A Teacher of Immorality by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 16, 1909

A Teacher of Immorality

By C. M. S.

Bad as are many of the plays given every day in the week in the cities of the world, judged by the moral standards of the gospel and by the results of the plays in ruining the morals of young and old together, we yet hear clergymen defending the theater as a necessary and praiseworthy institution. Not long ago a noted play was advertised to be given in a certain theater in Washington city. The President of the United States occupied a box in the theater, and the house was crowded. But at the close of the first act the President arose and left the theater as a personal protest against the salaciously immoral character of the performance. Recently, also, the owner of a theater building in the city of New York, after attending a play given by a theater company in his theater, wrote the manager of the play as follows:—

I desire to give you notice that I consider the performance now being given at the Hackett Theater a nuisance, being maintained on my property in violation of the law. I want it stopped at once, or I will take steps to have it abated. I regret to be forced to do it, but decency demands it.

The new York Tribune, in commenting on this notification of the theater owner to the manager of that particular play, declared that the limit of such indecent spectacles had been reached; and the Northwestern Christian Advocate adds this comment:—

When a secular paper of the standing of the Tribune makes a protest of this kind, it is surely time for Christian people to awake to the fact that never in the history of the country were we in such danger of an inundation of immorality as now. It would seem as if the professionals of both sexes of the various red-light districts of the cities had organized to capture the stage and then society. If one may judge by the press reports, a goodly portion of the stage is now given over to plays which require not actors and actresses to present them but only people who have lost, if they ever possessed, any sense of shame. When it is stated that such erotic presentations are listened to by crowds of young boys and girls with almost breathless interest, one can but wonder if there is no limit to what the country will tolerate.

As an educator the theater is no doubt a very successful institution. It teaches by object-lessons, and that is an up-to-date method. But the more successful it is, the more dangerous it is. The success of any teaching is measured by the power of the teaching to influence and mold those taught. The theater does that. But the immoral nature of the bulk of its teaching is insuring the lowering of the moral tone of the community and the moral standards of the people. As a teacher the theater is a success; but the present low standard of public morals proves that such an educator is not needed. It does not elevate character. It does pander to the immoral tastes of the people, and prepares a soil for the growth of many immoral practises. It is a menace to the good, a cultivator of the bad, and, all in all, an educator the world were much better off without.

C. M. S.