OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13857, 21 March 1907, Page 4

OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

(FROU OUR OWK COHP.V.spocdf.XT.) NEW YORK, February 2. THEATRICAL TRUST. As tho result of a tight which was instituted against ihe so-called " thoal.rical trust" some time ago hy David Belasco,a grand jury in Now York Cilv lias now returned a- blanket bill of indictment charging tho theatrical combination with conspiracy ■ in restraint of trade in violation of tho I'ejleral law. T'lio theatrical managers named in tho indictment arc Samuel Nixon and J. I l '. Zimmerman, composing tho firm of Nixon and Zimmerman, of Philadelphia and New York; Mure Klaw and Abraham Erlanger, of the firm of Klaw and Erlanger; and Charles Prohman and A 1 Haynian, all of New York City. Tlie two last-mentioned gentlemen are in Europe,"but the others aro at hand. The indictment tills 70 typewritten pages, and sets forth in detail tho acts of tlio alleged trust. The charge is that tho managers conspired to monopolise the theatrical businccs, both as to the ownership of theatres and as to the production of theatrical attractions. It is charged that the conspiracy takes the form of written agreements entered into in 1896 and 1900 bv tiio indicted managers, by which they pledged themselves to pool theatres and atraclioiis unci divide the nrofits of tho business. It is pointed out that at the time of j tho organisation of the so-called trust it' controlled 50 theatres throughout tho country, and that, at the present time it absolutely controls 500 of tho 600 prominent houses.. The indictment also charges that the managers agreed to permit their own attractions to appear in none but theatres controlled by themselves, and to refuse to permit other attractions to appear in houses under their control, unless under the contracts it was arranged that they should appear in such houses exclusively; that they further agreed not to send their own attractions to any theatre whoso manager refused to contract with them to control the bookings of hi.; theatre. It is upon tho contracts exacted from managers of product ions appearing in houses controlled by thocombinalion that tho district attorney's ofliec' hasps it-a strongest hope of obtaining conviction. As an instance of the methods of i.lio syndicate the case of Sarah Bernhardt js cited. In her last lour of this country, in 1905. iKH'm'issioH was refused lier to play in syndicate houses, for the reason that sho was appearing under the direction of a rival firm of managers. In her tour Madame Bernhardt played only in independent houses, and was frequently forced lo appear under tents. During lhe two weeks in which the grand jury received the evidcnco moro than 30 witnesses appeared, among them, being many prominent independent managers, including David Belasco, Leo

