American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
^ ** — - 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man .” — Washington 
\ Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Established 1842 
Volume 113 For the Week Ending May 31, 1924 Number 22 
What Is the Matter with the Movies ? 
Everybody Has a Theory—Here Are Three Different Opinions 
T HE popularity of moving pictures in 
our neighborhood is attested by the 
ever-increasing number in attendance. 
Not only is there a larger number 
present, but also we who go have a growing 
liking for moving pictures. 
A decade ago, when movement was the marvel 
of pictures, we saw mostly “comic” and “Wes¬ 
tern” films. The former, from being a crude 
production with chasing and tumbling as its chief 
characteristic, has become a 
clever feature, usually whole¬ 
some in theme and action. 
The “Western,” unless with 
a different handling than the 
old time “thriller,” is rarely 
seen now in our town. 
The taste of the moving- 
going public changes. 
Novelty is wanted, and pro¬ 
ducers must be ever on the 
alert and study the public 
mind, its fancies and its 
foibles. Producers to-day 
realize that there is a “ movie 
conscience”—a potent force 
which dare not be ignored. 
Thus psychology has entered 
into the moving picture field 
and the kind of films supplied 
answers to public demand. 
If they are the wrong type, 
the people seated before the 
screen are responsible. They 
are the deciding factor. Good 
films are shown -when the 
people want them. 
The moving picture show 
is the chief form of enter¬ 
tainment in our neighbor¬ 
hood; in fact we can hardly 
imagine a town without one. 
In our town, more people see 
moving pictures than read books; the screen is 
mightier than the pen. They are an established 
and vital force in our community life. 
Plight of the Movie-less Town 
Once-1 lived in a town where there wasn’t a 
movie—yes, there are such places. The mail 
came in three times a week and Sleepy Hollow was 
a hubbub of excitement compared to Noshow 
Town. What took the place of moving pictures? 
Gambling in the pool hall for the men, gossip for 
the women. The “bad” boy prevailed, yet 
such a one is just the gang-age lad who has no 
legitimate outlet for his splendid energy and 
bouyancy. 
When the hen roosts were robbed, windows 
broken or cans tied to dogs’ tails, it was not a 
case of original sin but an instance of nothing to 
wish some one would die so I could go to his 
funeral!” exclaimed one girl, desperate from 
having no place to go. Youth is entitled to 
thrills and if she had seen “The Covered Wagon,” 
“America” or “Why Worry?” that week the 
memory of it would have kept her in a healthy 
and happy frame of mind for days. 
My family are not as great “fans” as some 
but we try to see all the best films. We enjoy 
all the program and personally I would deplore a 
The Attack on Cherry Valley: British troops and Indians sweep down on the helpless families in the 
provision belt of the Colonial Army. This picture, showing the stockade, the grain shocks, the burning 
barns and the panorama of the North Country of New York State, is a splendid example of the art 
to which the moving picture may attain.—(From America.) 
movement to banish the advertisements. In the 
large cities, I suppose it is different, but the notices 
in our home town are so like the advertiser and 
so personal. Your heart warms towards Jones 
the shoe man who wants to meet you in your 
stocking feet, and towards Brown the transfer 
man who announces to us that though his old 
office has burned he is still doing business in an 
army tent on the city hall grounds. 
Unconscious Education is Painless 
We read the newspapers lightly but we gaze 
at the news pictures absorbed. Johnny and 
Mary are unconsciously learning their geography 
and current events. Subjects that they are 
“exposed” to at school, they often “take” at 
the movies. Educational pictures are the ideal 
instructors because their teaching is pleasurable. 
tion was found for one and on Christmas Day 
“Tess of the Storm Country” was shown. The 
people hailed the manager as a public benefactor 
and literally called him blessed. 
Moving pictures of course have faults and most 
of us have read so many articles lately telling 
us what is wrong with them that the neighbor¬ 
hood feels like rising en masse and shouting, 
“Our movies, right or wrong!” 
When the antimoviests can tell us what will 
take the place of moving 
pictures and “hold” the 
people," when they find some 
entertainment to relax us as 
they do, or so relieve us 
from boredom, I will take 
my trusty self-filler in hand 
and join the pen-pushing, 
would-be reformers. But 
until then I am FOR moving 
picture s.—E tta Boies 
Rankin. 
* * * 
The Case Against the 
Moving Picture 
M R. E. C. LINDE- 
M A N, psychologist 
and a student of rural condi¬ 
tions, who himself has had 
first-hand experience of the 
pleasures and drawbacks of 
farm life, has made some 
special investigations of the 
subject, and comes out de¬ 
finitely against the movies. 
He considers them a dis¬ 
tinctly harmful influence. The 
basis of his argument is as 
follows: 
“Moving pictures are a 
liability and not an asset. 
They are here to stay; I 
do and nowhere to go. Good moving pictures i It is like a visit to a new land, for Mary to see 
with their heroes and courageous deeds would 
have largely solved the boy problem. Go to a 
moving picture on Saturday and you will see 
the “gang” there, living with the hero, thinking 
his thoughts, and if the kind of films shown are 
right, cruel pranks and lawless acts will be the, 
exception. 
The girl is generally not such a problem as a 
boy, but no play makes Jill a dull girl. “I just 
how silk is made, or for Johnny to see weenies- 
dear to his heart and stomach—manufactured. 
The school principal shows this valuable type 
of film every second Friday and the children 
look forward to it. 
Our neighborhood would be lost without the 
moving picture houses. We know this because 
recently a fire destroyed the heart of the town 
with its “theaters.” In three weeks a new T loca¬ 
know it is useless to attempt to argue them off 
the map. But the less a community indulges in 
attendance at the movie houses, the better off 
that community will be. 
“In the first place, simply from a physical 
standpoint, it is an unhealthy pastime. Moving 
picture halls in small communities are generally 
poorly ventilated; the effect on the eyes of even 
the best showing is anything but good, while the 
poorer machines and screens are extremely 
dangerous to the eyesight. This is true especially 
for boys and girls, who usually make up a large 
part of the audience, and who may suffer real 
impairment of sight because of the strain upon 
their eyes. 
“Then, too, the movie is purely passive amuse¬ 
ment. It cannot be called true recreation. No 
helpful exercise is taken; on the contrary, 
the audience sits indoors, slumped into un¬ 
comfortable chairs and breathing bad air. Not 
only is physical activity, which brings into play 
muscles not used in the ordinary day’s work, 
absent, but there is no mental activity either. 
The mind receives one impression after an¬ 
other; it becomes surfeited with impressions, 
and the result is a mind as sluggish as an 
overfed body. 
(Continued on page 521) 
