Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1918 — THEATER IS ONE TEUTON WEAPON [ARTICLE]

THEATER IS ONE TEUTON WEAPON

Elaborate System of Using Performers to Circulate German Propaganda. PAY SALARIES OF SINGERS Paris Sees Benefit of Gayety, Refusing to Close Amusements to Save Fuel—Germans Flood Neutral Countries. Paris. —Attention has been attracted to the use the Germans make of the theater as a vehicle of propaganda by a recent suggestion that the Paris theaters be* closed to save fuel. Fortunately this short-sighted policy has not been adopted. It would have added to the war-worn atmosphere of the capital without accomplishing any good results. But the agitation has served the purpose of revealing that the allies. have made no organized attempt to keep alive in neutral countries interest in their language, their ideals, their literature, through theiy theaters and music, while the Germans have overlooked no opportunity. It is not saying too much to insist that never has the theaters been so necessary as now to public life. For today, more than ever, men —soldiers or civilians—-need the relief from the strain of war afforded by a relapse into the realm of fantasy, a visit to the unreal world.

Used jin German Propaganda. That it is a mistake to look upon the theater only as a place of amusement is amply demonstrated by the Germans. who have made of it a weapon. Their actors, their singers, their musicians have never been busier at home and abroad as since the beginning of the war. In neutral countries, Switzerland, .for instance, from the day of mobilization, the German actors appearing in Swiss theaters were relieved from the call to "arms. Since then, in the German-Swiss cantons there has been a positive avalanche <ff theatrical troupes and of choral and instrumental associations sent from Berlin, Vienna. Munich, Leipzig, Mannheim, Meiningen, having as conductors men like -Max Reinhardt. the two Strausses, Weingartner, Nikish. etc. This in addition to numerous Germin picture shows and dress exhibits with free refreshments, concerts and the procession of pretty models. For all these entertainments free tickets are distributed by the hundreds. The expense of renting halls, advertising in the papers and by posters is borne by subsidies. The Germans don’t expect to make any money. On the contrary, they spend much more than the receipts. The

word goes out to “paper the house." In Berlin Max Reinhardt was told: “Spend without counting the cost; when you get back we’ll settle the bill.” When the theaters are empty It makes no difference, the tour continues. All official Germans and their compatriots in neutral cities are obliged by military order to go t« these performances each night. When the troupe plays its farewell performance the ranking German diplomat or consular representative in each city gives a large banquet, where, so as to make the neutral better understand the meaning of “kultur,” champagne is given to him.

Teutons Pay Singers’ Salaries. A German consul sent for the directors of the music halls of the town where he is stationed and told them that whenever they engaged German singers' or “turns” they would have to pay -them only $1 a day, and the rest of their salary, he said, no matter how large, would be assumed by the German authorities. That is the reason why, in the music halls of the big neutral city,, in question, you hear nothing spoken but German. , This striking illustration of the thor oughness of the German propaganda which expend's millions for musical and theatrical performances is in striking contrast to the do-nothing policy of the allies in this respect. That is why Switzerland asks: “Does France scorn us, or is she broken spirited?” In Russia the Germans have established theaters at Petrograd, .Moscow, Riga, Mitau, Libau, Zoppot, Revel and Odessa. Emperor William and his satellites thoroughly understand the political Influence of the theater. From another point of view, any attempt to close the Paris theaters for economy in fuel or lighting would seem shortsighted. For the theater in the cities takes the place of country gatherings, where several families benefit by the same light and fire. Similarly the thousands of persons—audiences, artists and employers—gathered each evening in places of amusement are warmed and lighted in a mass by an amount of coal much less than all these people would have consumed in the same lime had they remained at home. To have closed the theaters would have meant increasing the sadness of Paris, the throwing out of work of 100,000 persons, who would have to be fed and supported in some other way, besides antagonizing 43 labor unions. As a high military authority said: “It would have given to France th* aspect of a vanquished nation.”