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Show JOURNAL'S QUERY GETS AN ANSWER "A QUERY" The following was taken from Thursday's Issue of Tho Journal: "Editor Journal: It there Is a law against combinations detrimental to tho public interest, why is It not Invoked In-voked against tho theatrical trust of this city? Tho moving plcturo houses hous-es havo consolidated, and having ceeded to shorten tho performances ceeded to sthortcn tho performances to eliminate tho singing and thrust In a lot of advertising pictures that peoplo genorally do not caro to see. When thoro was competition hero between be-tween th('Ho houses, tho public got a good dcnl moro for Its pionoy. Is a moving picture trust, such as this one, any better than any othor kind of n trust? Why is It permitted to exist? Yours respectfully, AMUSEMENT LOVERS." Tho abovo thrust at tho theatrical Interests of our city, cortalnly bears tho land marks of having como from somo ono who has a personal grudgo against Tho Consolidated Thoator Company or Is nursing somo soro, spot becnuse of not being as frooly patronized by said company, ns ho feels ho should bo, as thero Is absolutely ab-solutely no grounds for a complaint such as tho above, as tho shows given giv-en now arc fully ns good, nnd In Bonfe ways suporlor to nny porform-nncos porform-nncos given previous to tho consolidation. consoli-dation. Tho porson who seems to feol so badly about not gottlng his money's wdrth, when spending 10 cents at tho plcturo show, accuses tho "TRUST" of eliminating tho singing nnd shoit-onlng shoit-onlng tho show If he will hut don his thinking cap (or It ho has none, borrow his neigh bors for a few minutes) ho will ro-mombcr ro-mombcr that tho singing fcaturo was eliminated somo six months before tho theaters consolidated, and that, at tho solicitation of many of tho best pntronB of tho business. Ho will also bear in mind that when tho singing was dlsponsed with another reel of pictures wns added to tho performance nnd where formerly only a piano was used, an orchestra of several pieces w-as Installed nnd wo nro satisfied thnt tho public will bear us out In saying thnt tho change wnB extremely ngroeablo. Truo1 somo advertising Blldes nro run In connection with tho motion pictures but this hns nlways been dono by tho electric theaters nnd wo ennnot seo why thnt Is particularly objectlonablo as It does not tnkjTup moro than from threo to five minutes and Is a diversion between pictures which ninny times Is profltnblo to tho person in attendance. That tho number of shows In active ac-tive operation in our city, has been decreased, wo will admit, but that tho quality, or quantity ot tho performance per-formance Is Inferior wo firmly deny, nnd would suggest that tho "AMUSE MENT LOVER" who seems so actively active-ly interested open up his heart and spend a dlmo (or It ho has not tho price, it may bo possible that by appealing ap-pealing to tho manager, ho may got a pass) and visit tho theaters, and he will find that four reels of splendid splen-did pictures, accompanied by excellent excel-lent music, aro still in ovidenco. Tho theater interests of this city consolidated, not to form a trust nnd rob tho public, but becauso It wns uttorly imposslblo for so many houses hous-es to do business, without serious loss financially, and It was about tho only way out of tho trouble. Tho theatrical management horo h-vo a good round sum Invostcd and in order to get tho patronago ot tho peoplo, aro exerting every effort to present only tho very best In tho lino ot amusoment, wero it otherwlso tho result" would bo disastrous to thorn, from a monetary standpoint, as tho expense ot operating tho thoators is such that it takes a great many dimes to meet It. CONSOLIDATED THEATER CO. |