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Mrs. Edward R. Hewitt, the Brilliant
President of the Drama Society,
Explains How the New Organiza
tion Aims to Keep the Theatres
Filled by Intelligently Fitting Plays
to the Audiences.
T HE Drama Society, recently formed by Mrs. Edward R. Hewitt, Mrs.
William K. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Phi'lp Lydig, Mrs. August Belmont, Mrs.
George C. Haven, Jr., and others, is a practical organization, whose
object Is to support financially any play which it deems worthy of Its con
sideration. The men and women who have formed this society believe that
the great need In the American drama to-day is organization of Intelligent
playgoers. Mrs. Edward Ringwood Hewitt, president of the society, is the
wife of the youngest son of the late Mayor Abram 0. Hewitt and grandson of
Peter Copper. Mrs. Hewitt explains the objects and alms of the new first
aid to the drama.
By Mrs. EDWARD R. HEWITT,
(President of the Drama Society of New York)
T HERE Is a large public composed of the
so-called m an-ifi-the-street. and a large
. public composed of the apparently tired
business man, But the theatre managers find
that, with all their scores of theatres clamoring
to attract the man-ln-the-street, he has an in
creasing tendency to stay there.
If the business man is really tired It is very
largely the common run of plays that has
made him so. In point of fact, he is more
likely to be rubber-tired, and as he scorches
away from Broadway you can't see him for
the dust.
But there is another public, and a pnbiie
equally large, that is eager to be given the
kind of plays it wants—plays that appeal to
common sense, and by Stimulating the mind
afford artistic entertainment, and they don’t
get that kind of plays.. There never was a
country in the history of the world in which
so many people were so well educated and
so keenly interested in the intelligent enjoy
ment of living. But under present conditions
the theatre and this' audience are not con
nected. It is the object of the Drain a Society
to make this connection. We say to the mana
ger: “You put on a- play which, we like and
we will support you, not only morally, but
financially.”
The aims of our organization are ideal,
and the expenses of its management are
largely borne by public-spirited citizens—-
much the same group that financed the New
Theatre. But its methods are intensely prac
tical.
If you will, you may say that its appeal Is
primarily selfish. We- hope to better condi
tions in the art of the drama, and to better
them decisively; but our existence would be
thoroughly justified, both from the pqlnt of
view of those producing good plays and from
that of those witnessing them, on the most
utilitarian grounds. To the playgoing public
we offer better facilities for witnessing good
plays than have ever existed before; and to
the playwright and manager producing good
plays we guarantee a very considerable im
mediate income at the box office, and more
than that, the best kind of advertising known
to the theatre.
The other organizations have recommend
ed attendance at good plays, but have not
been able to insure it, and so have often
failed to exert a strong Influence for good
when it was most needed. The idea of the
Drama Society is that its many members
shall each subscribe in advance for two
tickets to all of the plays bulletined—not
more than ten each season—so that each pro
duction shall be sure of receiving prompt fin
ancial support and a very wide publicity.
It is proposed, therefore, that the members of
this society shall attend ten plays selected by
onr committee, each member taking one pair of
tickets for each play, thus paying forty dollars
each season. With one thousand members buy
ing one pair of seats for each production se
lected during the first month of the run of the
selected play, the management Is assured of a
certain return at once for his efforts to present
a worthy play. This forty dollars is paid in to
the society in advance, the tickets being paid
for by the society. Thus there is no chance for
the play to be ignored. The member has, of
course, the choosing of which night he or she
will attend the play, but it must be within the
first month. A play, generally speaking, etiher
stands or falls during its first month.
Thus, the manager who produces a play of
the kind the society stands for receives, au
tomatically, several thousand dollars at the
box office—a sum which will cover the cost of
a moderately expensive ‘‘production.” And
this is only the beginning. The patronage of
the society will mean the very best kind of
advertising.
