The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-02-15
TOO RIGID CENSORSHIP

! Inc ArdmOrelte calls attention or
its readers to the editorial of the day,
which appears in another column of
homan, which deals in the manner
in which the extreme reformists are
| endeavoring TO sandbag the picture
show business. under the guise Of
working for the public welfare
| While there are many sentiments
expressed in the editorial in which
we cannot unreserverdly concur, there
| can be no question but that the eX-
tremists are working along blind al
/ leys without care or question as 10
whether their efforts are well found
ed and their endeavors well directed.
The Ardmoreite believes, just as
firmly as any reformer can believe,
that there are all too many suggest
i've situations brought forward in the
pictured music world, but it also be-
lives that fully one-half of the evil
is either purely Imaginative. or ma
terialized from the workings of an
ell mind
There is. undoubtedly, much shown
today, much said today, much laughed
at today which would not have been
tolerated in the days in which the
grandmothers of our younger set lived.
This does not apply to the moving
picture shows alone. On the con-
trary it applies everywhere, in the
ballroom, on the streets, At the
churches and social gatherings.
One hundred years ago. fifty years
ago, twenty-five years ago, ten years
ago the abbreviated skirt would not
have been tolerated even by members
of the demi monde. Had young
lady appeared in public. or in the
drawing room of her home in the
days Of Cotton Mather, arrayed as
are the girls Of today in peekaboo
waists and dresses cut high at the
bottom and low at the top, in bodices
which are so tight that they appear
ready to run over and spill the fe-
male form divine upon the ballroom
floor. upon the sidewalks. in the
church aisles, in skirts so tight that
the most intimate secrets OF Natures
handiwork are shown to the inquirlng
eye OF masculine inquisitlveness, that
young lady would have been conducted
to the ducking stool and ducked and
ducked and ducked until she agreed
and promised to refrain from leading
pure and innocent young men into
temptation.
While the changes In manner Of
dress and in manner Of permitting
the suggestive 10 find place upon
the stage and on the movie screen
may be deplorable, yet we seriously
Qustion whether immo1lity of de.
generate depravity are moro In evl.
dencc today, increase in population
and the increased congestion OF habI-
tation taken into consideration, than
were these evils in the days when
tuf puuHt Ndh lluIt NNftlbnAldttu
and showed more attention TO the con-
ventions.
Reduced to the concrete today, even
MS in the days Of old. and we find
that home environments. homo in
struction and the natural bent OF the
developing mind IS tho most promi-
nent factor In deciding. the innocence
or watonncss of the developed man
or woman.
lmmodcs,y. immortality. doprnvlty,
We are told by some Of tho most
eminent diylncs and workers IN vir-
tues vineyard. arc attributes Unborn
in every member Of the human FAM
ily. II this be true. then all tho
ccnsorshlps, all tho social welfare
workers. all tho sermons md all
tho examples for good conceived by
the mind ot the really Christian and
upright cannot change this mark OF
birth.
Understand. We nrc not arguing for
the elimination Of oil that Ia good