Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-08-05
WAR RECORDS IN PICTURE.
Story of Government Policy and Acti
vitics Being Published.

Story of Government Policy and Acti-
vitios Being Published.
Washington, Aug. 5.-The story OF
the governments policy and activities
in pictoriaUizing the war; not only for
| record and information but for morale
at homo and for Combating the Ger
man lie in other countries Of the
world is told in n report which Sec
| retary Baker Las laid before congress.
/ 1t is IN reply to a resolution Of in
quiry regarding motion and still pic
lures Of the American eNpeditionary
force and Of the military preparations
at home. and 1t shows n comprehen-
sive system of picture activity safe
guarded by a permit system devised
| by the committee on public inforna-
ton and approved by the war depart
| ment.
The pictures are taken by signal
| corps units and are shown In thou
sands of motion picture houses under
contracts on n commercial basis to
help pay the committees expenses in
motion picture propaganda.
The funds received from these
sources, which are put in the treasury
to the committees credit" says the re-
| port. do not represent profit In any
sense. Every cent goes to the manu-
| facture and distribution OF the enor-
nous amount OF Aim the committee is
compelled to distribute without return
in foreign countries as part Of the
United States educational campaign.
All features and war reviews will be
supplied free Of charge to environments
in the United States and to the picture
shows on the firing line in France. The
| pense Of the free distribution de-
manded by the necessities Of our
morale at home and even larger neces-
stiles of combating the German lie in
other countries OF the world
| Secretary Baker says each corps
headquarters and division head
quarters Of the American expedition
airy force Is provided with signal
corps Photographic unit, consisting OF
one officer and three enlisted men.
These units. together with personnel
necessity for development laboratories.
supply service and to do special photo
graphic work ordered by General Per-
shing aggregated seventeen officers
and l02 enlisted men In May. All
motion picture negatives received from
overseas and prints Of still pictures are
delivered to the war. plans division OF
the general star for historical record
and government propaganda. Duplicate
| negatives. of no value to the enemy.
are turned over to. the committee.
General Pershing was allowed last
December to grant permission to- out
- &ol, M ov>t.
censorship Of the sexpeditionary force
| but the war department has no in
formation as to whom his permission
has been given. Here in the United
States. the committee, in cooperation
with the army by order OF the secre-
| tary of war, worked out permit
system to enable civilian photo
graphers to take pictures OF the war
preparations in this country. "This
system" says Secretary Baker. cafe
guards military interests and deals
adequately and even generously with
| all private interests desiring to present
! the nations war progress to the peo-
pie in picture form. Except in certain
camps, where tests are being made,
environments have been free to photo
graphers from the beginning of the
| war. With respect to ordnance and
airplane production the military au-
thorities have not deemed it wise to
expose secrets to other than those in
uniform and while permits have been
given in some cases the general policy
has been to exclude private photo
graphers from factories where
ordinances and airplanes are beins
made. The permit procedure makes
investigation Of the applicant possible
and furnishes control over the pictures
| TAKEN"
! Permits are limited to fifteen days
from issue. Photographs can not DC
taken of experiments in materials. en-
! trenchments, or formations, machine
gun targets, or camouf1age. All have
to be censored promptly and before
publication by the committee.
| In the case of famous seven-ree
! crusading picture, the. material was
collected by signal corps operators IN
France and in this country ito set be-
fore the people comprehensive re:oro
| of war progress in this country and IN
France" 1t was shown thru the com
mittee's organization In the prlnclpa
| theaters of the larger cities. with pa
| triotic organizations and citizens CO.
operating. In these showinss, the re,
port explains, there is no thought OF
profit the principal idea being to gain
the widest possible publicity Then
with their commercial value demon
strated, the feature is offered by the
! committee to the highest bidder IN
point of money and distribution. In
the crusading picture case. the COM
mittee awarded the contract to the
First National Exhibitors Association,
the committee getting seventy per cent
of the total gross receipts of the asso-
citation from the pictures under a
guaranty of exhibition in minimum
Of $500 motion picture houses. The
same procedure. according to Chair
man Creel, will be followed as to all
future feature films prepared by the
| committee.
| How representatives of the com
| mittee and of the allied governments
differed as to war review pictures is
| disclosed in the report. When the wal
college material is combed for feature
film material, the remainder is used IN
| the inter allied war review undel