Superlative adjectives and the wiles of the
press agent have so often been used in behalf
of poor plays that they are no longer a help
oven to good plays. The managers have cried
"Wolf!” too often. The only really valuable
advertising to-day is to have a play get "talked
about.” Every person who has seen a produc
tion speaks of it to al least a dozen friends—
says, "Oh, do go see Sueh-and-Sucb,” or "Don’t
waste your time aud money seeing Such-and-
Sucb.” This is the great real factor in theat
rical success or failure. No amount of scream
ing can overcome it. If the play pleases it will
go on; If it doesn't, no amount of puffing can
do anything but enable it, to limp a little longer
before it sinks into its early grave.
As a society we set no restricted standard.
We don't say that we will support any one
kind of play. All we ask is that we be men
tally entertained. When we criticise the man
ager for the class of plays produced, he can
very well say, as lie has many times this Win
ter, “Wily should I lose money keeping on a
play of an artistic and literary value which
the public won't attend in large enough num
bers to pay my expenses?"
Well, why should he? That Is what we pur
pose to remedy.
A Satiric French Car
toon Illustrating the
Parisian Idea of the
Kind of Plays America
Likes—
And Another French Cartoon Illustrating How They Think
the Interior of an American Theatre Looks
When “a Really Intelligent Play” Is Shown.
We purpose to revive the lost art of theatre
going among those who have rost It through
the catering of the average manager to the
frivolity of the Broadway audiences. As the
theatrical manager cannot be supposed to edu
cate the public at his own expense, our Drama
Society will assume part of his burden. We
will ignore the “tired business man” and de
velop our own public—the public that would
be only too eager to attend the theatre could
it be assured of entertainment. We will fit
the theatre to the audience and the audience
to the theatre.
But—we also intend to educate the managers
and producers! We will urge them to produce
plays that have ideas, plays that have a mes
sage for the thinking public, although they may
be plays whose production may appear ill-
advised to those who have to pay the expenses.
As a society, we do not intend at present to
produce plays ourselves—that may come later.
The play is the thing with us, and we care not
who produces it. Surely, with a certain appre
ciative audience assured, the present thickened
atmosphere in the dramatic world should be
cleared a bit and plays formerly smothered
under adverse circumstances brought forth.
One well-known manager has told us that he
has had to refuse plays Innumerable that he
liked and that he knew were artistic because
he also knew that they would never "get
across.” Such plays, said this manager, fall
long before the audience to which they might
appeal has discovered them. It costs from five
to eight, thousand dollars weekly to run a
theatre; is it any wonder, therefore, that hav
ing failed with an Intellectual play the man
agers turn gladly to plays that are “screaming
successes,” "sensational thrillers,” "howling
delights”?
In the past there were managers who dared
lo keep on a production which was at first ap
parently a failure, and becauso of this daring
many of our great, plays have been saved to us.
But the high cost of liviug. the large increase
in our dally expenses affect the theatre as
well as all other business, and the average
manager cannot stand the drain of a five or six
weeks’ poor season. If a play does not prove
a success almost at once, It is dropped. This is
the day of sensational, of emphatic things in
every walk of life. And nowhere else is this so
apparent as in the world of drama. A play
mu6t be sensational,
must make a terrific ap
peal to some emotion
immediately, else —
"Thumbs down,” cries
the manager.
Because of this sen
sationalism, because of
the low- level of the
usual play presented to
the ..ubllc we are told
the American drama
is In a very sad state,
and we have no great.
dramatists. We do not believe this. We be
lleve that all conditions are ripe for the devel
opment of a great and truly national American
drama, and that the first step toward furthering
its development Is an organization by which
the good plays can be brought at once to the
attention of the large body of people who know
life widely and who have a keen and discrimi
nating appreciation of art.
How do we plan to do this, and do we think
that we will be successful? We will be suc
cessful because we have put our organization
on a practical financial basis. We leave noth
ing to luck. We have our financial scheme
worked out, and, as it Is a case of pay In ad
vance, we will always know where we stand.
