Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-12
.F|REMEN OBJECT
TO MOVIES" BILL
Say Picture Commissions Pro-
posed Law Would Hurt Ben
eft Association.

of the state, members of the Fire
mems Mutual Benefit Association of
New Jersey, called on IA committee of
members of the Motion Picture Com
mission in the Wiss building yester-
day afternoon and protested vigor-
ously against the proposed introduce
ton of a bill Into the Legislature
bv the commission which would give
all the license fees from motion pic
ture houses to the State, instead of
the fremen's pension fund, as pro
vided in a law passed In 1907. The
committee of firemen was received
by John j. Gascoyne, chairman of
the commission, and Miss Emily s.
Hamblen, of East Orange, who is
executive secretary OF the board of
trustees of the Public Welfare Com
mittee. The motion picture commits
sion Is a subcommittee Of the Pub
lie Welfare Committee.
It had been stated that Captain G.
Albert Gasser. of the bureau Of COM
bustibles, and William P. O'Rourke,
superintendent of buildings, were In
favor of the bill
The prospective measure provides
for the appointment by the governor
of a State board of commissioners,
three in number. one Of whom shall
be a woman, to censor all motion pic
ture films that come into the State and
otherwise see that the provisions of
the law are carried out by the mo-
tion picture proprietors. According 10
the terms of the bill. the commits
sioners are to receive a salary of
$500 a year each and have the power
to appoint one or more inspectors or
clerks whose salaries shall not ex-
coed $3.A0o a year. Section % of the
bill. which the f1remen object to.
reads as follows:
License Fee ut $40.
"A State license fee of ten dollars
for each motion picture theatre whose
seating capacity Is three hundred or
less and Of twenty-five dollars for
each motion picture theatre whose
seating capacity Is over three hun
bred shall be paid annually bv the
propr' etor thereof to the State Board
of Commiss oners For censor!ng each
film or reel before its exhibition in
this State Is permitted a fee of one
dollar shall be charged by the State
Board OF Commissioners. which fee
shall be payable by the person or
corporation supplying the flm or
reel for use in motion picture
theatres in this State"
The last paragraph in section %
shows what would happen to the
license fee of the motion picture
shows. 1t would be turned over to
the state and the Firemen's Mutual
Benefit Association would not get any
of the revenue at all. This would hit
the widows and orphans OF firemen
hard so the flremen claim.
Yesterday morning Chief Paul j.
Moore. Of the local fire department,
heard that the Motion Picture Com
mission intends to present the hill be-
fore the Legislature next Monday. He
notified Deputy Chief NJ P. A. Nc
Dermitt. who in turn communicated
with members of the r. NJ B A. In
this CITY. East Orange. Orange, Jersey
City, Hoboken and other places. and
arranged a meeting yesterday after
noon with a committee from the COM
mission. The flremen were somewhat
surprised at the rumor that Captain
Gasser was in favor of the bill. and
he was asked to come to the meeting.
At o'clock every one of the fire.
men. fifteen in all. were present, as
was Captain Gasser Mr.. O'Rourke
who were there were Fireman James
J. Plunkett, State president of the F.
NJ. B. A: Deputy Chief McDermit,
Lieutenant Fox. of No. Engine;
Martin Hoppe OF the bureau of COM
Fireman John. Byron, of
No. Truck; Fireman Charles Duffy,
of the searchlight company; Captain
Thomas Hodgkinson, OF East Orange,
and Firemen James Lawson, James
George A. Henry, Charles
Rupert and John Shannon, of East
q f-uf1 T -
East Orange, and Daniel King, of
Jersey City.
Gasser Not in Favor of Bill.
Each fireman was given a copy of
the bill and in turn expressed views
on it. The attention Of the flremen
seemed centred on Captain Gasser
When his turn came he expressed
in no uncertain terms. He
said in part:
at was rumored that Mr.. O'Rourke
and myself were in favor Of this bill.
That is not So / did not know the
contents until this afternoon. when l
was asked TO come to this meeting.
In fact I never saw the bill before.
want the gentlemen present to know
that / have had nothing whatever to
do with it, and how 1t was ever circu-
lated that was interested In the
passing Of the bill is more than can
figure out,
Mr.. Gasser then offered a possible
solution to the origin of the rumor
of his interest In the bill. He said:
Last May, Miss Hamblem re-
quested me to tell something about
the protection against fires in the mo-
ton picture houses in this city. In
reply I framed up a set of rules
which could have been presented t.
the Common Council as an ordinance.
1t has not been passed as yet. In
that proposed ordinance said
nothing whatever about license fee
or anything pertaining to the money
end of the motion picture business.
Someone must have misconstrued my
meaning. However. / think that the
firemen are satisfied that 1 had
nothing to do with the bill.
Il find the bill faulty in several
instances. First. I wish that the
commission would strike out the Sec
ton of the bill which gives the IL
cense fees of the motion picture
house proprietors to the State This
has heretofore gone to the F. M B.
A.. and think 1t should continue to
do so. Then the part of the salar es
for the commissioners. If there are
not three persons in this State who
are willing to do the censoring Of
the pictures without compensation
there should be no censoring by a
body Of that kind.
Suggests Raising Fec from 81 TO 80.
III the Motion Picture Commission
wishes to salary the censors, why
not increase the fees for the censor
ing of the films from 81 to SO and In
that way raise the money for their
salaries. but do not take the source
of revenue which has already. by a
previous State law. been given to the
pension fund of the men who risk
their lives in the interest of the peo-