TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14029, 28 April 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The gulf between the very Tho rich and the very poor in Social America is so great, and so Chasm, charged with danger, that

any attempt on the part of the wealthy to bridge it is worthy <if note. A society has been started in New York ' to bridge the social chasm j between tho two classes. It wa.s formally inaugurated at a banquet given by a Fifth Avenue millionaire to a party of millionaires and their wives. After dinner the guests, "filled with missionary zeal," and no doubt feeling, as most people do, after a good meal, charitably disposed to all tho world, drove in motor-cars to tho slum district, invaded the Bowery Mission, and shook hands with several ragged men who were ravenously devouring the free meal provided there. It must have been a most incongruous spectacle, the mingling ol men and women in evening dress with the tattered representatives of the underworld. The men in the Mission showed' no hostility to their infinitely more fortunate brethren. On tho contrary, they applauded loudly when Mr F. T. Martin, a well-known millionaire, announced liis intention of spending the rest of his life in bridging the chasm. One James Brown rose and entreated his' companions in poverty not to bo envious of the wealth of their visitors. "These fellows," said James Brown, "cannot help being rich any more titan you can help being poor. They have simply got hold of the othor end of the stick. Treat them, thereforo, considerately, and if they really want to know what to do to help humanity, tell them." Tho new society may do a great deal of good, but to go down by motor among the poor, dressed in the finery of luxurious living, does not soem to be the most tactful and promising way to start the movement. It suggests tho craze of "slumming" that sometimes seizes fashionable Englishwomen, a craze compounded of philanthropy, curiosity and a desire for new sensations, and not to be confused with the pure compassion for the poor that animates many a member of tho wealthy classes. That New York society is different from London society is seen in the mere chronicling as a piece of important news* of the fact that ''hostesses like Mrs Vanderbilt, who nsed to receive only people tearing tho hall-mark of Fifth Avenue exclusiveness, have this season opened their drawing-rooms to men and women outside the 'smart set.' They have' even welcomed at their reception?, municipal officials, actresses, and others, and hay© signalised a new era in New York society by lending their houses for charitable purposes, and permitting concerts to be held in their stately halls."

The mania for writing The plays, says Mr Charles Playwriting Hawtrey, is a comparaMania. tively modern affair. Two or three decades ago people lacking in literary instincts, | taste, and ability, who felt compelled j to write something, generally wrote a novel or a book of poems; and their first wa3 usually their last literary effort. Now, however, it is play-writing that appeals to this class of person. One effort no longer satisfies them. They are ready usually to try again. Mr Hawtrey says that he receives on an averago five hundred plays in the course of a year, and ninety-five per cent, of them are not worthy of serious j consideration. Tho mania for playwriting affects all classes alike, from the unlettered navvy to those who have sound education. "If you are ir. want of an opening one-act drama at jour house,"' wrote ono of the former class, "I have such a domestic drama to offer. It is not a representation of the upper class, but rather of the lower; it is called 'Poor Molly Newly Married and Done.' It is certainly original, and will delight your middle to lower class audiences." That letter, it is explained, is a sample of j many. Educated people may write better letters, but they are guilty of many absurdities when they turn their pen to the drama. Their work makes it clear that they have not the most elementary technical knowledge of play-writing. They give directions which are beyond capacity of fulfilment. Another fatal weakness of the amatetir play-wright lies in his or her character drawing. A character is described, and he fails utterly to bear out the description. Many of these would-be dramatic authors lack a sense of the fitness of things; sometimes it seems that they are in actual ignorance of the meaning of words. Mr Hawtrey

cites the case of a clergyman who sent | him a play, describing it as * "light! comedy." Its central figure was a ! ghost, who was on the stage from start j to finish, nnd was indulging always in ] tho dreariest soliloquies. But Mr j Hawtrey does mere than quote horrid examples of cne.gy misapplied. He gives his idea of what qualities a -play wnglit should possess. In the first place, he must have some dramatic gift. he may persuade himself that he has that Hut the second qualification, said to j be equally important, with the first, is | one regarding which a man must know j his own limitations. To be success!ul, i the writev must have knowledge of the , technicalities of the art of play-writing, i So far as we can judge the j Putting alteration of French time I Back at midnight on March > the 10th did not give rise to; Clock. so much confusion as was anticipated. At that mo- ! ment time was put back nine minutes i twenty-one seconds to make it uniform i with Greenwich time, which hereafter is to be the rule throughout France. The j change, affected practically everybody, j and there was not a little natural ap- ! prehension about its effects. Will our i midnight train start at midnight? : What shall we do with the extra nine '■ minutes and odd seconds? Are the ! theatre 'buses and the late trains going to be nine minutes later? Shall, we have to get up nine minutes later, i and go to our business later?—were! some of the questions asked. The big clock at the Paris observatory was put back, and all the clocks in tho public : buildings were expected to follow suit; . but as there was no fine provided for ! the negligent, there must havo been a : puzzling variety in the clocks next [ morning. The railways probably gave ■ the authorities most trouble. In every : French railway station were two clocks, one inside, and ono outside which marked five minutes' difference in time. The outside clock was put back four mil-1 ntcs and twenty-one seconds, and tho i clock inside the station put back nine j minutes and twenty-one seconds. In [ the various railway systems through- j out France engine-drivers were in- ; structeti either to lose at midnight the ', time constituting the difference be- \ tween the Paris and Greenwich meri-1 dian or to stop for the necessary inter-1 val at the first station reached after midnight. Wo do not yet know j v hether any serious consequences arose from the change. Bub it was pointed out that it might produce a curious legal puzzle in the ease of children born just before midnight. If a child wero born at five minutes before midnight and died within five or eight minutes afterwards, it would in point of time, die before it was born. If twins were born at 11.65 and 12 respectively, the younger would become the older. Perhaps in future years the courts will have to wrestle with a case turning on this point. Of course, there I were a few people who strongly opposed the change. "Franco has once more become a province of England!" declared an indignant scientist. The "Debats" makes the interesting suggestion that it would be a graceful return if England adopted the metric system of weights and measures.