The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1916-01-24
LAKE COUNTY PAPERS.
That Mysterious Board of Censorship.

Who III, among us has not wondered; a the film flashed its state
sorship. just who composed this group, who pays them. and what
their method of operation? Indeed. we have many times made the
mental remark that they pass a good many pretty doubtful things.
About seven years ago, the manufacturers of films began to
various cities and towns appointed local groups of censors for the
and ruling out diverse things in each place. SO they consulted with
Charles sprague smith, a prominent social worker in New York
censor their films before they started on their journeys about the
Mr.. Smith called into conference thirty-two leading workers in
% h "man @ na ~ nth 4 @ic n ndit n a" 81, mu hat d deoa .s ney agree
the board no member connected with the manufacture of the films;
mat nat t ina decisions deey onog Should Isni Se f fpsry film manufactured and CO.
This committee of thirty-two is a n executive committee and of
this number six r. paid secretaries. The entire board now numbers
143, who censor films, working without remuneration several half
galleries Of the producers and making their decisions there.
thought about it and $ o many of its problems are unsoived. that few
final judgments have been reached. 1t is asserted that one-seventh
OF the population attend the picture show every day. There RI
several reasons for its grip upon the people. People will play. and
fact which o "a . observe osy i" in n vacant Of hasab eII g y @a % On a
any playground. In cities and towns inadequate public recreation
is a large reason fol- the popularity of the picture show. and it is
also true that man prefers to be amused upon a self respecting basis.
and so chooses the picture show nowadays where he used to be forced
to the saloon. Whenever the church opposes a form of amusement
without replacing it with something better. n Legitimate recrea-
ton is simply replaced by another of the same sort.
The movie belongs to n one class, for the workman sits shout
der to shoulder with the man who came in a Limousine. and the APP
icism which people of the leisure class make upon the film is the vo-
lenee If its plots in many cases Now the board eensors pictures.
professional class. o the social worker groups, but from that of the
class who do not read o think very much. the worker who does the
change. even to violence. The board discovered that in order to be
fair, personal opinion cannot govern them. and that they must work
out a well systematized standard by which they do not reverse their
own decisions from one film to another. They must, of necessity,
depend upon public opinion and they sometimes fail in estimating il,
and therefore covet suggestions to clear their standards.
They have a tabulated list of some twenty-five or thirty items
which are absolutely debarred from the films 1t is true that the
motion picture gets away down into life and brings up lots of things
we don't like to have discussed. Three great problems arise in which
the board is now feeling its way, through great difficulties, to a set
Ting of a standard. The social evil and it's handling, a topic upon
which no citizen has made up his mind finally, brings to the board
many films, and for three which they permit, they kill ten because
they are insincere. A second problem is that of habit forming drugs.
in which they have allowed perhaps two films which ere sincere
and not too detailed. The third problem, not a close N to South
Dakota people, but wildly vital elsewhere. is that Of the race ques-
ton. which concerns 10 100000 blacks. 100000 whites and a
great mass of those hopeless souls who RI neither, and here the
board splits in its discussion.
The greater part of the movie audiences ire made up of the
post-adolescent group between IA and "a years of age. who seek
knowledge of life with morbid avidHy. and science is $ far largely
silent upon the effect of pictures upon this class of people.
Ninety-nine per cent of the films are censored since the war has
excluded the foreign films 81 largely, but even before that SO per
cent yer censored, and it is next to never that one appears which
the board has refused.
The board has a regular blank form, and each censor votes upon
the degree of artistic. entertainment and moral qualities possessed
by each film which he observes. From these votes is made up what
is called the selected list, which may be obtained by any interested
person upon application.
1t remains then for the local community to create the demand
which will bring to its showhouses the kind of films suited to its
particular tastes and needs, and a little thoughtful attention to the
subject by the class of people who usually scorn the movie, will
bring about a radical change for the better.
THE COMMENTATOR.