PERIL OF STAGE-STRUCK GIRLS.
The corruption of the present day theatre is generally admitted. Archbishop Farley, in a sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, on Sunday, February 7, 1909, said that "the stage is worse today then it was in the days of paganism." He added: "We see today men and women—old men and old women—who ought to know better bringing the young to these orgies of obscenity. Instead of that they should be exercising a supervision over the young and should look carefully after their companionship."
Actresses of character are among the foremost to warn young women of the perils of the modern stage. Shakespeare and the older dramatists taught virtue, often with the spirit and energy of a prophet. Multitudes of present day plays are of such moral character and tendency that no one can defend or excuse them. President Taft recently walked out of a theatre to express his disapproval of the play.
Low theatres exist merely to inflame those who visit them. They go to the awful length of naming the vice district as part of the merriment of the performances. Other so-called theatres are a part of the combined saloon and den of shame. I have conversed personally many times with girls who were deceived into going to such places, thinking they were going on the reputable stage.
Mr. Arthur Burrage Farwell, Chicago's well-known reformer, here tells briefly the story of two young girls, whom I have often met in his office, who were lured by a false theatrical agency to go to a vile resort. The agency of a wicked woman, or two of them, will be noted in this case, along with the base deeds of an unscrupulous man. The keen eyes and wise head of a good hearted Scotch woman saved the girls from a terrible doom. Mr. Farwell writes as follows:
"About December 1, 1907, I received a special delivery letter from the managing editor of one of the oldest daily papers in Springfield, Illinois, informing me that two girls had been sent back to Chicago and suggesting that the police department be informed of the facts. I immediately communicated with the assistant general superintendent of police, Hon. Herman F. Schuettler, and the girls were located. The theatrical agent who had sent them from Chicago was arrested and work was started against some of the evil practices of false theatrical agents.
Taking the story from the girls and from their testimony in court, it is as follows: These two girls worked in a large department store in the city of Chicago. One of them was approached one day by a well-dressed woman who requested the judgment of this young lady upon some material to be used in theatrical work. The result was that this woman gave the name of a theatrical agent and told the girl that she could make $25.00 a week by going on the stage, as she had a good voice, etc., etc.
This girl spoke to another friend, working in the same store, and together they called upon this theatrical agent whose name was given them by the woman. After being taken to a saloon, an attempt being made to compromise them, they were given tickets to the city where they were supposed to go upon the stage. They reached the city and providentially were guided to a boardinghouse of a Scotch woman who lived next door to the alleged theatre, which proved to be a saloon in the front and a vaudeville in the rear and upstairs a most awful place.
The proprietor of the alleged theatre declined to employ the young ladies unless they would stay in the rooms over the saloon or theatre. On the advice of the Scotch woman they declined to stay over the theatre, and the woman furnished them tickets and they returned to Chicago.
The preliminary hearing of the People vs. —— was held in the Municipal Court of Chicago before Judge Wells, January 14, 1908, and lasted about five days, and twenty-seven witnesses were heard, the testimony covering 373 pages. The theatrical agent ——, was held to the grand jury. His license to operate a theatrical agency was revoked by the state.