The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-25
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

on the night Guy Bates Post conclud- ed his Birmingham engagement.
 would be glad to do so, but there are some things which one cannot Five away without being cad. No one re- gretted more than I did that after get ting a cracking good story I had to kill l.
 To lay bare the mechanical secrets which gave MT. Fully. the producer. so much thought and care, and which has made his name a charmed one even in theatrical circles for having wrought such wonderful and illusive effects in stagedom. would be unfair.
 But more than this, it would justly place me outside of the pale of decent Journalism to publish facts which ob- tained through the courtesy of the management os the Jefferson theatre, and even though might be tempted to do such thing, which I am not, The Age-Herald would not stand for such betrayal
 {
 It was perfectly all right with MT. Post for me to see him ''close up" and \ to even see "the wheels go round" which, clock-like, shifted the scenes at will; yet when he asked me to keep what saw to myself, I was in honor bound as a gentleman to do so, and should I do otherwise I would deserve to be branded as "snooper." 1 have neved had any respect for the 'keyho1e" variety of reporters who may make money and fame on the yell low journals by getting information by under-handed methods and then printing 1t with effrontery with the approval of their managing editor; and while I do not pose as "a holier-than- thou" person. yet am glad that have played the Journalistic game openly and above board and that I work for pa- per that would fire 8 man guilty of being unethical.
 have never had any use for "a stool lpigeon," and when man Is willing to
 
 to make one doubt the truthfulness of any statement he may make on the witness stand. I know full well the excuse given for employing them. It may be the only way in which certain criminals can be caught, but the whole thing smacks of jesuitism. and I think the officers of the law guilty of using them to bring the blind-eyed goddess of justice into disrepute.
 1 go a step further and I take my tstand alongside of those who line up In favor of open diplomacy, for any one who has studied the inside story of the dubious things practiced by diplomats must feel that in the past it has been web of lies and that those Il best succeeding in 1t were the great ones who were shameless in their sub- terfuges, and willing to say or do any
 thing to advantage themselves or their governments. I believe that one of the
 surest ways to lasting peace is open
 diplomacy. |
 of keeping secrets, for any one who is
 familiar with the work of a pastorate is
 aware that in spite of the boast of
 Protestants that they have no confess
 sionals, yet in sense every pastor
 carries within his bosom the inside
 stories of many men and more women
 for when trouble comes it's the natural
 thing for his members to seek him out
 for advice and consolation.
 know as a lawyer the hundreds of
 professional secrets of which every, one
 who practices is made the recipient
 One of the first things instilled into
 the young limb of the law by his older mentors Is to never betray client
 and so there are such things as privi-
 legged communications. If this were
 untrue, there would be no safety 1T
 confiding in ones advocate. I have )known of lawyers retiring from cases
 conscientiously go on with them, but
 know of no instance in my persona knowledge in which a reputable at.
 torney has given prejudicial reason; , against his client for so acting. It Is also a fact that few newspaper men ever print anything told them 1T confidence; the trustworthiness O.
 men working on reputable papers be. ing such that frequently they are lei
 in on things which if made publi.
 would cause furry in the bushes.
 world. create a scandal in the socia
 world, or fight in the political world 9 or an upheaval in the religious world s The correspondents at Washington could blast reputation every day f l they told all they knew.
 come back to my original proposi tion, and that is it would be just a, : improper for me to divulge all that : witnessed behind the scenes at tn I "Masquerader" as it would be to re
 peat conversation heard in privat a home. There are some things whicl n inmate genlemanliness prohibits ,, man from doing. and l am justly prout !, that was reared amongst gentle peo n pie. who played the social game ol h the square
 Every now and then some paper o magazine offers prize for the bes s hundred word definition of a gentle e man, and many are the replies received ! T