Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-07-23
THE RENO PICTURES
General Protest Against Their Exhibition
But There Are Others Equally
DemoraIizing. Says Writer
Communicated
itor of The CAPITAL

Editor of The Capital:
The general protest. against and
prohibition of the exhibition of the
Reno fight moving pictures. shows
what aroused moral sentiment can &C
complish, when localized upon an evil
considered great, and the Capital has
ably done its share with the protest
ers.
But why stop at the Reno fight pie
lures? Why not focsliEe on evils
greater than the spectacle Of white
man and negro pommeling each other
in the roped arena, and carry the bat
tie all along the line by protesting
against all'pictures that in any way
help to demoraIize a community?
Annapolis is not immune in this
line. We are apt to strain at gnat
and swallow camel. ! have visited
moving picture houses and watched
pictures that believe will do more
harm to the undeveloped brain of a
child than the pictures of the Reno
fight. Who has not watched the ever
changing scene in a problem drama
that for suggestiveness is on a par
with any of the so-called classics
We have been accompanied by our
children and blushed at the thought
that we allowed their inquiring eyes
to view that which has no place in the
amusement enclosure. We have lis
tened to songs of the class Its Hard
to Find a Real Nice Man" and
Mama Knows, But She Want Tell, "
only to have some child ask what
did she Mean, etc." when we went
away from the SHOW"
Pictures are constantly being shown
that corrupt the morals of even the
adult, not strong enough to brush sug-
gestive Thoughts aside, and yet ! have
heard no protest from people who arc
now opposing the production of the
Reno fight pictures, and somehow
got to wondering why it wouldn't be
good plan, now that we have started
a moral reform, to hammer every
thing that in any way tends to de-
grade US In the future let newspa-
pers refrain from publishing word
picures of any kind of fight, murder,
suicide, robbery, elopement, scandal
in fact everything classed by moral
lists as harmful to the eye and brain.
No one can possibly dispute the
fact that to an imaginative mind a
word picture of fight is just as real
as the moving picture production of
one. And no one will dispute the fact
that reading of a murder in real life
is just as bad as watching the irepro-
duction of make believe" murder.
Films are being constantly repro
duced of murders, suicides, robber-
les, and in fact all forms of crooked
doings, and we never say word.
We might protest in our Heart, but we
do not seek to prevent the cause. 1t
is probable that a race feeling might
be started if the pictures were shown
in Annapolis, but so would the full
newspaper account of the battle
from the ringside. 1t is not com
mon sense for community to allow
newspapers TO print pictures show
ing the men in the ring, the telling
blows struck and the final punch
that sent the loser to his dreams,
and accompanying the cut vivic
word picture Of the battle.
Let us be consistent. If we dom
want to sec the pictures, there is moth
ing under the sun that could compel
us to do so, A child wouldn't be al
all anxious to see them, and ! don't
believe anybody would be taken from
the straight and narrow path by gaz
ing at the fight films. | heard Cor.
bett tell an American Roof Garder
crowd in New York how JEFF los
his fight. and the management paiC
him big money for doing so, and over
at Hammerstien' Victoria the same
night saw Jack Johnson box three
rounds with the amateur champion o.
the Pacific coast. Away down deeT
in everyone's breast is love fol
"red -blooded beings" whether W.
pride ourselves upon the fact thai
our forefathers waded in gore .nC
murdered in war, or whether oul
| country own the greatest death-deal
ing guns. We inherit our love of car
| mage when we must fight, although W.
sidestep it as long as we can.
A good many men who are protest
ing against the reproduction of tn
| fight Ilms would go to see them i
they reached Annapolis. All the mel
that read these lines that way dowr
deep in their hearts do not feel tn,
same way will meet in the cellar O.
the Capital office tonight at 6.79
Work on the third degree The CAPT
tai should he commended unon thf
good work it has done in trying t.
stamp out palpable evils, and person.
ally hope that it will be consistent
and make its protest against other
kinds of pictures that do more harm
than the fight films are expected to do
J. w KELLETTE.
Annapolis, Nd, July 81, 1910.