To quote from our programme:
"We propose an organization of playgoers,
aud especially of those who care for dramatic
art, on a basis that will secure to them the best
seats for the best productions only at the box
office rates. There are two conditions. First,
every member of the society must attend each
year ten productions found worthy of the intel
ligent playgoer within the first month of its
run. The second condition is that our mem
bership be limited.” Obviously, there is a
limit beyond which the managers will not co
operate with us In offering the generous terms
of our programme. Our ideal Is to include all
public-spirited playgoers; but our motto has
to be “first come, first served."
Under the old conditions, when a play was
a success the speculators and agents secured the
seats on the forward part of the floor, and
those who wished to pay box-office rates only
could get nothing in front of the tenth row.
Those of us who are instrumental in the found
of this society do not like to contend for seats,
Mrs. Edward R. Hewitt, President of the New York Branch
of the Drama League.
and, frankly, we do not care to pay more than
the regular tari.f for them. The people whom
we have in minn the vast ready-made audience
for the, play of value while willing to support
good drama are unwilling to take Inferior seats.
Therefore this audience is practically lost to
the drama through the short sightedness of the
management. Our organization will overcome
this to a certain extent, for the managers of the
high-claSB theatres have assured us of having
seats in the front of their houses.
How shall we decide upon the plays which aB
a society we will stamp with our approval, and,
more than all, will urge all our friends to at
tend? The choice will be made by a committee
of twelve, members which will attend the first
nights and reach Its decisions by a majority
vote. We expect to have some disagreements,
hut discussions over the plays will be wel
comed and will undoubtedly help us In our
future judgments.
We have made no rules as to the kind of
plays wo will favor. Wo are not bigoted,
neither are we prejudiced. Our interests are
very catholic. The quality of the productions
to he considered will be of the order of the
following: “Fanny’s First. Play,” “The Yellow
Jacket,’’ "Within the Law,” "The New Sin,”
"The Perplexed Husband,” “lltndle Wakes,”
"The Poor Little Rich Girl” and others which
were given thiB season. Many of these plays
were failures. "Hindle Wakes,” for instance,
one of the most interesting and provocative
plays from the recent school of English drama,
was withdrawn before the public realized that
it was a financial failure
And yet, through the Drama Society of Chi
cago, this play, rejected In New York, Is play
ing to crowded houses In the West!
Every man thinks that he knows his own
business best, and, as a rule, resents any crit
icism of h1s methods. Dramatic managers are
perhaps more frequently criticised than any
other business men. For one thing, their errors
of judgment are so obvious, there is never any
disguising the failure! Looking on, we seem
to see clearly where the manager sees but
darkly, and we seem to see Just where we
would do differently. For instance, In the pro
duction of a charmingly quaint aud unusual
play two years ago, the manager, fearful of the
effect of the delicate charm of tne play as writ
ten, changed It so that the emphasis was given
to the wrong character, thus hoping to win the
Broadway crowd. As It was, he lost both of
his audiences—the Intellectual and the Broad
way. And the play was withdrawn.
Take "The Yellow Jacket.” This play drew
such poor houses at the beginning that Its run
was shortened. During the last two weeks,
through the praises of those who had seen It
and appreciated Its value, the house was
crowded, but It was too late to make up the
losses and the play is now on the road. A play
of this nature will be widely advertised by our
socl-ty and Its life would be saved undoubtedly.
We know from what others have done that
we will be able to help materially.
"Peter Pan,” Barrie’s inimitable play, was a
failure at the start—not even Miss Adams’s
popularity made It draw. The People's Insti
tute appreciated It and paid Into its box office
no less than eighteen thousand dollars during
the first weeks of Its run, and with this help
and the consequent advertising done by the
playgoers the production gained time to find
its special public. During the holidays last
Winter it broke the record for receipts at the
Empire Theatre while many of the new pro
ductions were playing mostly to paper.
But—to he a success, and to be the help to
the managers that we want to be, the managers
must give us the productions that we can enjoy.
They must not expect us to approve the pro
ductions that arc badly constructed and badly
portrayed. We place no limit on the kind of
drama so long as It Is interesting.
