The Moving Picture Weekly (1917-1918)

■THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY 11 A Hy. Mayer drawing for the Animated Weekly The waging of war requires money. Help the government raise it Liberty Tax on Account of War Upheld in Cleveland 1 N Thursday, November 22d, in Cleveland, Judge Phillips , I threw out of court the case of the exhibitors who sought to obtain a permanent injunction against the distributors of motion pictures in that territory, charging the fifteen cents per reel on account of the war tax. Judge Phillips did not find a single count which would enable the petition to come within the jurisdiction of any court of law or equity. He held in effect that the motion picture, being distinctly not a publicity utility, was not subject to price regulation by law. Furthermore, he held that the distributor had a perfect legal right to fix the price of his own product, and that the exhibitor had the usual recourse of any business man under such conditions, namely that of refusing to use the product. In his opinion the matter was one of business, and not of law. But the part of his decision which is most important at the present time is the part in which he declares that the exhibitors had failed to show legal rights against the defendant; that while the footage assessment may be called a war tax under subterfuge, yet no general wrong had been shown in the brief presented by the exhibitors, and that unless some specific wrong existed, there was no ground for legal action. On this decision the case was thrown out of court. Judge Day of Squire, Sanders ^d Dempsey argued the case for the defendants, and made the motioa lo dismiss the petition. There were present to act as witnesses for the defendants P. A. Powers, of the Universal Film Manufacturing Company; Arthur S. Friend, of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation; Gabriel L. Hess, of Goldwyn; J. A. Berst, of Pathe; Nathan C. Vidaver, of the World Film Corporation; and Mr. Thornton, of Price, Waterhouse & Co., a statistician whose familiarity with the motion picture business has been of great assistance to the entire industry. The whole effect of the legal action in Cleveland is merely to uphold the legality of assessing the tax in the way which has been chosen, which is the way the government contemplated when it framed the tax bill in Washington. The fact remains that the tax must be collected. A few of the exhibitors maintain that the producers should pay the tax themselves. The fact of the matter is that the producers are in no position to pay the tax. On the other hand, the producers are under no misapprehension as to the inability of the exhibitor to pay it. They have no intention of making the exhibitor pay it, and neither had the government. The whole tax must be borne by the public, and the only way that it can be done is by exhibitors raising their prices of admission sufficiently to cover not only the admission tax, but the fifteen-cent tax and other government taxes. On page 23, thanks to the Motion Picture News, is shown copy for an announcement card when you make the raise. NO FALLING OFF IN THE NORTHWEST. JN one section of the United States there is no talk of opposition to the tax in any way. That is the Northwest Territory. Dean Collins, correspondent of The Moving Picture Weekly in Oregon, states that the raise in prices necessitated by the tax was accomplished not only without friction between exhibitors and exchanges, but with increased business for the theatres themselves. "W. A. Graeper, manager of the Union Theatre in Portland," says Mr. Collins, "was the pioneer in the advance of admission prices to a war basis here, and has found business not in the least impaired by the change. C. G. Holtzclaw, of the Circle, and Fred Langerman of the New Grand, both normally five-cent theatres in the business part of the city, have raised to ten cents on Sundays and holidays. The larger theatres have made a universal raise to from 20 to 25 cents. The Strand Theatre, a combination vaudeville and motion picture house, raised to fifteen cents for evenings and Sundays, etc., but holds to ten cents for matinees, and is playing to capacity all the time. The rise in prices was accomplished quietly throughout the Northwestern Territory and reports from Spokane and Seattle indicate conditions of attendance practically unaltered. Portland theatres, as a whole, actually had an access of business the first week.