The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-12
THE FARMER AND MECHANIC

commendabie, showing that good,
hard common sense is at the helm in
official life.
The determination not to permit the
stirring up Of the baser passions and
Of racial prejudice is not confined to
this country or to the White race. In
Cape Town, South Africa, there is a
demand hat the pictures be not al
lowed, and in Hobson City. Alabama,
the negro mayor of what is exclusively
a negro town, has that he
will not permit the pictures to be
flashed in that place. In England it
is proposed in the interest of public
d~ecency' to prohibit the pictures, ana
prohibition of the pictures is spread
ing, the papers suggesting that the
American authorities destroy the films
and compensate the owners. h
thoughtful white man, as we'll as the
thoughtful negro is Of one mind as
to the in~advisability Of their produc-
ton.
Mayor Wynne, of Raleigh, with ad-
mirable foresight announced imme-
diately after the fight that he GOULD
not permit the production Of the pic
lures IN Raleigh, this before it had
been announced that they would be
prohibited IN any other place. That
the Board Of Aldermen Of Raleigh
failed to make an forbid
ding the fight pictures being shown
in Raleigh is a matter of regret, which
it is trusted VIII be corrected at the
very first opportunity. The truth is
that at no place in North Carolina,
at no place in this entire country
! should the pictures be allowed. The
movement against them is worldwide.
The reasons for such action are
plain, and they have been we'll pre-
scented by the Atlanta Journal in an
editorial commencing the action OF
the Atlanta officials in barring them
from that city, and what it says is
worth thought. That editorial reads
as follows:
"On a basis Of sense, not sentiment
tally, motion picture exhibitions of
the recent Reno prize fight have been
barred by Atlanta as they had already
been barred by scores Of cities
throughout the United States and, in
deed, throughout the Anglo-Saxon
world. 1t is not only a moral pro
priety that is here involved, but also
a coTnInunity's peace and good order,
perhaps even its security.
THE fight at Reno last Monday
was different from other prize fights.
AS a contest it was the least athletic
and the most ~animalistic. 1t exhibit
ted physical weakness far more than
physical efficiency. 1t presented all
the undesirable and none Of the posi-
bly, defensible elements of such en-
counters.
"Besides such considerations, how
ever, and more important thar them
all, IS that feature which has already
strained racial harmony in various
parts OF the country. That is the
one topInoSt fact which should lead
every city government in the union to
forbid the presentation of these pic
lures.
the motion picture films Showing
every detail of the f~isticuff Will be
ready. Yesterdays dispatches told
how the pictures were being developed
and arranged even While the first
train from Reno sped eastward. Be
fore the unfortunate feeling that grip
ped the country on the evening OF
July the fourth has fairly died away
it is proposed to bring on these pic
lures and kindle it anew.
TIC permit this would amount to
trifing with the city's We'll being. To
be sure there would be no just or
really logical basis for i'll feeling from
such a source, but i'll feeling of this
character is not controlled by laws of
logic oB justice.
atlanta, therefore, has cause to be
gratified over the position which the
mayor and council and police have ia
ken on his question. 1t is in line
with the prudence and good sense of
city authorities all over the nation.
even in Cape Town, South Africa, citi-
zens are demanding that the exhibit
ton of the fight pictures be prohibit
ted.
For the good of both white and
negroes everywhere this course should
be followed. IT is to be hOped that