Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-30
PICTURE INDUSTRY
OUTLOOK IS GOOD
AdoIph luxor Sees Prosper.
Gus Future in Film
World.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. December 30-When
Adolph Zukor, Paramount-PubliX Cor
poration president, returned from Cali
fornia recently he was asked what he
thought of business conditions in gen.
eral and of his own industry in par
ticular. Here is his reply:
I'm glad I'm in the motion picture
business rather than in any other. We
have our problems-plenty of them-aS
every growing business has. but we are
rot confused by the difficulties ahead.
We can see now what is needed and
how to meet these needs. 1 see, ac-
cording to our own figures, that good
pictures are attracting more and more
people to the theater. Frothy pictures
are no longer popular. They have had
their day The more good pictures we
supply, the better will be the results.
even in times of depression people
wish to be entertained. amused and in
Structed. The motion picture industry
right now has a larger responsibility
than it ever had before. I've always
been sold on the motion picture in
dustry, but I am more so now than I
ever have been"
Mr.. Zukor is not given to Boosting.
He keeps in the background. But he is
y
and the head of one of the largest of
the motion picture corporations.
His brief statement is particularly
significant.
First Class War"
A deluge of letters, telephone calls
and personal calls came in as a result
of a statement which appeared in this
column last week. I quoted IAN influ-
entail man" to the effect that what the
country needed right now was first
class war ito take up the unemployment
slack"
But j. G. P. from Massachusetts,
writes to inquire just what the aver
age worker got out of the last war, and
adds: "I'll tell you-hot air-and debts.
The trouble, in my opinion, and don't
know much, is that overproduction and
underconsumption have come because
the masses of the people-the wage
earners, who are the real buyers-have
not the money to buy with through
lack of employment, caused by the
machine age, which throws men out of
work and does not create other spheres
Of work to take up the extra help"
This correspondent concludes by say
ing that he docs not know thing
about economics, but that article about
needing a first-class war simply rtled
me up"
All week I have been swamped by
personal calls, phone calls and letters
of protest. So let me say frankly that,
in my opinion, another war would do
what Frank B. Kellogg said it would:
Wreck civilization and destroy the IN
ternational machine of trade, even more
completely than the last war did.
That "new-war remedy" quotation was
given to show how men feel when they
get into jams, and to what lengths they
would plunge their fellow-men in order
to work out their own desperate prob
lens.
IT'S well for the average man to un-
derstand this, because such opinions
often have a vital effect on business
and life, even although they seem right
now both reasonable and stupid.
Forced Labor.
"There are 100000 human beings
who are still physical slaves in the
world" said Raymond Leslie Buell., re-
search expert of the Foreign Policy AS
.sociation, in a recent issue OF the
Nation.
! Mr. Buell. based his figures on the re-
port of the Commission of the League OF
Nations which several years ago showed
that slave trading was then being car
ried on in 10 political areas, such as
sAbyssinia, Algeria, China, Egypt, Ell
treta of the Sahara and the Sudan.
Places where physical slavery, in its
simpler sense, still exists are well known,
and the institution will be soon wiped
out. But another form OF slavery has
risen. The real slavery today is the re-
suit of indenture contracts whereby the
debtors work cut for the creditors the
amount of the debt. This custom con-
tinues throughout Africa, China, certain
parts of South America and even in the
Philippine Islands.
This more difficult problem has re-
ceived the attention of the international
labor organization. They appointed
committee of experts. including Prof..
Chamberlain of Columbia University, TO
study it
! AS a result of their efforts, resolutions
have been drawn providing for the sup
preston of forced labor within the
Shortest period. The French govern
ment, however, has declined to ratlfy
the resolutions.
THE hostility of certain groups in
certain nations toward this international
effort to abolish compulsion," Mr.. Buell.
concluded, shows that much ground
must yet be covered before the goal OF
human liberties is reached"
T. v. Soong, Chinese minister OF
finance, Is far from discouraged aver the
present Chinese situation. He recently
said that the government which he rep
reSents is in the strongest position any
government has been since the republic
was establisher, nearly 20 years ago.
1t has been an immense task Of uni
fication! Facing different languages,
different moneys different customs, and
a people suspicious of new trends
especially republicanism-the national
government has fought battles all over
its immense territory; but it has finally
won, the last of its encounters having
been the overcoming of the northern
part, recently accomplished.
I'VE expect to achieve greater things
next year than ever" says Minister
Soong. 1T should be the greatest year
in China's history"
l hope SO. But it must be said that
the Chinese national government is still
considerably worried over the inroads
Communism has been making in various
parts of China during the past IL
months, especially in the colleges and
universities
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