer realizes that a picture which in
any way smacks of the rise is sure to
draw large attendance and. there
fore, they have given this picture much
attention and broad circulation. The
sordidness of the human being is de-
liberately pandered by them for finan-
cial gain. Even pictures which are
otherwise perfectly clean and instruct
i've are given an immoral sounding
name TO attract the crowd
People continually patronize NOV
ing picture houses where pictures are
shown, the sceneric of which could not
b read to mixed audience without the
deepest embarrassmentan and if the facts
shown occurred in the family of the
patrons. they would be overcome with
the utmost shame. Situations are
shown which If they had ao+,,a1a--