New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-06-18
.FERND FOR B|OCRAPH LAW
Cooper Union AssembIage In
dorSeS Folks Ordinance.
IRATE AT TARDY ALDERMEN
Many Motion Picture Theatres
Only Pig Sites, Says Rabbi
Vaudeville Condemned.

Several hundred men and women braved
the rain last night TO attend a meeting at
Cooper Union in support Of the Folks or
dinance for the regulation Of motion pict-
ure theatres. If the gathering did not
reach the dignity OF real mass meeting
the Endorsement extended TO the assure
that has been held UP in the Board Of AL
dermen so many months was none the less
emphatic.
SO far as was openly indicated. every
person In the hall agreed with the speakers
as to the necessity Of having enacted the
ordinance designed to protect life, health
and morals in the theatres Of the poor
chief Magistrate Otto Kempner OF
Brooklyn. expressed surprise at the oppo-
sltlon which a measure so simple and COM
prehensible had encountered among the al
dermen. He pointed out that the moving
picture business had developed without the
guidance OF the law. each new place being
started as the owner thought best or I'M
der the conflicting directions Of numerous
departments whose authority overlapped
He appealed to his hearers to use all the
influence at their command to impress their
aldermen with the deslrabllity Of the Folks
ordinance.
Michael Furst, a lawyer and member OF
the Mayors committee which prepared the
draft for the proposed ordinance. explained
It's provisions. There were more than
twelve thousand moving picture places in
the country, he said. with an attendance
OF nearly FIVE million persons a day. New
York had nearly eight hundred such thea
tres, with more than three hundred thou
sand visitors each day. Yet the provision
TOT the safety, the health and the comfort
OF all these persons had been completely
neglected by the authorities. he added
Perhaps disaster like the Triangle fire
or the Titanic catastrophe would stir the
people into activity.
The Board Of Aldermen received a fuII
measure Of sarcasm each time reference
was made to its members as the CITY
fathers. Friends OF the poor" they called
themselves before election, said Henry
Moskowitz, but when an ordinance for the
benefit Of the poor was introduced they re-
fused to adopt IT, and thus became traitors
to the peoples cause.
Another source OF opposition was stupid
ministers. Mr.. Moskowitz said. the clergy
men who condemned the ordinance because
1t did not provide for censorship. But a
majority OF preachers were for the meas
ure, he declared
Fathers before the election. but step
fathers after IT," was what Rabbi Nathan
krass, OF Temple Israel, Brooklyn. called
the aldermen. He said he would rather see
the Broadway theatres closed than the pict-
ure places in the crowded districts, but he
was in favor Of the new ordinance. which
would do away with some OF the picture
theatres, that were only pigsties into which
human beings were crowded in search OF
cheap amusement.
The feature Of the proposed ordinance
doing away with Indifferent vaudeville in
conjunction with moving pictures received
attention from Or. John L. Elliot. The pict-
ures themselves were usually good. he said.
but the vaudeville feature was frequently
vulgar and suggestive. With its elimination
the moral danger OF moving picture thea
tres would be practically removed, he said
Sidney Ascher, representative OF the
moving picture exhibitors, took issue with