The Forest Republican

WOULD PROHIBIT
PROFANITY ON STAGE
Ordinance Now Being Considered
by New York Aldermen.

New York, Feb. 28.—The board of
aldermen held a hearing on proposed
ordinance of Alderman Mulhearn to
prevent the use of blasphemy on the
stage. The ordinance was drawn up
because of the frequent use of the
word "damn" in one of Clyde Fitch's
plays.

Mr. Mulhearn said: "I don't claim
to be an angel, but when folks delib-
erately come on the stage with pro-
fanity I'm opposed to it. This ordi-
nance ought to include moving pic-
tures as well. Why, I went to a smoke-
er in the Bronx one night and saw a
picture that Comstock never came
across in his raids."

"Speaking of profanity," Alderman
Levin observed later, "Alderman Wil-
lard is just after telling me that
Shakespeare, who wrote some of the
most renowned books in the world,
used 154 hells and 181 damns or words
to that effect. We don't have works
of that kind now, Mr. Mulhearn. We're
not up to date."

Mr. Mulhearn conceded that times
had advanced.

The debate swung to the question,
"What is profanity?"

"If I was to tell you to go to hell, is
that a disorderly act?" Alderman John
J. White wanted to know. Arthur S.
Colborne, president of the anti-pro-
fanity league, thought it would be.

The chairman felt impelled to men-
tion towns whose theatres were worse
than New York. One of them was Al-
bany. Yes, Albany was pretty bad, Mr.
Colborne admitted, and he knew of
Western cities even worse.

"Oh, I never took Albany seriously
as a city," Alderman Mulhearn said.
"and I probably know it as well as any
of you."

After further debate it was suggest-
ed that the ordinance now in the com-
mittee providing for a board of 25
theatrical censors would sufficiently
purify the stage.

Among the organizations represent-
ed at the hearing were the Long
Island chapter Knights of Columbus,
the men's class of Grace Presbyterian
church, Brooklyn; the Holy Name So-
ciety and the German Catholic Feder-
ation.