We are being asked if we have placed a ban
on the so-called problem play. We arc being
asked, also, If If we will encourage the produc
tion of the problem plays that, have hitherto
been barred from the American stage. To both
of these questions we say no. The problem
play which we have had with us for the last
fifteen years has dealt entirely with the Bex
problem. We are. rather, getting away from
this problem, T think, aud the problem play of
the present treats of broader problems—so
ciological problems, such problems as "Damaged
Goods,” for instance.
The production of this play was supposed to
be a sensation. It was written of, before its
presentation, as though it had to be apologized
for or handled with gloves. In the gathering
which witnessed its first portrayal were many
who patently had secured cards, believing that
they were to be shocked, that they were to see
a salacious play. These were disappointed, and
before the end were patently bored. The ma
jority of the audience, however, were keenly
Interested In the acts which dealt entirely with,
the medical side of the play. People who go to
this play from morbid curiosity will be bored.
Whatever one may think of the value of such
plays, they He outside the programme of the
Drama Society, in that they are produced from
motives primarily scientific and sociological,
and are addressed to a very special public.
Even those members of our society who care
most for such productions would not think of
calling upon the society as a whole to attend.
Our atm 1^ primarily artistic, which is to say,
intelligently pleasure-loving.
The Drama Society Is not an exclusive social
organization. It Is composed of people who
want to see the American drama placed on the
level with its art and literature. But while we
are seriously interested in this project we are
not solemnly Interested by any means!
We Intend to have a good time and to enjoy
ourselves when we go to the theatre. We no
longer want to feel at the close of a play that
we have wasted three hours of our lives. That
is why we’re doing all this.
Dangers That Lie in Unclean Milk, and How to Avoid Them
By GEORGE LLOYD MAGRUDER, A.M., M.D
Emeritus Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, School of
Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.
1 From "The Solution of the Milk Problem." Copyright, 1013. by
Lloyd Magruder,. A.M., if.D.l
The sample was taken
T HERE Is to-day not a shade of doubt that
impure raw milk and ereani are promt
nent factors In keeping up the prevalence
of tuberculosis, typhoid fever, scarlet fever,
diphtheria, infantile disorders and other dis
eases and impaired physical’ conditions. The
continued high mortality pf adults and infants
from these preventable diseases can be reduced
enormously by heeding the teachings of modern
sanitarians. This education must be com
menced at the farm,, and he continued to and
include the consumer. There must be co
operation by every one who handles milk to
protect It from contamination. The public
must pay for this care by a few cents extra per
quart, and the farmer . must give a better
product for the increased price that he must
receive. Dfrty milk should not be bought at
any price.
During the last few months the subject of
dangers from contaminated milk and the
methods of prevention have attracted unusual
attention from,physicians and others interested
in the conservation of the public health. It Is
now generally conceded that clean, cold and
properly pasteurized .milk is one of. the impor
tant means, if not the taor important factor,
in reducing disease and death. These condi
tions furnish safe milk for every one. It is the
easy and safe solution of the milk problem.
The time is opportune for presenting in every
day language the facts in- regard to milk, that
the dangers may be understood and the reme
dial measures may be applied. This Is de
sirable because, even yet, notwithstanding the
Indisputable evidence that has been presented,
there are many. persons of intelligence who
seem to ignore these dangers and still use and
permit those under their charge to use poison
ous milk. This is notable in a number of
schools, hospitals, infant asylums, hotels and
other eating places.
To bacteriology the world is indebted for the
positive knowledge of the causes of many dis
eases. Bacteria grow with amazing rapidity in
milk, since milk of all media furnishes the most
favorable conditions required for their growth.
Under favoraWe conditions these bacteria at
tain maturity within an hour. In raw market
milk, as .many as one billion and a quarter
germs have been found in a single teaspoonful.
from the milk can in
wagon on a regular
round in the Summer.
In .a level tablespoon of
ice cream over two bit
lion germs have been
found. Imagine the pus
slble result if many of
these had been disease-
producing bacteria!
