his country and making their
homes here. Our ports are open, and have been since the foundation
of this Government. Wages are somewhat higher in this country than
in any other, and the man who really settles here, who becomes, or
intends to become an American citizen, will demand American wages.
But if a manufacturer goes to Europe, he can make a contract there
and bring hundreds and thousands of mechanics to this country who
will work for less wages than the American, and a law was passed
to prevent the American manufacturer, who was protected by a tariff,
from burning the laborer's candle at both ends. That is to say,
we do not wish to give him the American price, by means of a tariff,
and then allow him to go to Europe and import his labor at the
European price.

In the law, actors were excepted, and we now find the managers are
bringing entire companies from the old county, making contracts
with them there, and getting them at much lower prices than they
would have had to pay for American actors.

No one objects to a foreign actor coming here for employment, but
we do not want an American manager to go there, and employ him to
act here. No one objects to the importation of a star. We wish
to see and hear the best actors in the world. But the rest of the
company--the support--should be engaged in the United States, if
the star speaks English.

I see that it is contended over in England, that English actors
are monopolizing the American stage because they speak English,
while the average American actor does not. The real reason is that
the English actor works for less money--he is the cheaper article.
Certainly no one will accuse the average English actor of speaking
English. The hemming and hawing, the aristocratic stutter, the
dropping of h's and picking them up at the wrong time, have never
been popular in the United States, except by way of caricature.
Nothing is more absurd than to take the ground that the English
actors are superior to the American. I know of no English actor
who can for a moment be compared with Joseph Jefferson, or with
Edwin Booth, or with Lawrence Barrett, or with Denman Thompson,
and I could easily name others.

If English actors are so much better than American, how is it that
an American star is supported by the English? Mary Anderson is
certainly an American actress, and she is supported by English
actors. Is it possible that the superior support the inferior?
I do not