The Washington herald., 1921-09-11

y
moving sweep OF education is the
modern moving picture" says DR..
Frank w. Collier. director Of re-
search and departmental dean Of
American University.
A great percent of the impressions
we get are taken through the eye"
ne continues, "and this being true,
VISUAL education should have a much
larger place in our educational sys-
tenn than il has.
Many OF our universities and col
leges. especially the State universi-
ties and our high schools, have been
exhibiting motion pictures. and there
is one institution. the Bureau of
Commercial Economics of Washing
ton, that has st. .0o0. 900 feet of MIN.
which can only be shown where ad-
mission Is free. Francis Holley, the
director, has persuaded the Motion
Picture Theater Owners of America,
an organization that controls
$4,000 motion picture theaters. to
create department of public serv-
ice. Holley has been appointed d.
rector-general Of this department
at u year for q period Of nve
years.
Free Perfor.a,ees-
This means that these theaters
will have special performances to
which will be admitted free of
charge the students in the high
schools and the general public. Thus
100000 persons weekly will have
visualized for them the important
industrial and scientific pursuits. the
various activities Of industry. trade,
commerce. agriculture. public health,
and public parks, and natural seen
cry of our own and foreign coun-
tries.
This action, which opens prae-
tically all of the movie theaters
Of America at certain periods each
week free Of any charge so i'm
pressed Senator Owen, of Oklahoma,
that he spoke of IL in the United
States Senate. and asked that the
resolution embodying this action be
printed in the Congressional Rec
ord. The Senator, believing what
the psychologists generally admit,
that a very large majority of peo-
pie depend more upon the eye than
the ear for knowledge. and that
IS per cent Of the facts which VIC
get in life come to us through the
eye. hailed this action OF the Mo-
tion Picture Theater Owners Of
America as Of far-reaching national
Importance
so today visual education Is
coming to the fore. We say to-
day. yet it could hardly have come
earlier. though phOtoplay is not yet
a century old, and motion photoR-
raphy has been invented within
the lifetime of most of US. IL
seems that as sight WAS the last Of
the senses to be evolved. so the
means of the highest satisfaction
of this latest of the senses has been
the last to come to its own. Sight
was regarded as the Queen Of the
Senses in early days when human
eyes had to be satisfied with see
ing only those things within their
immediate environment. But even
in the least favored parts Of the
earth there were always awe-in-
spring objects OF vision. for none
Sould escape the arching heavens
with its numberless twInkling
stars, steadily shining planets, the
harvest moon rising from the sea-
and the mighty orb of day which
the poets have called the eye of
heaven. because all places the eye
OF heaven visits
And now we have the telescope
to explore the infinities Of bound
less space. the microscope which re-
veals a world Of wonders in a drop
| of dirty water. still photography
catching for an instant with the ut
most impersonal impartiality and
faithfully presenting scenes and hu-
man faces far beyond the power OF
myriads Of painters and sculptors TO
preserve. and finally the modern
wonder. the motion picture that
brings the living world with ali of
its action before our eyes
AknowIedged Leader.
Thus we see how enormously the
| Queen of the Senses has extended
her dominions until today she is ac-
| knowledged as the leader In bring
ing knowledge to men.
1T is not true that there is moth
| ing in the intellect which was not
first in the senses, for that would
at least eliminate the possibilities
| of intuitive knowledge. But il is
true that we would not have enough
intellect to appreciate aything apart
from that development which we
get from the knowledge received
| through the senses; and all ouI
knowledge of the external world
comes to US through the senses
Fortunately we can get much out OF
life with impaired senses. or ever
the entire loss of some of the
| senses, but to live life in its full.
ness we need all.
Arousing Conservatives.
so there is no call to discount
any of our faculties. We simply need
to recognize the fact that when we
leave teh period Of infancy behind
passing from savagery to civiiiza.
tion, the sense of sight takes heI
place as queen, and persistentiy ex-
tends the bounds of her dominion
Thus visual education is arousins
the conservative educators from
their dogmatic slumber and insist
ing that they face the facts; -,
majority Of people get more knowl