Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-08-19
THE FIGHT FOR THE NICKEL

Inc saloons and the picture shows
are arrayed against eaci, otber =,
BUSINESS proposition. Picture show
proprletors are practically a unit in
agreeing that when the saloon eoas TN.
plcturep lace profits. The liouor trade
journals are asking their trade what
are We to do with the picture show
menace. They complain that the pre-
seneation OF 5a. room scenes on fins
are ulrecty disastrous in forming pub
TIC opinion against the quo business
Inc chairman of the congressional Ma.
tional L:quo~ Dealers Assu.ja.ion
charger the fl;ma viii The ,lry 1tsuIt
IN washington sta:e AMI told his as
sociation that 4: believed tho TIM, had
come Vnen "sonH'ails should Be done
ABOUT it,. Picture sh p:opri-tors
agree that the saloon is an enemy TO
the picture show. Thu 7lcke;s ind
oimes that pass oycr the bar DO not
come their way. The news and re-
search department. uc the .Icth,G1st
church asserts :Aat the Popularity of
the films is cloai1g sal IONS IN license
centers. Common ohsA~vl:ion n Iowa
can not fail to re:nar.; tha; where he
saloon does not exist the picture shows
increase and orJf-. For those who
spend their loosa chang 1t bars d,
not take the ia niy . ne Picture
shows of evenings
When the ". =. T. L. and other tem-
perance organizations forced the DIV
Biological effects Of alcohol into The
school text books they began a cam
paign Of education that foreshadowed
the end of the saloon, tho at the time
Few If any realized what such teach
ing was to bring about. The picture
film offers another and even more gem
eral opportunity Of education and con-
viction along the same line. Dramatic
contrasts demand that the bar room
shall be shown as it is, with its ac-
cessories of immortality and vice Men
go wrong thru drink on the films be-
cause in real life liquor Is the widest
downward highway. The film must
tell real story. The morals, of the
picture maker and those of the liquor
manufacturer and morality of the traf-
fic are incidental in this hostility Of
business. The cash register Is the CEN
ter OF the main battle. OF course there
are picture show men who desire to
forward the cause of temperance And
there are others who would as freely
forward the other cause at a bigger
profit. The struggle for the nickels is
the main struggle. The picture show
wins because it has the better right
10 the money.
The picture show and its proprietor
carry very heavy responsibility to-
ward the public. 1t is not enough that
the film and perhaps the proprietor are
inimical to the saloon. They should
be enemies Of all that is degenerative.
The picture show. welcoming children
and impressionable youth with open
doors is scarcely, less guilty when 1t
features denegeracy in attractive form
than the public schools would be were
they to do the same thing. 1t must be
an educator as we'll as as a purveyor
of amusement and it must accept the
responsibility Of an educator.
There is only one side for respectable
sympathy in the warfare between the
saloons and the picture shows. The
pictures have it. The prohibitory
movement may congratulate itself that
it has so effective a weapon as the
film. And the complaint of the liquor
journals and committeeman need not
Inc i tie pity. The moving picture screen
never reflected any form ofzyice and
crime that hadn't been reflected over
ana over aEain by the mirrors behind
| the bars.