Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-04-30
ART IS
QUESTION WITH
THE GERMANS
ASSOCIATED Press1

IA 80 -
After a long campaign for the
protection of the youth against
filth, in word and picture as
the movement is termed, the
moralists have succeeded in
getting a bill before parliament
for a law stamping as indie
cent pictures which might
arouse phantasies OF unripe
youth
The Goethe Association, an
organization Of artists and lit
erary menAnd women, has risen
in protest. At a recent meeting
DR.. Ludwig Fulda referred to
the recent decision Of the I'M
perial Supreme Court in the
cases arising from the eenfisca-
ton By the police Of a great
quantity of postcard reproduc-
tons of famous paintings. This
court held that the provision of
the law stamping as indecent
works which tend to cause Of
Tense to or injure the feelings
of modesty of a normal person"
clearly contemplated a normal
adult person, and that pictures
were not necessarily indecent
from the mere fact that they
might arouse the phantasies
of unripe youth" The court
also ruled that nudity Is not in
itself indecency. This latter
ruling, said DIR. Fulda, was in
dubitably a vote of confidence
in the Creator Of all things.
The measure to which the
Goethe. Association II. objects
seeks to counteract the. ruling
of the supreme court 1t pro-
vides that adults may legally
take offense" at pictures,
books, etc, which they consider
q menace to youth. The term
normal person" is replaced by
person." and the provision Of
the existing law requiring that
criminal intent be shown is
dropped. = 81.
= DIR. Fulda, as well as the
speakers. who followed him at
the protest meeting, declared
that the proposed law would
put all Germans into the nur-
sery.". 1t constituted, an .un-
reasonable guardianship of ad:
ults in its efforts to guard chill
dren. 1t would mean that
works of art would be judged
from the viewpoint Of the i'm
mature, and that would mean in
turn that art would be throttled.
The Goethe Association, said
|, DR.. Fulda;s.iwas also interested
in the welfare of the youth and
in their protection against evil
influences, but this was the
work of the family. The UNI
ripeness OF youth must not be
made the standard for judging
works Of art. 80 s..
Defenders OF the proposed
law declare that, apart from the
recent postcard confiscations,
which are generally admitted to
have been rather iudicrous ex.
hibitions of misused zeal, both
pictorial and literary art have
extended protection in Ger
many. The new law, they point
out, is chiefly designed to dc
away with immodest exhibit
tions in shop windows
A very considerable number
of artists in Germany maintain
/ that there is no possible sub.
stect which a painter or sculp
tor cannot properly handle. II
his work Is artistic, they de.
clare, 1t must be free from in,
reference, no matter what sub,
ject il represented. The views
of this school were recently
summed up by a satirical writ
er as follows:
THE test of whether a paint
ing is a true work of art is this !:
If, when you look at it, it causes
no evil thoughts, that proves
| that 1t Is a work of art. If II
does cause evil thoughts, that
| proves that you are a hob"
Aeroplanes will be used tc
bring diamonds from the mines
of German Southwest Africa to
their shipping point. The all
route will save both time and
| money, since 1t will at once dc
away with the necessity Of ira
versing difficult jungle paths
| and CT sending a troop of sol
diers with each shipment tt
protect 1t from robbers.
The Imperial colonial author
tiles have laid out a flying field
at Canbib, 100 miles northeast
| of Swakopmund, and expert
ments will be begun there mex
month by four non-commission
ed officers of the African pro
1 tectorate troops who have beer
trained at Johannisthal ant
Mulhausen.
Besides transporting dia
! monds, the machines will serve
to bring mail out from the in
terror and for military observa
lions, chartography, etc. A yer!
important part of the aviator:
work will be the carrying o
doctors about the colony. Witt
the aid of the signalling appa
ratus 1t will be possible to sum