Addressat the actors’ fund fair
in the Metropolitan
opera
house, new York, may 6, 1907
Mr.
Clemens, in his white suit, formally declared the fair
open.
Mr. Daniel Frohman, in introducing Mr. Clemens, said:
“We intend to make this
a banner week in the history of the Fund,
which takes an interest in every one on the stage,
be he actor, singer, dancer, or workman.
We have spent more than $40,000 during
the past year. Charity covers a multitude of
sins, but it also reveals a multitude of
virtues. At the opening of the former
fair we had the assistance of Edwin Booth and
Joseph Jefferson. In their place we have to-day
that American institution and apostle of
wide humanity—Mark Twain.”
As Mr. Frohman has said, charity reveals a multitude
of virtues. This is true, and it is to be proved
here before the week is over. Mr. Frohman has
told you something of the object and something of the
character of the work. He told me he would do
this—and he has kept his word! I had
expected to hear of it through the newspapers.
I wouldn’t trust anything between Frohman and
the newspapers—except when it’s a
case of charity!
You should all remember that the actor has been your
benefactor many and many a year. When you have
been weary and downcast he has lifted your heart out
of gloom and given you a fresh impulse. You are
all under obligation to him. This is your opportunity
to be his benefactor—to help provide for
him in his old age and when he suffers from infirmities.
At this fair no one is to be persecuted to buy.
If you offer a twenty-dollar bill in payment for
a purchase of $1 you will receive $19 in change.
There is to be no robbery here. There is to
be no creed here —no religion except charity.
We want to raise $250,000—and that is a
great task to attempt.
The President has set the fair in motion by pressing
the button in Washington. Now your good wishes
are to be transmuted into cash.
By virtue of the authority in me vested I declare
the fair open. I call the ball game. Let
the transmuting begin!
The American auxiliary movement to aid the cause of
freedom in Russia was launched on the evening of April
11, 1906, at the Club A house, 3 Fifth Avenue, with
Mr. Clemens and Maxim Gorky as the principal spokesmen.
Mr. Clemens made an introductory address, presenting
Mr. Gorky.
If we can build a Russian republic to give to the
persecuted people of the Tsar’s domain the same
measure of freedom that we enjoy, let us go ahead
and do it. We need not discuss the methods by
which that purpose is to be attained. Let us
hope that fighting will be postponed or averted for
a while, but if it must come—
