"THE RIGHT TO STRIKE" AT THE COPLEY

Ernost Hutchinson's four-act play, setting forth the bitter quarrel of labor and capital from an original aspect, struck it right when E. E. Clive's Copley repertories choose to give it an initial production in America. With an unusually able cast composed almost entirely of English actors. "The Right to Strike" is sympathetically interpreted and moves on through four terse acts gathering momentum till the final curtain climax.

Railroad employees in a "North country" city, Valleyhead, which is singularly dependent on the line in question for all the necessities of life, stirred by a rabid socialist, strike precipitately. The unyielding owners, as also the rest of the community, for the issue is clearly defined, must eventually capitulate or starve. Unfortunately for the cause of labor, the railroad men rouse the opposition of the local medical profession by extending their food boycott even to the Valleyhead Infirmary. To bring relief, two young surgeons, despite the secret warning of Ben Ormerod, the spokesman of the employees, attempt to run the blockade. Dr. Eric Miller is killed; and his friend, Dr. John Wrigley, overcome by the disaster, enlists the other doctors in a counter strike.

The conflict between the embittered adherence to this cause and loyalty to the nobler humane ideals of medicine is the burning theme. The right to strike seems to them indubitable until they are faced with the imminent possibility of allowing Ben Ormerod's wife to die unattended in childbirth.

The treatment of the main problem with its trenchant heart-rending situations suggests Galsworthy's manner, indeed so does the whole well-knit play. An occasional line and a tendency toward the melodramatic damage it only slightly. As for the acting, the ensemble divides the honors; it is a notably even performance, topped by Mr. Clive.