The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-21
MINISTER'S URGE
LANES RECALL IN
VITRIOLIC TALKS
AT LOCAL UNION


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CONTINUED From Page Five)
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following his conscience? At any rate
| 1t is far more charitable and | think
| far more credible.
Dearly Fond of Sunday
| Undoubtedly the Anglo-SaNon -
dearly fond of his Sunday institution,
and loves to call 1t "the Christian SAP
bath" And there is much to be sald
| for that institution. Above all, IL nus
got entrenched in the laws OF Ensiisn- .lli
speaking nations and from that posi-
| tion I. for one. do not wish to dis-
| lodge il. But each community mas a
large freedom of usage, and can hoo-
| ify its observance and It's rlsiu III
sistence upon the letter OF those ia"s'
Thus, even in Alabama, there are some
! cities which allow Sunday baseball and
/ some things far worse than baseball.
There are physical advtanges de-
nendent upon the law of the sabbath
| which is today the law or rest once
| each week There are moral and spir-
itual advantages far more lmportant nv
| in the custom of Christian worship On
given day For these vast piessinss
| I humblv record my appreciation ana
thanSfulness love the quiet ana
calm of an English Sunday, the de-
corous crowds of churchgoers, the at
mosphere of worship and spiritual
emancipation. love the counterpart OF
these things in our American villages
and towns. Join the workmen in
| their demand for a six-day working
week acknowledge their debt and
ours to the Mosaic law.
Greed for Gain
Further. it seems to me unauestionable
| that the chief peril of this and all Amer
| lean institutions lies in the greed for gam
the commercialism of our time
And vet a change has come over all
of us. Mr.. Bell himself argues against
opening the picture halls, not by the au~
| thority of Moses, but by the humani,a-
rian and economic considerations which
he adduces our Lord Christ made the
appeal to human welfare the final con-
| sidera ton. Where his disciples now dill
| fer is in the Judgment as to what does
| or does not promote human welfare. MY
brethren believe that church going ana
| worship promote 1t, and so unquestioi-
| ably they do But | am of the opinion
| that freedom of action also promotes tt
and az this they apparently differ from
me, and from the rest of us who We're
quoted by your interviewer as favoring
| the sunday afternoon use of the picture
halls.
we can get together. however. and
would modestly suggest that programme
or basis of agreement should be found
and welcomed Last summer East Lake
park, with the moving picture accessories,
we're open on Sunday. The street car
company operates on Sundays; the trains
run on SUNDAYS, the soft drink stands
and parlors are in full swing Any man
| who would essay to make the cigar stanus
close on Sundays would be more brave
than successful. Certain bakeries, be-
lieve, are open on Sundays. Is not all
4 Il, hosHa -
partiality and the injustice which Mr..
Bell believes would be created by the
proposed opening of the picture shows?
Kind of Films to Use
] Now, therefore, with all due regard to
susceptible minds, why may not the moV-
I ing picture men be encouraged to use
| their plants for educational elevatng,
and useful exhibitions? Admitting that
Sunday has legal privilege above other
| days, and ought to be especially EN-
ployed for the moral uplift of the COM
munity, why not carefully selected films
be exhibited, even though they do bring
gain to the 'proprietors? The photo play
is an instrument of tremendous social
value The churches are not using it,
| and perhaps ought not TO do so. But for
all classes here are premises specially
designed for such exhibitions; there is
| a rich collection of suitable films, and
there are throngs of people who have
no homes and who need the appeal to
their intelligence the proper guidance of
| their tastes. Here, surely, is wasted
opportunity, and here are good people
who do not see it except as a danger.
Some will say that already such
iuse of the picture halls is legalized.
iThen Judge Lane will be within the Law
lif he issue the permit to open these
lplaces.
Some Practical Difficulties
There are practical difficulties, some
of them serious but none insurmount-
able:
l. The obtaining of board of CEN
lsorship who should not be content with
having positively unpleasant films and
Vulgar vaudeville. but should actively
lconcern themselves with the selection
lof the right sort of positively helpful
Ipictures. Such a work would be exact
ling and largely thankless. 1t would
occupy a great deal of time and require
la great deal of intelligence and much
backbone.
/ 2. The task of inspecting the little
Theatres to see that the right degree of
Ventilation is given both to audience
and operator.
| 8. The protection of the operator from
loverwork in what will probably al
days be an unwhoiesome employment.
Sunday opportunities, with extra pay,
might easily be a fatal wrong to him.
4 But here we come upon the much
larger question. which the children gem
lerally leave alone. | mean the fact that
already on six days in the week our
chldren may go into these shows and
see pictures which pass the New York
censors and are not indecent, but are
Isubtly poisonous, picture plays whose
Interest turns on murder, on suicide, on
marital infidelity, on the attraction of
whatsoever things are impure, unlovely.
lof bad report The proposed Sunday
afternoon photo plays, properly man
Jagged, might we'll be the beginning of
better things in the whole business of
the nickel theatre. All this is quite