Now the important
points in regard to the
destruction of bacteria
in milk are these: Be
low fifty degrees Karen
ireit the growth of
many bacteria ip check
cd, but they survive
even below the freezing point in some cases.
Above fifty degrees Fahrenheit they begin to
multiply with marked rapidity as the warmth
increases. When the temperature rises above
100 degrees, however, the various varieties
begin to die. As the result of investigations
by men of the highest authority the world over,
it has been found that all disease-producing
germs commonly present in milk are killed at a
temperature of 140. degrees maintained for
twenty minutes. This degree of heat and time
of exposure do not in any way destroy either
tile chemical or nutritive properties of milk,
nor do they alter the taste, nor do they destroy
the cream line. There is no perceptible alter
ation in the milk.
Millions have been spent to purify water sup
plies of cities. Wliy should not the same con
cern be exercised /n regard to a contaminated
milk supply? The dangers are far greater.
Tuberculosis is the one disease the germs of
which enter milk almost exclusively from the
cow . Upon rare occasions the germ enters the
milk from coughing, sneezing or carelessness
of a milker affected with the disease. Tubercle
bacilli are secreted in the milk when there as
tuberculous disease of the udder. Frequently
milk is found contaminated with tubercle germs
for some time before the disease is detected in
the cow from which the milk was obtained.
The commonest source of contamination is in
the discharge from cows affected with the dis-
One Way of Makins; Milk Safe to Drink.
Wash the Paper Covered Top in Hot Water. Pour the Milk Into a Pot and Keep It
on the Stove Until the Thermometer Shows 140 Degrees. Put in a Box a Smaller
Bor. Fill the Space Between the Sides and Bottoms Tightly with Sa.vclust. Put
the Milk Pot, Covered, in the Smaller Box. Cover It with a Clean Quilted
Cloth and Let It Remain 20 Minutes.
case. The discharge falls into the pail from
the flanks, udder and tail of the cow at the
time of milking. The bacilli do not multiply
ip milk, but they do survive and do grow when
subjected to favorable conditions.
Neither the processes of making ice cream
nor butter destroy them. Cream is found to
have many more germs than milk, since the
germs adhere to the fat globules and rise to
the surface with .them. The Department of
Agriculture found tubercle germs in the refuse
from the separators in 33 per cent of the
creameries examined. This startling revelation
warns us that skimmed milk should not be
used for mau or beast in a raw state. Tubercle
bacilli are frequently found in market milk, as
the Bureau of Animal Industry has shown that
from 5 to 25 per cent of dairy cows responded
to the tuberculin test.
The investigations made relative to the use
of pasteurized milk from tuberculous cows and
from cows actually affected with udder tubercu
losis prove that it has no objectionable Influ
ence on the body and that it does not injure
the health in any determinable way.
The safety secured by pasteurizing the milk
is a very important point from an economic
standpoint. The milk of every one of these
apparently healthy cows could be used with
absolute safety It the rearing of children, and
in the raising of calves and hogs, and for all
household purposes after being brought to aud
Above
Is a
Drop
of
Pure Milk Under the Microscope. Be
low, a Drop of Impure Milk. The
Particles in the Upper Picture Are
Clean Fat Globuules; in the Lower,
Disease Germs.
held at the proper beat for the destruction of
the tubercle germ. No complicated apparatus
is necessary to accomplish this much-desired
result. What a boon to mankind if this fact
would be accepted and applied! The farmer,
in time, would thus secure a healthy herd and
healthy hogs. His resources would be promptly
augmented. There would be less destruction
of live stock and condemnation of food
products derived from this source.
Reliable evidence has shown that more than
25 per cent of all cases of tuberculosis in chil
dren under sixteen years of age are, of bovine
origin, and 12% per cent of fatal cases of tuber
culosis among children under five years of age
are due to bovine tubercule bacilli. These facts
have so impressed the authorities of France
that it has been recommended, with a view to
saving the infants of France from tuberculosis,
that all irfilk I >e heated to 176 degrees Fahren
helt.
