Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-24
THE PUBLIC MORALS IN CUSTODY
Three Notable Occasions Which Certain Principles Undey-
ing the Limitation of Censorship Have Been Clearly
Forth-The Samese Twins of Morality
By ROBERT HILDRETH

HENSORSHIP had been a subject OF con-
~ troversy long before the invention of the
cinematograph and the widespread popu-
larity Of the moving pictures and 1t is likely
to continue to divide opinion so long as there
is opinion to divide. With the increased
recognition of the movies an educational
force. the discussion will doubtless lose some
Of its pettiness and reach plane where the
real issues will stand out in a clearer light.
The present difficulty is partly due, no doubt,
to the fact that the moving picture business
is, as yet first and foremost a business, a
new business and a mammoth one, a COM
mercial enterprise of sudden growth, the
cial function of which has not yet been fully
established, but, on the other hand so is the
printing of books and of newspapers pri-
marily a money-making business.
To undertake a comparative consideration
of the freedom Of the press, the freedom of
speech, the freedom of the drama and the.
freedom Of the movies would necessitate in
Vulnerable pros and cons and ifs and butts.
In general, the duty of the censor or licenser
is to suppress all or part of a publication of
any kind, according as he may think his
ton necessary for the protection OF public
morals or the integrity of the Government.
The police power is the source of his author
most unknown in America Censorship has
been mostly Of the kind exercised by public
opinion or by courts, mayors and police
chiefs Another form exists in the safeguards
raised against the misuse of the mails To
the credit Of the movie business may be cited
the voluntary establishment, or, in other
cases. the voluntary acceptance, of boards
of censorship. 1t seems, therefore, that the
movie men, as a body, are not opposed to
regulation as such.
After the Dark Ages
The Dark Ages were the heydey of CEN
sorship Then came Gutenberg and the print
ing press-and still censorship From that
time the landmarks in the history of in
tellectual and religious and artistic liberty
are likewise landmarks in the history of mod
ern democracy. How undemocratic and un-
American the censorship was regarded in
this country from the beginning OF the ma
tibn is shown in the Federal and State bills
Of rights. The term is here used in the
broad sense of restriction and interference
Nearly three centuries ago John Milton
wrote his famous Areopa gitica, "a speech for
the liberty Of unlicensed printing, to the Par
lament OF England" and in it are contained
those noble sentiments nobly expressed which
documents in our literature. From the
proposition that the licensing statute will be
primely to the encouragement Of all learn
ing, and the stop Of Truth. not only by dis
exercising and bunting our sensibilities in
what we know already. but by hindering and
cropping the discovery that might be yet fur
ther made both in religious and civil wis
DOM" Milton proceeds TO show what benefit
may be had Of books promiscuously read"
Thus he writes on the question of censorship
and morals:
Good and evil we know in the field of
this world grow up together almost in
separately; and the knowledge of good is SO
involved and interviewer with the knowl
edge Of evil, and in 30 many cunning re-
semblances hardly to be discerned, that
those confused seeds which were imposed
upon Psyche as an incessant labour to Gull
out, and sort asunder. were not more inter-
mixed. II was from out the rind OF one
apple tasted, that the knowledge of good ana
evil as two twins cleaving together, leaped
forth into the world"
The Olga Nethersole Case
That close interdependence between eooa
and evil that Milton saw in life and there
fore in books, the judge who presided I'm
the New York Supreme Court In the case
OF the People against Olga Nethersole ct al.
saw in the play OF "sapho." In addressing
the jury Judge Fursman considered the
question OF censorship and public morals.
Some OF his remarks are applicable beyond
the circumstances Of that particular case.
as they touch upon broad principles. He
said in part;
You are not the custodian OF the public
morals as you sit here. You are not here
a. the promoters OF any reformatory move