The Moving Picture Weekly (1916-1917)

THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY Brownie Vernon selling Liberty Bonds at Universal City, California. Universal Takes $250,000 Liberty Bonds I OT that the Universal wishes to make a parade of its patriotism, for that is furthest from its thoughts; but rather in I order that the world may know where the Universal Film Manufacturing Company stands when it comes to a call to support the United States in anything that it undertakes, this story is written. The Universal, as soon as it became apparent that the country was being forced into war with a foreign government, was the first to take effective action to rouse the country in its duty to support the president. Ever since then nothing has been too much trouble or too much expense for the Universal and its employees in supporting the government and its aims in every possible manner. The entire resources of the Universal were contributed by the Board of Directors to the government the day after war was acknowledged, and in a telegram to the President it expressed the willingness both to do everything and refrain from doing everything which the President suggested in furtherance of the good of our country. The latest call has been for the Liberty Loan investment, and the Board of Directors made it very plain to their employees that this was not a donation in any sense of the word, but that it meant nothing more or less than putting their money in the most secure and profitable bank in the world — Uncle Sam's treasury. In or der to make it easy for their employees to invest as they would like, the Universal agreed to accept installment payments from all of its employees, taking out the amount they desired each week from their salary envelopes. On Friday morning, the last day of the subscription, R. H. Cochrane, Vice-president of the Universal, and P. A. Powers, Treasurer, summoned the members of the Home Office staff and told them that the subscription of the Universal and its employees to the Liberty Loan bonds lacked just exactly five thousand dollars of being a quarter of a million. Furthermore, they said that they wanted to raise that five thousand dollars right then and there in that room, and inside of twelve minutes the last hundred dollars of the five thousand was subscribed, and the office force went back to its accustomed duties. That is the way the Universal does things when the need arises. When the next issue, the Old Glory loan, is launched, the Universal wiil be found in the front ranks again with the same kind of loyal support. The Roll of Honor on the Liberty Loan is as follows: The Universal as a company subscribed to $128,000 of the bonds, and this does not include the subscriptions that Mr. Laemmle, Mr. Cochrane and Mr. Powers made outside through other organizations than the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. The Home Office em ployees took $49,450; the Universal City studios at Universal City, California, took $35,100; Animated Weekly, $2,000; Shipping Department, $350; Bayonne factory, $500; L-Ko Kompany, $7,450; Leonia Laboratories, $7,200; New York Exchanges together, $5,000; Independent Film Exchange, Pittsburgh, $1,100; Victor Film Service, Cleveland, $1,100; Laemmle Film Service, Omaha, Nebr., $800; Cincinnati-Buckeye Film Co., $350; Universal Film & Supply Company, St. Louis, Mo., $250; Consolidated Film & Supply Company, New Orleans, $600; Laemmle Film Service, Chicago, $1,200; Universal Film Exchange, Chicago, $1,200; Laemmle Film Service, Des Moines, la., $1,150; Detroit Universal Film Co., Detroit, Mich., $650; Universal Film & Supply Company, Oklahoma City, Okla., $900; Universal Film & Supply Company, Kansas City, Mo., $750; Universal Film & Supply Co., Denver, Colo., $500; New England Universal Film Exchange, Boston, Mass., $1,650; Central Film Service, Indianapolis, Ind., $1,050; Film Supply Company, Portland, Ore., $550; California Film Exchange, San Francisco, Cal., $1,050; Baltimore Film Exchange, Baltimore, Md., $550. Any mathematician who will take the trouble to add up these figures will discover that they total exactly $250,000, or a quarter of a million dollars, whichever way that amount of money looks best to him.