The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-11-09
WILL OUR zEALOUs FOLKe
LEARN THEIR LESSON? r

WILL OR ZEALOUS FOLKa
LEARN THEIR LESSON? E
There is an old saying In America
that tells o great deal In few
words, and II may not be- out Of
place to quote 1t at this time In re-
lation to some Of the exents on
which are based important head
lines in the press these days. The
saying is. Chickens come home to
roost," and 1t applies to 90 many
things, it needs Identification to it's
subject.
Part OF the year 1921 and at least
part of the year 1922 was period
when the movie stars, or some of
them seemingly "loved not wisely,
but too WE'LL" and certain ones
among them fell among thieves or
were the victims Of storms which
they themselves had helped to stir
up or had neglected to control.
Some Of these cases got into the
courts and the public press, and not
all people were agreed as to, how
much publicity 1t was well to gvie to
those matters there were those
who read It all eagerly and de-
.nounced 1t all, yet kept on reading.
There we're those who read the
headlines and said 1t was not at to
read, and then asked some comrade
what 1t said. There were certain
elements who were conspicuous In
denouncing all the movie people and
their work, and advocating thesclns-
ing Of picture shows or the severe
censoring of the Aims. In the case
of Roscoe Arbuckle, q million dol
lars worth Of his works were de-
stroyed and his name and his face
are more of a ban In q product than
would be a German trademark on
merchandise. InTa Wyoming town
picture show that used one OF his
reels while the case was under In
vestigation, was pounceds upon and
destroyed by the public, not, only the
reel, but the show house. A good
many people paradins as moraIists,
condemned yinEwhOfesa3es the movie
actors and their work on account Of
the behavior Of certain ones among
them. N B. u
Paralleling some OF these exper-
fences there we're certain rich men,
bankers and others, who also loved
not wisely, but too we'll. and some Of
their private affairs became public
property under the stress OF storms
that develop automatically in their
own bosOms andt. sometimes break
out and destroy them. These things
were gwen pitiless publicity and it
Was,.a revelation to Observers to see
who read them the most eagerly. 1t
4 had ibgens well known that poor. :.peo-
plesseng&ged in such experiences 'sas
E.did some of these wealthy ones,t who
lTcanaes Into notoriety, but. their
1unhles homes and affairs were not
so Interesting as the cases Of,'the
rich and for that reason the rich
were played up in the press. Then
there was avery liberal amount OF
criticism, Of rich men and Of Srich
women, and. by many peopiesthe rich
were condemned just because they
were rich, irrespective Of, whether
there was anything recorded against
them
With the autumn of 1922 there
came a period of publicity for min
listers and choir singers, vestrymen
and welfare workers, showing that
they too, loved not wisely, but too
we'll, according to established, and
accepted rules of conduct.
We have been listening for
several weeks to hear some of the
same people who were SO Justify
condemning the movie stars and
their works, listening to see If these
same moralists would have some
thing to. say about the ministers and
their works. Up to date we have
not heard anyone condemning them
in wholesale or retail. We have not
heard anyone saying that. their SER
mons should be suppressed and the
churches torn down. Books that
ministers have written, have not
been destroyed and nobody seems to
be advocating the creation Of a
board Of censors to "preview"e min
listers sermons before they are given
to the people, In our own town the
city council very reluctantly adopted
an ordinance permitting pictures to
be shown at certain hours of the
Sabbath day, from 2 till 4 and from
till 10 or something like that, and
at all other hours, pictures are
manifestly unfit to be seen. We
never could quite comprehend why
it was right to look upon a picture
between dinner and supper If dim
ner came before 2 o'clock, but
wrong to look at the same picture at
5 o'clock or at 10 or II in the morn
ing.
OF course, the council might think
it would be improbable to have the
pictures flashing on the screen at
other than those particular hours,
and these restraints may have been
written into the ordinance to keep
the showmen from losing money. II
that is their method Of saving the
theater people from losses we wish
they would adopt an ordinance pro-
hibiting the issuance Of a weekly
newspaper in the dead of winter and
in the heat of summer when there is
not enough advertising to pay the
expenses.
The writer doesn't care much for
picture shows and very rarely goes,
but there seem to be others who like
them during the week and at GER
tain hours on Sunday. 1t may not
he any worse sin to be at home