The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-05
PASTORS AGAIN
 CRITICIZE THE SUNDAY MOVIES
Issue Communication Cues tioning Good Faith of
 Theatre Managers

Following a. conference on Monday, the executive committee of the Bridgeport. Pastors association today Sunday moving picture shows are characterized as a means to exploit the people under the gTuise of doing them good, and as infractions of the laws for the purpose of money making. The executive comnittees includes Revs- John P. Wagner,sJ. Gardner. E. R. Cooper, John R. Brown. P. B. Ma .thias, D. M- Lewis, G M. Brown, G. H. Beard. F. c. Rideout, E. c. Carpenter and G O. Tamblyn.
 The communication, issued to the newspapers fo11ow.
 The Bridgeport Pastors association calls the attention of the city and especially of his honor the mayor, to the alarming increase of business. and labor done on Sundays, continual ly encroaching on mems right to a Sunday free from all work not re- quired by. necessity or mercy. -
 The association believes there are practical reasons in favor of public concerts, public exhibitions of e1evat4 ing pictures, whether motion pictures or others; public lectures, whether distinctively religious or not, given under protective conditions for the benefit of that part of the population 
 est uses Of the day for worship on Sunday evenings.
 It believes there is nothing social Iy sound or honest to be said for al-- lowing the managers of places of amusement to add Sunday to tie six days given to money-making, exploit the people under guise of doing them good. and break the laws for the plIr-s pose of more money making.
 The association has for years stood consistently for liberty in the indfv1d- ua1 use sof Sunday for rest, worship, or recreation and for a thorough -go- ing protection of Sunday from com mercialism in order that it may be free
 l. It favored permitting amateur Sunday ball playing which the law permits so long as it keeps the peace and is really amateur recreation; but opposed commercial baseball, know ing it would be the thin edge of the wedge for money-making amuse-| nents on Sunday.
 2. It strongly endorsed the closing of liquor saloons on Sunday. which 1 o5 years agoswere wide open.
 B. It has urged that Sunday dances in public halls and Sunday picnics where liquor is sold be prohibited as in fact an out-of-door liquor trade.
 4. It has pointed out the hypocrisy of the so-cal1ed e'sacred'' concert where admission is charged on Sun day. and the injustice of <pernittfng a church. or private manager that courts public favor by shamming a liberal interest in charity, to do what other private managers are forbidden to do.
 5. It has co-operated with labor or ganizations and others in efforts to l get the, city government to close re- tail stores not selling goods required <1S+I +I.1 suspend shop work and city jobs ont the streets and elsewhere that iI1voIv-t ed Sunday labor.
 6. It welcomed the institution of the Sunday park concerts, in so far as | they could be held lawfully and pro vide worthy music for the up1ift and | pleasure of the people.
 F. It has worked hard to secure from successive Legislatures a revision of the present Sunday law, looking r to greater c1earness of definition in | favor of amateur recreation and against all forms of com mercialisn In this it almost succeeded a year ago and now again invites co-operation to the same end when the legislature shall again be in session
 The city is now at the parting of the ways. The stipulation in the may or's order issued a few weeks ago that m otion pictures might be shown O11 od10edy SN0u1EASS PTON1Qed only vol untary collections were taken and no fee charged, was first set aside under the thinly disguised ex- cuse of aiding an excellent charity, and now is dfsobeyed in some places every Sunday by those who charge admission for business profits
 The Pastors association submits that if Sunday picture shows are to be allowed, they should be taken wholly out of the hands of private parties, and should be controlled, solely in the of the people, by the city itself.
 A commission of the city's creation could rent such centrally located | theatres as might be really needed by the uninfated demand, supervise the l. pictures to be put on. and take gen timely voluntary collections to meet [,