The Cavalcade of America presented by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. To those Americans who have labored in the service of a great free press, and to those men and women of today who are ever alert so that through our press the people shall know the truth, the Cavalcade of America proudly dedicates this story of one of American journalism's historic crusades. The Cavalcade of America presents an original radio play, Mightier Than the Sword, written by Robert Tolman and based on the life of the great American cartoonist Thomas Nast. During the 70s and 80s, Thomas Nast fought to secure decent civic government by means of his celebrated drawings and the power of an American free press. Starring in the role of Thomas Nast is William Johnstone of the Cavalcade Players. Our Cavalcade Orchestra and the original musical score are under the direction of Don Voorhees. DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents William Johnstone in Mightier Than the Sword on the Cavalcade of America. It's a summer evening in the year 1869. Two men are strolling down a quiet suburban street on the outskirts of New York City. One is Fletcher Harper, publisher of Harper's Weekly. The other is Thomas Nast. Presently they arrive at the door of an old fashioned two story house. Tom, oh Mr. Harper, won't you come in please? I should be charmed. That's a fine way to greet the boys Elizabeth. Well I'm sorry, it's Kate. That's our maid Mr. Harper. Oh well let me take your things. Thank you. You will stay to dinner won't you? Elizabeth, you invited Mr. Harper didn't you? What's wrong? Oh Tom, Kate is in such a state today. Come on into the parlor. I just make yourself comfortable and excuse me I'll just tell Kate we're ready when dinner is. Elizabeth, what is all this? Well it's something about Kate's brother Tim. He's a fireman in New York. It seems he's in some kind of trouble. Anyway they've got him in jail and they won't let us see him. I think you'd better talk to her Tom. Yes Elizabeth ask her to come here. Maybe we can get to the bottom of this. Well all right but don't you keep it too long there's a roast in the oven. Kate? Yes ma'am. Mr. Nass wants to talk with you for a moment. Oh ma'am I'd rather not, not this way. Oh nonsense you look perfectly all right don't you worry about a thing. Kate you remember Mr. Harper? I do that ma'am. What seems to be the trouble with your brother Kate? It's, well you see sir Tim's a member of the 10th Ward Fire Brigade never broke a law in his life sir. And now they've got him in that Ludlow Street jail. Oh it's that dirty they are Mr. Harper. 10th Ward that's Boss Tweed's old brigade Tom. What's the charge against your brother Kate? I don't know. He don't even know Mr. Harper. They just come around and told him he's talking too much. But they couldn't put him in jail for that now could they? Well we'll see to it that they don't keep him there for that. So don't you worry Kate. Thank you sir. You're a good man Mr. Nass, kind too. Now gentlemen excuse me I'll be after it. Go right along Kate and don't worry. More of Boss Tweed's rotten politics again Tom. This time in your own kitchen. Not only in my kitchen Mr. Harper but in the house next door. Every house in New York. The grocery on the corner, the cop on the beat, the police courts, the school board, every business, every public institution, even our charities. And plundered by Boss Tweed and the rotten political scandalism in City Hall. Tom we've talked about this time and time again. And more and more I'm convinced the only way to stop Tweed is through the press. Only trouble there Mr. Harper is Tweed's victims can't read most of them. True, print isn't enough. What about your cartoons Tom? One picture is worth ten thousand words. You're right Mr. Harper. And those ringleaders make perfect subjects for pictures. Peter B. Sweeney, the sniveling shifty bank clerk, and Slippery Dick Connelly. Why he's been a sneak thief ever since he was kicked out of grammar school. And his honor, the mayor. O.K. Hall, a cheap gambler, only with the whole city treasury for stakes. And then William Marcy Tweed, the boss. Mr. Harper, I see him as a kind of false staff. A fat clown leading a sinister army of his hoodlums. Mr. Harper, they've been at it for years. When is our magazine going to print the truth about them? Tom, you know the directors have been opposed to our attacking Tweed. But now go ahead, draw whatever you like, and I'll start printing them in our next issue. Boys, now that you're here, I want to have a little talk with you. Mayor Hall, instead of adding 65 percent on to all the city's bills, jack them up another 20 percent. I can arrange that, Bill. Sweeney. Yes, boss? We're going into the publishing business. Buy me that ride called the Transcript, and make it the official newspaper of New York. And say that it carries all the municipal advertising. Now what's on your mind, Connelly? Nothing important, boss. That fireman Tim Murphy's out on a habeas corpus. But if he starts blabbing, I... You're supposed to be a lawyer, Sweeney. What can we get him with now? Trump up any charge. Try stealing. Say, you couldn't get the halo off that guy's noodle long enough for him to steal a glass of water. A warrant can say he's thieving, can it? You heard him, Connelly. Slap that one on Murphy. And be sure this time he's taken before the