Repealed outbreaks of virulent sore throat,
accompanied with high mortality, have been
traced to the presence in milk of a strep
tococcus. This streptococcus tnay get into the
milk from a human source or from the presence
of streptococci in diseased udders. The occur
rence of over 600 cast-s pf sore throat In
Stockholm in the year 1908 was traced to a
streptococcus abscess in the udder of a cow
in a herd that furnished milk to those who be
came infected. The characteristics of the two
streptococci were identical. Such outbreaks
have since occurred in Chicago. Boston and
Baltimore, and uniformly the cause has been
traced to a streptococcus:.
But it has been found that the disease doeB
not stop at the throat. Serious diseases of
other parts of the body, as the heart, the brain
and the joints have been traced as resulting
from the throat infection. Obviously these
epidemics of septic sore throat furniBh a most
powerful argument for the pasteurization of the
entire milk supply.
Germs of typhoid fever grow with amazing
rapidity in milk, and soon Increase the danger
arising from this infection. A few germs will
quickly multiply to such an extent that the
whole supply with which ft comes in contact
will be contaminated. Mohler and Washburn
found that the typhoid bacillus survived
twenty-oue days in milk kept sweet aud 161
days in butter kept in cold storage. This
draws attention to the fact that the variety of
germs in milk is more to be considered than
the actual numbers.
Typhoid fever germs enter milk entirely from
sources outside the cow. The cow’s flank and
udder may become contaminated from the cow
having waded in streams polluted with the dis
charges from fever patients. Then the washing
with cold water of the utensils used in the
handling of milk is a prolific source of the
germs. The fact that typhoid fever is emi
nently a rural disease, occurring two and a half
times more frequently in the country than in
the city, and the known contamination of the
water supplied by farms point to the necessity
of exercising great care to avoid these sources
of danger.
The milkers and handlers of milk also Infect
the fluid. These men frequently have the dis
ease for days before being compelled to take
to bed. Now typhoid fever is a disease that Is
spread especially by germ or bacillus carriers.
Five years ago over fifty cases of typhoid In
Washington, IJ. (?., were traced to the supply
of milk from a tingle farm.
There is no specific germ that causes tnal
nutrition and the gastro-intestinal troubles of
infants, it. is the general o' .ervation that the
presence of streptococci and colon bacilli in.
milk does augment these disorders. Excessive
numbers In rnllk of any germ, even those at
times considered harmless, has been found also
to be productive of these troubles. The pres
ence of colon bacilli Is the source of great dan
ger to children.
To secure the best results milk of each cow
must be cooled Immediately after milking In
iu a house separated from the cow barn and
well protected from flies by screens. This cool
ing must be accomplished by pouring milk over
colls through which running water passes, iced
if necessary. The placing of large shipping
cans of milk in receptacles of water is unsatis
factory, from the slowness of the process of
cooling and the prevention of the ready escape
of contaminating odors.
The present method of placing milk outside
the doors and windows of houses hours before
occupants are awake is another Berious men
ace. It ia well worth trying to revolutionize
the methods and time of delivering milk. If It
could be delivered soon after its arrival at the
distributor's depot the consumer would secure
tnuc" fresher milk, at times milk of the same
day.
If the lessons taught by these observations
be heeded a great step will be made toward the
control of man; preventable diseases and an
immediate diminution in deaths from tubercu
losis, typhoid fever, diphtheria and other milk-
born diseases will be secured. The slaughter
of infants will also be arrested.
Let it bo remembered that contaminated"
milk is many times more dangerous than con
taminated water, because disease germs which
would arve In water rapimy multiply in milk.
Dollars spent by the hundred for prevention
111 save mini, needed for those afflicted
with disease, to say nothing of the t* -s of
suffering and pangs of grief that will be
avoided.
Mothers, arise, and demand with one voice
that your physicians and lawmakers secure
SAFE MILK TO SAVE YOUR BABIES.