Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-03-18
BILL FOR.
CENSOR|NC
M0V|ES-|S.
POSTPONED.
Advocates Lose Out After
Hard Battle; Charge Mis-
representation of Facts
by Picture interests.
From a Staff Correspondent.


Lincoln, March 17.-By 4 vote Of
>62 to 20 the Nebraska house this af-
ternoon indefinitely postponed H.
r. 355, providing for censorship Of
the movies" by a state board COM
posed of seven members.
The death of the measure came
upon a motion to postpone after a
motion to advance the bill to third
reading had been defeated. Several
speakers claimed the fight against
the bill had been engineered from
Omaha, but there was no sentiment
for it.
Grossly Misrepresented.
mo other bill introduced in the
legislature has been so grossly mis-
represented over the state as this
one" ]. R., Green stated in his de-
Tense of the measure 1t was in
troduced, he said at the request of
the Federation of Woman's Clubs and
is similar to laws now on the statute
books of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Mary
land and Kansas. The only mater
ial difference between it and the
Kansas law was declared to be that
it provides for a censorship board of
seven-four men and three women
where Kansas has board of three.
Antagonists of the bill have mis-
represented the situation, Mr.. Green
told the house, by referring to the
federal censorship as sufficient, when
in fact there is no such censorship
by the United States government.
This, he characterized as camouflage
tactics by moving picture interests.
I'VE have had good, moral and
wholesome pictures in the Lincoln
houses during the past two months"
said Mr.. Green, "and it is due to
this bill that we have had them.
When the legislature adjourns, if the
Bill does not pass in the meantime,
the bad ones will come back"
DO vaudeville bills come under
this bill, too?" inquired Mr.. Lam
pert.
NO" responded Green.
Seems to me the vaudeville thea
ters need inspection and censorship
more than the movies, remarked
Lampcrt. ~
Inspectors Salary $4,000.
While the bill was being read, Mr..
Green offered an amendment raising
the salary of the secretary of the
censorship board from $1,000 to S.
600 year. The moving picture
houses, he said, have to pay the
salary, as it comes out of the fees
to be charged them for inspecting
films.
That's not the case" retorted Mr..
Jenison. "The patrons of the movies
Will pay for the whole thing"
Messrs. Hardin and Miller also op-
posed the amendment. The motion
to adopt it failed.
Another amendment, by Mr.. Van
Patten, to change the inspection fee,
was carried by virtue of the fact that
three or four members voted for it
and nobody against. Instead Of
charging 81 for each reel or film
this was changed to read "$2 for each
film of 1000 feet"
Van Pattep proposed two OTHER
amendments, which were adopteGin
the same manner, one requiring post
ers to conform to the story of the
movie play. and the other permitting
the board to do part of its. .censorpg
at Omaha.
One bill was passed by the house
on third reading, after it had failed
to go through with the emergency
clause. 1t was H. R. 235, raising the
salary of the deputy election COM
missioner in Douglas county from
sl,s00 to $1,000 year. The vote was
IS to IS.