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266 PURPOSE AND PROPAGANDA PLAYS known facts are so woefully misstated the arguments are based on facts no more reliable and the story will fail of effect. 6. There is a strong temptation to please the persons giving the order by overdrawing, but this will react against the author when the story is found to be of no avail in actual use. It may please a fanatic to show that all saloon properties are owned ,by hypocriti- cal pillars of the churches, that all saloonkeepers are mercenary and merciless and that all teetotalers are models of righteousness, but a reputation for skill as a propaganda writer cannot be based on such stories and the author must fight if necessary to avoid highly colored facts and seek to show by more convincing argument the truth of his statements. 7. In its more effective form, the propaganda story first enlists the interest of the spectator in the chief character and then shows the effect of the vice upon this person. If you would preach against tlie liquor traffic and in favor of prohibition, show your protagonist in a situation where he cannot conveniently encounter temptation. He moves to a "wet" state to better his income, meets and succumbs to temptation and the home is wrecked. Constant iteration of the fact is not argument. First gain interest for your prospective victim, cause him to become a victim and leave the inference to be drawn by the persons who become interested in his career. 8. Titles should be most carefully chosen. They should not ad- vertise their nature. You may use "The Curse of Drink" for a story that is not a preachment, but if you write a propaganda you select a title that will disarm rather than excite suspicion. A story designed to further interest in the subject of lip-reading study for the hard of hearing was called "With the Eyes of Love." It suggested anything rather than an argument in favor of a special study. "The Curse of Drink" wall never ,bring a drunkard to the theatre. It may even keep him away, but "With Barriers Down" may appeal to him as a title and be germane to the subject without advertising the preach- ment. It must not suggest that it is not a propaganda, for then the breaking of the implied promise will be resented by all. It is suf- ficient that the story does not suggest that it is a propaganda. 9. The tuberculosis stories already referred to have done incal- culable good because these have been most intelligently handled by the society, but propaganda plays are of equal value in any other line of work, and as the business grows it is only reasonable to sup- pose that their use will .become more and more popular, though it is probable that their use on a general program will be replaced by their presentation in. lecture rooms, schools and churches. There is at present no demand for free lance offerings on propaganda sub- jects, but there is every evidence that it will pay to give thought and study to this line of work. It may be that in time a market for free lance contributions will be created. (4.XXXVII:9 Lllrll) (7.L:27) (8.XXVH:16).