To the Editor of the "Norra-Cama Dairy News."
Sir,—I beg to refer to an article in your to-day's paper under the caption "Death Sentence on 12 Criminals," in which reference is made to the moral influence of the movies, the 12 criminals having been "influenced. the police are convinced, by at least one foreign innovation—the cinema." This remark must be put down to ignorant prejudice, if nothing else, a prejudice which will see only one side of the shield, and refuse recognition to the influence for good which the motion picture—undoubtedly exerts. This attitude is not a new one; it has always been maintained by those who would cut out of the moving picture everything that might at some time, at some place, and under some conditions, prove harmful to the moral nature of some human being. But it has proven to be a narrow-minded attitude, and while it is admitted that man is an imtative animal, and will absorb bad ideas more easily than he will good ones, the perversity of human nature cannot be blamed on an innocent medium such as_ the cinema. As well blame Guttenburg because the invention of printing and the broadcasting of detective stories has fired the enthusiasm of many a_ misguided youth! Why not blame the inventor of gunpowder and of firearms because, as the report states, the bandits in this country have given up the use of knives and ave adopted the more efficacious firearm? Or better still, why not blame the foreign policies of our various countries who have sent their soldiers here and have indirectly at least shown the Chinese how to use firearms? If there is a tin-can to let, I don't think the cinema is the right work to tie it to.
Recently, a survey covering the motion picture was made, a set of 30 questions being sent to editors in all parts of the world wherever American pictures are shown, and to the question: ''What has been the influence of the motion picture on home and community life during the past 10 years?" 490 replied that it was "favourable," 12% replied "unfavourable," while 107 were non-committal. This is no doubt a much stronger expression of opinion than the one contained in the article referred to. Another question. Does visualization of wholesome stories of truths of life bring out appreciation of finer things in minds that probably would never be affected by any other agency?" received 731 answers as "favourable," 23 said "no" and 54 were non-committal. This question undoubtedly applies in strong measure to China and the Chinese people, where the movie is perhaps the only point of contact between the narrow sphere of the average Chinese and the greater world outside.
Let us not blame the movies too much. The motion picture is 4
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.