right judge. Now, here's the main thing that's on my mind. I want action on it before elections. What is it, boss? A little street improvement project. I think we ought to straighten out Broadway. Why straighten out? Would you think the public would stand for that? I know the public. If I didn't, you fellas wouldn't be in City Hall. Now, don't get sore, boss. You know the boys would rig up an awning over Central Park if you gave the word. I know. Bill, I don't think you have to worry. Every ward is safe, sure, or will be. Loads are getting too expensive. Now, listen and get the point. If the city improves Broadway, we have to buy up the buildings that are in the way, won't we? You mean go into real estate. That's not a bad idea, but that'll take a lot of money. There's not much left in the city treasury now. What have you got a board of estimate for? Sure, they'll appropriate the rest. And I want you boys to see to it that the property owners and the contractors subscribe to our benevolent association fund after the project gets underway. And get the idea over that this thing can't be done for pennies. There ought to be 25 million in it for us. Don't you think we're going a little too far, Bill? I thought I made myself clear. Bill, I think you ought to know something. You seen a copy of Harper's Weekly lately? No, what about it? Well, I just bought a copy on the way over here. I think you should see it, Bill, before you decide to do anything about Broadway. Here. Who drew that cartoon? There's his name, Thomas Nast. Say, that big fat guy does look like you, boss. Diamond pin and all. Tweedledee and sweedledum. So I steal from the public treasury and hand out to the poor. Harper's Weekly, huh? I'll show them publishers they can't make a fool of me. Conley. Yes, boss? This Harper, he sells school books to the Board of Education, don't he? He does. All right. And have that fellow Macalester come over and see me tonight. I've got something to tell him. Sure, boss. All right, boys, I guess that's all. Go ahead with the street project first thing in the morning. All right. Good day, boys. Good day, boys. Oh, Conley, one thing. Yeah? Before it slips my mind, don't forget to send a hundred weight of coal to Mrs. O'Reilly this afternoon. Wait a minute. Tell the aldermen to spend fifteen hundred dollars in every ward for coal for our voters. Nay and the villains march wide between the legs as if they had fetters on. Or indeed, I had most of them out of prison. Is that caption a quotation from Shakespeare, Mr. Nast? With variations, Harry, with variations. What do you think of the cartoon? Think Tweed makes a good Volstaff? Very good, Mr. Nast. Thanks. Well, send this on to the printers. Right away. Oh, Mr. Harper asked me to have you come in when you have him. I'm going in right now. Oh, come right in, Nast. You know, Mr. Macalester, glad to meet yourself. Mr. Macalester? I'm a friend of Mr. Tweed, Mr. Nast. Oh, by the way, Mr. Tweed asked me to compliment you on the good likeness you're drawing of him in this current series of cartoons. I'm flattered, sir. Yes. But no, Mr. Nast, the fact is Mr. Tweed is worried. As shall we say, unnecessarily worried, perhaps. I believe he dislikes, well, doing anything that might embarrass Mr. Harper. Do you mean that as a threat? Gentlemen, do you think it's good practice worrying your readers with politics? All the people want is to be left alone. I've heard Mr. Tweed say many times over, they're much happier, much better off when you don't upset them. Well, you know, Mr. Macalester, you'd better tell Mr. Tweed, you heard me say, they deserve to know the truth. I see. Mr. Harper, for some time the Board of Education has been dissatisfied with your school books. As an advisor to the Board, I've tried to minimize their complaints because I've had your interest at heart. I should very much regret being put in a position to sacrifice them now. I believe I understand, Mr. Macalester. And I want to thank you for giving us a good idea. Tom, what about a series of cartoons exposing the Tweed influence on the Board of Education? I'll get to them right away. Why? You know, Mr. Harper, whatever happens, you'll have to answer to your stockholders, won't you? I'll get to them. Hey, boss, look at this. All right, what is it? What is it? The cover of Harper's Weekly, you and Sweeney and Mayor Hall. Look, look here. NASS calls him OK Hall, spelled H-A-U-L. Why, the blasted fool. I wonder if he thinks this is funny. And see what it says underneath? Wholesale and retail. Here's you and the boys coming out of the city treasury and a cop is bowing to you. That's wholesale. In the other, a tramp has stolen a loaf of bread and the cops are beating him. That's retail. Wholesale and retail. I'll take care of this later. But boss. Then come inside. I'll be waiting. Hello, boss. Morning. Sit down. How many of you numbskulls have seen this cartoon? Why, I did. Well, boys, looks like this fellow NASS knows too much for his own good. Ah, don't let it worry you, boss. What's the difference? I don't care what they print about me. Most of our voters can't read anyway. Give them one look at a picture like that and they'll begin to get ideas. Maybe we can talk to NASS alone. That's what I've been thinking. Boys, there's a fellow who can do that for us. You know who I mean. Go down to the street and put pressure on him to go and