Shubert. H. R. Jacobs, William F. Connor (of Ijiebler and Co.), and A. C. Campbell • .(of the Bijou Theatre). In tho testimony taken some of tile witnesses stated'that thoy. had been compelled to make contracts with tho syndicato lor booking at ft cost, of ■ nearly 33 1-3 per cent, of the net receipts ■ of tho production. It, was also testified that tho trust, productions thus appearing pot from 50 to 60 per cent, of tho profits, leaving tho house to pocket Hie meajrro balance. At tho offices of Klaw and Erlonger tho following statement was issued: "Wo aro not surprised at this indictment, as it has been street, and table talk for over a year. The malice and motives which inspired it are talcs of another tolling, and will be a subject- of wonderment to the uninitiated. If anyone doubts the deinoraliea-. tion of the present-.district attorney's ofiice, ho need only notice tho freedom with which grand jury proceedings aro published daily. Certainly the witnesses and grand jurors themselves would not talk about what happens ill the grand jury room. Every liueinees institution^. which develops to largo proportions is in danger of being denominated a 'trust'; and an indictment for being a member of a trust seems to be tho badge of success pinned on successful business men by their unsuccessful competitors. It will not bo long, in this fair land before every successful business man wilt be in. dieted for being a member of n trust, Tho stigma which used-t-a go with an indictment lias been entirely eliminated by proceedings such as these." NEGRO TROOPS. Tho, United States Senate has had ji good deal of trouble with what has become known as tho Brownsvillo affray. Sineo President Roosevelt's order dismissing without honour a battalion of nogro troops, unknown members of which had "shot tip " the Wn of Brownsville, Tex., killing and injuring soveral citizens, and had been shielded by tho persistent silence of tho members of their company, two investigor tions have-been inado by'authority of tho Secretary of War and the President. Tho President's order dismissing tho entire battalion as punishment for its refusal to givo up tho guilty men, specified that the men should bo debarred, from accepting' civil employment under tho Government. The President has been convinced that this part, of the order was not valid and has rescinded it. Tho long discussion in tile ' Scnnto on the subject has dealt, among other things, with tho question whether tho President, had not. exceeded his authority in tho remainder of tho ruling, and an attempt was made to have tho whole subject, including this phase of it, investigated by a committee. But the Senate lias recognised its lack of authority to interfere with the acts .of the President as Commander-in-Chief of the army, and has adopted a resolution calling for a senatorial investigation of tho affray itself without reference to the constitutionality of tho President's order. Some of the Senators aro strongly of tho opinion that tliev can find out who the guilty men are. COLD STORAGE. Tho House Committee on Agriculture, whoso hearings on tho Agriculutrc Appropriation Bill liavo just, been made public, took, it appears, some interesting testimony concerning the deterioration of foodstuffs in cold storage. Dr Harvey W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of tho Department of Agriculture, mado the following statements"Milk, begins to deteriorate right away, and so does cream. Eggs also begin to deteriorate immediately. Fruit is improved, and sometimes continues to improve for thrco months. Meat improves up to about six or eight weeks. But after thrco months for meat you can see it has reached tho maximum, and then it begins to go down, I do not oare how hard it is frozen; Wo find that meats < do not taste as well, and they do' not smell as well, and every time the jury can pick that which lias , been ,' kept- over three months. Take our quail. We have quail a year old, and wc lmve a fresh quail cooked at tho same time. Wo cook them just alike, and you can dis- ; t.inguish between them, first, bv their looks, and then by smell and taste. Every i timo the jury can pick them out blind-' , folded." Dr Wiley stated that, ho is a ; champion of cold storage, and believes . that most foods improve when properly kept for a short, time, but that tho object . of his experiments is to toll tho public —and particularly the cold storage people— [ how long they may safely keep food. Ho said that'the oyster was dead an hour after being opened, was not good, and lost its . flavour. Ho said that oysters ought not ' to bo frozen, as that, ruined them, and a3 ~ soon as they thawed thoy became danger- | ous. Dr Wiley denounced gelatine, and j said: "Tt is mado 'out of hides; of tho . scrapings from hides- These hides go into ' the tanner's vats, and the hides that smell ' to heaven are treated and trimmed, and these trimmings aro used to make gelatine, j The Marine Hospital service found tho tanners''norms in colalinc." Ho said that ? the gelatine factories were the dirtiest in tho world. The hides used were treated L ' with alkali, which was rubbed into (hem 1 for shipment. 'Vhe hides were scraped 5 and trimmed, and were then put into\lho • tanner's vats, and tho residue used for ' gelatine. Gelatine was sometimes made in 1 ghio factories, that which was not. lit for : glue being mado into gelatine. This gelatine was used for ico cream and candies and for making capsules that inedicino was taken in. lie added that there was no . objection to gelatine if properly mado, and j that there was plenty of wholesome raw material to make .it properly. a RAILROAD WRECKS.

TJio list: of railroad wrecks of a serious character lias been sadly lengthened during the past, few weeks. One of the most distressing of these occurrences happened at Tcrre Haute (Intl.), on the Cleveland, Cineinnati. Chicago, and St. Louis road, oil January 20, ivlien a passenger train, including the locomotive, was blown from the track and demolished by the explosion, of a ear of dynamite on an adjoining truck. Eighteen dead bodies were taken' from tho charred rains, and many oilier injured persons were cared for. The engine was hurled 50ft, and tlio passengers were either blown to piccre, consumed by (iro, or rescued in an injured condition, 'l'ho shock was felt for many miles, and was at first, thought to bo an earthquake. The explosion was supposed to have been caused by tho concussion of llio passenger train as it camo to a stop.,or b.v llio ignition of gas escaping from an oil pipe-line. Tlio accident occurred on a dark night when llio residents of Sanford, a near-by village, woro going to bed, and lights in many of tlio houses had been extinguished, when tho freight train drew in on a side track to lot. tho passenger train go. by. Shortly afterward the passenger train approached the station, setting brakes as it passed tho freight, tj'ain. As the passenger train camt; abreast the dynamite car the dynamite exploded with terrific effect, the train being : blown from the track. Fire brokn out immediately in tho wreckage, and many passengers burned to death before tho eyes of citizens, who rushed from their homos to the -rescue. liy the glaring light of the burning coaches tho peoplo did their best for the injured. They threw onen their homes and worked heroically all night, tint not until after daylight could the extent of the casualties be determined.