New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-29

uge for all migrant rebels. and my
self as n dangerous revolutionist and
thorn In the flesh Of the orthodox,
the snug. and the reactionary. ]
evolved to my present individualistie'
monistie-snsrchistic position by way
Of Henry George, Marx, Nietzsehe,
and, finally. Max Stirner.
my library contains G thought
pretty much all the moderns who at
all signify-Nietzsche Havelock Ellis,
Shaw. Anatole France, Ellen Key, II. G.
Wells, Tzschekof. Schnitzler, Kuprin,
Wedekind, etc, etc, and try 10 keep
aware by regular and extensive
reading of the radical periodicals and
other literature of Europe and this
country, in sociology, philosophy, sci
ence. music, and, of course, the drama.
So, IL you detected in my poor play
evidence warrantng you TO proclaim
me ignorant Of most OF the moderns,
! do beg and pray you TO put me
wise to these same modernism, bet
ter yet, spend your next vacation out
here as my guest. when we can fore
gather, to our mutual enlightenment.
81 note that several of you critics
seemed 10 scent the odor OF sancti
moniousness, or, at least. of clerical
ism, about me, because, forsooth, It
was known that | am an ex-parson.
But, good Lord! reformed a quarter
Of century ago-so why must you
throw a fellows past up at him this
way? Emma Goldman has asked re-
peatedly for permission TO include my
plays in her lectures on The Modern
Drama'-and you fellows find me too
'preachyn Never mind Read pages
8, and of Shaw's 'Quintessence Of
Ibsenism,' and you'll see what the
London critics did to lbsen-at first,
II he had TO overcome the natural ex-
element caused by anything differ
emit | guess poor nobody like me
must expect n preliminary misUnder-
standing until (the public having
got mel my work may strike one as
not half rotten. don't you know"
After all, our business lies with what
II. Austin Adams writes, rather than
what he reads, but We can hardly un-
derstand his belief that he has present
ed something different" He did we'll
TO place his heroine in a lighthouse.
Where else, indeed, could any one es-
cape the clamor of sex education these
days? From the morning q bored
freshman class listened to the univer-
sity physician deliver the annual ad-
dress fippsntly known as "Smut One"
1t seems 10 US that our life has been
spent in continual fight from people
who talked or wrote about sex hygiene.
These pestiferous folk pursue you in
the library, in the playhouse, in the
picture shows After Brieux has done
with the dangers Of the innocent in d-
dactic drama Willard Mack takes up
the subject and sets it to music in
Broadway and Buttermilk." How dare
II. Austin Adams tell us that he has
done something different We who
have seen "The Blindness of Virtue"
Mrs. Bol.ai's Daughters" that thing
Of Butler Davenport's 1T the Bramhall
few seasons ago. "'Way Down East"
more Sinned Against Than Usual"
THE Harp Of Life" "The Life of Man"
and a host Of others, not to mention
such film classics as "Enlighten Thy
Daughter" where Are My Children ?"
as Any Girl Safe?"
OF course she isn't safe. Neither is
any boy or man or grandfather. Some
body will catch him sure and explain
the secret of sex. A secret That it
never was from the dim day it was told
to the first woman.
Sex may have been n creative blum
der, but it was never an unmitigated
nuisance until the playwrights took it
up. It's getting worse. Back in the
days Of "The Notorious Yrs. Ebb-
smith" and "The Second Mrs. Tan
queray" little sex went a long way.
II was tobasco then. Now it's catsup.
"I'm going to tell you a few plain
facts" says the erring woman Of
"'Ception Shoals" to the innocent
heroine, and down comes the curtain,
The year after next the act will begin
where the present one leaves off.
1t is enough. IL is too much We
surrender 1t is not our desire to con-
tradict the belief Of Mr.. Adams or of
Cosmo Hamilton or OF Edward Knob
LAUGH that innocense is a catalytic
agent in the propagation of illegiti-
mate children. Something ought to be
done about it. Children should be in
structed. BY all means save them,
teach them. enlighten them, but not be-
tween the hours of s:15 and 11:10 p. m.