see NASS and get results. I don't think NASS can be bought, boss. Me neither. Boys, you surprise me. I thought you knew NASS and a wife and children. Mrs. NASS? Yes. What is it? What do you want? I should like to see your husband, please. What is it you want to see Mr. NASS about, please? Why, perhaps you'd better take my card, madam. Well, I suppose you can come in. Thank you. I see you've heard of my firm anyway. Why, Mrs. NASS, you're trembling. I'll call my husband. I'll just take a seat here if you don't mind. Thomas, there's someone here to see you. I was just coming in there, my dear. Here's his card. Oh. Well, to what may I attribute this signal on us, sir? Mr. NASS, this business is as unpleasant for me as it is for you. I think perhaps we'll understand each other better if I tell you I have a wife, two, and three children. Oh, Thomas. I'm sorry, sir, but if your business has to do with... Perhaps you'd better hear what Mr. Gillespie has to say, Thomas. Thank you, madam. Mr. NASS, I saw the gentleman with the ill-concealed blackjacks and pistols standing outside your house. I can well imagine what you and your wife are going through. Well, what is Tweed's ultimatum? I believe I've made no reference to Mr. Tweed. As a matter of fact, I know a party who is interested in your work. They realize, of course, your time is valuable, but I have reason to believe they'd advance you $100,000 to finance a trip abroad. A hundred thousand dollars? Do you think they'd offer $200,000? Possibly. I shouldn't be at all surprised. Oh, I see. Don't you think I could get $500,000? Yes, Mr. NASS, you can get $500,000. I'm waiting for your answer, Mr. NASS. No. Absolutely and finally no. Thomas. I made up my mind a long time ago to help put Boss Tweed behind bars, and this is the first time I realize how near I am to doing it. Well, Mr. NASS, you have courage, but be careful you don't put yourself in a coffin. Good day, Mrs. NASS. Good day. Good day, sir. Good day. Thomas. Are you afraid, my dear? I'm afraid for you, Thomas, afraid for all of us. Let's go away, Tom, now, somewhere where it's safe. Somewhere safe? My dear, if Tweed and his kind are allowed to go on without opposition, there soon won't be a safe place for freemen anywhere in America. Our answer to Tweed is cartoons and more cartoons, and ridicule until the fight is won. And Elizabeth, I don't think we'll have long to wait. Oh, Tom. Yes, Mr. Harper? Come here quickly, will you? Yes. And what is it, sir? Tom, look here. Look at these proofs. It's the Tweed story they're publishing in the Times tomorrow, and they've got the real evidence at last. I want to see. Oh. Oh, plastering fire commissioner's offices. Two million, one hundred, forty-seven thousand dollars and sixty-one cents. Two tables and forty chairs, Tweed's apartment. Three hundred, sixty thousand dollars and sixty-one cents. Why, it's incredible. It may be incredible, but it's true. Fuel, heating loft, 18 John Street, one month. Eighty-seven thousand dollars and sixty-one cents. Where did they get these figures? Connery's own records. Sheriff O'Brien was the one who copied them out. Tweed offered to bribe the Times five million dollars, not to publish them. But George Jones is going to print them every day. The Times. Now we don't have to fight alone, Mr. Harper. It's the beginning of the end for Boss Tweed. He'll have to stand trial now, and in a court he can't buy. Order in the court. Case of the people versus William Marcy Tweed. Judge Davis presiding. The defendant has been found guilty of grand larceny on two hundred four counts. The defendant's former position in civic affairs is of no concern to this court. But in view of his health and present financial condition, the court imposes the minimum fine and a sentence of twelve years in the jail of the county of New York. Well Tom, the King is dead. You mean the ring is dead, but long lives the King. Tweed is as alive as he ever was. Every morning he lives Ludlow Street jail and goes driving in the park. Dines at home with a bailiff for his butler. I know Tom. We've scotched the snake, but we haven't killed it. But how to go on from here? We'll go on, Mr. Harper. People don't realize the fight's just begun. Mr. Harper. Yes, what is it? Here's an extra just came in. Tweed's escaped. What? Escaped. I see it. Tweed escapes, believed to have fled the country. Well Tom, what have you to say about that? Mr. Harper, I'll tell you. I'm going to draw one more cartoon of Tweed, and I want you to print it on the cover. I'm going to draw a picture of Tweed that'll track him all over the world. A picture of him in prisoner stripes. And the caption is going to be in big letters. Big letters so everyone can read them. And there'll be no excuse for missing the point. And I'll be the one to hold it for the fight. Ahoy there, Carmen. Ahoy. Ahoy. Who are you? Special Police, Puerto Vigo, Spain. Lower the ladder. Lower the ladder. Stay there. Lopez, Arriaga, come aboard with me. Make her fast. Look sharp for any boats that may come alongside. Also for anyone who might try to swim for it. Yes, sir. Well, well Lieutenant, welcome to my ship. We will dispense with formalities, Captain. I have a special warrant from the government made on behalf of the American Consul. You know the man in his picture, Captain? There is a certain resemblance, but of course that's quite impossible. This