Abstract

Editorials

A magnificent farce could be written on the works and ways of the film censors in the various States, but their antics are important because they illustrate what an irresponsible and dangerous thing censorship is. For example, in 1921 the Kansas State Board of Review ordered all scenes and titles dealing with the Tulsa, Oklahoma, race riots eliminated. Newspapers were printing pictures and stories about the riots every day, but the newspapers have waged a long and successful fight against censorship in peace time at least. The movies, afraid of their dollars, have yielded abject surrender, and the result is a fraud upon the public. Accounts of the tricks of these censors read like a burlesque of the worst possibilities of censorship. One can expect such censorship on every printed word if the New York Legislature passes the "Clean Books Bill," pertaining to censorship in New York State. And now the busybodies are begging permission to extend their puerilities to the spoken stage. They cry that the country is in danger from licentious plays and theatrical performances.