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Show I , i ; S ; T j Reaching Perfection ' j t j; IT TNDER "a bill introduced in the Iowa Ifisla- IjJ ture. the members of the board of education 'ar,i, become a board of censors to pass on the moral Prean educational character of films shown in the 'and state of Iowa. The departure can have but one effect and that pertains more to the public purs: and than the public morals.. Censorship of motion pictures entails a heavy ;th expense, and these the taxpayers will be com-fbotn com-fbotn pelled to meet under the Iowa plan. Likewise it ;Tis doubtful if the bill would accomplish its objects ; I IT enacted into law. Certain it is that police : iinti) regulations already sive the states power to sup-tonfPrcss sup-tonfPrcss dangerous and immoral pictures, if indeed .ALLnonest Producers desired to flaunt them. ! H The motion picture industry, like every other 'thi"? activity in America, is struggling for perfection. Jjjjlt is true that there is room for improvement in .athe pictures presented to the public. The same is too true of current literature and individual habits .jj throughout the nation. Everywhere level headed t humanity is impressed with its own inadequate, wrM powers to achieve and maintain the ideals the 'Jpeople have set for themselves. ,"extei The motion picture industry is no better and ! trypno worse than hundreds of other activities that go TO to make up American life. Even our churches ''rjmus $cnss incompleteness and lack of perfeo f tion. In this regard they occupy the same-posU ytinn-a-n.nt.f.H - pirfuras Hm y g yftffp jn Tchurches held the stage to be a national sin, but is now the "sinner" is accepted as one of the best ;Iay",mediums we have for human upliftmcnt and '"'advancement. "not The motion picture industry is an infant .activity which displays wonderful strength. Ten Ijf million people visit picture houses every day in LAthe year, so who can deny that it is part and :t(Jf parcel of American life ? The industry needs ;i.in encouragement not suppression. Better pictures ;'i.lc!!and betterstories will come asthe human race 'improves. In the meantime the struggle for per-"bu.hfection per-"bu.hfection must continue without efforts to place the :J!a."develoPment entirely in the hands of a few indi-jviduals indi-jviduals who are only human and hence cannot itanibeperfecitheinslves. : jmi Tne American people are good at heart, as is ".,'. N!wilncssed by the current demands in reading and how.pictures. The hero of any story on the stage or 1 gQscreen is never a villain and why? Simply be-mcause be-mcause the public sympathies are on the side of norijtfo'ht and demand plots and stories which reflect 'nnhfreward for virtue and punishment for evil. It is and mo more right for the state to assume to become uedT1the paternal spirit of pictures than for it to assume eitnJcomF,lete control overmedical science., censoring utioflll it fails to understand. Quacks will be found frlVH" -II rndustries and all professions, and state j"M:ontrol will not eliminate them. com p diri The public standards are lofty, so those who ueCa,er t0 thcm must aim hi?h- Tlme wi" erase atiaoall that overanxious gentlemen would eliminate J,3overnight and the job will be more effectively "Jlone. He who doubts that the trend of pictures emails upward has but to look at the list of eminent I" .writers who have been drafted for this industry Jn the past year. Iowa is on the wrong track! |