is an American magazine. Resemblance? To whom, Captain? There he is, right over there, scrubbing the deck. Come, we'll talk to him. But Lieutenant, you can't. He's a deaf mute. He can't talk at all. We see. Oh there, fellow, up on your feet. Up on your feet. You see? Yes, I do see. Señor Tweed, have you anything to say? I told you, he's deaf and dumb. Well, Señor Tweed? I have nothing to say. Well here it is, Mr. Nast. The story of Tweed's capture just as it happened. Caught by your cartoon. That was a great job, all right. Thank you. I guess that's the end of Boss Tweed. Thanks to you, Mr. Nast. Oh, not to me, Joe. Thank a free press, a public that can be aroused against the things Tweed stood for. No one man deserves the credit. You know, Mr. Nast, you certainly had Tweed down to the last whisker. I understand when they caught him, he had every drawing you ever made of him. You must have seen a lot of him drawing him so well they recognized him on a Spanish ship. When I drew the first cartoon of Tweed, I'd seen him only once. Only once? Yes. I met him on the street one day. What happened? Nothing. We nodded, said good morning. Then we went our ways. Two men and the crossing of their paths marked the end of one epoch and the beginning of another. The downfall of William Marcy Tweed gave rise to a great and potent force in American journalism, frontier than the sword of any form of tyranny or degradation. And for his part in one of the most heroic crusades in the history of our free press, Thomas Nast takes his place in the cavalcade of America. The cavalcade of America thanks William Johnstone and the cavalcade players for their performance of Mightier Than the Sword. Now the DuPont Company brings you its story from the wonder world of chemistry. There's a saying in the Midwest that sometimes you can hear the tall corn grow. If you put your ears to the ground and eyes to the future anywhere in America, you can sense the country growing, growing in productiveness, in strength, in self-awareness. Let's put our collective ear to the ground in a typical American city, Newburgh, New York, the home of the DuPont plant that makes fabricoid, pyroxilin-coated fabrics. The storybook kind of history touched Newburgh in 1782 when George Washington spent the winter there after the Battle of Yorktown. Today it's a quiet city of red brick and gray stone sloping down to the historic Hudson River. On the edge of town is the DuPont plant with one old stone building still there that was standing in Washington's day. If we had been there in 1910, we would have seen the plant making chiefly a black-coated cloth fabricoid for carriage upholstery. In 1917, we would have seen the beginnings of the first washable window shade material, tontine. A little later, we would have seen the plant expand its facilities to take care of defense needs confronting the country in 1918. Prevent leggings for soldiers, gas-proof gloves, upholstery materials for cars and trucks. But the past 20 years have seen the greatest growth. Today, we stand in the plant on the edge of Newburgh and watch great rolls of snowy white cotton cloth undergo a remarkable change. We see a stream of pyroxilin being impregnated into a continuous path of cloth flowing over and under giant rollers, emerging as new materials of beauty and usefulness. In contrast with the black-coated fabric for carriage upholstery in 1910, the DuPont plant at Newburgh today produces pyroxilin-coated fabrics in endless varieties of color and grain for furniture upholstery, train, bus, and truck upholstery, luggage, briefcases, motion picture screens, adhesive tape, belts, handbags, bindings. The list goes on and on. Another coated fabric, PX cloth, goes into waterproof and vermin-proof book bindings. Development of new products and uses means a corresponding growth in plant capacity, manufacturing skill, and research facilities which contribute to a strong national economy. An illustration of how this accumulated knowledge and skill form part of the national security is the recent cooperation of DuPont chemists with the Navy Department experts in working out special formulas for airplane dope. And all the resources of Newburgh, as of other DuPont plants, will continue to be placed at the service of this country whenever needed. Such dedication to the nation's welfare is ever the purpose of the men and women of DuPont who bring you better things for better living through chemistry. And now Ted Jewett of the Cavalcade players to tell you about next week's program. Ladies and gentlemen, next week the Cavalcade of America welcomes back to its microphones the distinguished actor of stage, screen, and radio, Claude Rains, in a radio play of an exciting moment in the history of our nation. In all the world today, few are the places where a man can say what he thinks. We can in America. You're hearing this radio program right now because in America we enjoy every principle of human freedom. These all-important blessings have come down to us because in the early days of our republic there were men who fought for them. One of these men was Thomas Cooper, whose story we will bring you next week with Claude Rains as Thomas Cooper on the Cavalcade of America. Thank you. From the Cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier sending best wishes from DuPont. This is the National Broadcasting Company.
