Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-07-05


tirely exonerate the exhibitors---the
men who operate the Rosebud PAL
ncrs on Main Street. They frequently
have the choice between decent and
indecent. moral and immoral. good
aud bad Aims. All too frequently the
salacious- minded Snowman judges
the world by himself Therefore we
are invited to Witness "The pearly
Knees ef Pauline, and "rhe sperl<-
led Back cf BEATRICE"
We win grant that these films do
not iniure the morals of the oldstera
to any appreciahe degree. As rule.
n mans mental habits are fixed be-
core he is 10, and II takes san Franc
cisco ''fire. 20 jolt him loose. IT he
Is not hounder by that age there is
little possibility that -alacious story
picturized viii cause him to smash
all of Moses ten commandments. hut
what of the children. who are with us
always Are their minds not Inn
presslonahle? Recall your own child
hood. you gray haired philosophers
and say whether first impressions
count or not.
For the sake OF our children--and
this means for the sake Of America
we must clean up these cesspoois of
immortality. O. no, they are not all
bad. in Wilmington or elsewhere. But
there are dirty films being presented
here. Just as they are being shown In
Oshkosh. Miller's Crossing. Chinca-
chook and Chicago. They are pic
lures which pander to the lowest tastes
in men, pictures which even the foul
minded manager of the Folies Ber-
gere would hesitate TO present TO his
apache audience.
While we agree with Dr. Crafts
that the evil exists. we do not feel
that his remedy is the most desir-
able one. He would establish a ma
tional censorship, and one group Of
boards would determine what pictures
the people OF the as states could see.
and could not see. We have never ap-
proved this idea of censorship. II is un-
American. II snacks too much of the
land of the feitered church. the rep
tile press. and the chained artist. But
what is 10 he done If the Ascandal
mongers who control the, industry
continue their laseivious practices?
Opposed TO censorship as we are.
we nevertheless feel that = censorship
may be necessary 10 Pasteurize these
social ailments. A preventive law
causes would-be violators 20 antici-
pate its provisions. and to govern
themselves accordingly.
DIR. Crafts threatens that he viii
attempt TO persuade Congress 90 es-
tablish a national censorship in the
December session. There il plenty of
time for the Augean stables to be
eleaned--by the owners. That is our
remedy. But will they be cleaned ?
Our guess is that they viii not be
The history Of all vice is that the nan
derers. in their vicious desire to reap
coin from the muck, will operate until
the last moment. Prohibition would
have been delayed so years if the
thieves, crooks. biaclSmailefs and po-
htical manipulators in the liquor ranks
had kept within the law.
The moving picture men have six
months IN which to clean house. If
they do SEQ hundreds OF journals and
thousands of men will stay any cen
StAShtH ASWl u AneE con-
tinue their way, they viii find few
friends on their side. and many who
ordinarily would fight censorship
will be the first to urge its enact
ment It is sair that the ma iority
uf men who control this industry are
immigrants. or the sons Of immigrants.
who possess little in common with
the great mass of people who are de-
scended from the early settlers, and
who desire 10 maintain their Aneri-
can traditions, customs and ideals. If
this class Of men think that they can
debauch our next generation with inn
punity, they are mistaken. The old
breed--the American breed--has not
yet given way before the onslaught Of
other races.
n III m