ce.

Before deciding whether of not to present DAMAGED GOODS before the
general public, it was arranged that the highest officials in the United
States should pass judgment upon the manner in which the play teaches
its vital lesson. A special guest performance for members of the
Cabinet, members of both houses of Congress, members of the United
States Supreme Court, representatives of the Diplomatic corps and others
prominent in national life was given in Washington, D.C.

Although the performance was given on a Sunday afternoon (April 6,
1913), the National Theater was crowded to the very doors with the most
distinguished audience ever assembled in America, including exclusively
the foremost men and women of the Capital. The most noted clergymen of
Washington were among the spectators.

The result of this remarkable performance was a tremendous endorsement
of the play and of the manner in which Mr. Bennett and his co-workers
were presenting it.

This reception resulted in the continuance of the New York performances
until mid-summer and is responsible for the decision on the part of Mr.
Bennett to offer the play in every city in America where citizens feel
that the ultimate welfare of the community is dependent upon a higher
standard of morality and clearer understanding of the laws of health.

The WASHINGTON POST, commenting on the Washington performance, said:

The play was presented with all the impressiveness of a sermon; with all
the vigor and dynamic force of a great drama; with all the earnestness
and power of a vital truth.

In many respects the presentation of this dramatization of a great
social evil assumed the aspects of a religious service. Dr. Donald C.
Macleod, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, mounted the rostrum
usually occupied by the leader of the orchestra, and announced that the
nature of the performance, the sacredness of the play, and the character
of the audience gave to the play the significance of a tremendous sermon
in behalf of mankind, and that as such it was eminently fitting that
a divine blessing be invoked. Dr. Earle Wilfley, pastor of the Vermont
Avenue Christian Church, asked all persons in the audience to bow
their heads in a prayer for the proper reception of the message to be
presented from the stage. Dr. MacLeod then read the Bernard Shaw preface
to the play, and asked that there be no applause during the performance,
a suggestion which was rigidly followed, thus a