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68 MOTION PICTURE COMMISSION. The Chairman. The manufacturers have not objected to your cen- sorship, have they ? Dr. Howe. Ninety-five, ninety-seven or ninety-eight per cent; nobody knows exactly; but all of the organized manufacturers do approve of the censorship; yes. There is a small percentage The Chairman (interposing). About 2 per cent, I believe. Dr. Howe. Yes; that come in sometimes and sometimes they do not. The Chairman. Is there any expense attached to this? Dr. Howe. There is an expense of about $15,000 a year. The Chairman. How is that expense met? Dr. Howe. That expense at this time is met by the producing companies. The Chairman. That would indicate their approval of censorship? Dr. Howe. Yes, sir. Mr. Thagher. What proportion of the total expense do they pay? Dr. Howe. This year they pay it all. Last year the People's In- stitute paid part of it; it goes for the salaries of four men—steno- graphic and clerical hire. Now. those secretaries are not censors: the censorship is done by voluntary groups, and the voluntary groups are very jealous and very irritated if the secretaries attempt to butt into their work. Nobody who passes upon films receives any kind of emolument. The Chairman. The manufacturers do not object to that censor- ship? Dr. Ho"\\^. They do not; no. I will not say they do not object; they probably would prefer to be free, to have no censorship, hut they acquiesce in this as possibly the lesser of two evils. The CnAiR:MAN. You say that national censorship is unofficial? Dr. Howe. Yes; it is wholly voluntary. The Chairman. What good does a manufacturer derive from that censorship from the different States in which he finds censorship— the different States, cities, and towns. Dr. Howe. There is State censorship in Ohio and, I believe, in Pennsylvania; then there are in the various cities local boards. In Chicago there is an official censorship, a police censorship. Then in cities like Cleveland, and other numicipalities. there are censorships. Sometimes the mayor of a city will delegate the chief of police to be the censor and sometimes he delegates that power to some other group. Those groups are sometimes official and sometimes non- official. The manufacturers, of course, do not like to have ;i iihii thrown back on them by anybody, but the national board has organized those local grou]:)S, as far as it could, as checks on tlie efficiency of its work and for the purpose of having the cooperaticiu of just as ii>any people throughout the country as possible, thus ma Icing its work effective. The Chairman. Your censorship does .not reduce the cost of cen- sorship throughout the different States? Dr. Howe. I think it does reduce it quite luaterially. I think we have established a standard which is well known by all of the pi'o- ducers. The CiiAiR:\rAN. You think you have impi-oved the mornl eil'ect ? Dr. Howe. There is the fear that after they have pi'oduced a nega- tive it will be rejected. That has made the c<Mnpanies read, study, and familiarize themselves with the.«e standards, so that T think thev