Evening star., 1941-09-03

Montana Is chairman, is about to
hold hearings to determine whether
the motion picture producers have
or have not produced films of an
anti-Nazi theme.
Most all motion picture films are
based on fiction, and the right to
dramatize a fiction story has never
before been challenged unless such
a story overstepped the border line
of morals or decency. The right to
discuss public questions, national
or international, to dramatic them
in any form has long been rec
ognized as the privilege of the
spoken or screen drama. Never
before has a committee Of Congress
risen to question the right of
dramatists or producers to utilize
any theme they might choose to
offer the public.
Congress has no right to legislate
on the subject of moving picture
themes. And where there is no
right to legislate, there can be no
right to investigate. Yet the Senate
Committee on Interstate Commerce
has appointed a subcommittee four
out of five of whom are of the
isolationist school of thought and
these committee members are about
TO conduct an inquisition to deter
mine who the movie producers are,
and to publicize their family history,
religious background, etc. All this
is exactly what Herr Hitler would
like to see America do nowadays,
namely. to add discord upon discord
with all sorts of cross currents of
domestic life intertwined in the
challenge.
A Serious Precedent.
The danger lies not in whether the
motion picture producers should or
should not produce more or fewer
anti-NaH films than they have
produced-for the real effect Of the
coming hearing may be to squelch
them or intimidate them-but
whether the precedent should be
established that any committee of
Congress should use its powers to
inquire into the editorial scope of
any medium of public expression.
The precedent is a serious one
because today the isolationists may
dominate such committee and
tomorrow another committee may
seek to invade in an equally obnot-
ious manner the personal liberties of
the isolationists. The country would
be shocked If on the basis of un-
proved and hypercritical charges
that certain isolationists were
directly or indirectly in touch with
the Nazi propaganda machine, a
committee of Congress should start
Investigating members of Congress.
But that is exactly what the pro-
posed inquiry into the motives and
reasons. for producing motion pic
lures could start. 1t may well be
the beginning of wave of intoler-
snce and recrimination such as the
Nation has heretofore not witnessed.
Mistake in Judgment.
The principal objection to the
proposed hearing is that it assumes
the right of Congress to pass judg-
ment on editorial expressions. The
motion picture producers have al
ready decided to submit to the
jurisdiction of the Senate commit
tee, but they have made a mistake
In Judgment in adopting that atti-
tude. They are not obliged under
the Constitution to submit to such
an inquisition and it is not too soon
for the courts of the United States
to pass on the question of how far
a congressional committee may go
In smearing American citizens by
idle innuendoes and injuring their
business standing.
The charge that the movie men
are trying to drag America into war
Is as baseless as the charge that the
isolationists are under the influence
OF Hitler or his agents. To take
cognizance of baseless charges and
start publicity campaign through
the means of a Senate committee
hearing is to hit below the belt in
the forum of public debate on ma
tional or international questions.
Menaces Minorities.
The Senate subcommittee would
do well to drop this embarrassing
inquiry for 1t may prove of more
harm to the minority than the ma
jority, and while the motion picture
men will doubtless make an excel
lent case for themselves, it will only
afford the reactionary forces and
opponents of liberalism chance to
use the same devices to break down
public confidence in all other me-
diums of editorial expression. It
certainly puts governmental power
in the place where the Constitution
never intended it to be-a place
where intimidation and coercion
can be applied to impair freedom of
thought. Just as members of Con-
gress are immune from arrest be-
cause they are supposed to be free
to render service unafraid, so must
the press and the movie editors and
the radio commentators be immune
from persecution by any govern
mental agency or by any congress
sional committee or else democracy
as we have known 1t will be sup
planted by the Nazi technique and
Fascism itself.
Reproduction Rights Reserved)